Oh yeah, I did finally finish the game earlier this week. I guess I would give it about a 6.5 or a 7 outta 10 overall. Sure, I enjoyed it, but man, it feels like a super low budget game.

— I didn’t bother to 100% the game, because I hated Koi Koi. I hated it because I’m simply bad at it. I can’t keep track of the cards at all, and I don’t want to constantly be looking at a reference to know which ones are valuable and which hands to build.

— Plus, the thought of replaying every combat mission with each of the girl sounds painful to me. The missions aren’t even interesting the first time, so why would I want to do each of them four more times? Sakura Wars‘ strength lies within the visual novel aspects, not the combat.

— So Valery found a crying Leyla and called her beautiful… and that’s really all it takes, guys. You can have someone at your complete beck and call as long as their self-esteem is in the dumps.

— Right after the OP, we see that the Imperial Combat Revue has accepted a challenge from the Moscow Combat Revue. According to Sumire, they would’ve been deemed cowardly by all of the other Revues had they refused. I don’t know about that. When you finish the game, you pretty much become friends with the Shanghai, London, and Berlin Combat Revues. I’m sure that they can understand why you wouldn’t want to risk a girl’s fate over some silly challenge.

— The first round of the competition is a dance-off, so Hatsuho gets to represent her team. I’m sure her actual dance is very impressive, but the animation here is lazy. As a result, all we really see is her T-posing and spinning in a circle. Impressive, huh?

— Naturally, Leyla steps up to the plate and performs a ballet. Of all people, Reiji is the one to tell us why the performance is impressive. Apparently, this is meant for two people, but Leyla is pulling it off by herself! But again, all we see is someone spinning in circles. I’m sure ballet has more intricate moves than that. Try not to strain yourself too hard, you guys.

— So I guess like the game, the anime series just doesn’t push itself too hard. All of the visual novel stuff in the game is fine. I only have two complaints really. First, the city is way too small. There’s hardly any exploration to be done. You barely utilize it anyways. Second, I have an issue with the game’s structure. The reason why the recent Persona games are so addictive is because you get a choice. Unless you’re using a guide, you’re more than likely not going to see and do everything in your first playthrough. The player has to manage their time and thus decide what they value the most. Should I explore a palace today? Or should I hang out with a friend. Oh wait, I need to up my social stats, so maybe I should go study. Ah, but where to study? In Sakura Wars, however, the game is cleanly divided into combat sections and non-combat sections. You can talk to everybody and woo everybody. There is nothing to miss unless you purposefully decide to miss it. For me, that takes the wind out of the game’s sails.

— Hatsuho predictably loses to Leyla, so the Russians are up one. The second round features an obstacle course, but Valery arrogantly refuses to have his team participate. He considers it vulgar. Um, okay. I bet the studio behind this series just didn’t wanna bother animating Azami running through the course. There’s also the fact that we have yet to see the faces of any of the other Russian Combat Revue members…

— Finally, we get to the mock battle. For the good guys, it’ll be Sakura, Hatsuho, and Azami. I find it funny, ’cause those three are pretty much who used over and over in the game as well (unless I was forced to partner with Claris and Anastasia for their chapters). Speaking of combat, man… those sections suck in the game. First, every single level looks the same. Second, there’s no enemy variety. Third (and probably most important of all), you’d have to be utterly terrible at video games to get anything less than an S on those levels. The combat sections are that easy, and I’m not even good at action games. I think the funny part is how Hatsuho can literally just spin to win. I’ve cleared entire rooms full of mobs without taking damage with her. In fact, she kills so fast, the characters can’t finish speaking.

— It’s not as though the other girls are bad either. When Sakura upgrades her mecha (which we oddly don’t see in the anime), her special move can the entire room by itself. Again, it’s ridiculous.

— Speaking of upgrades, it would have been fun if you could actually earn money and then use said money to upgrade the girls’ mechas. Just anything to give the player a sense of gradual progression. There are side battles in the game, but they just pop up kinda randomly. Then after mashing circle and triangle for about five minutes, I get my S ranking and nothing else to show for it. These could’ve been replaced with side missions that rewards money or even rare mecha parts/weapons. I dunno, just a thought.

— In order to win the mock battle, one team has to get to Klara first. The poor girl is actually trapped in a cage for the purposes of this silly competition. That seems potentially dangerous, but whatever. After all, Valery never actually intended to play fair. On his side, there are four mechas instead of three. And after cutting the worldwide broadcast, they start using real weapons against the Flower Division.

— Finally, Leyla does something to trigger Klara. This eventually leads to the girl “awakening” to her true angelic self. Since there are demons to fight in this world, I guess it’s only natural that we eventually encounter angels? Still, I wonder where she and her sister came from. Hell, I wonder if they’re actually angels at all. I’m sure the series will get to this eventually, but it does remind me of something that bugged me about the game. If Sakura Wars (2019) is supposed to be a soft reboot, how come it doesn’t explain anything for people new to the series? I haven’t played the previous four mainline games, so I obviously have no clue about its history and development. What the hell are the demons and where do they even come from? Not once does the game bother to explain that to me, and that’s a huge disappointment.

— Sumire sends Claris and Anastasia to apprehend Valery, but they find Black Cape instead. Shocker. Truly, truly a shocker.

— Hm, I wonder hard it is to pilot a mecha with those heels.

— What does Valery want with Klara? Well, it’s pretty much the same thing that every other JRPG antagonist seems to desire: destroy the current world and create a new one according to his whims and desires. Yawn.

— Hatsuho, who has been observing for a distance, decides to… fly towards the arena? Is that one of her powers as well? Is she part Russian? Maybe she has angelic stuff in her veins? Eh.

— In the end, Klara decides that she can’t be a burden to the Flower Division any longer. So despite Sakura’s pleas, the girl flies off on her own. I’m sure she thinks she’s doing this in order to protect her new family, but I hate it when characters do this. I hate it when characters make any sort of unilateral decision that affects the rest of the team.

Well, I was dead wrong about what happened last week. And even if she didn’t mean to, it’s a bummer that Mu was forced to kill two people.

— In fact, Echo and Mu were in Londinium at the same time as Nir. How did they get there? With a little help from the bad guys.

— When the duo gets to Londinium, they’re immediately separated. Tommy, the leader of this joint, wants to speak to Mu without Echo, and I feel like that alone should give the kids pause. They’re partners, so they should try to do things together. I certainly wouldn’t just believe whatever a random stranger tells me. But who knows? Maybe I’m just paranoid and distrustful of people in general.

— Sally, one of Tommy’s underlings, tells Echo that Londinium is attacked by the Earless at a much greater frequency than any other place on the planet. That’s curious, isn’t it? Maybe it’s due to all the weird experiments they’re conducting here.

— When Mu inquires about Jimi, an old man in a wheel chair shows up to deliver more exposition. According to him, they never abducted Jimi. They only took his Equipment. Instead, what happened during Project Freedom was that Jimi came into contact with a certain Earless before disappearing through a gate. Oh dear, don’t tell me that Mu is really that Earless.

— So what’s the grand ol’ plan? Londinium thinks they can reconstruct that same gate and summon Jimi back. They just need Mu’s help, because… I guess because she’s so similar to him. It’s a plan that’s just crazy enough to work! Or so you think. Again, there’s really no reason to believe these guys. There’s no reason to think if this contraption will work or even that Jimi will listen to their summon. Most importantly, there’s really no reason for Mu to believe that Tommy has her best interests at heart… and maybe she knows that.

— Ah yes, we can’t have London without the classic English breakfast. Honestly, I don’t get the beans. Everything else looks delicious, but why the beans?

— When Mu sees Echo again, she’s a bit distant. She asks if he truly, truly wants to meet Jimi. It seems like a silly question on the surface, so Echo naturally takes it at face value. Of course he wants to meet Jimi! Jimi is his childhood hero! And isn’t that why they’re on this journey? To find Jimi and learn more about Mu’s origins? Ah, but therein lies the problem. When a question has such an obvious answer, the person who asks the question actually has a different question in mind. Why can’t she just ask Echo what she really wants to ask? Well, no one wants to make themselves vulnerable. These are awkward teenagers, so they’re either too afraid to say what they really want to say, or too clueless to say what they really want to say.

— To be fair, she does kinda hint at what’s bothering her, then Echo follows this up by trying his best to be supportive… but it’s just not enough. After traveling together for so long, they both really need to be more direct and honest with each other.

— So we get to see scenes of Mu rehearsing for the play. She also gets Echo to help her practice their lines. In a way, they’re expressing their feelings for each other. Too bad it’s just acting, so the distance between them remains.

— Echo ends up needing guidance from a familiar face. And what’s the key to solving this problem? Ah, just communication. Unfortunately, our hero doesn’t feel any sort of urgency. He tells Mu that he has something he wants to say to her, but it can wait until after the play. Do it now! Why wait? I mean, just listen to her! Normal people don’t say this! You only say things like that if you have serious existential angst! Mu disappears for a meeting then comes back a bit distant and slightly depressed? Bro, step up!

— But again, I can’t blame him. He’s a kid.

— Right before Mu goes on stage, she hands her pendant over to Echo for safekeeping. Welp, he’s probably gonna need that to save Mu since we already know what’s going to happen to her.

— The play proceeds normally until we get to the very end. When Mu goes backstage, Tommy sprays her with that drug we saw episodes ago. When she returns to the stage, he jacks her into Jimi’s old equipment. See, Tommy has other plans. Old Man Ace wanted to call Jimi back from god only knows where, but Tommy would rather just have Mu become Jimi.

— Right before she commits last week’s tragedy, Mu reflects on what she’s known for a while: that she is an Earless. And because she’s an Earless, she probably feels that she can’t truly be with Echo. Their journey will have to come to an end, no human can truly love her, blah blah blah.

— Why did she and Jimi trade places? Was it to bring about understanding between humans and the Earless? He went to live with them and she went to live with humans? Eh, who knows.

— Almost every week, we learn something new about that fateful day. The story changes depending on who ends up being the storyteller. My problem was that I thought Roz knew what happened to Jimi. She said he had been abducted, and I mistakenly assumed that she was right. But she, too, has only one perspective of what happened. There are a lot of unreliable narrators in this series, and who knows? Maybe we’ll learn something next week that’ll contradict this week’s retelling of Project Freedom.

— Alright, time for Echo to start the “Free Mu from the bad guys” arc.

After all the election drama, it’s back to some silly antics that don’t really go anywhere plot-wise.

— So we kick things off by having Chika walk in on Yu changing in the student council room, and he’s apparently a tighty-whities man. Ah well, every boy grows up that way until they decide to switch over to something else… unless, of course, there are moms out there buying boxers for their 3-year-olds. That’d be nutty.

— So Yu gets on his soapbox and starts ranting about how guys who wears boxer briefs are manwhores just because the underwear accentuates your buttocks. I thought briefs did the same thing.

— Speaking of manwhores, I love how Chika hands Kaguya her phone and just starts giggling. The vice president is way too innocent.

— Next thing you know, Kaguya is now obsessed about Miyuki’s undergarment of choice. After all, she needs to know if the guy is a manwhore! But really, there isn’t much to talk about here. Miyuki simply misunderstands her, so he thinks she wants to know what type of underwear she should wear.

— And in the end, Miko is the one with the biggest misunderstanding of all.

— Oh hey, Yu folds to peer pressure like the rest of us.

— Disappointed to discover that the president is a manwhore, Kaguya goes to her best friend for advice. I love Ai’s sass. She’d probably be my favorite character in the series if it weren’t for the fact that she’s also this super maid who can do it all. I kinda hate that trope in anime. Just gimme a deadpan, sarcastic BFF. I don’t need the rest.

— Ai suggests that getting Miyuki to secrete happiness hormones will dampen his desire to be the manwhore that we all know him to be. As a result, Kaguya offers to give him a hand massage, which he happily accepts. Unfortunately, she’s terrible at it, but he endures because he can’t bear to make her feel bad. After all, she’s so sheltered and isolated from the world in general that she’s never been able to do a lot of normal things. And just being able to do said normal things is enough to make Kaguya as happy as a clam.

— Eh, I still think there’s a way to give her constructive feedback. Something like, “Oh, this feels great, but if you did this, it’d feel even better!” Ah well, maybe Miyuki is in too much pain to think on his feet.

— Personally, I’ve never liked massages of any kind. They just feel weird and awkward.

— In the end, Miko once again walks in at the most inopportune time.

— In the third short story, Miyuki really gets into a shoujo manga at his sister’s recommendation. He then thinks that getting Kaguya to read the manga might make her confess her love to him. Ah, another harebrained scheme.

— Even the jaded Yu can’t help but blubber over the manga. Eh, it’s not that hard to get someone to get emotional over a story. I think Fruits Basket is hackneyed trash, but even I will tear up when the characters give their sob stories. That doesn’t mean that the writing is good. It’s simply called having empathy.

— Kaguya initially shows no interest in the manga, so everyone tries to get her onboard. Unfortunately, Chika is one those people who can’t help blurting out spoilers, so the boys have to silence her. Naturally, Miko walks in on this. It’s funny how she keeps coming back even though their antics constantly freak her out. At this point, she’s just doing this to herself.

— Yeah, this manga sounds terrible.

— Kaguya and Ai eventually read though the manga though, so they become victims as well.

— The last and final short story is viewed through Kaguya’s now shoujo-addled brain. It’s really quite frightening. I guess what makes me slightly uncomfortable is that even Yu has been given the bishie filter. Obviously, she doesn’t have any romantic feelings for him, but she still wouldn’t mind having two hot, young men fighting over her. Yep, that’s your brain on shoujo.

— In the end, the president takes charge and summons enough courage to invite Kaguya to the aquarium. Y’know, the classic date destination in every anime ever. But for some god forsaken reason, Kaguya turns him down because she’s just happy to be in this position. Good lord, girl. No wonder you’re so sheltered.

— Ah well, at least the bromance lives on.

So I stuck an isekai in your isekai!

— Like usual, Katarina is struggling with her studies, so she enlists Mary’s help. Before you know it, everyone else invites themselves to the party. Well, everyone except for Nicol. He does come along, but when the anime cuts to him, he just gives us his patented blank stare. I admitted laughed when this happened. In any case, the harem is as strong as ever.

— Fight, fight, fight, fight… no, really. They should all just get into a ring and have a deathmatch for Katarina’s hand in marriage.

— That’s a rather bold neckline for a young girl.

— In the middle of the study session, Katarina’s insatiable appetite for sweets rears its ugly head, so Maria and Mary offer to grab some for her. In their absence, our oh-so-lucky heroine stumbles upon a magic book that draws her and everyone near her into its world. Thanks to Maria, we quickly learn that the magic book feeds on people’s desires. How does she know this? I dunno, she just heard it from somewhere.

— So if you try and read the book while its ocupado, you get to watch everyone’s deepest desires play out. Wow, how embarrassing. Hey, I daydream a lot, and the last thing I would want is to let everyone see what goes on in my head.

— In Geordo’s fantasy, I love how Katarina just randomly falls backwards. Then again, this would probably happen in real life too.

— Clearly, Geordo thinks of himself as a very suave young man.

— Next up is Keith, and uh…

— …yeah, that’s some cringeworthy incest shit right there, adoptive brother.

— I expected to see Alan next, but we get Sophia instead. She’s normally shy and meek, but in her fantasy, she pulls off the super double kabedon! So this is what it looks like when a short stack tries to wall slam someone…

— Nicol got pulled into the book as well, and in his wildest dreams, he’s not a wooden plank! Wait, is this the same guy that we saw two episodes ago? Hmm, their outfits are slightly different.

— In any case, I guess Nicol is a huge romantic, but he’s too self-conscious to be himself in the real world.

— Had it not been for Maria, Mary might have just murdered all of her friends.

— We get Alan, who just plays the piano. I mean, maybe something juicy would’ve happened, but Mary slams the book shut before the rest of his fantasy could play out. I guess I can’t blame her. Nobody wants to be NTR’d by their own fiancé. That’s a sentence I never thought I’d type out, and yet here we are.

— Well, there’s only one fantasy left to explore, and of course, it belongs to our heroine. Unlike her friends, the only thing Katarina is lusting for is sweets. As a result, she gets her own “Hansel and Gretel” fantasy minus the cannibalistic witch.

— And boy does she gorge herself.

— I like to imagine that Mary and Maria are watching this and thinking to themselves, “Yep, that’s the adorable girl I love!”

— All of a sudden, the book explodes and thus frees its inhabitants. Maria comes to the conclusion that Katarina’s desires for sweets can never truly be sated. Instead, it just grows and grows and grows until even the book can no longer contain her gluttony. Can God create sweets so large that even Katarina can’t finish eating? Ah, deep questions to think about…

— For some reason, we get an extensive after credits scene. Since Alan didn’t really get to do anything romantic with Katarina in the book, I guess he gets to have his lil’ moment in the real world. I don’t know of many tree branches that can support the weight of two older teenagers, but the average trees in this world are pretty big, I guess.

— Well, not if his fiancée has anything to say about it.

— We’re two-thirds of the way through the series, and I’m not exactly sure if the show is headed towards any particular conclusion. It just seems rather aimless. There aren’t any story arcs per se. Random shit just kinda happens and we get to see Katarina roll with the punches. Hell, wasn’t a shadow stalking her in last week’s episode? Well, that sure as hell didn’t come up in this week’s episode.

With one more big battle done and over with, it’s time to deal with the aftermath.

— Oh hey, a scene from Shuichi’s past. But much like a dream, he wakes up right before he can see his old friends. Ah well, the story will get to them eventually… assuming that he can even remember what they look like. After all, his memories have been tampered with.

— After they get back to the hideout, Shuichi also gets one of Sayaka’s nasty hair things. Ugh. Unfortunately, he doesn’t actually remember the battle against Subaru, but the same cannot be said about Chihiro. She’s a rather bad liar.

— Huh? Shuichi thought that Subaru was Clair‘s ally? That makes no sense. This translation must be wrong.

— All of a sudden, Ikeuchi gets in Shuichi’s face like he’s trying to defend/protect Chihiro, but we know that he thought she had betrayed him just by climbing inside Shuichi. Eh, I guess this is just how nice guys act. Maybe the team can’t afford to kick anyone out, but I think someone like Ikeuchi might be a little too emotionally unstable.

— Meanwhile, Yota gets all buddy-buddy with Shuichi; he even calls the hero a “worthy rival.” It’s funny ’cause Clair hasn’t really shown any romantic interest in Shuichi… not yet, anyways. She’s important to him, but she’s not trying to make out with him or anything. They don’t call each other late at night, and whisper mushy nothings into each other’s ears. When she flirts with Shuichi, it’s always in a teasing, joking manner. Yeah, she needs him, but she needs him for his power. And without that power, she may as well give up on life. This is a power that Yota can’t provide, but at the same time, if he truly understood the the dynamics between those two, he wouldn’t consider Shuichi a rival either.

— On the other hand, Chihiro hints that maybe Shuichi has a crush on Clair, but it runs into conflict with the fact that she makes him do things he doesn’t truly want to do… even if those things are good for him (I still contend that killing Hikawa was self-defense).

— We then get to meet Kasuga, who can turn into a huge beast just to compensate for the fact he likes plants and flowers. His real power is that he can make plants grow in an instant. Sounds like he should be saving the world by planting trees. Then again, stopping some bad guy from collecting 100 coins is probably the more pressing need.

— Kasuga actually remembers Shuichi and his friends from the cram school, but since our hero’s memories have been erased, he obviously has no clue what Kasuga is talking about.

— Last but not least, it’s Aihara, the girl from the conbini who can turn invisible. She doesn’t seem very friendly, though.

— Clair wants to demonstrate hers and Shuichi’s powers, so she has Kasuga grow a tree. Our duo then knocks it out after a series of punches. This probably looks badass to everyone but Chihiro. She knows that Shuichi is capable of much, much more. Plus, if they needed to knock over a tree, why did they have Kasuga grow one? They’re already in a forest.

— Afterwards, Clair tries to confront Chihiro for lying. She tries not to be jealous, but her words betray her. Plus, it doesn’t really work when your “rival” got to unlock a special transformation that you’re not even aware of. As a result, Chihiro goes for the jugular: “Just as I thought: you two are completely different. You two cannot become one.” Eh… for now, they can’t. You know how it is with these stories. The story has now planted a seed. We know that when Shuichi and his partner are perfectly aligned, he gains a new form that unlocks an even higher level of strength and speed. So now we can’t help but wonder, “Gosh, what would that form look like with Clair? And how powerful would he become if he and Clair could ever become one?” This curiosity might keep us hooked on the story.

— In any case, there are certainly differences between Clair and Shuichi that they need to address. Maybe she needs to be a little more proactive in bridging the gap between them if she wants to show Chihiro up… but these things take time. I doubt we’ll see this happen anytime soon.

— Clair tries to talk to Shuichi about Chihiro, but she’s not being honest about what’s actually bothering her. He says that he let Chihiro climb inside him because he had no other choice at the time. So what’s the difference with Clair? Maybe there is no difference. Up until now, she’s been making some rather difficult decisions for him — decisions that he has not been entirely pleased with. Since Chihiro proves that anyone can ride Shuichi, he could one day find enough courage to choose a different partner and leave Clair altogether. So really, she should really be talking about them as a team — what she wants and what does he want out of this relationship — but instead, her words and actions drip with sexual connotation. I guess this is because it gives her a way out if her heart isn’t ready to hear what Shuichi might actually have to say. So before they can really hash things out, she tells him that she’s just teasing him. And just like that, the heart-to-heart ended before it could even begin. Oh well. Clair’s still a teenager. She’s supposed to be immature.

— Outta nowhere, we get a subplot that goes all the way back to the first episode. Shuichi bumps into an acquaintance digging a grave for a poor dog that supposedly died in an accident. Shuichi, however, notices that something is fishy about the guy’s story. Hopefully, this subplot is relevant for next week’s episode.

— The next day, Shuichi helps Mifune fix her bike, but Ikeuchi mistakes this for the hero being a shameless manwhore. Again, Nice Guy think guys can’t have platonic relationships with girls because they are projecting their own insecurities. They do this very thing so they assume every other guy is like them.

— Still, Ikeuchi inadvertently helps Shuichi confirm something that the latter might have been suspecting for a while: he’s hollow because his power is for others. He helps those who cannot help themselves. After all, he gives Clair a reason to live.

— It feels like this episode just keeps going and going, but that’s because it jumps around a lot. We get so many of these bits and pieces that it almost seems kinda tiring to sit through.

— Elena certainly isn’t shy about her body. Every girl in anime apparently loves to wear panties that are too tiny for their butts.

— Well, what we see next is Chihiro hitting Elena up on her cellphone. She thinks Elena is a good person from what she saw in Shuichi’s’ heavily redacted memories, but therein lies the problem. They’re memories. They’re things of the past. What Elena was then might not necessarily be who Elena is now. But hey, Chihiro is the sort of character who never really wants to fight, so naturally, she would try and go for the diplomatic victory.

— Elena implies that someone has already found 100 coins, and for this reason, she and Shuichi can’t possibly work together. But will she elaborate? Maybe… but not onscreen for us viewers to see!

— Elena’s group sure does love the color black. Sheesh, it’s like the goth clique from high school. One kid even has a hooded cloak on.

— Instead, we more of Clair’s naked ass for some reason. We literally just cut to her standing naked in her apartment, staring at her one coin. I’m sure she’s still reflecting on what happened earlier. Still, it was kinda funny to go from a serious conversation to just naked Clair.

— Now that we got all the bits and pieces out of the way, we can get back to the main story: gathering more coins. The problem is that Sayaka’s team has only found five coins two months. So they need to change up their plan: look for the downed alien ship instead. By the way, I find it kinda surprising that something could have entered Japan’s airspace without alerting the government, but I guess we’ll just conveniently overlook this.

Sometimes, even the closest friends will eventually drift apart and go their separate ways.

— Even in the beastman world, domestic disputes are pretty much the same.

— Michiru doesn’t know the origins of Ginrou-sama, so Jem quickly seizes the opportunity to change the subject. As a result, we also get to learn a thing or two about the mythical silver wolf. Apparently, there used to be peaceful coexistence between beastmen and humans, but… well, y’know, humans just gotta human. In the past, Ginrou had always been to save his kind… or so the legend goes. Needless to say, we’ve seen Ginrou before. He showed up right before that big celebration in the very first episode. I think it’s pretty damn obvious who Ginrou is: Shirou. Why he’s hiding his true identity, however, remains a mystery.

— Since Shirou is Ginrou, he doesn’t bother to pay his respects to the religious practice of worshiping the wolf. As a result, he nonchalantly bites into one of the offerings much to Michiru’s clueless dismay. It makes sense; he’s not gonna worship himself.

— Michiru starts making fun of Shirou for not having friends, and this naturally segues into her bragging about her best friend. We then get to see a flashback about her and Nazuna, a girl who dreams of becoming an idol. The latter is somewhat of an egomaniac: “I don’t want someone to choose me. I want to do the choosing.”

— The scene ends with Michiru making a rather prophetic claim: “Let’s reach the top! We can become anything we want!” In a way, this has come true. Michiru kinda has all sorts beastman powers coursing through her veins, so she kinda does become whatever she needs to be in order to get herself out of sticky situations. And I bet Nazuna might have a similar ability as a beastman…

— Well, one thing leads to another, and before you know it, Michiru has to peddle useless junk to the poor inhabitants of the slums in order to pay off her debt to Marie. She really has to stop associating with that mink. Plus, what is the mink gonna do if the tanuki refuses to pay up? Expose herself by going to the authorities?

— It sounds like Jackie, one of Michiru’s baseball teammates, had stolen some money to buy a water filter (which, of course, doesn’t work). The beastman was about to burn Jackie at the stake when a bunch of cultists crashes the party.

— And suddenly, Ginrou-sama has appeared before us! Except we’ve seen Ginrou, and that’s not what Ginrou looks like. Naturally, the beastmen in Anima City don’t know any better, so they quickly kneel in reverence. Oh well, at least this means Jackie’s life is spared.

— When Fake Ginrou takes a human form, Michiru realizes that the imposter is none other than her BFF. The latter goes by the name Déesse Louve these days. I wonder if the name means anything. It probably does, but I’m too lazy to look it up. I mean, it’s Memorial Day. I’m supposed to be taking a break, and yet here I am.

— The two close friends are eventually reunited, and they have a lot of catching up to do. Nazuna also teases Michiru in a way that only close friends can. I’m not sure why Michiru still denies that she’s a tanuki. Is there a stigma associated with them? All I know about the Japanese racoon dog is that Mario can turn into one in Super Mario Bros 3 (still the best Mario game to date).

— Nazuna reveals that she obviously isn’t Ginrou. Rather, she’s just a fox, and one might expect from a fox, she can shapeshift. Her cult has applied for residency in Anima City, so we quickly cut to a meeting between the mayor and Shirou. The latter thinks that the cult is bad news, but he’s pretty much distrustful of anything that might potentially upset the balance of his precious city. I don’t like cults either, but after what I’ve seen in the last few episodes, Anima City has bigger problems to solve. I mean, gangs were literally engaged in child trafficking for profit. Michiru got kidnapped in broad daylight that one time. Some weirdo cult that simply tells beastmen not to hurt each other is not that bad by comparison.

— Yeesh, don’t give the creeps any ideas for their fanart.

— The fox eventually gets around to telling us all about how she was taken to a mysterious lab where multiple experiments were done on her body. At one point, however, she was saved by a man named Boris. Since then, she’s been serving as the figurehead of the cult. Yeah, that’s shady, but eh… Nazuna clearly loves the position she’s in. She has always wanted to be worshiped and loved, and I guess one can easily draw parallels between cults and the fandoms that spring up around idols. Just look at some of the crazy ass BTS fans on Twitter.

— To nobody’s surprise, Michiru wants to save her best friend from the cult even though it doesn’t seem like Nazuna is in any actual danger. Shirou, however, quickly shoots that idea down. Well, our heroine is too stubborn, so she goes and infiltrates the cult all on her own. Once again, communication is an anime character’s downfall. Not one does she stop to ask Nazuna if the girl even wants to be saved.

— Oh hey, Boris must be a snake. Considering how he’s running a cult that reveres a false idol, I guess that makes sense.

— And he is kinda shady. I’m pretty sure most cult leaders are bad people anyway. Again, I don’t really care for these guys. I just think Anima City has bigger fishes to fry.

— Later that night, Nazuna tells Michiru that her cult will probably be forced to leave the city. After all, their scheduled meeting with the mayor ended up being delayed, which doesn’t seem like good news. Since our heroine actually knows the mayor personally, however, she goes and drag her best friend to a diner where Rose goes to every morning.

— At first, Michiru thinks that she can get the mayor to help Nazuna in the same way that she’s been helped. Nazuna, however, doesn’t need anyone to speak for her. Instead, she starts to represent her cult as Déesse Louve. She admits to Rose that she’s no Ginrou, but since her lies bring happiness to the beastmen in the city, her cult serves a useful purpose. I don’t really agree with that, but the mayor quickly declares that the cult’s residency will be approved once the paperwork has been completed. Alright then… in reality, Rose had made up her mind a while ago. Shirou might not be a fan of the cult, but she still calls the shot in her city.

— Michiru is not happy with these results for obvious reasons, but her best friend now has the chance to get a few things off her chest. She feels that Michiru always assumes that other people need saving. Essentially, our heroine has anime protagonist syndrome. The reality, however, is that Nazuna has finally realized her dream of becoming an idol even if this isn’t exactly what she had in mind as a human. As a result, she’s not giving up her identity as a false idol. Michiru has to just accept this fact.

— Not surprisingly, Michiru angrily declares that they’re no longer friends. That seems a bit hasty, but these are still teenagers. Their emotions are running high. Plus, I feel that there’s something immorally wrong about being a false idol. It’s too results-oriented. Sure, Nazuna is giving the beastmen hope, but she’s doing it by lying to them. I can’t abide by that. Still, for Michiru, this is all part of growing up. Accepting the fact that our friends are no longer who we think they are is one of the hallmarks of our journey through life.

— Up until now, Brand New Animal has focused a lot on racial issues. This episode, however, demonstrates that Michiru’s story is also about her coming-of-age. Hell, you can even draw parallels to puberty. She woke up one day and found hair where there used to be none (’cause, y’know, she’s a furry now). She’s faster and stronger than ever, but much like a kid going through puberty, she also feels like an outsider in her own body. Only recently has Michiru found it comfortable to be herself, and this came at the expense of realizing that she no longer has a home in the human world (see: episode four). To go all along with all the changes to her body, the poor girl has had to move out of her own home and find her way in the city much like an adult. And now, she’s facing the most bittersweet fact of growing up: coming to terms with the fact her best friend has her own life to live. Nazuna has grown up too, and she’s her own person. Even if our heroine thinks that her best friend is making a mistake, the latter has the right to make and learn from those mistakes. Unfortunately, this means that their friendship is over, but it’s probably only temporary.

— The two girls will probably come to a good compromise by the end of the series, because I can’t really imagine that a false idol will be tolerated for long.

Yay, another dose of family drama straight from Fruits Basket to your very eyes.

— Right from the get-go, we see Rin call out Kagura’s “love” for Kyo. Does love deserve to be in quotation marks here? Hm, I dunno. Maybe her affections for him was born on false premises at some point, but things change over time. You can’t say that she doesn’t genuinely like him now. Ah well, it’s all for naught anyways. We all know that the tiger can’t compete with Tohru, the true mother.

— Why did I just refer to Tohru as the true mother? ‘Cause that’s what she is to all of these Sohmas, isn’t she? And since Akito is the foil, she’s the false mother masquerading as the father, i.e. head of the household. We essentially have a tug-of-war between the two heads of the family. One treats their children with love and kindness, while the other demands respect and reverence just for existing. You rarely see Akito, but when you do, you just have to obey her words as if they themselves had come from the divine. This situation is not unlike one’s relationship with a distant, emotionally unavailable father. Since he’s rarely around, his children don’t really understand why they have to obey him. They just have to, because that’s how it is. That’s what you’re taught from day one. You listen to your parents even if they’re hardly gods. They’re just humans, and like the rest of us, they are wrong about a lot of things. But from the Sohma’s perspectives, you can’t fight it. That’s probably why their relationship with Akito looks so inexplicable to us as an outsider. I steadfastly believe that people don’t just automatically deserve your respect; they need to earn it. Parents are no exception. I have the privilege to not only believe this but to act on this as well. When my parents do or something wrong, I can call them out or walk away completely. I don’t need to obey just because they’re my parents. This obviously wouldn’t fly in a lot of cultures.

— And of course, Akito is also the false father for the obvious reason, i.e. Fruits Basket‘s worst-kept-secret. I guess it’s supposed to be a twist that she’s clearly not male, but who knows! Maybe this was a huge surprise to manga readers back when the original series was first published.

— Oh my, one of the rare, actual loving parent in this series. But even so, it’s interesting how the only way she can protect Kagura from Akito is to warn her daughter to stay away. No one dares to actually do anything productive.

— Kagura’s winning personality is gonna win Kyo over any day now… yep, any day now…

— After the OP, Tohru reveals to the audience that after Yuki said what he needed to say, the two of them went back to the vacation house quietly. Even though the rat became bolder, he still wasn’t bold enough to say things in a way that is simple enough for Tohru to comprehend. You gotta keep it simple, stupid! All these vague stuff like “I won’t lose” won’t get through to a girl like Tohru!

— Hattori can’t help but apologize to Tohru, so she feels that the other Zodiacs must feel the same way. They must be worried about her, since they keep having to ditch her to kowtow to Akito. Maybe. I also think Hattori probably feels bad about Shigure stirring up drama, so he’s apologizing for the dog.

— People keep thinking that Tohru must be sick just because she’s quietly thinking things over in her head. It says a lot about these characters that they mistake deep contemplation for an illness. Maybe Kyo should try it from time to time.

— Yuki said that he won’t give up nor will he lose. These words are mostly about his struggles with depression and how Akito’s presence threatens to drag him back into that miasma. But at the same time, I can’t help but be amused at how Tohru is getting so much quality one-on-one time with Kyo because Yuki, like the others, have to obey and thus visit Akito everyday.

— I wouldn’t be surprised if Kyo doesn’t like sand. After all, it’s coarse, and rough, and irritating, and it gets everywhere.

— Speaking of Akito, even though everyone but Kyo stops by to see her, she spends time with them one-on-one. And what happens during these “intimate” encounters is basically just emotional abuse. She clings to them and preys on their insecurities, and they can’t do anything but quietly take it. Goddamn, these kids have so much filial piety.

— Like I said, you have to keep it simple for Tohru, because she’s special. Oh lord, she’s a special girl.

— I also love how these kids are just staring at these mounds of sand as if they’re the most fascinating things in the world. “Oooh, Tohru made this?”

— Look at Yuki’s smug ass face. Bro, it was a forehead kiss. I’ve seen more salacious acts in PG-rated movies.

— Of course he talked about important things! These characters, man. No, he was just shitting you under the moonlit sky.

— Anyways, Yuki warns Kyo not to cause any trouble with Akito, because the conflict might spill over and affect Tohru. Ultimately, he’s concerned about her more than anything, so he doesn’t care if this makes him butt heads with Kyo. And naturally, Kyo reacts in the worst possible way by getting pissy back at Yuki. I guess I just blame the rat more for these exchanges, because I feel like… if he’s going to carry himself with this dignified air, it’s just kinda pathetic to see him act so immature about the cat. Kyo’s a hothead and everybody knows it. But Yuki thinks he’s better than Kyo, but he’s really just as emotional. That’s why I guess he seems more pathetic in my eyes. It’s almost hypocritical in a way.

— Oh good, Rin is here now. There isn’t enough family drama, so let’s drag into this menagerie.

— The next morning, Akito plans to drag Kureno to see Tohru. She goes on and on about how she’s gonna put our heroine in her place. She also alludes to the fact that Kureno is a broken Zodiac. After all, he embraced Arisa without any issues, so his curse is already broken.

— Akito thinks that she has won the Zodiacs to her side, and as result, Tohru will be left all by her lonesome. Kureno, however, correctly points out that our heroine still has Kyo. Akito brushes this off, because she still sees Kyo as nothing more than a monster. Much like an absentee parent, she has no clue how much progress Kyo has made.

— Aw, Tohru has made progress too!

— Kyo opens up about his bracelet and how the beads are made supposedly made from human bones. Hell, the red ones are even dyed with human blood. How morbid. He also talks about sacrifice, hinting at the cat’s role as the family’s scapegoat. Of course, Tohru has no clue what he’s talking about exactly. Like Yuki, Kyo has things to say that he isn’t quite ready to say loudly. It must be so confusing to be an outsider. All these dramatic conversations with no goddamn context. So all she can do is dramatically grab him as a show of support. So, so dramatic!

— It’s a good thing mother nature is here to cool these kids down. I must be a killjoy, ’cause the thought of making sandcastles on the beach as a teenager sounds incredibly boring to me.

— Yeah, you tell that ocean who’s boss!

— Seeing Kyo have so much fun with Tohru must have bothered Akito greatly, so she gives up on her dastardly plans. Instead, she slinks home to scheme some other bullshit up.

— Meanwhile, the rat is just quietly stalking Tohru from afar. I know he’s doing this in case he needs to protect her from Akito, but it’s still kinda creepy.

— While Tohru is hanging up laundry (you guys don’t have dryers?), a magical gust of wind blows the sheet down the hill. When our heroine gives chase, she stumbles upon Rin in her Zodiac form. It must be a sign from Providence. I mean, how lucky is this…

— Lots of people find horses beautiful, but not me. I think they look kinda odd with their long faces.

— Rin actually tries to kick Tohru as a horse, and that might have seriously injured the girl. Hell, it could’ve even killed her if the kick had landed on her head. But luckily, Yuki’s creepy stalker ways actually pays off, ’cause he was there to pull Tohru away from the blow.

— Tohru must have a very different definition in mind, ’cause I would never call any of the skinny characters in this show “voluptuous.” Certainly not Rin.

— When Yuki tries to talk to Rin, she lashes out at him like a temperamental horse. I guess she’s the black stallion that can’t be tamed or whatever. Unfortunately, I know that she shares the same voice actress as the air-headed Yui from K-On! so I have a hard time taking her seriously.

— Yuki tells Tohru that he’ll take care of the Rin situation. Wanting to support him but not knowing exactly how, she simply tells him that she’ll be waiting for him to return. So y’know, he always has a loving home to come back to.

— Afterwards, our heroine thinks about how she’s met every member of the Zodiac except one. She mistakenly conclude that Akito must be missing rooster. I guess I can’t blame her for that.

–Meanwhile, Akito finally decides to meet with Kyo, so she tells Shigure and Hattori to drag the cat with them tomorrow. In reality, she just wants to isolate him from Tohru’s support so that she can try and break him down. She’ll probably remind him that he’ll have to be locked up soon after he graduates, so he better not get any bright ideas about getting closer to Tohru.

— That’s reminds me of something, though… if every cat gets confined when they finish high school, how did Kazuma’s grandfather even sire a child? Did he meet his wife while he was imprisoned? How would this happen? Did she then go inside and have relations with a man who can never be freed? Who on earth would do that? Ah well, she wouldn’t be the first crazy character in this series.

You can’t stop these shounen boys from trying to do everything on their own. They’re just so stupid.

— Licht not only reveals that Tsukina, Hina’s mother, was his childhood friend, she was also engaged to Tokikaze. Y’know, Licht’s BFF? The guy he tried to save by joining the military? The guy he supposedly killed with his bare hands? This is why, Licht explains, he can’t accept Hina’s love. He killed her father, so he should be her enemy… wait a minute, hol’ up. If Tokikaze truly is Hina’s father, then when the fuck was she conceived? Licht killed Tokikaze 300 years ago, and Hina, as far as I know, isn’t 300 years old. Doesn’t Licht find this strange? Doesn’t he find it odd that his best friend’s daughter is somehow alive 300 years after he killed the guy? This must mean that Tokikaze is still alive… and yet, this thought never crosses Licht’s mind. Ugh.

— I also wonder how Tsukina ended up in Alcia, but of course, that doesn’t get explained.

— So Licht recognized Hina from the very beginning of the story. Good lord, imagining trying to perv on your best friend’s daughter.

— We suddenly cut to Schmelman, who isn’t concerned at all about the Original Ballot in Hina’s possession. Apparently, it was stolen only five mere years ago. How did it end up in Tsukina’s possession? Shrug. In any case, Mr. Bad Guy is confident that Licht will eventually come to them. Well, if our idiot hero dreams of doing everything himself, then I suppose Schmelman isn’t wrong.

— Pele confesses his feelings to Lynn again, but she’s all passed out from the alcohol. He soon starts to succumb to the wine’s effects. It turns out Licht had spiked it. This way, he can ditch his buddies to go fight the Alcian Kingdom all on his own. When protagonists pull this sort of thing, I always assume that they have a death wish. ‘Cause honestly, does he really think he’ll win all by his lonesome? Eh, maybe he does, but he has to know that he’ll go going up against Schmelman eventually. And since he borrows his powers from Schmelman, it’s not gonna be a walk in the park. That’s not even mentioning all of the other super strong fighters on Schmelman’s side. After all, this is a braid-dead shounen anime. Strong fighters are a dime a dozen.

— Naturally, the only person to not pass out from the spiked wine is Jail… ‘cuz muh conviction. Pfft. Like I’ve said before, Jail’s conviction is the dumbest thing about him. But we’ll get to that in a sec…

— …’cause important things are happening in the capital. Military bigwigs are being assassinated left and right. Alexandrov fears that the king could be next. Am I supposed to feel bad about the king, though? Doesn’t his kingdom only exist by draining Earth of its resources and thus depriving billions of people a right to life?

— I like how it looks like these people are trying to repair a gaping hole in the ground with nothing more than lumber and maybe some bags of dirt.

— Basically, Alcia can’t exist in perpetuity. You actually need to make renew your wish with the Dragon Balls Original Ballots. Since Tsukina stole one — if it was even her who did it — they can’t do that. And if they don’t retrieve the missing Ballot, Alcia will eventually return to the Abyss… which is really just Earth. That doesn’t sound to bad to me, but of course, the haves rarely want to relinquish their possessions to the have-nots.

— There are fractures within the military. One guy wants to fight Schmelman’s SSU head on, which sounds foolhardy. The others want to preserve their strength in case they need to fight the denizens of the Abyss. Something confuses me, though. Did Alcia form a military just in case they would have to go to war with the Abyss one day? ‘Cause it’s not like they have any enemies up here. What exactly would a solitary kingdom with no natural enemies need an army for?

— Alright, back to Licht and Jail. The latter insists that he will do everything he can to stop Licht, because it’s his duty to protect the kingdom. He adds that Licht is evil. This is what I mean by his pathetic conviction. Jail isn’t blind. He saw what happened 300 years ago. He knows how and why Alcia exists. He only has the privilege to protect this kingdom precisely because it is dooming the masses to a horrible, deprived existence. So how can he preach on and on about good and evil when he is basically aiding the generic evil kingdom straight out of some kid’s fantasy book?

— The conversation, however, changes topic pretty quickly, because Jail starts to rail on Licht’s self-sacrificing nature. Eh, both guys have a point here. Jail is right in that Licht isn’t actually sparing his friends from hurt. On the other hand, Licht honestly believes that his actions will lead to the lesser of two evils. Yeah, he’ll still hurt his friends, but it’s better than them becoming murderers. It seems, then, that we are at an impasse.

— I guess the only thing I would add is that people have the right to make their own decision. If his friends want to join him in battle, then so be it. They’re not children. They don’t need to be coddled and thus robbed of their autonomy.

— In the end, Licht and Jail don’t fight, because there’s a better time and place for that. If Jail insists on sticking by his conviction, then he’ll meet on the battlefield soon enough.

— As Schmelman correctly predicted, our hero is going right for them. As a result, he knows the perfect person to intercept Licht…

— …aw man, it’s this ugly fuck again! I’m so tired of his goddamn face.

— In the morning, the rest of the gang wake up in a panic. They decide to pursue Licht at all costs, but uh… they’re trying to catch up to him on horseback. Well, it might work since Licht kinda has his hands tied at the moment.

— Yep, our hero quickly finds himself pinned down, because Doan is the perfect counter to him… in theory. I’m sure Licht will find a way to win somehow. Or maybe his friends will even show up and save him. It’d be nice if Sonohara gets to have her revenge on Doan, but who knows? Girls rarely get to shine in shounen anime. That’s my biggest gripe with My Hero Academia.

Waifus are like potato chips. Betcha can’t marry just one… or two… or even three…

— First things first, Wendelin and his party gets a very handsome reward for their efforts in the ancient ruins. They each get two million gold coins. So, uh, do Louise and Iina even need to become Well’s concubines anymore? They just wanted him for his money and influence, right?

— Our hero is quickly informed that someone has been spreading greatly exaggerated rumors of his demise. As they say, the more you win, the more haters you’re gonna get. So what does his harem do? They decide to not take the money. 2 million coins? Forget about it! Just give it all to Wendelin! Welp, that answers my previous question.

— Even though the kid has returned relatively unscathed, the evil mastermind Ruckner isn’t phased about it. He thinks that just because he’s gathered a bunch of Wendelin haters to the capital, they’ll surely figure out a plan to eliminate one of the strongest mage — if not the strongest — in the kingdom. Hilarious, isn’t it?

— There’s also the fact that he’s almost always surrounded by his party members. I suppose Wendelin can’t take down an entire army on his own, but it’s not like these guys have one in their back pockets.

— A girl in a black cloak starts snooping around Wendelin’s estate. Since she’s cute, however, we know she can’t be evil. That’s just how it is. Cute = waifu. Ugly = evil.

— Wendelin plans on leaving the capital, so he wants to have someone look over the mansion while he’s gone. His party has a bright idea: what about that silly spear guy!

— After all this time, he finally gets to work for Wendelin, so it’s no surprise that he is as happy as anyone can be.

— The new waifu isn’t particularly very talented at being sneaky, but at least we get a funny scene out of it. Yeah, I laughed once… outta nine episodes.

— Halfway through the episode, Wendelin pays a visit to a magic research center. At this fancy join, you can use a device that will allow you to summon your wildest imagination!

— Like… panties from one of the nearby researchers. Meh, Konosuba did this joke better.

— Oh no, holy waifu is concerned about her future husband’s depravity.

— Well blames his perversion on Er and tries again. His waifus try to hold onto their panties, but I mean, that’s probably not gonna stop magic from doing its thing.

— In any case, Wendelin ends up summoning something that bleeds. Knowing this guy, it’s probably some kind of Japanese delicacy. We’ve seen him make miso, so this’ll probably be raw fish or kobe beef. I’m betting the former.

— Meanwhile, spear guy is conducting his own investigation on the side, and he instantly pinpoints Ruckner as the evil mastermind. It’d probably help if Ruckner didn’t look so evil, but oh well. In any case, spear guy sure is useful! It’s his first day on the job too! Maybe he should join the official harem! Oh wait, someone has to watch the mansion. Darn. Well, the least I can do is learn his name. It’s Roderich.

— Our hero throws a lavish party to curry favor with society’s elites. Since some people want him dead, he might as well make sure that his allies have a vested interest in keeping him alive. Makes sense.

— And to blow them all away, he introduces everyone to tuna sashimi. Ah, so it was raw fish after all.

— But don’t forget the soy sauce! All he needs to do now is go back to the summoning circle and conjure up some wasabi. Still, I wonder why no one has asked Wendelin how he even knows about these “exotic” dishes.

— Roderich delivers his report and more! He counters rumors of Wendelin’s death with another rumor. Well, is it really a rumor if it’s true? Either way, the evil mastermind is now under investigation. They doubt he’ll be punished, but at least he’ll be off Wendelin’s back for a while. More importantly, Rorderich reveals that he’s actually Ruckner’s illegitimate son. It’s all connected!

— This sounds like we’re just talking about Kurt.

— Eventually, the new waifu can’t take it anymore, so she dramatically rips off the doors and crashes the party. She’s so strong that she can flip Er over her shoulders like a ragdoll. Luckily, all she really wants is, well, food.

— So her father casually walks up to Wendelin and is like, “Yo, wanna bang my daughter Wilma?”

— It turns out that Wilma has magic constantly coursing through her veins. The upside is that she’s very, very strong. The downside, however, is that she constantly needs to eat. Shrug, there’s always at least one waifu with a voracious appetite. Persona 5 was missing one, so they added Kasumi. Anyways, since Wilma is so strong, she gets to join the team as a bodyguard… even though Wendelin is already surrounded by fighters.

— It’s a good thing that none of Wendelin’s waifus are the jealous type.

— Anyways, Kurt pretends to be sad over the news of his brother’s death, but he’s not-so-secretly laughing to himself. Unfortunately, his happiness is short-lived, because all of a sudden, the whole gang is here. Teleportation sure is useful.

My posts on this show probably gets the least views out of all the spring anime, but since I liked the game, I may as well see this through to the end.

— It’s odd to see so many people working under Reiji. The game gave me the impression that he pretty much did all of the maintenance work by himself.

— One thing the game never bothered to explain was why WLOF, the organization with which the Combat Revues report to, is so overrun by demons. I thought we took care of this problem in the game, but the demons are now back. Hell, I still don’t really know what demons are. It’d be nice if Sega would port the older games to modern consoles, but who knows what’ll happen…

— I let the OP run today, because I was busy with something else at the time. Listening to the song, I remembered how annoyed I was that beating the game didn’t unlock some sort of music player. For instance, the German team has their own song that plays when you talk to them in the ending, but you can barely hear it. It would’ve been nice just to listen to the song by itself. I also thought I would see more scenes of the girls performing on stage.

— Anyways, Leyla is now having second thoughts about forcing Klara to work for Valery. Without any hesitation, the guy whips out some sort of crystal that can control her. It’s probably a demon thing. I found it a bit odd that he didn’t try harder to convince her with his words, but I guess it goes to show you that he doesn’t really care about Leyla. She’s just a tool for his ascension.

— Klara wakes up to find herself at the orphanage that Hakushu runs. We quickly learn that the place serves as a social experiment to see if humans and demons can coexist. Naoya is one of those demons. Considering Hakushu’s unnatural strength, I wonder if she must have demon blood in her as well.

— Seijuro checks in from Europe to tell us what we probably have come to suspect: the actual Moscow Combat Revue is dead. It’s really quite ridiculous that it has taken so long for the good guys to realize that Valery and Leyla are nothing but imposters.

— Anyways, Leyla and Klara were essentially created in a lab. I love how in these stories all you gotta do is stick some cells in a human child, and all of a sudden, they’re half-human, half-whatever-you-want-them-to-be. Plus, this has to break some sort of ethical rule, right? You want coexistence between humans and demons, so you just decided to create demi-demons? That’s your bright idea?

— The best part is how Valery just showed up one day and volunteered to work at the research lab. Yup, nothing suspicious here at all. They don’t do very good background checks in this universe.

— A bunch of Valery’s mechanical dolls show up to try and assassinate Seijuro, but he takes them out with ease. Either these dolls are junk compared to the one that the girls fought, or the girls are really weak.

— Hakushu eventually convinces Klara that she belongs with the Imperial Combat Revue, but of course, Leyla immediately shows up to kidnap the girl. Still, we got to see her do a ballet move before bitch-slapping Naoya.

Hilarious.

— Alright, it’s time for the obligatory action scene.

— Even though Sakura and team has had issues with the bad guys in the past, they are suddenly much stronger in this week’s episode. I guess they’re finally back to the fighting strength that they showed at the end of the game. I think this is lazy writing, but oh well.

— Japanese bad guys and their true forms… yawn. Nothing new here.

— Hakushu also reveals that she was White Cape all along. What a shocker! Who knew?! I mean, sure, they have the same hair, the same skin color, the same fighting style (which Sakura honestly should’ve recognized), the same voice… but other than that, I had no clue!

— Again, before Klara can officially return to Sakura’s loving embrace, the bad guys intervene. This time, Valery snipes Sakura from his floating fortress, and our heroine is not doing so hot. Klara tries to save her, but I guess her powers take more than a day to recharge. Luckily, Hakushu is there. Again, I really think she must have some kinda demon strength in her. Oh well, we’ll see.

— The girls take more heavy fire from Valery, and in the ensuing chaos, Leyla is finally able to complete her mission. Oh well, that just means that the girls will have to go on a rescue mission. I bet Seijuro returns by then. I’m not exactly sure what else he needs to do in Europe. Maybe get rid of the demons within WLOF? Eh…

— Considering Sakura Wars‘ overall lighthearted tone, I think there’s a good chance Leyla might survive the story along with her sister. I wonder if she would then also join the Imperial Combat Revue. Ah well, we’ll find out in about a month or so.

There’s a lot I don’t quite understand about the story. I wonder if it’s because I’m not listening (no pun intended) intently enough or if that’s just how I’m supposed to feel.

— Even though Mu just murdered two young men, the citizens don’t know that. They just happy to think that Jimi is back. With this, Tommy kicks his plan into high gear. He’s putting together a second Project Freedom, and as a result, all of the Players are dusting themselves off and reconvening for one last show. Tommy even has an army of kids to spread his propaganda. I just wish there was more context for why these kids are ranting about how bad adults are to those same adults. What made Londinium turn out this way? I guess that’s just left up to our imagination.

— Where’s the real Mu right now? It seems like she’s stuck inside her own head. I don’t really understand what the Jimi in her head is talking about, though. Oh well, my knack for understanding these anime seems to have dulled over the years. I have less time and energy to really focus on these shows, and Listeners‘ narrative isn’t doing me any favors.

— After all, a lot of plot points just go unexplained. Apparently, the Dada sisters were in cahoots with Tommy. Were. They are quickly dismissed, and that’s it. They’ll show up again before the series is over, but I’m still left scratching my head for now.

— Echo seemed to have given up until Nir runs into him. But of course, it’s far from a happy reunion. She intends to get her revenge, and it’s not as though she isn’t justified. Not only has she lost her parents to the Earless, she lost her new friends to Mu. In any case, she inadvertently frees Echo from his stupor.

— The two kids discover that Tommy intends to drug everyone up at the concert. But before they can do anything about it, old man Marshall betrays them. He’s just a mercenary; he sells himself out to the highest bidder. No wonder these kids hate the grown-ups.

— Here’s where the evil mastermind explains the ins and outs of his plans. When the Field Marshall confronts Tommy, the latter reveals that he also wants Londinium to regain its supremacy. So… just what? World domination? Not exactly. That would be too simple. Too boring. This is where Purple Haze comes in. Tommy wants to destroy the self and have everyone come together as one consciousness. Wha…? Why? Where did this come from? How did we go from getting rid of the earless to some sort of human instrumentality dealio? I dunno, I just feel like the story is so rushed. I have no clue what could possibly motivate Tommy to want this, but when he’spressed, he just says that he’s nothing more than a mirror. He simply reflects the ambitions of others, so we’re still left in the dark.

— Tommy then takes out a gun and executes the Field Marshal for apparently conspiring with Denka and the Countryless King. When did this happen? Offscreen, I guess. Shrug. Sally isn’t too pleased here, so I’m guessing that she’ll end up betraying Tommy in the end. We’ll see, though.

— Nir eventually gets freed from prison by one of Ritchie’s friends. Echo, however, doesn’t get the same luck. She wants to leave him in there until she gets her revenge on Mu. So what does our hero do? He gets one of his wrenches and frees himself. C’mon, man, why didn’t you try that in the first place?

— Since Nir is busying trying to get her Equipment back, Echo gets to Mu first. Unfortunately, our heroine doesn’t even react to his presence. So Tommy shows up and we get a mini-confrontation. The bad guy goes on and on about how Mu chose this path on her own. Echo argues, however, that the Earless isn’t the true enemy. I mean, I wanna sympathize with him, but I don’t know what to think. We still don’t know what exactly happened during Project Freedom. And most of all, we don’t know exactly why the Earless are attacking random people. So yeah…

— Well, Nir crashes the party, but she’s clearly outmatched. We thus see more glimpses of the original Project Freedom. When Jimi touched hands with the Earless in the gate, even more Earless poured on through. Judging by the tears in Jimi’s eyes, this didn’t seem like what he had in mind. Then before long, the schlera in his eyes turn black just like what we saw with Mu. What does this mean? I dunno! No clue!

— A cold Mu doesn’t recognize Echo, so she starts to attack him. Nir thus jumps in the way to shield the blow. She ends off hurtling from the tower, but eh… no body means no confirmed death. She’s probably fine.

— Before anything worse can happen, Marshall shows up and tosses Echo into a garbage chute. With that, the kid gives up again. He just lays there as a train carries the garbage and him off to destinations unknown. I have to imagine he would end up back in Liverchester eventually, but I can’t really tell from the previews for next week’s episode. At the very least, he’ll meet a new face.

Laugh all you want, but this is what peak male performance looks like.

— In the first story, Miko wants to get on everyone’s case for not being the exemplars of virtue that she desires. Unfortunately, she has a soft spot for Chika, which we already know about but it disappoints me nonetheless. If you want to be generous and kind to Miko, I guess you would say that even the strictest disciplinarian has their weak spots. But from a another point of view, Miko’s fondness for Chika just makes her come off as a hypocrite. This is especially true when she admits to having double standards.

— This becomes amusing, however, because Miko’s idol ends up spending the rest of the story trying to corrupt her. Chika ropes the girls into snapping some cute pics for Instagram, which means Miko can’t complain because they’re in this together. Oh, I’m sure Chika would never dream of blackmailing her kouhai, but she now technically has photo evidence that Miko has broken a school rule.

— Meanwhile, Kaguya can’t make a cute face.

— If Miko somehow falls in love with Yu, she’s gonna look back on these moments and cringe.

— In the second story, Miyuki and Kaguya find themselves in the classic “trapped in a sports equipment shed” trope. So what’s the small twist on the classic? They each think that the other person engineered this little scenario. Well, whatever works. If this leads to them making out, so be it.

— But of course, they’re not actually gonna make out. When these two finally kiss, it’ll be huge, momentous event. There’s gonna be a huge build-up and everything. It’s going to the climax to a multi-episode story arc… so yeah, I fully expect someone to interrupt these two right before they actually do the oh-so-dirty deed.

— Aw snap, a Dark Souls 3 reference. Not only that, a reference to the “Ashes of Ariandel” DLC. Cool. I loved the Sister Friede fight. I mean, c’mon, it’s a killer nun dual-wielding scythes!

— Anyways, Kaguya eventually serves herself up to Miyuki on a silver platter. DO IT, YOU COWARD! KISS THE GIRL!

— Imagine staring up at these eyes and trying to feel amorous, though. I know Kaguya loves the president’s strained, tired look, but sheesh…

— As they say, “He who hesitates is lost.” So naturally, Miko walks in on the two lovebirds right before anything juicy can happen. Ah well, you’re not gonna see the big kiss this season anyways.

— I can’t believe Miyuki couldn’t break this twig.

— In the final story, Kaguya collapses shortly after Miyuki got up close and plucked a piece of lint that was stuck in her hair. According to Chika, not only is Kaguya frail in general, her family has a history of heart disease. Luckily (and naturally), she can afford the best doctors in Japan.

— That… doesn’t sound like a disease. That sounds like she’s just in love.

— Sure enough, the top doctor agrees.

— Oh no, here comes the tsuntsun side of the girl.

— And once again, another medical professional agrees.

— Imagine spending a ton of money on highly expensive medical equipment just because you don’t want to admit that you’re in love. Ah, the privileges of the filthy rich.

— I can’t tell if Ai is genuinely embarrassed or if she’s secretly laughing at her lady on the inside.

— In the end, there’s nothing wrong with Kaguya… except, y’know, her somewhat cute, somewhat exasperating innocence.

— Oh, I guess Ai really is embarrassed. Hm.

Come, comrades, let us don our revolutionary garb, work the fields, and build our social character through honest labor!

— A good chunk of the episode is actually from Maid Anne’s perspective. Maybe she’s in love with Catarina, too. Well, that’s probably going too far. From what I can tell, Catarina seems like a daughter that Anne has come to deeply cherish.

— Anne has had front row seats to Catarina’s romantic cluelessness, so she proceeds to tell us all about it. We go through this every week though, so this is nothing new. I mean, how many damn times do I need to be told that Nicol smiles exclusively for Catarina?

— Our heroine stuffs her mouth with donuts just like Homer Simpson. There’s no finer lady in all the land!

— Amusingly enough, even Catarina’s mom is against her engagement to the prince. I guess she’s afraid that her daughter would embarrass the family, but I mean, if Geordo doesn’t mind, then who cares? Ah well, I guess when you’re rich and pampered, you can afford to worry about stupid nonsense.

— Ugh, today’s cancel culture is just getting outta hand!

— Towards the middle of the episode, Catarina decides to throw a slumber party with her girlfriends.

— But you guys do this every week…

— In preparation for said party, she tries to get Anne’s opinion on some rather unique pajamas. I think the eggplant one is cute… plus it’s extra funny because the eggplant carries a certain connotation with young people these days. Though I suppose not in Japan, huh?

— Where does she even find these crazy pajamas?

— Sadly, our heroine ends up wearing boring ones to the party. In general, sleepwear in this universe appears to be very matronly. Sophia looks like she’s cosplaying as a fairy tale grandmother.

— Time for girl talk! Like, y’know, what sorta things you might wanna do with your future SO!

— Oh c’mon, what’s with the eggplants again!

— Maria’s answer is as boring as her personality: she would just make sweets for her beloved. On the other hand, Mary is quite bold. There’s a reason why I would root for her out of all of these dull side characters. Hell, she’s not even hinting that she has a crush on Catarina. She’s taken her confession, written it onto a hammer of love, and is now bludgeoning our poor heroine over the head with it… to no avail, of course. It just goes in one ear and out the other with Catarina.

— Last but not least, Sophia desires RIGHTEOUS REVOLUTION! EVISCERATE THE PROLETARIAT!

— The girls ask Anne to join in on the discussion, but the maid would never wanna get married. After all, this would mean leaving the Claes household.

— We proceed to get Anne’s backstory, which is huge tonal shift from the lighthearted slumber party. Apparently, the poor girl was the product of a baron’s affair with one of his maids. Then to pile on the feels, her mother died in a tragic fire. As a deeply scarred heart wasn’t enough, Anne also got a burn scar on her arm that no good person would really give a shit about. To the baron, however, she might as well be trash. Y’see, it’s all about establishing political connections through loveless marriages, and I guess rich guys can’t possibly overlook the scar.

— Afterward, Anne joined the Claes family, and over time, she came to love Catarina. When her father suddenly announced her betrothal (I guess there’s a man who can overlook the scar after all), Catarina came to her defense. This thus gave Anne the courage to finally stand up to her evil father! So what’s the lesson here? Well, our heroine treats everyone equally, which allows her loved ones to be themselves. This is especially meaningful in a society that is obsessed with appearances. Even among the rich, there’s a hierarchy wherein the lesser rich try to kiss up to their superiors. No such thing is necessary around Catarina, though. She is the people’s harem lead! Status doesn’t matter to her! Love for everyone! Rich or poor, man or woman, it doesn’t matter! All you gotta do is roll up your sleeves, pick up a farming tool, and get to work with the rest of your comrades! Why the revolutionary bent? Well, you’ll see.

— Shortly afterwards, Geordo gets a handwritten letter from Catarina. She probably sent the letter to everyone, but he’s giddy with delight anyways. C’mon, our girl is never gonna put the moves on anyone.

— Sure enough, everyone got the same damn letter. Maybe Catarina isn’t the only one who’s stupid.

— Geordo wanted to give Catarina an exquisitely fancy pair of gardening shears, but of course, everyone had the same idea. They all know her equally well, so they all need to dig a little deeper to set themselves apart. Like, I dunno, find her some fancy manure or something. Buy her a book on agricultural science. Use your imagination, people. Look alive.

— Catarina also has presents for her friends: this lovely green coat for working in the garden! Doesn’t it look like a uniform straight outta some communist country though?

— Unfortunately, storm clouds are brewing. Catarina thinks she’s avoided triggering all of the doom flags, but the mean girls at school are about to set her straight.

The gang goes looking for trouble and finds it.

— Right before the group sets off on their journey, Sayaka delivers a rousing speech. She even says, “We are weak. But they cannot take their wits from us.” I really should be kind. I should assume that she’s simply trying to give her motley crew a bit of courage, but c’mon, let’s be honest with ourselves. They have no idea what they’re up against, so they should also have no idea if they actually outwit anyone out there.

— If they run into the bad guys, what exactly can Chihiro do again? Doesn’t she just understand animals or something? I mean, she’s strong with Shuichi, but that was under a lot of duress. I don’t get the feeling that we’re gonna see that transformation again anytime soon.

— Clair is watching every interaction like a hawk, and this includes the rather innocent exchanges Shuichi might have with Chihiro. She really should just come right out and tell him that she’s envious of Chihiro — envious that someone else got to experience something with Shuichi that she couldn’t. But I suppose it’s better to stew in our negative emotions, because that’s easier. Even for someone who almost casually threw her life away, being forthright about her insecurities isn’t exactly a piece of cake.

— When Miku saves Sayaka from slipping off the path, she blushes rather deeply. Clair notices that too, and I find her reaction kinda amusing. Anyways, since there’s really no reason to show us this unless there’s meaning behind it, I guess it’s rather safe to assume that Miku might have a crush on her leader.

— Damn, Isao is a handy guy to have around on these hikes. You still wouldn’t find me anywhere near nature, though. Just sayin’, I’m the last person on this planet to ever go camping. I ain’t pissing in the woods like some beast.

— Chihiro wants to tell the group what Elena has already told her: someone has already collected 100 coins. Unfortunately, the meek girl naturally can’t find her voice, which is… well, I mean, it’s kinda pathetic. Look, if you wanna be shy in normal, perfectly harmless situations, knock yourself out. I don’t do so well in large groups either. But her teammates are putting their lives at risk for something that might not even be possible. If she tells them now, she can prevent anyone from getting hurt or worse. When your friends’ lives are potentially on the line, I don’t think it’s controversial to say that you need to get over yourself and be brave. Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen. After scarfing down their watermelons, the group continues on their ill-fated journey towards the crash site.

— Eventually, Clair is actually the one to try and pull the team back. She deduces that they’re being herded right into the open, and she isn’t wrong. Unfortunately, her warning comes a bit too late; they’ve already been spotted.

— So Sayaka goes, “Calm down, we’re fine. We might be weak, but we’re good at running away.” We immediately cut to the group just running away normally. Again, she’s probably just keeping her scared friends from losing it in the face of imminent death, but I still can’t help but kinda chuckle.

— Some grotesque centipede monster quickly catches up to the gang, and the guy easily brushes Shuichi/Clair off when the duo goes in for the fight. Welp, Clair talked her and Shuichi up to the group in last week’s episode, so this is kinda embarrassing.

— The centipede then grabs Sayaka and starts groping her. Yeah, it figures there would be a bunch of potential rapists out here trying to collect those coins. The only silver lining — if you can it even consider it one — is that what we see here is likely toned down from the manga. I’ll take a peek at original source material once this season is done.

— Naturally, the good guys are told to surrender themselves or die. The centipede even throws out a severed head in case anybody thinks that he and his gang are bluffing. Episodes ago — I can’t really remember how many — some poor girl ran into these same assholes. Obviously, she lost her life. I’m just thankful, however, that I don’t have to learn what else they might have done to her before taking her head.

— Priorities, Yota, priorities…

— Alright, pinching her nipples is a bit too gratuitous.

— With Shuichi/Clair still trying to recover from having the wind knocked out of them, it’s time for Yota to prove to the audience that he can actually fight and fight well. Personally, I don’t care for this sort of thing. We’re veering a bit too hard into shounen battle territory. Oooh, he’s a beast. Gimme a break.

— I wonder why Clair didn’t have Tadanori on standby. Seems like it would’ve been wise. Maybe she has a different backup plan up her sleeve.

— Let’s just skip right ahead to the centipede having already been defeated. The group then casually walks away even though they should know that the centipede’s allies are still nearby. This seems kinda silly to me.

— The bad guys’ boss really doesn’t like to lose anyone in his gang. They’re all scum, but they’re scum together. The centipede dude was an asshole creep, but he’s their asshole creep. So when someone hurts one of your own, you gotta get your justice! Well, this makes sense. He has to do this, ’cause otherwise, there’s really nothing keeping the gang together. They’re a bunch of amoral assholes; they have no real reason to care for one another. The boss has to instill those values in them, and he can’t do that if he overlooks the depraved centipede’s death.

— He thus transforms into his monster self — a rather boring ape — and immediately catches up to Shuichi/Clair and friends. Without any warning, Isao goes down. Yota tries to retaliate, but his punch doesn’t even phase the ape. Welp, if Yota can’t do anything, I doubt Shuichi/Clair can do much either. If the good guys wanna get out of this mess, they’re gonna have to resort to those wits that Sayaka had previously talked up. For her friends’ sake, let’s hope that she was right.

— For whatever reason, the ape takes a rather pointed interest in Clair right before she climbed into Shuichi. He even licked his lips and everything. It’s easy to assume that he’s a creep just like his centipede buddy — that he’s after Clair’s body — but who knows? Maybe there’s more to his interest than that.

— This is already the ninth episode, so we’re coming up against the end of the first season. I wonder how it’s gonna wrap itself up. If the climax is simply overcoming the ape and escaping from the mountain with their lives, then I dunno… that seems kinda weak. Needless to say, we’re not even close to unraveling the mystery behind everything. What is Elena’s group really up to? Why did Elena erase Shuichi’s memories? What are the Alien’s true intentions? And most of all, I really just want to see how Shuichi and Clair develop as characters. Everyone else isn’t really that interesting to me.

After just one meeting with Akito, Kyo seems to have accepted his lot in life.

— When Tohru hears that Akito has summoned Kyo, she is excited for him. She’s so optimistic that she can’t even imagine that the Sohmas have been taking nothing but Akito’s abuse for the past few days. Kyo is just the next victim in line. Hm, I guess you can’t really fault someone for always trying to see the silver lining in every situation, but this is an example of how unchecked optimism can actually hurt someone. Kyo isn’t affected, but I can imagine someone else in his shoes feeling as though Tohru doesn’t really understand their feelings. ‘Cause who knows, maybe Kyo is actually doing a good job at hiding his emotions, but from my perspective, he clearly isn’t happy to be summoned. If anything, he’s confused and perhaps even a bit disturbed. Tohru doesn’t see that, though. So again, either we are allowed to see what she can’t see, or she’s not as perceptive as she could be.

— No child — and yes, Kyo is still a child especially to someone as old as me — should look like this, but Shigure marches him to Akito’s room anyways. After all, this is what he wants. He wants something to happen between these characters. It’s just rather sad that a grown man is using children as his pawns.

— Once again, Yuki warns Kyo not to cause any trouble. And after Kyo is no longer within hearing range, the rat goes, “He needs to know his place. Him and me both.” Does he have any ounce of sympathy for the cat? Any guilt over the fact that one of his own family members will be locked up for the rest of his life? I can’t really tell. To be fair, Kyo wants the rat to be locked up instead, so I guess everyone needs to look past themselves. Unfortunately, they can do it for Tohru, but not each other.

— You kinda wanna facepalm when you listen to this girl speak.

— Kyo’s meeting with Akito goes about as well as you might expect. The latter insists that Kyo can never beat Yuki, which the former probably knows. Obviously, he shouldn’t even be trying to beat Yuki. He should try to find a solution that doesn’t involve imprisoning anybody, but I can’t really expect much from a hot-headed teen with a long history of being emotionally abused and isolated from his own family.

— Oh yeah, physical abuse too.

— Akito then insists over and over that Kyo is responsible for his mother’s death, which then dredges up painful memories of his own father saying the same thing. Shitty parent check!

— When Kyo is finally emotionally broken and on his knees, Akito wears a smile on her face. She delights in his suffering. I’m sure by the end of this series, she will have seen the wrongs in her ways and thus change for the better. And as a result, the rest of the Sohmas will eventually forgive her when they are ready. After all, it is said that forgiveness is a good thing. Eh. I don’t agree. If it were me, the amount of pain that Akito has inflicted on everyone can never be forgiven. That doesn’t mean, however, that you should hold onto hate in your heart. That doesn’t mean that you should try and seek retribution. But it’s not an either/or situation. Just because you stop hating someone doesn’t mean you have to forgive them. You simply move on. Maybe that’s the disconnect. I feel as though you can be at peace what someone has done to you without actually forgiving them. Others might disagree, and that’s fine.

— Even Akito admits that Tohru is like a saintly mother. She, however, screws up when she starts insisting that Tohru must be a monster because she’s too perfect. Well, no, Tohru isn’t perfect. But more importantly, isn’t that notion ridiculous? You’re a monster for loving and accepting everyone? So of course, this gives Kyo at least some strength to get back on his feet. Akito had him dead to rights. He was on his knees and sobbing. You can attack his guilt all you want, and you’ll eventually break him. But by dragging Tohru into this, Akito inadvertently gives Kyo the nudge he needs to make some sort of stand against all this abuse. Of course, I’m not on Akito’s side. I’m just amused that she got a bit too arrogant and tried to go for too much.

— Knowing that Akito is wrong about Tohru — and knowing that he has to protect Tohru after everything she’s done for him — Kyo finally comes to the realization that he’s in love with her.

— But in the middle of arguing with Akito, Kyo recalls yet another rather painful memory. Apparently, he feels responsible for Tohru’s mother’s death. I mean, that’s pretty much what I can infer from what little information I’ve been given. I doubt he actually caused her to die, so he probably thinks that he could’ve saved her somehow but he didn’t for whatever reason. And just to twist the knife even further, he also believes that Tohru’s mother had used her last words to tell him that she would never forgive him. I doubt someone who raised a kid like Tohru could ever find it within herself to spite a little kid like that, but meh, traumas make you believe wacky things.

— And because Kyo now realizes that he’s in love with Tohru, he mistakenly believes that there’s only one thing he can do: if he wants to protect her, then he needs to accept his place. After all, he’s operating from the false premise that he killed her mother. As a result, he doesn’t deserve her. Unfortunate, isn’t it?

— So in the end, Kyo gives up and lies; he tells Akito that not only does he hate Tohru, he could never fall in love. I doubt Akito believes that, but she still got what she wanted: destroying Kyo’s spirit.

— Classic abuser move: they always claim that no one else can love you as much as they do.

— YO LADY TURN OFF THE DAMN FAUCET

— Yuki also doesn’t believe that Kyo can hate Tohru, but honestly, who can? Honestly, not even Akito. She hates her idea of Tohru. She thinks Tohru is out here trying to steal the Sohmas away from her. But she can’t hate Tohru when she doesn’t even know the girl.

— When Kyo finally gets to go back to the main vacation house, he finds himself looking for Tohru. After suffering Akito’s abuse, he yearns for her unconditional love and acceptance. When he was younger, he thought he had truly given up on love. He thought there would be no way out of his despair, but his master told him otherwise. Kazuma reassures the kid that hope can never be extinguished. After meeting Tohru, Kyo finally understands what his master had tried to tell him… kinda.

— Akito’s room is cold and closed off. Meanwhile, Tohru is out in the open, bathed by the warmth of the sunset. Not a particularly deep contrast, but I felt it was worth pointing out.

— Y’see, Kyo now understands that there’s someone out there who can love and accept him. That hope is still alive. Unfortunately, he has no hope in actually being with her. Again, he thinks he killed her mother, so as far as he’s concerned, that ship has sailed. So he resigns himself to the fact that he and Tohru now have an expiration date. From now until he is “inevitably” imprisoned, he hopes that she will stick by his side. Hm. I don’t really get it, I suppose. Even if he gives up on the idea of being with Tohru, that doesn’t mean he has to imprison himself. But I guess the Sohmas all believe that someone has to be the scapegoat. And if he can’t have his lover by his side, I guess he might as well be the scapegoat.

— It kinda sucks that Kyo is making this decision on his own. After all, even if he truly is guilty for her mother’s death, Tohru would likely forgive him anyways. But he’s probably too scared that she might hate him, so he’ll take that secret to the grave. I personally think that’s stupid.

— It’s funny, isn’t it? This vacation seems to have strengthened Yuki’s resolve. He’s the one who confesses to Tohru (even though it was a weak, pathetic one), and he’s the one who will now try to fight for her. On the other hand, Kyo will probably now try and prevent Tohru from getting too close to him. Man, wouldn’t it be ironic if she ends up coming to terms with her feelings for Kyo because he’s pushing her away?

I thought Schmelman sent Doan to get Licht back, but apparently, the latter just flat-out murdered Licht. Oh well, time for another amazing episode of Plunderer.

— Obviously, the show’s primary protagonist isn’t going to stay dead, but I’m still confused as to what Schmelman was and still is trying to accomplish.

— In any case, when the gang finally catches up to Licht, they get captured.

— Elsewhere, Jail pays his adoptive dad a visit in a dramatic fashion. Simply opening the door would’ve sufficed…

— Alexandrov actually has flames on his shades. I guess he takes fashion tips from Guy Fieri. Anyways, he tells Jail that the kid no longer has to worry about how they broke the law by attacking the Althing episodes ago. Why? ‘Cause Nana somehow went to the city and begged for mercy? Forgiveness? Who knows… she must’ve done it while everyone was in the past. Nevertheless, if it is this easy to overlook a crime, I’m not sure why Alexandrov didn’t just do this in the first place for his son.

— Unfortunately for Alexandrov, Jail isn’t here to have a happy reunion with his dad. Instead, they duke it out. Jail starts yelling at his father for betraying everyone. After all, when he used to be Captain Alan, he helped bring about Alcia. At the same time, however, Jail had a chance to change the past, but he chose not to. So what exactly is he whining about now? The argument is that preventing Alcia’s creation would’ve erased the lives of all of the people living in Alcia right now, but I think it’s a weak one.

— Jail lands a few hits, but in the end, he’s no match for his father. Alexandrov then proceeds to give us his sob story all about how he lost his two children. Some guy murdered them to get for his own child, and as a result, Alexandrov couldn’t pull the trigger and avenge his kids. He instead came to the the conclusion that Alcia is a necessary evil. Basically, you can screw over most of the world as long as some people get to live in luxury. Fantastic morals. Absolutely stunning.

— Jail, however, isn’t happy with the sob story. After all, Nana could’ve sent Alexandrov back to the past in order to prevent his two kids from dying. So why didn’t the man take that option? Well, apparently, it was all for Jail. Somehow, saving his two kids meant Alcia never would’ve come about, and as a result, Jail wouldn’t have existed. Alexandrov couldn’t make that sacrifice, so he chose not to use Nana’s powers… which is dumb to me. You can’t possibly know that saving two kids’ lives would somehow totally prevent Alcia’s creation. C’mon, it all hangs on the balance of two kids’ lives? Gimme a break.

— In the end, Jail is fired from the military, but as a parting gift, he gets to wear the uniform. What does this mean for him and LIcht, though? Is he still gonna defend Alcia from Licht if necessary?

— Geez dude, just put on your jacket like a normal person.

— Back to Hina and friends… Nana is oddly missing. I’m not sure where they took her. Maybe Schmelman has other plans for her.

— Doan starts torturing the trio over Sonohara’s whereabouts. Maybe Schmelman also wants her back… or maybe Doan has other ideas of his own. Can’t really say, because we hardly know a thing about Doan and what makes him tick. After all, you might think he shouldn’t care about Hina and friends, but he actually warns them to watch what they say around Schmelman. Maybe the uggo actually has a heart.

— Speaking of Schmelman, he finally shows up and explains that his personality from 300 years ago was all a farce. He never once cared about the children. He never once took the whole “an army that never kills” idea seriously. He just played along in order to weed out the weaklings. I wonder if he’s lying now, though. After all, I still want to know where Firenda has disappeared to. Schmelman can claim whatever he wants, but it sure looked like she was manipulating him back then.

— Before Schmelman leaves, he orders his men to turn Hina, Lynn, and Pele into Aces. All you need to do now is just take a pill. Surprisingly, Doan ends up preventing this from happening. He claims, however, that he doesn’t actually care about them. He just doesn’t think they deserve to be Aces without going through the great war. In fact, he’s just going to let them go. Um, okay.

— Unfortunately, clumsy ass Hina drops her Ballot when trying to pick up her staff (what does she even need the staff for?). When Doan sees it, it really pisses him off for reasons unknown, so now he wants to kill them again. Talk about bipolar. The problem with Doan is that he isn’t just ugly. He also has no character development. I have no clue what his motivations are, but because he has no backstory, I also have no reason to care. All I know about the guy is that he’s a jerk. Not a very compelling villain, huh?

— Welp, Hina is back to being a damsel in distress. Unfortunately, Licht is still “dead” as of now, so I wonder how these kids are gonna get themselves out of this mess.

— And that’s it. Seems like kind of an uneventful episode outside of Jail confronting his dad, but I guess that was supposed to be a big deal.

Homecoming is often bittersweet.

— Wendelin has come home in order to purify the nearby forest of its myriad zombies. Normally, this would be greatly appreciated by the locals, but to nobody’s surprise, Kurt is giving his younger brother a hard time. Their father is still alive, but I guess he’s pretty much handed the reins over to Kurt. He just sits there quietly and says nothing. Of course, I can’t expect much from a noble who can’t even write or read.

— The problem with Kurt is that he’s a bit over-the-top in his evilness. When the zombies are laid to rest, Wendelin intends to hand their possessions over to their loved ones. Kurt, however, argues that this is pointless, because the people here are poor. And because they’re poor, there’s nothing worth handing over. Geez, dude. Do you also steal candy from babies?

— Luckily, not all of Wendelin’s brothers hate him. In fact, it seems like Kurt is the only one who holds him any ill will. Well’s still on good terms with Hermann. It’s funny to me that Kurt would be so scared to lose his position as the heir. Well has already established a different Baumeister line. Not only that, he’s already filthy rich. There’s really no reason for him to gun for Kurt’s position, especially out here in the boondocks. He clearly doesn’t want to be here.

— When it comes time to purify the forest, the group stands in a clearing and starts hurling insults. Yup, that’s apparently how you aggro the zombies. Give them your best “yo mama” jokes and see them slowly shuffle after you.

— At first, Erwin whines about how there’s nothing to do. That’s when all of the zombie fauna start attacking. So the operation from way back when was pretty pointless, huh? They killed all of these monsters only for these monsters to come back as zombies. What a waste of time.

— Hermann’s wife Marlene has a grandfather who also died in the expedition, so the group hangs around long enough for him to show up. Luckily, he doesn’t put up a fight. As soon as he hears that his granddaughter is doing well, he allows Elise to send him off peacefully. It’s a bit cliche, but this is probably the only touching moment in the entire episode.

— Kurt might not be appreciative of Wendelin’s efforts, but the villagers are. So naturally, the heir has to make himself look even worse to his subjects. He suddenly shows up and demands that all of dead soldiers’ equipment be handed over. He claims that he wants to use the iron from them to develop the land, but obviously, this doesn’t go over well with the villagers. See, this is what I don’t get. If you keep treating your people this poorly, they’ll eventually revolt. This happens all the time in history. Maybe Kurt is just that myopic. Sadly, the same can be said about Arthur since he’s allowing his son to run the territory into the ground.

— This is funny, because Wendelin already outranks his brother.

— Anyways, Well solves the problem by whipping out a huge cube of iron from his magical sack. Jesus, how much would that cube weigh? I guess you can look up the weight of pure iron and do some quick math, but I’m lazy. In any case, I imagine it must be difficult to haul it to the blacksmith.

— Wendelin thinks that he can now leave, because his job is done. Unfortunately, he’s asked to stay until all of those equipment have been returned to their loved ones. Why would Wendelin need to be present for that? Well, let’s just say the conspirators are still trying to kill him.

— The next day, a funeral is held for those who died. The villagers are dismayed that Kurt doesn’t even bother to show up. I think I smell revolt in the air.

— Huh… do you normally throw a big feast after a funeral? I wouldn’t know. I’ve been lucky enough to have never had to attend a funeral.

— Even though Kurt despises Wendelin, it’s interesting that his toxicity has not spread to the rest of his family. His wife Amalie (and amusingly enough, Wendelin’s future wife) is still on good terms with the hero. I guess Kurt doesn’t talk to his wife much, because I can only imagine two scenarios. Either she doesn’t know how much Kurt hates Wendelin, or she knows but doesn’t try to quell his hate. She doesn’t seem like a bad person, so I doubt it’s the latter. In any case, her two children are enamored with the famed Dragon Killer! It also helps when your uncle spoils you with sweets.

— For some reason, Well’s retainers are acting out a play in honor of his exploits. Seems kinda tacky for a post-funeral feast, but again, what do I know?

— Having seen the man that Wendelin has become, the village head Klaus begs our hero to consider taking over the territory. Well still wants to be an adventurer, so Klaus suggests putting someone he trusts to run the place. After all, anyone’s gotta be better than Kurt. Still, I can’t imagine Wendelin directly opposing Kurt even if the latter hates his guts. Kurt will get himself killed before Wendelin actually attacks him. Oh well, we’ll see what happens next. Not like we’ve got many episodes left.

What’s that? Is the Obu finally back?!

— Sakura’s Mugen is completely demolished from the last battle. But since I’ve played game, I know she has another one. I just have no idea why it has been collecting dust since the anime series started.

— Klara wakes up to find herself in an exact replica of the home she once grew up in. The problem here, of course, is that Valery can’t replicate Natalia, their mother. As a result, the room can be nothing more than a fake. Klara needs a family, and Valery is too far up his ass to provide that.

— If this was true, no one would have a problem losing weight.

— It seems as though Klara might be getting through to Leyla, but Valery quickly shows up to put a stop to that. He talks to Leyla as if she’s nothing more than a machine, but she’s none the wiser. He then sticks a crystal inside Klara, so like Leyla, he can now control her? Yeah, the problem with this show is that we know basically nothing about the villain. How did he infiltrate WLOF? Shrug. Where did he get the resources to build the Sevastopol? Shrug. Why does he want to create a new world? Shrug. I guess the last remaining episodes will delve into his backstory, but I’m not getting my hopes up that it’s going to be any good.

— Klara gets strapped into this contraption, which allows Valery to take advantage of her demonic powers. So this is what Leyla wants? This is the happiness she’s been seeking for her sister? How come Leyla is so much more vulnerable to emotional manipulation than her sister?

— Valery tells the entire world to surrender. If they don’t, they’ll meet his wrath… which is sadly just a huge fuck-off laser. He wants to be God, but I think there’s more to it than just having a weapon of mass destruction. He doesn’t even explain what he wants to do with the world. Oh well, just another bad, underdeveloped villain.

— Elsewhere, Seijuro teams up with Elise and Lancelot to clean up WLOF, but again, the anime never explains why the organization has once again been infiltrated by the bad guys. Why is WLOF so incompetent?

— Without her Mugen, Sakura decides to go battle in an older model. That’s all fine and dandy, but she still has that new one… the one that kicked all sorts of ass in the latter half of the game. Why are we not using it?

— Somehow, Reiji had the time and resources to construct this contraption. He also did it behind everyone’s backs, ’cause even Kaoru is surprised. Doesn’t she handle the team’s budget…?

— Reiji tells Hakushu that the Great Bow wasn’t designed for humans to use, but she doesn’t care. She obviously has some demon in her.

— When the good guys arrive, Valery states the obvious. He can push a button and just win right now. But like all of his idiotic predecessors, he’s gonna give the good guys a chance because it’s more fun this way. What a dork.

— Remember Black Cape? Now there’s an entire room full of them! So what do the girls say? “So Kaminski was behind it all, huh?” Now you’re sure? You only know that… now?

— The team could barely handle Black Cape on their own, but somehow, they’re wiping these robots out left and right. What’s changed? Shrug.

— The only person who’s struggling is Sakura, but that’s understandable. After all, she’s running an old model. At some point, her Kobu stops responding. HQ tells her to pull back, but she utterly refuses to give up. Right there and then, Sumire sees the previous Sakura in our Sakura. Okay… but I mean, this sort of thing also happened in the game. It’s weird how the anime series wants to have its own story, but it also ends up repeating many of the game’s themes and story beats. The only thing that’s missing is the romance. We get to see Seijuro spend one quality day with Sakura, but that’s it. Isn’t the romance one of the big reasons why fans are into the games? So it’s weird that the anime series would reduce that to a minimum.

— Since Sakura won’t pull back, Sumire gives her the approval to finally use the Obu, the mecha that I’ve been harping on and on about. Reiji objects, however, because the Obu might draw out too much of Sakura’s spirit power. Huh? That wasn’t a huge concern in the game.

— So again, we have the anime series replicating one of the game’s major story beats. Oh yeah, Sakura got a new, more powerful mecha in the game? Okay, she’ll get it again in the anime… except it’s the same damn mecha. We just gotta pretend that she couldn’t use it up until now!

Every hero eventually has to decide if they want to keep on fighting.

— When Echo “wakes up,” he is greeted by a girl who looks a whole lot like Little Bo Peep. Well, her name is Janis, and she immediately takes the boy in and cares for him. She even strips him down to his boxers… or maybe her grandpa did. Shrug.

— On the surface, Echo seems to have given up on… well, everything. He decides to stick around and help out with the farm. This involves harvesting vegetables, tending to the farm animals, so on and so forth. And every night, he gets a humble meal. A simple life in an idyllic setting is nice and all, but I still find it odd that Echo would choose this out of all the possibilities in front of him. Alright, he doesn’t think he can help Mu anymore. He also might have assumed that she has rejected him (even though she’s not really herself in current state). But even if those two points are true, why would Echo stay here? Why wouldn’t he at least go home and be with his sister? Maybe he doesn’t want to come home as a failure?

— At one point in the episode, he discovers a basement full of vinyl records. Unfortunately, he has never seen vinyl records before, so he mistakes them for… books? How on earth do these resemble books?

— Janis, however, refers to the records as memories. Alright. Well, if we have records, we must have a record player.

— Eventually, the seasons change. That implies that Echo has been living here for a really long time… assuming that this place is even real. After all, the last time I checked, Chicago and Liverpool aren’t on the same continent. Plus, I doubt this story takes place so far in the future that England and the US have somehow drifted near each other.

— If you look closely, you can see Janis’s name on the gravestone. Not only that, she’s Jimi’s actual sister. Kind of a big giveaway, but I guess the story thinks we should’ve suspected that something was off by now.

— Eventually, Janis decides to test Echo. Now that he’s spent so much “time” here, would he like to stay forever? And if he does, would he prove it by handing over Mu’s very important item? In the end, Echo can’t give it up. This is a common and perhaps even important step in every hero’s journey. They will eventually fail, and in doing so, they will begin to entertain other alternatives… “what-if” scenarios. What if I give up on being the hero? What if I just settle down and be ordinary? Echo has tried it, and he doesn’t hate it… but a small part of his heart still yearns for something else — adventures, Mu, music, love, passion, all of it really.

— If it wasn’t clear by now that Echo isn’t in the real world, Janis takes him to The Crossroads. Ooh, how surreal.

— We eventually come to a building which houses a record player, but to the characters, it is the Origin. Alright then.

— Since we’ve got the Origin, why not have an origin story! As a result, Janis’s grandpa is conveniently here to tell us a thing or two about the Earless. Even now, however, we don’t really know where they come from. The old man simply says that they appeared out of the blue. At first, there was no fighting between humans and the Earless. Humans were simply curious, but it sounds like that curiosity gave way to fear, which then gave way to aggression. All-out war inevitably broke out.

— Back then, Jimi was just an ordinary boy who set out on a journey with a simple dream. He eventually comes to realize that the Earless aren’t truly Earless. That’s just the name that humans gave them. All this time, however, they’ve heard everything that humans were saying about them. In other words, the Earless are really the Listeners. Welp, that means humans are ironically the ones who can’t hear.

— We still don’t know everything though. We know how Mu came to be, but why did she end up in a trash dump? Shrug.

— So according to the old man, humans prayed to be able to convey what was in their hearts to the Earless. This was how Equipment came into existence. I still can’t help but wonder why this is possible, but I guess some things should just remain a mystery. Maybe there’s a god out there looking out for everyone.

— Also, if Equipment were originally meant to convey humanity’s heart, why did Players use them to fight the Earless? Dunno. Maybe aggression is just our natural inclination. There are certainly those who want to spread a message of love and peace, but they are definitely in the minority.

— After seeing all of this, Echo’s desire to see Mu again is reignited. After all, he never got the chance to tell her about his feelings. He wanted to do so after the play, but that was already too late. Well, he can try and convey his heart now. As a result, this fervent wish gives way to him becoming a Player.

— Mu went from Earless to Player. Does that imply that she had a message that she wanted to convey as well? She must have forgotten it along with all her other memories.

— Now that Echo has his mission, he doesn’t need to place anymore. As a result, it starts to disintegrate like an old memory along with its inhabitants. Right before Janis disappears, she gives the kid a little encouragement. Everyone starts out ordinary. Heroes aren’t made in a day.

— Echo wakes up again to find himself in a dump, so it looks like he didn’t really waste too much time in the dream world. Nevertheless, the farm is definitely long gone.

— Elsewhere, the Second Coming is about to start, but Mu isn’t going to obey Tommy’s orders. Instead, she has reawaken as the King of the Earless, and proceeds to turn everything near her into the Earless. She, however, just straight up absorbs Tommy into her body. Wonder if that means he’s dead for good. Oh well, he’s a murderer anyway.

— Did Jimi sacrifice himself to give Mu a chance to see and live among humans? And when humans tried to take advantage of her, does she just now want to wipe out humanity (or, at least, turn us into Listeners like her kind)? That’s my best guess for now.

— In any case, Mu conveniently announces that she’ll take a break for now. That’s nice. Gives Echo time to prepare himself. Maybe even gather all the warriors that he has met on this journey. After all, we still don’t know how Nir is doing ever since Mu launched her out of the tower in last week’s episode.

You know the drill.

— It turns out that the straitlaced Miko has a rather overactive imagination. Maybe that’s just how it is. The more tightly wound you are, the more likely it is that you might entertain some rather… peculiar thoughts.

— In her wildest dreams, she’s ironically the one who’s trying to get the student council to ease up. Needless to say, this is far from the case.

— The Peanuts? Huh?

— If Kobachi feels this way, maybe she should just join the student council. I doubt it’s too late.

— Apparently, Miko had received a heartfelt message from someone when she was in the pits at one time in her life. The gesture touched her so much that she went and preserved the flower as a bookmark. She even considers it an act of pure love (though this pop culture reference is anything but pure). Wouldn’t it be funny if the message ended up being from someone she despises like Yu? He seems like the dork who would pull that sort of thing anyway. Y’know, anime characters that like to jump on the grenade for everyone’s sake? Except, of course, there are very few school drama on this earth that is as serious as an actual grenade. That’s why I kinda dislike characters with a propensity to play the sacrificial lamb or martyr. They always go too far for way too little. Hachiman from Oregairu is the biggest offender, and honestly, Yu’s got a bit of that in him. He lays the cynical attitude on thick if only to hide his true feelings from the world.

— Anyways, Kobachi tries to convince Miko that perhaps she’s overreacting to perfectly innocent situations, but this only makes her swing too far in the other direction. Rather than Miyuki being the pervert, she now thinks that Kaguya is a devilish schemer-slash-femdom. Well, some men are into that sort of thing. Have you guys heard of findom? Good lord, way to destroy your livelihood just to get your rocks off.

— In the end, Miko tries to confront Kaguya, but they both just misunderstand each other. Ah, the troubles of communication…

— In the second third of the episode, Kaguya has been avoiding Miyuki ever since she was diagnosed with lovesickness. So what does Ai suggest? Finding a ritual that’ll help calm her down in sticky situations.

— As a result, Kaguya starts “Voguing.” Ai’s having a laugh, isn’t she?

— Nevertheless, her master discovers that simply cupping her left cheek with her right hand will instantly calm her down. Hm. Maybe it’s something her mother used to do. Oh well, time to put the technique to the test!

— Nothing like a battle of love.

— Really? Kaguya is a black belt? When did this happen? Why does she look so frail?

— Miyuki nearly gets a flawless victory, but that’s only because Kaguya was holding back. All she has to do is throw him once, and just like that, the match is over. I feel for him. I hate fighting against grapplers, too. They’re so annoying to deal with.

— Finally, we get to Yu, who foolishly joined the cheerleading club because he thought it would make him into a normie. I mean, it still can. He just has to fake it at the beginning, and eventually, the normie way will worm itself into his heart. Or he could just sit there and mope. If you don’t put in the token effort, then it’s really you who’s the problem.

— Still, one of the girl reaches out to him. She better be careful, though. Guys like Yu tend to fall in love with the first girl who shows him any kindness. Kaguya is only immune from this because she legitimately strikes fear into his heart.

— The club wants to cross-dress for an upcoming event. Yu thinks he’s in a pickle, because he mistakenly believes that he doesn’t have any female friends. But I mean, c’mon, between these three choices, the answer is obvious, isn’t it? Kaguya has been looking out for him ever since he joined the student council. She’s not gonna stop now.

— Still, he’s pretty much taller than all of the three girls. There’s no way he could actually fit in their uniforms, right?

— Welp, I’m wrong. He does. I like how Miko just walks in and walks right back out. Kinda like that Grandpa Simpson gif.

— The guy is channeling some serious Dean Pelton energy with this statement.

— Yu inadvertently suggests that Kaguya is flat-chested, so she quickly gets her revenge. But other than that, the story ends on a “to be continued” note. Well, that’s kind of an unsatisfying conclusion to the episode. Oh well.