This show’s been absent for a while because I haven’t been able to think of anything to really say for the last few episodes. Sure, there’s been some amusing stuff, like Yoshitake’s putting Warring States generals in everything, Sue following Those Two Girls (*should just look up their names – is too lazy*) around during the festival like a spoiled dog begging for food, and Ohno getting giddy over the prospect of getting all the club members into cosplay, but you can’t really get even a short paragraph on something like that.
There’s probably also a bunch
more that can be said about Hato, what with how he can only draw well when
cross-dressing, and this continual anxiety he feels over whether Madarame and
Kasukabe should be together – no Hato, don’t go trying to break up her and
Kohsaka. Trying to force something like that is just a bad idea. And I suppose
his ability to go become a yaoi-drawing machine when cross-dressing stems from
exactly what Ogiue pointed out in episode 9 – he likes and wants to draw it,
but he’s ashamed of it and thus can only do it as a girl, since it feels more
‘acceptable’ that way, what with the target audience for yaoi being women. He’s
basically the main ‘embarrassed about what they like’ character this season. I
know, completely new information,
right? Yes, I really couldn’t think of anything else to say.
Stella Women’s Academy [ep. 9 – Thus, the Party Ends]
OK, it’s official – Sono’s a
troll. The first time it just looked like fanservice (not that it isn’t
still…), but this time it’s clear she walks out of the bathroom naked on
purpose, just to startle Yura. Then there was the ninja ramen-eating. I’m not
complaining – the latter was pretty funny, and there’s probably a hundred
things before now that made that clear and I’m forgetting about…like when she
swiped Karila and Honoka’s bikini tops to use as replacement flags. Wait, why
am I only making this declaration now? But yeah, total troll.
Anyways. Now we know where Rin’s
coming from, and while she’s not just self-absorbed like I was kinda assuming
she was, she’s still misguided, but because she took the wrong lesson from the
death of Sono’s (and her) mentor. Also, it turns out she’s not the one who shot Sono – but if she knew he was there when it
happened, I rather doubt she wasn’t just standing by and letting it happen. She
can catch him after he’s taken her
rival out of commission. And her reaction when Yura tries to come clean does
make sense – in her book, doing anything you need to in order to win is
perfectly acceptable, so Yura didn’t do anything wrong, at least not according
to her own personal code of behaviour; really, she’d probably only consider
knowingly doing things that hurt your chances of winning to be ‘violations,’
regardless of what the rules might actually be. Plus, she’s clearly trying to
turn Yura to the Dark Side, and as of now it’s working.
And down that path lies nothing
but hollow victories. They really drove home the comparison between the two
teams this episode. The Meisei girls are practicing in a normal shooting range,
except it’s bleak and sterile and the only time one of them even speaks is to
give Rin a message in a business-like manner. Meanwhile, the Stella girls are
playing some silly game, joking around, and clearly having a blast. And it’s
not like they can’t be serious – they’re plenty serious when Yura tries to tell
them what happened. But when you get down to it, they’re doing the same thing –
practicing their shooting; hitting a small piece of rope is probably as hard as
hitting the center of a paper target, when you think about it. But it’s clear
who’s getting more out of it.
The Eccentric Family [ep. 9 – Kaisei, Daughter of Ebisugawa]
Huh, that wasn’t as much about
Kaisei as I thought it would be. More like a proper introduction since we
finally get to see her. And I do hope she gets more screentime from here on
out, because she seems pretty interesting. Mostly, it’s the way she seems
conflicted – caught between the need to stand with her family, and knowing that
they aren’t the best people/tanuki/whatever out there, or the smartest (‘Hey!
No one calls my brothers dumbasses but me!’).
Plus, she clearly still cares about Yasaburo and his family – possibly she’s
fond of their mom in the same way the latter is of her. Because why else would
she warn Yasaburo that her father and brothers have something nasty up their
sleeves? Methinks Soichiro knew what he was doing when he arranged to have her
marry Yasaburo.
It’s like how Yasaburo, and to a
lesser extent his brothers, still make time for Professor Akadama in spite of
everything that’s frustrating about him, or his past wrongs. I called him
unsympathetic after finding out he kidnapped Benten, and that’s still far
removed from anything you could deem acceptable behaviour. But on the other
hand, we’ve seen how he was a close friend of Soichiro and does care about
Yasaburo, even if he’s too proud to show it. Plus, he’s still just a grumpy old
man who clings to his pride because it’s all he has left and refuses to let go
of the past – specifically Benten, who’s long since kicked him to the curb
because she’s no longer in his power. In some ways he’s kind of pathetic, and
while I can’t say I like him, that makes it harder to actively dislike him too,
since it doesn’t seem like he can harm anyone anymore. Just like Kaisei seems
to be devoted to her family despite her misgivings, the Shimogamos are loyal to
Akadama as a long-time family friend in spite of what he’s done. It’s kind of a
theme.
Also, I spent this episode
wondering who’d be the tanuki to get hot-potted by the Friday Fellows. Since
it’d be the perfect way for the Ebisugawas to pull a checkmate on the
Shimogamos, my first thought was that the scheme was to get their mom caught,
so that Soun could insist that it’s not fair for Yaichiro to take on so much
leadership responsibility while he and his family are grieving. But,
neutralizing a political rival by killing someone close to them, leaving them
with the strong suspicion you’re responsible (because you’re the obvious
suspect) and able to come back with a vengeance, isn’t the best idea. Plus, Professor
Yodogawa is the one who has to catch the tanuki this year, and he remembers the
time he helped her vividly enough that he’d probably recognize her, and there’s
no way he’d let her be eaten, so it still doesn’t really make sense. Maybe the
plan is to make sure Yaichiro is
hot-potted – that makes way more sense.
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