Yeah, sorry for the lateness on this episode. I was away for most of the evening yesterday and there were too many other posts that I had planned.
This is a major episode for Star Driver though, along with the previous one. The halfway point is especially for original series a good turning point. Star Driver doesn’t show this with some midway climax, but rather by making the characters finally deliver and develop. And sure, this episode marked the first Cybuddy that got revived, but what made the past two episodes special was that they revisited characters who had already been the focused on previously.
This time it’s Benio’s turn, and I really liked her increase in character in this episode.This episode delved into her past and how she grew up, it shows her as a skilled practitioner of Kendo, while still in the shadow of Sugata. She got much more interesting than the girl who keeps running after guys thanks to her convenient first phase that we came to know her as in the previous episodes. Star Driver may pull all these fancy red herrings and flashy fights, but it really is a series about its characters, and this episode really showed that it started delivering in that are.
A big Issue I have at the moment is that the creators are still god-moding Takuto and Sugata a bit. It’s not just in the way that they keep winning fights, but this episode showed the umpth girl who fell in love with one of them. At this point I’m not really sure whether the harem elements are really working or are going to work.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Hmm. I’ve actually been enjoying this series somewhat. I do enjoy the character backgrounds. Even though every episode appears to be formulaic. Character events in the first 1/2, quick fight in the second 1/2.
However, I don’t seem to get the whole premise. Everyone seems to want to kill Tauburn. Then after he defeats them, all the chics want to sleep with him? Why are they all trying to kill him, yet, they are super friendly with him. It also appears that some of the “enemies” don’t even know who the other people wearing masks are. Basically I’m confused, but I want to understand why people are acting this way.
Do the creators themselves not like the new song all that much as well? They don’t have it with every episode like they did with the fish girl song
They aren’t really trying to kill him. They want to defeat him so they can get to Wako, and progress in their plan to free the Cybodies. They all have different motivations for why they are part of the Crux, but none of them are evil–even if they pretend to be among each other. They’re just tempted by the prospect of a little power to act on a sliding scale of naughtiness.
As to the matter of why they don’t seem to recognize each other’s ‘real identities,’ I think some of that has to do with them not wanting to. There is a little cultural support for minding your own business, and acting as if you don’t see certain things. When the characters want to verify identities, they don’t exactly have any trouble doing it. It’s also really convenient for the different stages they perform on that no one recognizes each other. If they did, they couldn’t have the idyllic high school life together, after all.
I was really hoping that some twist would happen and make the show interesting, but it appears I’m dropping it. I didn’t like Utena, and I don’t understand why the creators keep godmoding Takuto – it somehow seems like a waste of all the money being invested in the show.
Fish song was not on every episode. Next episode will have a lot of the sisters so the song will be played, obviously.
I didn’t enjoy this or previous episode thaaat much, maybe because while I like Kanako her story didn’t appeal to me that much, and I don’t like Benio so yeah. Next episode will be awesome, I love the twins.
I hope that if Takuto gets his obvious final girl..they develop that a bit more.
So what, is Takuto’s first phase the ability to make every girl he sees fall in love with him?
On a more serious note, the story needs to pick up its pace for the second half because nothing is explained so far.
I’ll bet Takuto’s first phase consists of him being able to see thru anything if he’s seen in more than once. Seems to fit so far.
On a side note, is it just me or did the character animation quality take a dip this episode?
I thought it dipped in 12 and came back up somewhat. I’m still glued to it though.
About Takuto being undefeated (so far), I expect this will continue up til maybe he faces Head. This is cos if Takuto loses Tauburn, it’s Game Over. The Glittering Crux have a small army of Star Drivers and Cybodies but Takuto is stuck with one (well, maybe Shindo’s can fight now. Doubt if Wako’s can fight – her’s is more like a seal than a fighting unit?) Only the Crux have the restoration technology so if Tauburn goes down, his story’s basically over. I imagine they’ll save his dramatic defeat to a suitably dramatic superfoe, with maybe one dramatic revival. (Any more would be pushing it.) Takuto’s opponents so far are still small fry/subbosses.
Actually I’m just really surprised by the character twists Kanako and Benio took recently. Kanako’s kind side is just a tiny bit difficult to swallow. And Benio, who always seemed like a manipulator from the shadows rather than a prideful warrior. Since when was she the head of the kendo club? Was this mentioned earlier or was it just revealed? Her treatment of Shindo after he regained consciousness doesn’t hint at all of their past relationship either – it seemed like he was just another puppet to be used. It’s a bit jarring, like the script got rewritten during production.
About the harem elements, I wonder if it has anything to do with the new psp game coming out. (http://sutadora.channel.or.jp/) In it, you play an original character who can develop relationships with most members of the cast, on both Takuto’s side and the Crux, and even the maiden who already left the island. Each character has their own story developments and endings. So all these little bits of fanservice might be character promotion to get players interested in playing every one of the characters’ routes.
Thanks M. That helps me clarify. I appreciate the explanation.
I agree with Takuto being defeated soon. Especially now that they have been able to revive Cybodies. I assume he will be defeated, then revive his Cybody into a new even more god mode one. 😉