Category: Currently Watching:

Kakegurui- 07[Refusing Woman]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Kakegurui

Today on Kakegurui, we see the end of the bet and well…that’s it. This post may have the same problem as my Attack on Titan posts in that I just don’t have a lot to say here because not a lot actually happened. Mary refused the student council president’s offer to join the student council and Yumeko got away from Midari’s bet unscathed. So this more or less has gone as usual besides Yumeko ending the bet in a draw instead of a win. All in order to deprive Midari of the satisfaction of losing the bet. yes unlike the other bets Midari rigged the game to lose rather than win. For she is batshit insane and only really gets a thrill out of life when in pain or agony. A masochist if you will and one insane enough to gouge her own eye out for losing a bet with the student council president. I guess we did learn a little about the president in that she doesn’t really see people as people and more as things to entertain or interest her. When inquiring to Midari about what the other side of an eyeball looks like she sort of reminded me of a messed up version Chitanda from Hyouka.

Though I don’t really find this to be fascinating as those that tend to treat themselves as some higher master race are often more ignorant than intelligent. It works as a way to get Yumeko to be the one to bring her down from her pedestal and knock this high handed attitude out of her but sadly I sincerely doubt this series will ever get to that point. As for Midari she has certainly stepped up from repulsive to absolutely vulgar. Looking over her character I can’t say she’s all that great and if she’s going to hang around then she’s going to have to need something more than her desperate masochism. Otherwise she will just be a one trick pony begging Yumeko for bets for the sake of comedy. She did accomplish one thing however and that was proving that Yumeko desires a fair bet. Yumeko doesn’t get off on a one sided bet, instead she always breaks down any cheats in order to turn a bet into an equal match. Both sides must have something to risk and seeing Midari hog all the risk for herself made her disgusted. Midari was the first antagonist to truly get Yumeko to hate her with a passion. Somewhat funny as now Midari is absolutely obsessed with her.

Princess Principal – 07 [Case 16 Loudly Laundry]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Princess Principal

This week in Princess Principal … what exactly did I just watch? Suddenly spies do (steampunk) laundry and do business as well? Getting 231% raised in revenue and catch a thief in a process? That’s a bit of a stretch here. And who in the right mind would think it’s a good idea for a spy to step up and buy the business of a place she currently works undercover? She wants to get herself exposed of being a Princess? Phew. This episode is just as necessary to the main plot as the appendix in our body. Furthermore, it’s just dull. The only saving graces I can possibly take out from this episode are 1) their positive treatments to all the female casts: although all brought up in difficult backgrounds, girls can be good at their jobs – without men – and can control their own lives; and 2) the various precious facial reactions from Chise, and to a degree, Beatrice (geez, the moe factor eventually gets into me).

This week, the girls decide to join the laundry team in order to find the Poison Gas Jack (possibly a rip-off to Jack the Ripper), a terrorist whom they believe to be a military man. The plan is to find the uniforms that reacts to a pyridine test. Sound like a well-thought plan, right? Except that they have to go through hundreds of uniforms and there is a chance that the culprit doesn’t leave his own uniform for washing (you can always hand-wash your clothes, you know?); so guess what the show did? The spy girls bought off the place after learning about its debt and the culprit’s uniform was just accidently sent to the laundry service by some unnamed hero military men. Haizz, the more I talked about the plot the more painful I get so here’s the gist: this episode just feels sooo mundane and unrealistic at the same times and it betrays the fast, plot-driven tones Princess Principal has established so far. We don’t feel any tension regarding the actual case, we don’t feel excited because the action happens like… 10 seconds. Chise has a fair bit of interaction with the laundry leader, Marilla, but even that relationship feels half-baked at the end.

Chronologically, this is case16, which should be the second most recent (after last week’s case18) and there is a guy (the loan shark guy) that appears in both episodes. Funny that the only thing that connect him with the spies in both episodes is him being kicked in the butt by Dorothy, and Ange, respectively. Let’s see if he’d appear in later episodes but if he does, I suspect that he’d be the first one to make a connection about those girls who seem to be everywhere (he met 4 out of 5 girls already) and sell off the information to the Duke of Normandy. The part where our girls working together to repair all the steampunk laundry machines is warm that signal us that they’re all genuine people who care to help others (although why Beatrice is the only one who looks dirty?), but others than that, this episode is just unnecessary and the production isn’t that great with many off-models and the laundry girls’ designs are all uninspiring. Filler episode at its most head-scratching quality.

Re:Creators – 18 [All of Us Are Incomplete]

by HelghastKillzone, posted in Currently Watching:, Re:Creators

One of the major gripes I have with this series is its uneven presentation that has far too much exposition while lacking in the action department. In the eighteenth episode, it finally found its footing in balancing the exploratory themes of creativity, action scenes and comedic bits in a seamless transition as Re:Creators successfully sustain its momentum in its push towards the last few closing episodes. From Blitz’s defection to the hectic fight of Shou and the explosive entry of Charon, it did not let up in its twists nor epic moments of awesomeness. Of course, Yuuya’s creator gets the short end of the stick as his own creations decides to spoils his own flagship series in such a causal manner that is akin to Reiner’s underhanded reveal in Attack on Titan. It doesn’t stop there as even in its more fanservicey moments, it manage to say something about the nature of anime fans as Hikayu’s scandalous martial artist outfit shows how their willingness to accept ludicrous scenarios.

For once, talking with Magane doesn’t end in a reversal of causality that is detrimental for those on the receiving end. Sota, in particular, has matured quite a bit from being the otaku version of Inaho (Aldnoah.Zero) to having a backbone when conversing with the most twisted and manipulative creation of the show. Seeing him defends his dreams of becoming a creator makes him a far more likeable character than the secretive Sota of the mid-series. I’m quite curious in seeing what Sota drew in his own notebooks as it is obvious that it isn’t doodles of Altair or erotic stretches of Selesia (or it is?). In any case, the decision to release Hangaku back into Yuuya’s control and allow for Sota’s creations to translate into reality is really the surprise of episode. I doubt Magane did Sota a favour out of the goodness of her heart given her history of being a murderous troll. This moment of graciousness doesn’t redeem her lies and bloodshed in the slightest, but it does show the other side of the coin that is the fun-obsessed Magane.

With four episodes to go, it comes as no surprise that we have not reached the climax of Re:Creators just yet despite everything being literally lined up for Altair’s defeat. There is simply far too much time left in the series for that to happen and Charon still need to have his time in the spotlight. I find it perplexing that the three defecting creations didn’t bother to even inform the government forces of Charon and his massive robot. While Charon does have that menacing looking mech adorned in black and red accents, the combined arms of the other creations should be more than enough to bring down Altair and a Vogelchevalier clone. As one person on the internet once said, “one super fighting robot isn’t gonna make a difference”.  

Extra points for those who can figure who said that last line.

18if – 07 [And now There are none…]

by SuperMario, posted in 18if, Currently Watching:

This episode is one of the reason why I am glad that I’m still putting my faith on 18if, an episode that displays a complete different range of visual style, and a satisfying children’s story about friendship as a cherry on top. There’s a lot to love here, from the beautiful aesthetic that heavily influenced by the European stop-motion-like (it’s still hand-drawn though) animation, to the tale that inspired by children fairytale with more mature, political undertones and the song “And there were none” at the end nearly take my breath away. This freedom of creating wide range of visual-storytelling based on each directors’ own visions is 18if’s most appealing factor, and episode 7 is when that freedom works totally for the show’s benefits. This comes as no surprise that the director handling 18if this week is veteran Kouichi Chigita, a director who responsible for Last Exile; Brave Story and Full Metal Panic. Apart from a bit of obvious, shaky CG opening, the rest of the episode moves with ease with the stunning visual that pays homage to many other Western animations, but nonetheless is original enough to stand on its own.

I’m not attempting to discuss about the actual plot of this beautiful episode (ala what all this means in the real life), as I believe the dreamy story we witnessed makes sense enough that trying to dig deeper into the plot kinda do its story a huge disservice. Instead, I will delve into the literacy inspirations this episode makes references from. The most obvious comparison would be The Little Prince, both because of those similar styles, but also they share the same kind of fairytale story and the same mature feeling those two manage to pull. Well, the main character, Pol, is a prince if there’s any more doubt. The character designs are decidedly simple that are reminiscent of stop-motion puppets and a fair bit remind me of Pixar’s characters of all things. The art designs are another highlight as 18if produces an enormous amount of standout backgrounds, from the peaceful forest, to the doomed city life to the creative kingdom designs. At one time the show reminds me greatly of Samurai Jack as you can see in one of the screenshots, and at other time the character designs, especially those who manipulated Pol, take a nod towards those villains in the Triplets of Belleville and our mains this week are another nod to the characters from the Wizard of Oz. Like I said, while this episode has huge inspirations, never at once I feel it as a rip-off, because those influences are in service of deepening its narrative and manage to bring the emotions across.

Then, the characters of Pol and Pot are heavily implied as a reference to Polpot, the infamous Khmer dictator and the Khmer Rouge and the even more infamous The Killing Fields. The way Pol eventually abandons his friendship, becomes heartless in the process and rules the Kingdom of massacre of innocent people, people died from hunger, totalitarian rules and the way he was just a puppet figure head all have very dark political undertones pointed towards that dark period of Cambodia. It’s also implied that Pot, his best friend, is executed for the crime of “treason”, the same crimes that the Khmer Rouge would use to kill intellectual people (more commonly known as “people with glasses”).

But all the metaphors and references are just a mere service to tell a story about a friendship between Pol (the Prince), his best friend Pot and the girl Nene, whom later become a Witch. And I would recommend you not to look so much into the deeper metaphors because the story is beautiful as it is, while at the same time tell us just enough about the Witch’s issues. It’s a rather tough trick to pull considering that the whole episode is from Pol’s (not the Witch’s) perspective; but we can really understand what make Nene drifting apart and come to hate the friendship that she used to love. The story literally goes all the phases of emotional progressions (the Five Passions: joy; pleasure, grief, anger, hate), while paralleling all the phases of their friendship from how the friendship is formed, how it comes to a genuine love and how everything just broken apart afterwards; how Pol comes to term with accepting the fault he made and how eventually Nene comes to forgive him about his misdeeds. It’s a story about growing up, all told in a form of dreamy fairytale that might not appear to make sense on the surface, but make total sense narratively.

Well, I’m intrigued to see what 18if will go from here. This episode alone receives a perfect 5/5 score from me and I’m not pressing to say that this episode is my favorite standalone episode of this season. As in the nature of 18if, this episode is a standalone story so everyone can watch it and see the stunning, simple yet elegant little story for yourself. Sometimes it’s nice to see something like this in an anime-landscape, which remind me again of the possibilities and the globalization anime medium is capable of.

Classroom of the Elite – 06 [There are Two Kinds of Lies; One concerns an Accomplished Fact, the Other concerns a Future Duty]

by SuperMario, posted in Classroom of the Elite, Currently Watching:

Youkoso embraces its true nature this week, pulling off some resolves that are pulpy, but clean up nicely the conflicts they present this episode. With episode 6, not only class-D settles the accusation from class-C; they set up, and quickly resolve, Sakura’s stalking issues and gives a much-needed concern regarding Ayanokouji’s own agenda behind his actions: lurking in the shadow, (possibly) manipulating people around for the benefits of the class. Or does it? It’s about goddamn time we need to know more from him. Youkoso makes it quite clear that the guy doesn’t really care about the class, so why does he agree to help Horikita moving up to Class-A in a first place? The flashback hints that he was in some sort of lab experiment in his young age, that might attribute to how he’s exceptional, or rather, overpowered, but passive; doesn’t want to stand out (although people do notice) and most importantly, prefers to.be left alone. I don’t mind this direction to be honest, Youkoso is at its best when it’s stay true to its ridiculous elements, so if the show pulls off another orphanage that is a secret lab experiment to create the new Hitler, I’m all in.

My real complain for the first segment of this episode simply lies in the fact that I never believe those guys from Class-C would be that stupid to go meet Kushida, at that crucial time of the investigation. All three of them. Do they forget that Kushida is in class-D as well? Or do they forget about the case altogether? Other than that though, it’s nice to see Horikita and Ayanokouji pull off such plan: set up the camera where the incident happened, make them think that the camera caught on their actions, and then persuade them to drop the case. Well, it’s more of a mind game than an actual plan but it works like a charm because the thugs from class-C are assigned for fighting, not for thinking by themselves. It’s a bit manipulative but isn’t Youkoso all about manipulation?

Sakura has a much darker story to tell. Stalking isn’t funny, after all, so although Youkoso just hints about her issue in the beginning of this episode, we feel the stakes are there. But… who’s in the right mind would go to dark alley while being stalked? Geez Sakura… you should’ve known better. While the conflict itself is nicely done, we get to see how Ayanokouji would save the day and thus, how Sakura starts to trust the guy and believes more in herself and what not; I have a hard time dealing with the whole implication behind this conflict. Not only Sakura is framed as a worst image of feminism ever: get into trouble and then whoops, the Prince comes and saves the day (not to mention her bouncy boobs that have no place in the story); the way Youkoso treats that clerk’s character is just so unpleasant. You can’t show us how awesome a character is by an expense of another character, ever. Well-written characters, even the evilest ones, we still have some level of sympathy towards them because they’re layered with their personalities. For all their actions, there are always a solid reason behind. That clerk man here, do you feel anything else about him other than disgusting and repulsing? Youkoso tries too hard to make this clerk creepy, that I am creeped out by the way they frame him instead.  Imagine each character as a “soul”, and I feel pity for that “soul” for being born as a deformed, one-note character whose the sole purpose is to be booed by everyone.

Half way in, can’t say myself that I enjoy Youkoso that much. It’s not a terrible product but I feel totally… indifferent to it. This episode, for example, while I could say that overall this is one Youkoso’s better episode, I personally have so many issues regarding its treatments to the plot and the characters.  I’m trying my best not to sound overly negative in my review, as I still see some solid qualities behind the show and I know constant ranting don’t do either you or me any good. I will stick with it till the end so maybe it’s better that I need to just enjoy the ride and don’t think too hard about it.

Re:Creators – 17 [The Rain’s Rhythm Shoots Down on the World’s Roof]

by HelghastKillzone, posted in Currently Watching:, Re:Creators

If you are still remaining faithful to Re:Creators over the course of months on end, then this is the episode where all the buildups and exposition pays off in dividends with the grand opening of the ‘Elimination Chamber Festival’. Characters with long standing grudges square off, insert songs being played back-to-back, and Studio TROYCA really went all out with the visuals in serie’s longest sustaining and best fight so far. In spite of all the explosions, pretty lights and new powerful abilities, nothing, outside having Altair embracing Selecia from inside her cockpit, is surprising. None of the fights have resolved themselves although there are signs that there are much bigger twists to come like Alicetaria’s eventually betrayal and Magane’s continuous intrusion into Sota’s life.

While the first half satisfied that craving of action that has been sorely missing for the last two months, the second half had the best conversation between a creator and her creation. Within the initial nine creations introduced in the first half, Blitz is the final character to met up with his creator for a chat and this was probably the best out of them all as it provides some of the best insights into why a creator would subject their creation to terrible scenarios. Simply enough, the answer is for the sole enjoyment of the audience. Think of some of the most popular franchises out there like Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, Berserk, Attack on Titan and Tokyo Ghoul and the insurmountable challenges and hardships within them. It is in these extremes where the audience finds their greatest enjoyment as characters we know and love go through their journey of suffering and ultimately triumph. In comparison, Altair’s motivations of revenge, as Suruga describes it to be a shallow fanfic bore out of resentment and anger, ,are actually quite basic once you get passed her dressed-up fancy speeches. Blitz isn’t cut from the same cloth as her, in spite of following Altair around for most of the series and being hellbent on following through with his destructive plan. There is something far deeper that a dedicated creator like Suruga has invested into Blitz and this is the exact method, with the stunning reveal of his daughter, in which to turn Blitz against his current master. The best part is that the crazy ride to Re:Creators finale is only beginning with plenty of surprises to come.

Made in Abyss – 06[Seeker Camp]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Made in Abyss

I feel like Riko has been naked quite a lot in this series and I thank god that it’s not treated in a fanservice manner. That may be something that should be par for the course but with my experience in anime it often takes every opportunity to throw in some fanservice. At this point I have become rather immune to it but I can appreciate that Riko has been topless on screen a number of times and it doesn’t make me feel like I am watching something that could potentially get me arrested. Something that I cannot say so easily about certain other shows which shall not be named. The episode recaps at the start of episodes feel like they are getting longer but animation still is at a high level which I hope continues till the end of the season. I am surprised at Ozen whom I originally had pegged to be significantly more villainous by the end of the last episode. This episode instead shows her as a much more playful character than her intimating design would suggest. She reminds me a bit of a Katanamonogatari character with her eyes and general listlessness. So far she is acting the role of the cynic, and raining on Riko’s earlier misplaced optimism. One by confirming that her mother is indeed dead and also verifying that the message inspiring this whole journey was not written by her.

I find this rather…cathartic. Riko has so far attributed that everything that has happened so far is related to her. Much like the main character in a story she thinks that the world revolves around her only to have Ozen confirm that she doesn’t really have anything to do with this at all. Of course we don’t quite know if Ozen is telling the truth or not but based on the character she has shown in this episode I don’t quite think she’s the type to lie. In fact this journey appears to be more about Regu than anything else and Riko is more just the tagalong. Sadly this episode ends right before what looks to be the biggest and most shocking reveal but we did get some interesting things. We have a strange corpse like creature that Riko saw in the middle of the night as well as some new info on the Abyss.

My guess is that this corpse being happened to be the Whistles that tried to ascend from the lower levels and got hit with the curse at it’s worst. But as to why it happened to be in Ozen’s house at that moment does make me wonder whether Ozen is experimenting on them. For other exposition we have Marulk who lets us know that the further down you get in the abyss, the more complex the artifacts become. As well as how a tree this giant can grow in the abyss by taking nutrients from the sea floor of the land above. Also Marulk may be a boy instead of a girl seeing how he reacted to Riko walking in naked and Regu inquiring about his gender. So we have reached the halfway point of this series and I do wonder just what twists await with this white cube and how it will effect the story going forward.

Fate/Apocrypha – 07[Where Freedom Lies]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Fate/Apocrypha

As a Fate fan I can state for certainty that this series does have a problem of having a bit too much anticlimax. Which is a problem that may affect all Chuuni style stories come to think of it. I love the series but I can say that I don’t think any of them truly capitalised on the holy grail war concept. Often at the start of the series there’s a build up and promises that the series more often than not doesn’t deliver on. This is also why I am conflicted when asked to decide whether Fate/Zero is better than Fate/Stay Night. For while in many aspects Fate/Zero comes across as the superior story, I still believe that Fate/Stay Night had better climaxes and did things that Fate/Zero didn’t do. But how is that relevant to this episode you may ask and well it’s just that a conflict was resolved with everyone just deciding to duke it out later which happens to be the third time this has happened. This is followed by a buildup to what could be the biggest fight of the series yet and I find myself with a wariness over whether it will be truly satisfying. At this point characters and general plot haven’t engaged me as much as I would have liked them to so the final vanguard is whether I can see some cool fights. A prospect which is looking less and less likely when the animation per episode is getting rougher.

Still it really is nice to see interpretations of historical figures and their history does enrich their position in this war. It’s logical that Shakespeare wouldn’t take a combat role considering his vocation and he staying by the sidelines just so he can chronicle the whole war as a new work is a great take. Though to make up for his lack of real combat power the Assassin of Red is playing a dual role. There has been some rewriting of the rules a bit and Semiramis possesses double summon which means shes effectively a Assassin and Caster rolled into one. Contrived indeed but hardly the first contrived exception to the rules. This episode marks the rise of her noble phantasm which is a giant floating fortress by the name of the “Hanging Gardens of Babylon”. Exposition time: Semiramis did not in fact make the Hanging Gardens of Babylon but their creation is often mistakenly associated with her. As a result she needs to jump through some hoops to actually summon it but it is an example of a servant gaining a power based on popular association, something which should come into play later. Servants powers are in general amplified based on popular belief. In reality Excalibur wasn’t really able to shoot laser beams nor was Alexander able to summon an army at will.

Once again Seig proves that any moment he’s on screen is a moment this series becomes boring. His talk with his caretaker reminded me a lot of the talk that Waver and his fake grandfather had in Fate/Zero and I get the feeling it was trying to emulate it. However it was missing the real heart of that conversation as well as Gen’s masterful hand at writing exposition. Seig’s dilemma and ultimate choice just come as expected. Even within the narrative it was already decided that he would be jumping back into the fray. So really this isn’t some much a character development moment for him but rather a reaffirmation of him being pushed into a stereotypical role. My hope is that his role isn’t too big in this story as when he’s off screen this does become a better show.

Kakegurui- 06[Tempting Woman]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Kakegurui

Here’s where these betting games get really out of control as we have an elaborate setup which likely cost quite a lot of money to make and only serves to make this bet possible. Before I made the choice of ignoring the general nonsensical rules of the school however now I think that I should consider it that the entire world outside this school doesn’t actually exist. I mean we now introduce a member of the student council whom has her own torture complex under the school complete with a dangerous betting game in which people can get actually shot with a real gun. I just have to wonder what hospital takes in these students with mysterious gunshot wounds and how parents don’t hear of their children getting sent to hospital. Likely the explanation is that when money talks, everyone shuts up. But there really is so far before something this ludicrous is revealed to the world. This place is one reporter away from becoming headline world news so my only real option is just to assume that the world doesn’t exist and this school is center of the universe.

We have the introduction to our new opponent, Leader of the beautification committee, Midari Ikishima. Midari is somewhat unhinged which would be an understatement because she’s completely goddamn insane. In honesty I wonder how these kinds of characters function in mundane scenarios because I can’t imagine this girl sitting in a classroom for a full day without pulling a gun on the teacher. It’s also puzzling how someone so spontaneously prone to mood swings can somehow collect loyal followers.In a show that is already over the top, this girl is chewing the scenery to the absolute extremes. One thing about her that I find myself pondering over is the nature of the absurd level of raw sexuality from her. Normally I would sigh at such things as a girl straddling the male protagonist while begging to let her play a game but in the case of Midari I don’t find these actions titillating. I am sure someone is getting off on this but to me it feels the story is portraying her in a manner that these lustful mood swings are more disturbing than erotic. Her bloodshot eyes, practically drooling thirst and desperation show her off as more revolting in her naked unrefined desire. In the spectrum of Seduction and ravenous lust then Midari would be a full on rapist who would likely kill you afterwards. Strange that all this lust is directed at having a bet with Yumeko and while the story does draw parallels between their desire for risky bets, Midari’s seem more rooted in physical satisfaction.

Fanservice that I can’t quite reason away however is how the Student council president attempts to recruit Mary into their ranks and then the conversation gets as bit odd. Now the context of the scene is clearly that the president is trying to threaten her into the position but how the anime frames the scene is more like a seduction. Remove the sound and you could very well assume that she was coming on to her and I wonder if this is the director’s influence. I wonder just how much is intentional catering to this demographic and what is simply the result of him amping story developments up to eleven. Moving on the game is afoot and someone is obviously cheating because they always are. It’s difficult to see what plan Yumeko has at this point and knowing her, it’s bound to have her taking a big leap of faith. However it is a rather weak cliffhanger to end on a gunshot and have the after credits sequence ruin the surprise. Not that Yumeko was going to die but we could have been in suspense over her getting injured.

Princess Principal – 06 [Case 18 Rouge Morgue]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Princess Principal

We have a very tender Princess Principal episode this week. Instead of exciting spy action like previous weeks, we get to the place that is largely ignored by the rest of the world: a morgue. A place where they’re near the dead than the living, where time just passes by slowly but endlessly. A place that feel like an endless cycle of corpses stacking up. I’m in awe with this setting. Normally anime shows don’t depict a morgue right; they tend to play up its creepy atmosphere for cheap horror effect; but here, they nail that grim atmosphere perfectly. Certainly didn’t expect this from a stylish spy show with cute girls like Princess Principal. The pacing, when you compare with their previous episodes, is much slower and this case is the least relevant to the main plot. That said, this episode is dedicated to give a spotlight to Dorothy and in that regards, this episode excels. Not only Dorothy becomes the most genuine character in this spy team (something that they remark as being weak), the solid execution towards the ending part successfully make us root for this poor girl without being overly manipulated. We have another solid Princess Principal in our hands.

The case this week, case18 (which is the most recent chronologically) – Dorothy is given a mission by Control to work in London’s morgue and recover a code cipher hidden inside the tooth of a deceased Kingdom agent. She takes Beatrice with her to the morgue and meet the person who is tasked by the Duke of Normandy to find the agent’s body – her father, Danny. Danny is a sore sight though, bursting out all the times, blaming the others for his own misfortune and has debt all over the place. The father-daughter reunion is uncomfortable because Dorothy (her real name: Daisy) has a mixed feeling about him. He’s aggressive and vulnerable at the same time, caring at one time, out of control at others. If I have a say myself, this was a very abusive relationship and she did the right thing of running away from that madman. The episode keeps teasing us on whether behind his loud mouth, does he indeed care for his daughter. Dorothy, on the other hand, has gotten soft. Too soft for a spy really, as when she finds the code cipher, she still intends to hand it to Danny for him to pay off his debts. It is telling that she uses her mother’s name as her alias, as a way that she regards her family as dear and important to her.

And it does seem like most of our girls have daddy issues. Beatrice has her throat sliced altered by insane papa. Chise had to go all the way to foreign land to kill off her insane dad, and now Dorothy was beaten by her insane otousan. I also like the coupling of Dorothy and Beatrice this time. They have a nice chemistry and like Dorothy remarks, only Beatrice can be able to understand why despite all the hardships, Dorothy still comes to trust and love her father and for once, the girls’ relationship feels genuine and base on mutual understanding, instead of lies. This episode gives a necessary development for the last girl of the team, Dorothy, make her the most grounded character out of the spy team. Well, I still prefer they give more time to show how these girls bounce of each other, as Ange, Chise and Princess are all relegated to some minor scenes in this episode. Plot-wise, not much to gain either as this case adds little to the main conflict. I can see Princess Principal divide the audience sharply this week: those who look for non-stop action will end up disappointed; those who look for more character’s development (like me) will have a lot to boast about. Whatever side you’re on.