So I thought that the creators would make Sugata as an antagonist a long-running theme of this series. Apparently though, they just intended this arc as a part of his character-development and in terms of that, this arc really served its purpose: we definitely got to know more about Sugata during the past episodes, even though he was such a silent character before this arc.
Also beyond my expectations: the cage girl left. I mean, she finished her story, left her cage and at the end of the episode she’s on a boat away from the island. I seriously have no idea what to make of that because this series really likes to play with that: there have been plenty of times at which it hinted to put characters on a bus, only to immediately bring them back and characters who looked like they were important at first sight got put on a bus instead. And don’t get me wrong, I really like that unpredictable side of this series.
The battle of this episode was a typical manly fight, with lots of morals and one liners. Perhaps it was a bit cheesy, but it definitely worked as a good conclusion to Sugata’s arc. Samekh’s power is apparently too much for the Pink-haired girl to handle, which does mnake me worried whether or not the creators are god-moding Sugata a little too much here, but there still are plenty of ways for them to write themselves out of that corner. I’m especially interested in what happened to that Pink-haired girl: we did not see her exit her chamber and hand in her badge. So much for being formulaic, eh?
Rating: ** (Excellent)
I quite like this episode.
First off, the bus scene appears to be a gathering of the shrine maidens: Wako, Keito, Sakana, and that new girl. The scene is appears to be a symbolic farewell to Sakana who is finally able to leave the island. If the new girl is revealed to be shrine maiden in the upcoming episode, then this raises the question for Keito: Is she really a maiden? If so, why is she in the Crux?
From this, it also seems that the girl in the picture (episode 3) whom Takuto wanted to protect is Keito. You can see that Keito pays a lot of attention to the interaction of Wako and Takuto in the previous few episodes. It is almost as if she was jealous. In episode 4, Keito made the comment that her manipulation of Wako and Takuto worked too well. The comment would make sense if Keito has some sort of feelings for Takuto. Of course, the million dollar question is, “If she is that girl, why isn’t Takuto speaking to her or even seems to recognize her?” Perhaps she has a memory altering first phase?
they’ve destroyed the formula… from now on when we enter zero time we’re going to have to listen to some orchestral score instead of that beautiful song? it just isn’t the same…
@VioPhoenix
I was just thinking that 😛
When Sakana was getting off, she walked to the front of the bus, away from Wako. She’s the north maiden, Wako is the south, that would make the pink hair girl the west maiden, and Keito the east.
LOL at the panting scene at the end. Roughly 30 seconds of FABULOUS panting, haha! I had to check to see that my player weren’t playing tricks with me.
I thought this was a really great episode. Also an odd thing I found; Scarlet Kiss’ evolved cybody looks a lot like the robot the bad guy from Gate Keepers had.
LOL @ end of episode after fight with the extended panting scene.
Fish girl is gone! No more intriguing fish stories, no more fishgirl singing. 🙁
I’m sad but happy for her that she got her freedom(wanted or not). Being able to leave the island/prison and going to a new adventure gave me a glimpsed that Sugata and Wako leaving the island sometime in the future.
The mecha fight this time was exceptionally good, kept me riveted. The ending is quite laughable tho. Someone will probably use that as a soundtrack for SugataxTakuto yaoi fan fic. XD
The highlight of this episode is definitely the panting scene. The seiyuus must have had the time of their life doing that scene XD
Am I the only one who’s getting Rahxephon vibes from the painting in the purple-haired Kiraboshi guy’s room?
Oh thx VP. I didn’t catch Keito being one of the maidens. And wtf about that new girl? Another maiden? Well… anyhow Star Driver is starting to grow to me too!
@gandalf8
You’re definitely not alone on that. There’ve been a couple of things so far that remind me of RahXephon a fair bit.
Other than Ryousuke Katashiro looking rather like Shirow Watari, that/those painting(s) definitely make me think of RahXephon every time.
I like that though. 😀
This episode was the one I enjoyed the least since the beginning of this series. The fish girl’s departure was unpredictable and the way they hinted that the 4 girls on the bus are the 4 maidens was well done… but the dialogue between Takuto and Sugata just killed me. “I will protect Wako”, “No, I’m protecting Wako”, like we didn’t already know they’re both in love with her! Sugata as a bad boy left no impression on me whatsoever. I think they could’ve worked a better way to develop him.
I was worried that we were going to get an X style best friends become mortal enemies plot. Glad to see that’s not the direction that the series is going in.