This. THIS is how you do anime. What a masterpiece of an episode.
At the start of the episode, we have no reason to care about Acrobatic Silky. At the end, we care SO MUCH about Acrobatic Silky. I had goosebumps.
Other anime try and fail to tug at heartstrings. This one yanks your heart so hard it comes out your throat.
I’ll probably give it another episode or two. I remembered the helicopter thing. It’s just I feel like very little has happened. I mean, we start with him epically selling his party into slavery and then Alma shows up being a total badass and NOT being a Mecha-Ude, and then… oh no, drugs and gangs and slavery…
If anything, the fact the girl was still holding on to the helicopter even after the whole Mayor incident is interesting. Assuming it’s not bad writing just for added heartstrings, it means the girl wasn’t actually upset with him as she was cherishing it enough for some random thug to realize its significance.
The fact that it took you so long to figure that out just shows how forgettable the storytelling in this series is. It was a whole thing in episode 4 (which in my brain is episode 1 or 2). I’m honestly starting to get bored out of my mind with the storytelling. I might honestly drop this one.
Well, Bilac specifically requested Crystal Scorpion parts. And we saw Vysache use monster parts Sunraku had to make his moon blades. OH SNAPS! Another moon reference!
Plus this is SLF not some TRASH GAME where the monsters don’t drop the quest items unless you pick up the quest first!
Alicia does not appear at all until the last 15 seconds of this episode. By then two years have passed since she started her training. She even stayed locked up during her 15th birthday when her father said she could attend the academy again. I feel there’s only one possible reason for this: she trained until she was level 100, maybe 100+.
Gill says it during the episode, that Alicia trains every day to narrow the gap between her and Liz as much as possible but that she doesn’t believe she can surpass Liz. Gill is also surprised that Alicia didn’t complete her training to level 90 sooner. Remember that Alicia stated in a previous episode that Liz and the prince are characters in the game that can surpass level 100 so I believe that to close the gap as much as possible she went straight for level 100 herself.
We also get further confirmation that Liz is brainwashing people. Students who would bully and antagonize Liz are now in love with Liz and badmouthing Alicia.
These two conquerable background characters whose names I TOTALLY remember are also starting to become relevant. Up to this point they hadn’t deviated in behavior from the game. They also didn’t seem to be under Liz’ spell, which was a little odd. After all, other characters like Albert, Alan and Henry were under Liz’s spell, even if Henry managed to break out of it. Makes me think that they were flying under the radar for unknown reasons.
Anyway, even with all this, not much has changed other than the fact it’s now two years later. Speaking of characters I totally remember, who is this Mel character Duke talks with at the end of the episode?
Part of it is that there’s less hidden costs. I like it when it’s just “the total is $30” instead of “there’s $8 shipping and a $2 service fee and then $4 in taxes and…”
I’ve also seen some online stores lure in a customer with a really cheap initial price and then on the last page just slam them with insane shipping and handling fees hoping that the customer either doesn’t notice or feels too invested at this point to cancel their purchase.
But yes, part of it is also people are stupid when they see the word “free” as if the store wouldn’t move the cost somewhere else.
We were so spoiled the particular season this aired. I remember this and Oshi No Ko were airing at the same time. I agree that the reason there’s no season 2 announcement is because they lack the material. Season 1, by all accounts, did great.
I’m also convinced we’re watching two distinct timelines, so looking forward to that shocking reveal.
Where’s @zabadoh@ani.social ? I’ll try to make him proud…
We see Kanata start to go through a change where he’s just happy to be driving to where he wants to WIN. Seizing the opportunity the fog presents, he goes on the offensive and uses his photographic memory to basically replay the track in his head while going through the motions. You know, because that’s a totally reasonable and realistic thing that can happen. It’s not like differing road conditions or anything would change your memorized timings.
Still, him passing by the Ferrari like it was standing still was great.
As was Ren getting jealous that another angel might get to kiss him if Kanata finished top 3.
After the fog zone, Kanata is 8.73 seconds ahead of the Ferrari with Sectors 2 and 3 still to go. Definitely a setup for a crazy battle for 3rd.
Eurobeat Track: Speed of Light by The Snake
I remember reading that portion and thinking that the deduction Ars comes to in that moment really came out of nowhere
Interesting, because having not read the manga, I thought putting them in the room with all the toys was a bit odd. But it sounds that was a better setup than whatever the manga did.
When Ars’ appraise ability didn’t work on the craftsman I was wondering what was going on. I had COMPLETELY forgotten that the episode title was “Evolution”.
One thing that constantly bugs me about this series is the fact that Ars is a reincarnation is NEVER relevant. The title would be better as something like, “My Seemingly Useless Appraise Skill is Secretly Overpowered!”
Just when Sunraku starts implementing his totally-legit-not-at-all-cheese crystal scorpion destruction strategy, something new shows up.
The new rare monster is insanely OP! Offense, defense, and regeneration all in one package. It looks like the devs really, REALLY don’t want you farming crystal scorpion materials.
In the middle of all this, we get a sneak peak into some SLF lore. The Gold Scorpion uses the moon to regenerate. The moon was also a major part of the Wethermon lore. It makes me wonder about other Colossi, like how Lycagon only appears at night.
During the battle, Sunraku finally gets his prized crystal scorpion stinger from the new rare Golden Scorpion! Huzzah!
Even with that lore epiphany, this is mostly just a combat episode. The whole, “I can only travel to the inventoria a limited number of times” seemed like a pretty dumb and unnecessary limitation added just to increase the tension a bit. But I’ll let it slide because the “oh no, now I have no weapon” actual limitation was both a surprising twist and a really good climax tension builder.
Can’t wait to see Bilac’s face when he shows up with the Gold Crystal Scorpion parts!
Yippie! I wonder if they’ll go camping this season! I bed it’ll be very chill and laid back. Seriously love the vibe of this series.
We learn what happened to Machina and also get to see Machina being a badass before she predictably loses to Marcus.
Takahashi does movie-logic computer hacking to speed the plot along.
Veltol and Gram end up joining forces and have a lovers spat, surprising no one. Still cool though.
Can’t wait to see how things develop now that all the pieces are in motion.
Rem made multiple copies of his tracksuit but how they still exist after her name was eaten I guess doesn’t really make sense.
Since just her name (and memories) was eaten, she still exists as does all the things she’s done. Just everyone’s memory of her is gone. It’s different than when the white whale ate her out of existence.
As for everyone else, it’s just that typical anime thing of keeping characters in the same outfit so you don’t need a design sheet for multiple outfits.
This is the most correct answer. But hey, we did get yukata recently! Also in an anime with a lot of supporting cast, keeping them in the same outfit helps prevent the viewer from going “wait, who is that character?”
Full agree. You kind of have to turn your brain off and just enjoy the fights. But the story?
“We need to protect Alma at all costs”
“Oh, so I should stay in hiding in a secret bunker or something? Maybe joining the rebel forces so I’m surrounded my protection?”
“Nah, just live at home and go to school like normal”
“Oh, so the bad guys don’t know who I am or where I live and switching my routine might clue them in?”
“No, they know full well who you are and where you live. They even sent someone to the same school as you.”
“Oh, so you think I’m so powerful that they can’t touch me?”
“No, we think you’re worthless. But we gave you a bodyguard that doesn’t follow orders very well and has been defeated several times already so it should be fine. Plus in this episode you develop the power of FRIENDSHIP!”
Lena x Shin hits even harder because they never see each other until the very final episode. Witch from Mercury is on my watchlist so I’ll have to give it a go.
Most of the episode just explains Koga’s tragic backstory and it still somehow fails to make Koga interesting.
The best part of the whole episode is seeing the back-stabbing mayor get his arm cut off.
I feel kinda silly for making this counter now
I mean, with how the season started it felt like it was going to be a death fest! Now it feels like so much progress has happened he’s unlikely to die again, at least not before hitting another save point. I mean, we even have Otto making good moves and if Otto is winning then that’s clearly the “correct” route _
[Dragon blood] even grew back the bandages and his shoe somehow!
I actually had to go back to the previous episode just to make sure I didn’t miss something.
Priscilla being an insane badass was really cool to watch too. Like yes, she’s stuck-up and intolerable, but she has the skills to back it all up.
I think I would agree with you. The other big name seems to be Kill La Kill and while I agree that it’s a great revenge anime, Oshi No Ko nails the subtleties of revenge. It’s way more nuanced and realistic.
I figured it was only a matter of time. This series has been utterly amazing and there’s plenty more source material to draw upon.
Wow, they were insanely forgettable. Thanks for doing the detective-work!
Right? Poor guy. There’s no more 13 year olds at the academy. And now that two years have passed, this is how he’s going to react when he sees Alicia:
You just reminded me of Trapped in a Dating Sim where the reincarnated girl is trying to get the reverse harem route but screws it all up, lol. But yes, since this IS a game a reverse harem route should’ve been possible. I hadn’t considered it until now.