Ryuugajou Nanana no Maizoukin – 04
It’s always good to make up with the guy that tried to kill you a couple times
A show’s going really well, you’re starting to get a handle on what everyone’s doing, and why they’re doing it and what the relationships are…
Everything You Knew is Wrong
Partners in Crime, for now
And then you get that episode that turns everything around. So at the end of last episode we thought that Tensai and Juugo were going to just try to get a little payback on Yuiga, and it sure looked that way, for about 30 seconds. And then it all just took a hard left turn and went all sorts of different places.
Could you say no to that face? Even if it gets you in trouble later?
Tensai sure does win for observational prowess, noticing that “Juugo” was 3 cm taller than he had been. Yeah, that’s an inch and a half for those of us in non-metric lands, but it’s still not something super noticeable, and by acting cute and vulnerable (and on reflection, really out of character) she gets the drop on Todomatsu. But the real strange thing was the real Juugo appearing with Yukihime. Especially since he seemed to get surprised and beat up by the Matsuri crew last episode (but there was that suspicious Matsuri phone app). And if his reasoning for getting involved with Matsuri now is to keep Tensai from figuring out who he ‘really is’, then given what we’ve seen of Tensai so far, you know it’s not going to work from the instant the words come out of his mouth.
A Battle of Wishes
Magic, for a little while
No, they didn’t decide to play WIXOSS, but in essence, Juugo ends up fighting Yuiga because of his extreme contempt for Yuiga’s “world domination” dream. And no, he’s not Kate Hoshimiya in disguise either. But he holds up his “having a dream” as superior to Juugo’s reality of people just being ordinary. Even watching through the whole episode, we don’t really get a handle on why Juugo thinks people who have dreams and wishes and work to achieve them are so contemptible. Is it because he “gave up on his long ago”? Or is it really that Juugo thinks that having such a ‘dream’ is false, because, as he says later, Yuiga’s lack of pride in his dream led him to ignore the possible shortcomings of the Wizard’s Cane, or ask Nanana how it worked, or not feel guilty about abandoning Tensai and Juugo after acquiring it? If he really wanted to conquer the world, he needs to get rid of those feelings for sure.
Tensai ends up with the final bust
Who Are You Really?
She’s way too sneaky for you
Any hope of Tensai not finding out who Juugo really is apparently was out the window well before anything in this episode, since Tensai hacked his phone and knew he was working with Matsuri all along. But it doesn’t seem that she’s figured out that he’s actually the son of the leader of Matsuri, or at least that’s what the phone conversation with his dad seemed to indicate. Oh, and also that he’s a noble. But the conversation wasn’t all ‘you’re bad and I’m good’, as Dad turned it around on Juugo and asked if he had learned to care about anyone else. This REALLY makes me wonder what happened in Juugo’s past that made him not care about other people. It’s a weird twist that a noble and criminal mastermind is lecturing someone else about not having enough humanity.
Is Juugo Really Going to Help Nanana?
Too much for Konjou
Is the key to Juugo’s humanity really a ghost? It’s a little cliched, but Nanana seems to put a lot of faith in Juugo, and seems sure that he’s going to actually help find her killer. And that’s something that Konjou (I’m assuming that was her) couldn’t do, having seen in one of Nanana’s treasures that she herself would die in the attempt. Best friend she may have been, but it wasn’t something that Konjou could give up her life for. But Juugo on the other hand, seems like he’s the person with the ability to handle it.
Another great episode, and it’s really one that I didn’t expect. It wasn’t that the twists they introduced here were super shocking and so out of the blue that they were completely unbelievable. Everything felt really authentic, just surprising because it wasn’t the way I expected the plot to go at all. But it’s really interesting that everything’s out on the table. Juugo and Tensai will keep going to the club, even though they were stabbed in the back. It was kind of a weak apology from Yuiga, but he’s got a stupid dream. And despite Juugo’s thinking that he’s done with Yukihime and Matsuri, I’m pretty sure that they’re not going anywhere, and they’ll be back, maybe to settle the score for him giving them a fake Sparkly Lie Detector.
About Highway
Proving that you don't have to be young to love anime, I enjoy all genres and styles of shows. If it's not hurting anyone else, you should never be ashamed of what you like!
POWUH: 400-499 with 462 comments
Don’t go saying stuff like that. If there’s one thing this show should be teaching you, it’s “if you think you fully understand one of these characters, you haven’t been paying close enough attention.” 😛
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
What I meant by that was that the other characters know about everyone else being liable to double-cross them. They all know Yuiga’s got his goal, they all know that Tensai is sneaky, They all know that Juugo is able to work with Matsuri.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
But is he going to work with them? Do we really know his agenda at this point. His Dad rocked him and socked him something hard.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Wow. This one just took my breathe away. So much happened. Left turn? Invent a new direction!
What I loved was the Mole? Agent aspect of Juugo. That is just rife with storytelling potential. Man, this one just exploded from the show I have to watch to the show I need to watch.
POWUH: iLurker with 19 comments
It’s kind of unfortunate that I’m not really getting into this series at all. There are the little moments of intrigue involving the treasure rooms themselves, but the majority of the cast seem like semi-generic slop. I do like watching Tensai work her magic on screen though.
I think I want a more intense and pressured treasure hunt concept. Something National Treasure or Da Vinci Code, but maybe presented a bit better. At the moment, the show’s just kinda okay to me.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I thought about maybe there being more intensity to the treasure hunts, but that’s kind of canceled out by Tensai’s sheer reasoning ability. It’s almost like no puzzle is much of a challenge for her, so any time she’s there, it’s not going to be all that difficult.
To me, the real attraction is the depth of the characters, even before this episode. And it’s not necessarily that they have hidden motives that come out, it’s that they all have more to their past informing their choices, like even Shiki Maboro, who is the beer-guzzling slovenly landlord looking for a husband that’ll let her just keep drinking beer… and she’s also a great friend of Nanana’s and a very important person on the island.
POWUH: 400-499 with 462 comments
It really was an amazing episode. Some folks are saying it was rushed, and certainly there was a lot of stuff in there, but… this was good stuff. Foundation-shaking stuff, that still all made sense. Everyone gained surprising depth. Tensai, Isshin, and Juugo are the obvious ones, but even Nanana despite only having a few short scenes shakes up ones impression of her, making me wonder how much lies underneath the cheerful exterior she lets us see. How much of her neutrality now is influenced by the pain of having heard promises before, and then being abandoned? By fear that if she pushes people too hard to find the treasures for her sake they might be killed?
Nobody is what they seem on the surface. Maybe that’s a lesson we should have learned when Juugo was fooled twice by maids who turned out to be nothing like what they appeared to be, but it definitely comes across more profoundly in this episode.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
That’s a good point about Nanana, I hadn’t really thought that in the past she’d been more proactive pushing Konjou in particular to find the treasures. It did seem that there was a bit of a rift between those two, it wasn’t the friendliest of goodbyes. Maybe there was a pressure there that Konjou felt she couldn’t continue to live in the apartment without helping Nanana, and she couldn’t help without putting her life in danger.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Nice executed plot twist. The tone of this show is steadily getting serious. So let me get this straight, not only are these kids not ordinary but they each belong to some unknown faction with their motives yet to be revealed. The more pressing inquiry is finding out how this is all tied with Nanana.
Tensai never ceases to impress and it’s frightening she’s so good at what she does. The girl is always three steps ahead. Sure observation skills are indispensable but to a person’s difference by their height is nuts. Not to mention she’s carrying a fire arm. Hiding anything from this sleuth is impossible.
Kind of strange having Yuiga and Juugo “make up” so easily after events that should’ve been considered irreconcilable (Left for dead, using a magical item with the intent to cause bodily harm). It’s going to be rather difficult for them to move on or agree on anything with trust being an obvious issue. “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer” Their relationship from now on is going to be strained at best and antagonistic at worst.
So Juugo is part of a Robin Hood type group and his father is the leader but left due to not sharing the same idealistic views and being anti-social. As for his contempt for Yuiga’s long shot ambition, I’m sure something happened to him that destroyed his faith in having a goal or dream. No one becomes that nihilistic for no reason.
The episode’s opening had me upset with that mystery girl’s words. She’s abandoning Nanana out of concern for her well-being but says the next resident will do it in her stead, which is selfish no matter how you put it. Who says the next one wants to risk their life?