Inou-Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de – 06
Andou: At long last! My demon-girl harem!
Welcome back to the LitClub, battlers! So, what everyday fracas are we getting up to this time around? And why is it good to tell a story in such a non-linear fashion?
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The Only One
Flashback!
I felt it was quite a nice beginning, but not before going to before the beginning, back to present, after the beginning, then back just slightly after before the beginning. Which is to say it did stuff, heck you watched it. You know what happened! But, suffice it to say, I thought this a very proper way to tell the story. It was about regrets, and we have to ponder past actions to see the full range of our misgivings. We also have to look forward to get past them. In that, I thought the structure of the episode was mighty well done.
Just what every chuuni needs…
I very much enjoyed how this one cemented Andou’s take on how and why they have powers. Cause they do. That’s the reality of their situation. Is it natural? This is something that Sayumi was putting out there. It isn’t natural. And she wanted to flex the means to see things right. Specifically, using Route of Origin to “reset” everyone back to when the didn’t have powers at all. But with Andou not going along with that idea, we can see our next everyday battle heating up. At first, you would suspect it’s because he doesn’t want to give up on awesome cool power (well, not so awesome). But he does have his own sense about it. And I love how he drops the bomb that he would be the one to Level Up and contain the other’s powers should they go haywire. So it’s natural that they all have them together.
A Proper Lady
With Sayumi, in growing up in such a traditional home, propriety is something of a way of life. Or is it? Her grandmother had some great ideas on that notion, as we will soon see. This sort of attitude leads to folk wanting to be the best they can, despite what anyone else around them is capable of. They have the image, they have the means, and nothing will stand in the way of that goal. Perfection. In and of itself, that is a fine thing to strive towards. But as Sayumi learns, and in a rather hard way, that she was too self-possessed of the job. She was doing it for herself. Not exactly a good marriage to a position that is meant to represent everyone. It still held over when she joined the LitClub and the unexpected happened.
And so, in battle with Andou, she learns that she can’t just shove her ideals on to everyone. The other girls believed she was right, but it took Andou to stand up and tell her she was wrong. No wonder that video game they made had him flashback to this fight. He remembers a time when. I do wonder if he feels regret, in as much as Sayumi did, for his actions then? If he did, I think they got resolved by the end of the current conversation they shared. As her grandmother said, “Be a proper lady. Then you’ll surely find someone who tells you it’s OK to not be proper” I think the agreement they shared after their battle ten months ago, was leading right up to that moment in the park. I think she was waiting to realize if he was going to be the one to say it.
…or this could have been a story about a young lady getting used to glasses…
…or a slightly nosy imouto….Nice to meet you Maiya…
A little bit of chuuni for the soul
All in all, this was a great episode. It caught my attention with a character that we, or at least I, had little connection with other than that she was the LitClub president, and could kick major ass if need be. I appreciated the depths they went into, and the way they could pull it off in such a non-linear manner. You can either follow along with this sort of presentation, or get lost trying to remember who was where when. But they stitched it up without a hitch. Next week it looks like we are going around with Hatoko, seems like she has a connection to Tomoyo’s older brother, but we shall have to see.
Preview
Juggernaut On? Oh, this sounds impressive…
About skylion
All around nerd that enjoys just about any anime genre. I love history, politics, public policy, the sciences, literature, arts...pretty much anything can make me geeky...except sports. Follow me @theskylion
POWUH: 400-499 with 462 comments
Moar of the imouto pls. She’s fun.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Oh, she could overtake them if she tried….
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I wish this show was a little more purposeful. It’s very engaging, but I feel like it’s been a little bit too haphazard in what it does. There’s almost no sense of time: it is hard to tell when it is ‘now’ in the show, how long it’s been since ‘then’, exactly which events were ‘then’ and which are ‘now’. It’s almost like that scene in Spaceballs where they get out the video of the movie.
When you combine that with what feels like the overall jumping around of the narrative, it really leaves the show being unsettled and just not as good as I feel it could be. It’s a way to do it, I guess, it’s just not working for me as well as I want the show to be going. They’ve got good characters. Every time they drill down into a character, they do it really well. It’s more like they don’t know what to do with the whole group, so they settle for telling one person’s story at a time with no connection to the others.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Yeah, but when will then be now?
For me, the show has been pretty much a character study. As for what they want to do with the whole group; I think once they start pumping the wells, they can start laying down some serious Venn Diagrams and draw the gang in a compelling way.
POWUH: 400-499 with 462 comments
“Soon.”