Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyouku 11-12 [END]
Eruna indulges her M side…
End of the season, and so we’re getting the last episodes coming fast. Sometimes shows end with a bang, but sometimes they end with a whimper (and sometimes they end with a band, a typo that I made just typing this sentence and thought I’d inflict on you). Let’s find out which way the last two episodes of Mikagura went.
Vanishing Powers
Reality is what you make of it, if you can
Last post we had ended up with Otone about to beat Seisa in a fight, without Seisa even fighting back effectively. Was it because she didn’t want to try, or is it worse than that: Seisa may be losing her special abilities to fight in the first place. But either way, Seisa is trying to completely pull away from Eruna, who never wanted to be separated from her in the first place. Perhaps the midterm battle will provide an opportunity for Seisa’s reinvigoration, as hoped for by Otone, but it’s not looking good. She’s even pulled the Going-Home Club out of the battle.
Bimii ended up as the butt of a few too many jokes, I thought
But there are even more repercussions to Seisa losing her powers, and the main one is that the reality around the school begins to revert back to the way it was. This ends up with Eruna and Bimii trapped in an image of the old school building, and a recounting of the story of Seisa’s betrayal by her senpai in the Photography Club, who ambushed her so that she wouldn’t have to fight her in the Club Battles (as the Art Club representative). So we finally get that story of why Seisa’s not really engaged with the rest of the school. But even if she thought she could seal away those memories, it’s obvious that Seisa never forgot about that betrayal.
Too much Powaaaaaah!
For the final episode of a show with a lot of go-go-go! action and fast-paced jokes, the final episode seemed a bit out of character, with a lot more exposition and explanation than the whole rest of the series. It was nice to get the story there, but ended up feeling like they had just waited to tell the whole story. It’s not a storytelling mode I’m particularly fond of, because I think it interrupts what should be a crescendo to the end (although I do like a nice resolution and pull back right at the end, rather than a “Solve the big problem, end the big fight, Done!”). Maybe a little lull is good right before the end there, but this was almost a complete stop in flow. By the time they got to the final fight where Eruna gets to fight Seisa (who exercises some Force Majeure to shove Kuzuryu aside, with the help of the terrible acting of the drama club), they needed to really bring a good fight to get the momentum back. And it was a good fight, with Eruna starting out not using special powers to be fair to Seisa, and Seisa regaining her powers during the fight. And even though Eruna doesn’t win, they both get what they want, since Seisa wanted to join the club in the first place, she just wasn’t sure that Eruna could bring the fun back to the battles.
They’re both happy with the outcome
Series Wrap
These two finally got to fight, after Kuzuryu quit ducking Hero Time.
Overall, I think that the series worked pretty well. The major driver of the whole show is Eruna, and while she either seemed to back off from her irrepressible exuberance or we just got used to it as the show went on, she never lost her charm and got annoying. And I think that goes for a lot of the other characters as well. Some were always great to see, like Himi, and others really had to grow on me, like Otone. I think it helped that Otone seemed to soften a lot, especially with Eruna, and spend less time as Black Otone (to the point that Eruna almost had to beg Otone to insult her as Black Fujishiro). I don’t think there were any characters that I wished wouldnt come on screen.
You wonder if they tried to be campy, or just are bad at acting…
The way that Doga Kobo ended up animating the fights worked pretty well for me, with that much more ‘raw’ style, angular and stylistic. While it led to a couple derpy faces (like Seisa in the final battle), it helped set the fights apart from the rest of the show, and also give them a sense of speed and action that enhanced the mood. The art shift also worked because I don’t think we’d want to look at that ‘unfinished’ kind of look throughout, even if that is the art of the source LNs.
And Himi just because she’s cute
One thing I wasn’t a huge fan of was the reworked songs that they used for some of the ED’s, particularly Houkago Stride, Eruna’s image song. I’ve come to really like the Last Note arrangement, and the rearrangement by Tom H@ck was just not as good, even for being more complicated and using a lot of different harmonies. I wonder how a version that is sung by Juri Kimura with the Last Note arrangement would be, but as it is, I’ll stick with the Gumi versions. The original songs for the show were good, tho, especially the OP, which played in its entirety during the final credits.
I liked Mikagura School Suite, and liked the positivity that Eruna brought to the show. I like to see that kind of attitude in characters, it’s a nice change from being dark or brooding or damaged. I thought the show did well in spreading that attitude around as well, so that the characters who were ostensibly troubled were not really downers. It wasn’t the deepest show ever, but it was a lot of fun, and fun to watch Eruna go at 9/10s the whole show.
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: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I enjoyed the show over all. I wish it would have been a bit more power/battle focused, as that seemed, to me, when it was mostly on point. The “student tries to make silly sounding original club” thing has kinda been beaten to death, and it’s not the type of trope that can take a hit without folding like a cheap suit.
But I did love the powers, especially Seisa’s hidden ones. And like you say, Hime, cause she’s cute. Oh, and KUMoLOLi was pretty good most of the time.
Overall the OP stuck out most in my mind.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
Hime was way too cute, and loved her personality. I want to adopt her!!!
POWUH: 600-699 and Romance Expert with 652 comments
yeah I love how eruna’s a fun and pretty positive protagonist, refreshing to see in recent times. how she solved some of the problems were also nice such as the drama club guy, where she didnt try to force him to be nice as you’d expect. overall she’s actually pretty chill and I like how she doesnt just poke her nose in and meddle with other people’s problems, instead she just hangs around with them.
also love how she’s a lesbian, but can be great friends with the guys instead of like hating them.