Charlotte – 06
Yusarin shows off just a little
dit-di-di-dit-dit-dit-di-di-dit-di-di-dit… Oh, Charlotte must be up, because something’s being telegraphed.
All Aboard!
They don’t have to be Ayumi’s friends, just placeholders
As expected, Charlotte moved into the story phase of the anime this week, with Ayumi taking on a much more central role. But as I talked about last time, it feels like the show is just doing things to get the story done, and if you though I was going to not complain about the writing this week because the story made more progress (and stopped doing ‘Crappy Power of the Week’ stories) then you’ve got another think coming.
Such a happy couple
At issue, again, is the writing. The show absolutely refuses to let the audience have something to figure out. So Ayumi stays home from school, sick with a fever, and that’s the day that the soaking wet guy (who I think I will name ‘Splooshsuke’ from now on) comes in to tell the Student Council about another person with powers, this time the ominously named “Collapse”. But at least for me, there was no mystery, no anticipation in this at all. From the second that the water drops off his finger, you know it’s going to be “This is the condos associated with the school!” and thence to “But Ayumi is staying home from school today!”
Bring Something Unexpected Please
Dude, just give it up already
Would it have been so hard to mix it up a little? Have Yuu tell Nao and Yusa about Ayumi being home from school earlier. You know, maybe have them all have a human conversation while they’re sitting around in the student council room. Make the plans to go visit Ayumi then, to show that they’re concerned about her as a person. Surely Nao can be interested in someone as a person, right? Maybe even have the visit, and THEN drop Splooshsuke in afterward to ramp it up. But as it was, it was just checking off boxes one by one.
Sure, because it’s all Ayumi’s fault that Nanpa-san is a jackass
That’s not to say that it wasn’t interesting at all. The trip with Nao, Yusa, and Yuu to visit Ayumi and have dinner together was a nice bit, and let them buy omiyage for her, including the expensive tin of cookies (that’s exactly what those are there for) from Yusa. And having Ayumi fangirl out not once, but twice, over Yusarin was pretty cute as well. The best was probably Ayumi’s insistence that Yuu and Nao are a couple, or would at least be a good one. They are the type that could end up together just because they have a dislike but understanding of each other.
Ayumi finally breaks
But unfortunately, the show never forgot that it’s job was to get through the story. Perhaps the only unexpected thing was that Ayumi’s classmates came to visit (having seen the whole episode, I hesitate to call them “friends”). But even through that, they made sure that all they did was set up their characters in the bare minimum for the end of the episode. Same thing with Ayumi sneaking out to school after Yuu said that she should stay home. Just had to get her to school, because otherwise, Murder-chan wouldn’t pull a box-cutter on her, after Nanpa-san desperately tries to get her to go out with him, and Iinchou-san bodyslams him in to the wall, all so that we could find out what her Collapse ability is. There was one confounding variable tho: Another girl and guy who have arrived at the middle school in a hurry, just like Nao, Yuu, Yusa, and Joujirou, saying she didn’t make it in time.
I’m sure we’ll get the rote explanation for her next week.
More happened this week, and thankfully it wasn’t another “of the week” episode. But it played out so rote, so “follow the outline” that the impact just wasn’t there. It’s the same way that the rest of the show has gone: So and so has to do X at Y, so they go to Y to do X. It’s a huge contrast to the other shows that I’m covering this season, Shimoneta and Jitsu wa Watashi wa, where in both cases the characters are being themselves and the story plays out from who the characters are. Charlotte has these characters in the story because it needs to have these characters with these traits do these things, all in service of the story. And ultimately, that’s disappointing, because it makes it very hard to forget that’s what’s happening. There was much more time to make the characters be people, even to get to this same part at the end of this episode, but the show wasted it on much less interesting retellings of what they do.
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’m going to stretch a trope here, but there’s fun in that.
All stories play with theme, plot, and character. I don’t think I have to argue that the best stories strike a balance with those elements.
Charlotte is, in effect, Murdering the Hypotenuse. I mean, love triangles are hard to balance, but man this show has Plot going all Yandere on Character for the most part.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
RIP little sister character! You only existed because Jun Maeda allowed you to just to get us attached to her and BOOM not anymore! #crying #tears
At least things got serious…
I wouldn’t be shocked if that mysterious character had some time reversal power to save the day or something? Then again I saw the episode 7 preview and it doesn’t look like the sister will be coming back, but again I could totally see them reversing time cause that girl was like “I guess I didn’t make it in time.”
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I haven’t seen a preview, so for me it seems weird they wouldn’t figure out a way to keep Ayumi alive. That’s a lot of setup to just kill her off without milking her for more potential drama.
Of course, now we can have Yuu angsting out about it because he couldn’t do anything, even though he truly couldn’t have done anything.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Yep you can fully expect that because I saw Yuu crying a bunch…
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
I have only one thing to say:
COOOOKIIEEEE!!!! OM-NOM-NOM-NOM-NOM!
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 154 comments
I know I’m a bit late to comment, but did anyone else want the yandere girl to die too and then when you saw she was alive hoped she got kicked off the ledge by the other girl? I hate that she tried to kill Ayumi, made her self-destruct and possibly kill or injure others besides herself and got off scott free.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…sometimes the person that causes the most trouble, get’s out with the least to pay for…