Classroom ☆ Crisis – 09-10
Best Rice Ball…
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I have to say, the first half of anime original Classroom Crisis has been a treat to watch. But this second half….not so much… |
Well, maybe I’m a bit to hasty to judge, given my rants and raves about politics in anime over the past few weeks. I don’t mind this facet of life being used in fiction. But like any facet I do demand that it be used well, or at least used in a way that doesn’t feel weak tea.
A parade of names and faces…
I was almost ready to turn the show off..
To be sure, the production does use a great many narrative tools to great value. In episode nine, the defection of a minister from one party to another does it’s job of foreshadowing Nagisa defection from one emotional state to another. When you take into account that both were an unexpected turn of events to the audience, that doubles the tension, leading us to the very heightened mood when Saito righteously gives the up-an-coming player a smack talk.
It was almost a Beware the Ides of March moment…
These events were tactile, grounding us in how mundane this sort of politics actually is. At a certain level of play, all the variables are accounted for, all the outcomes researched and understood. All but the emotional battlefield, where the real scars are made. And the best and most eagerly given scar was the one we were waiting for all this time; the downfall of Yuuji Kiryuu. It couldn’t have happened to a more deserving villain.
…and don’t come back…
The political and corporate mundanity is revisited in episode ten, and is in fact, amplified. Nagisa’s backroom deals flow past the us, but with an eye firmly on the audience. But don’t let your eyes fool you. Self-assurance, power-brokering of the highest level, handled with deftness and alacrity for the final fight are given to us in the most automatic form of narrative that cuts corners in both terms of dialog and actual animation/cinematography; the dreaded montage scene. The epitome of thoughtless story-telling. But here, it was used very very well. I give them even more credit for subterfuge since they spliced in moments of A-TEC getting closer and closer to finishing the X-3. Which, has it’s own story to tell.
For my money, it’s the only real story worth telling. Yeah, the meat of the story needs it’s sauce and side dishes to make a meal, and C☆C doesn’t skimp on all the trimmings. But for every parade of political and corporate faces that went by, for every party name and number affixed to the tale, I felt that the main story got sacrificed just a bit more. I don’t mind these facets of this show, I just wish the creators could have reigned it in a bit more, and spent the time on the kids in the classroom, who have been screaming for proper character development from the first episode. Well, I’ve been screaming. Nearly as much as I screamed when all of Nagisa’s plans went down in flames. Pride and the fall has reached one more chapter. Did he really think it was going to be that easy? And to think, Mizuki loves him to pieces…So color me wrong on that ship! Be gentle with me….
Dude…..
I’ve felt that the past two, maybe even three, episodes of the show have been it’s weakest in terms of overall pacing and flow. Paradoxically, they’ve also been the strongest in terms of story-elements, with some of the richest reactions to new information of many shows this season. Nagisa loses his sense of identity, being crushed by the Elder Kiryuu. This, of course, brings me to the mystery we have surrounding Iris’ true identity. For those just tuning in, it was revealed that Iris is in fact, the Seventh Brave; which is going to be very confusing to fans of both franchises. But we work with what we have, right?
Maybe if I declare my love for one of the other Braves?
Well, I’m pulling the proverbial leg, don’t ya know? But I just couldn’t help but slip that joke in. Actually Iris is revealed to be Nagisa Shinayama, the heir to that side of the Kirashima corporate structure. Which really really really throws the bedrock of the whole world into question. I thought it was quite apropos that her crisis of identity came within the throws of PTSD, bringing her, and the X-3 down to Mars, so to speak. What will survive the ashes? That’s some good stuff right there.
She just wants her hat back….
Yeah, so, yeah. I’m officially torn about the progress of these two episodes. While I thought it was well paced and dramatic in all the right places, the bit players in politics and the corporate structure just ended up being a puddle of yuck. Maybe there is a great anime out there, or waiting to be made, that has hard hitting board-room action and pulse pounding political results, but C☆C isn’t one of them. Which, to reiterate, is not to say these elements aren’t welcome here, just the extent to which they were used, and that it pushed back very much needed character development elsewhere makes it more than a touch unwelcome. But the overall tone and thematic scope of these two episodes was worth wading through that sludge. What goes up, must come down. What will they do next?
Can we has our show back nao?
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: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
While I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy these episodes as much as I did sky, I had the exact opposite reaction to these episodes. I absolutely loved both of them!
I love a good political thriller! Backstabbing and underhanded deals, getting revenge through fighting with the weapons of words, pen, and paper. I love it all! And these last couple of episodes feels like the building culmination of all the episodes that came before it.
As for episode 9:
Oooh, Nagisa is good. Like he’s done time and time again, he did exactly what his brother told him to do, with the exact opposite effect that his brother wanted. That was a brilliant death blow, and I love how the older brother knew the whole time that Yuji was using Nagisa to get ahead and was practically proud that Nagisa finally turned the tables.
However, it’s obvious that the eldest brother is going to be the much harder one to cross.
And while I know they are saying that Nagisa is going too far in his revenge, I kind of have to disagree. This dark world is the one he has to deal with and it requires you to get your hands dirty. He’s trying his best to be part of both world, to deal with the dark but be anchored in the light, and it’s killing him. And while I know Sera was trying to help, he didn’t make it any better to tell Nagisa to chose one side fully or the other. Nagisa has to deal with much more grayer territory than Sera does, it’s so much harder on him, especially at such a young age. And his brothers have to be stopped. You can’t just let things go as they are.
So, now that Yuji is out of the way, it’s eldest brother’s turn. But this is going to be an even harder uphill battle to fight.
Episode 10:
OMG! I really didn’t expect that at all. I never saw that twist coming. Sure Nagisa is usually a girl’s name, but I’ve seen several male characters have that name as well. I just went with it. I never expected that he was really the bodyguard and he took all that abuse and pain for Iris (the REAL Nagisa). I do have to wonder, nobody knew that Nagisa was a girl? Did she never leave her house her something? And what are they going to do now?
I knew the older brother would win this round, but I didn’t know it would be so thoroughly. Nagisa can’t play he’s usual games since big brother is on a whole other level. Also, he’s been distracted by his desire to help A-TEC. It caused him to rush and become impatient and the CEO took advantage of that. What can he do now?
Yet, I think he does hold the ultimate trump card against the Kiryuus. Since the real Nagisa’s mother gave her daughter her inheritance, the Kiryuus can’t take it since the fake Nagisa isn’t the real one. He’s protected it and her all this time, I can’t see him backing down now even with this setback.
Oh, and also, I knew it! Nagisa (or whatever his real name is) x Mizuki for the win!
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Kaito already got the story that Nagisa was an illegitimate child so I assume until recently, the entire existence was kept secret so the Kiryuu family could save face. When you think of it that way, it makes sense. Would you even know the gender if the person wasn’t supposed to exist in the first place? That switch in clothing certainly plays a big part in the deception.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
These were my thoughts as well…
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
My theory was that the mother, knowing that a daughter would be in a worse position than a son, claimed that it was a boy from the beginning and falsified records. I’m doubting the father Kiryuu had much interest in his kid at all beyond the stocks “he” was to inherit and probably never saw him until he kidnapped him from his home. And even if he did, the few times he came, FakeNagisa would just stand in as a double for the real one.
The fact that he had a bastard kid seems to be known knowledge around the company, everybody knows about it (except Sera who’s head is in other things) but nobody talks about it except in whispers. I think that probably whenever the kids had to go out, they were always together and with bodyguards so nobody really saw them. The mother also probably spread the word that she had a “son”.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Well, yeah, we all like different things different ways. As I said, I don’t mind the theme or the tone of most of these past two episodes, but the presentation felt like a stall most of the time.
Overall I think that Elder Kiyruu is going to regret hitching himself to that high government individual. The way they hit us over the head with the Real Nagisa Reveal and the jerk-formally-known-as-Nagisa’s downfall? That’s heavy foreshadowing…cause Iris knows stuff that they thought would remain hidden…
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Well, I’m not sure Iris knows more that Nagisa does (using regular names for now), he was there the whole time as well and he saw everything. However, because he’s now wrapped up in the family, he can’t really say anything. However, Iris was never really formally adopted and it is she who still holds stocks in the company. However, I don’t know how this will all go from here. Iris has no talent or experience in business, Nagisa does. She would never be able to take the fake Nagisa’s spot. I’m trying to see how she will help beyond her birthright.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Many Kerbals died to bring you this show…
*circularizing orbit*
*plans for Hohmann intercept*
*aims for the Mun*
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
It’s called Duna…
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
I am not so advanced to Duna yet. Not even to Minmus even. Just stuck on Mun. 🙁
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Really, I just like watching the vids…
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Now building the KSS in orbit. Then a Mun refuelling base. Then probably to Duna. By the end of Classroom Crisis. 😛 I now appreciate how difficult is it to send a probe to its destination with so little fuel to burn.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Having worked at NASA, I’ll tell you that sending anything into Space isn’t as easy as it looks. 😛
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…and with Kerbal, I know you can “break” physics…
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/six_words.png
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Eureka! I have now properly grasped the concept of delta-v and burn efficiency! Many small short burns are more efficient than one long burn.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I thought they kind of blew it with the presentation. There are too many things they wasted time on, and too many other things that they’re just foisting on us.
The main thing that took too long: Let’s drag out the reveal of Kazuhisa’s double-cross. WAY too long, especially with Angelina having to do that shocked face for something like 4 whole scenes.
Second thing that’s taking way too long: Iris’ PTSD episodes. I know it was part of the same excessively drawn out scene with the double-cross reveal, but all three parts of that took too long. And a ship that has that much remote sensing and telemetry can’t be remotely flown before Iris crashes it into the ground?
Main thing they didn’t spend enough time on: Mizuki’s suddenly in love with Nagisa. Sure, they’ve spent a little bit of time getting to know each other, but there just doesn’t seem to be a real foundation for that. It was telegraphed, and you could see it coming, but it just feels like it’s plot convenience, not like she actually feels that way. It doesn’t help that we really haven’t had much focus on Mizuki at all, which is what might have made it feel more natural.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…even if it doesn’t look like filler, doesn’t mean it isn’t filler…or could we call it padding?
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Furubayashi’s change of parties is quite common in Japanese politics. As another blogger noted:
“Japanese politicians, especially conservative ones, do change their position sometimes, like Furubayashi did here. It’s allowed because their strength in the voting districts is basically of their own. They have their own supporters and those people follow them no matter which party they choose to get in…Those people follow their guy, not the party. And that’s one reason Japan has so many multi-generation Diet members. It’s like their family business, year after year, from one generation to another.”
Also, Classroom Crisis’s 3rd Bluray release will contain a special episode 5.5, shipping Dec 23 2015.
Recall that ep 5’s the beach/onsen episode.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I wonder if they’ll reveal Subaru’s gender in 5.5?
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
I have to say that overall Classroom Crisis has been a disappointment to me. I wish they had focused far less on the political and boardroom double-dealing and backstabbing and more on the A-TEC class and their struggle to build the X-3. Heck, they could have totally junked that stuff and made the show only about building the X-3. That way they could have developed the characters of the class more. There are some potentially interesting characters here who have been sadly underused.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
They don’t need to junk the politics, but if they could have those plots reflect of the A-TEC members; giving us their, perhaps, naive first thoughts, and more realistic second thoughts and subsequent reactions. They are pretty powerless in the face of the higher political questions…show us that! Make it a fight to stay.
But, I guess showing them dejected at times is enough?
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
I guess it really depends on what your interest is in. It was Nagisa that drew me to the series and the political backstabbing that kept me engaged. In fact, other than how A-TEC made an impact on Nagisa and his talks with Mizuki, I could have honestly done without the class altogether. So, it really depends on what you were looking for in the series.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
I like political drama, whether it’s in government or a corporation. But I went in expecting a show primarily focused on a high school class building a rocket, not one mainly concerned with back-stabbing, double-dealing and corruption within government and a corporation. So I’m disappointed by not getting what I expected and by the lack of development of most of the class as characters. Perhaps it’s my fault for going in with expectations.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Brilliant!! Both episodes delivered if you ask me.
Yuuji’s comeuppance, which was long overdue for the abusive bastard he was, was divine. It couldn’t come soon enough but what ultimately gave way to his undoing was not keeping track of Nagisa’s movements instead of just sitting there giving him orders. There’s a price to be paid for carelessness.
I must say that was hell of a plot twist they pulled for episode 10. Iris is the real Nagisa. Definitely didn’t see that coming. And intentional or not, her amnesia benefited whoever came up with the scheme. I’d like to see how they’re going to salvage this debacle because A-TEC is really in hot water now.
Until we have his real name, I’ll keep calling him Nagisa for a while. He devised a well thought out strategy that earns much respect but he still should have made room for possible setbacks because just as it shows, he went all in thinking it was a guaranteed win. Someone like Kazuhisa, who is no pushover, is sure to have connections all over, even in the least suspected of places. You don’t attain a high corporate position based on luck.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…at this time I think it’s OK to call Nagisa, Nagisa. But Iris really is the Seventh Brave…
And Nagisa played the classic blunder. He assumed that one victory assured the other. He got full of false-confidence, and his alliances on the board ended up being just that.
He found out, far to late, that the Elder Kiyruu Owns the game, and Nagisa just barely bought himself a place at the poker table. But I do think Elder’s trump card will be his undoing the next game. Getting higher level politician in on the game feels wronger and wronger…
EDIT: I had to delete original reply and put it in the right place…
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Seems SoL to me… >_>
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
I’m actually not sure if it was that he got false confidence, I think he got really distracted by his worry about A-TEC and so he was trying to rush all his dealings. He barely strategized, only using what he did before that has become an automatic maneuver for him. And that worry over A-TEC’s fate distracted him and is ultimately what cost him.
However, now that he’s fallen so low, I’m expecting him to have an amazing comeback! He hasn’t come this far to give up now!
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
For me, for Nagisa to have a satisfying conclusion. Whatever win he has over his Elder brother should be hollow. I think only by “saving” A-TEC can the main theme of the show be maintained; that progress is often built by monetizing it. Elder Brother will still go on, cause monetizing progress is still and will still be a going concern. But the conclusion is that both are critical in their own regards.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
I don’t think so. I think they already did the “hollow victory” card with the younger brother. I think that Nagisa HAS to win against the elder, or he’ll end up being stuck between a rock and a hard place. Unless he decides to completely drop off the map and leave the company, he’s got to do something about the guy or else the eldest Kiryuu is either going to keep going after him or will transfer him to someplace remote and that won’t do for a man of Nagisa’s ambitions who has worked so hard to get where he is.
Also, I’m still convinced that the CEO has a darker agenda planned, especially with his talk with the Chinese professor we met earlier and his talks with the Yuji.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Nagisa’s arc seems like ambition for ambitions sake. Yes, he had the goals of taking down his brothers, but with Yuuji, we saw that that ding just needed enough rope. It is hollow. But his reach exceeded grasp with his eldest brother. That game is officially over, and might not have been played to begin with. What people saw as cool and ruthless in Nagisa’s character, I saw and still see as a mask hiding his own sense of fragility. The point of him is for that mask to be broken, and for something better to emerge.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
If he plans on staying in the business world, he’s going to need keep that dark edge or else he’ll be eaten up by people like his brother and others. He can’t just become a high school student and live his days in A-TEC. He’s not an engineer, he’s a businessman, and honestly I think that’s as he should stay. I think the story has succeeded in that it taught him about life outside of the office and that he could have friends and relationships. But I don’t think it was meant to completely change him from one kind of person into another. I think that might be a bit drastic.
He needs to have ambitions to get anywhere, and I think he’ll succeed some way against the CEO, he just has to come at it a completely different way. If he doesn’t, A-TEC will die, and so it’s really that their goals have been joined into one. He wants to get rid of his brother, and A-TEC wants to live, if you want to do one, you will have to do the other.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
I just had a thought. What if in a brilliant ploy, both families named both kids “Nagisa”? They were born close together. It’s a unisex name so it could work!
We have a Nagisa Shinomiya and a Nagisa Shirasaki, They just switched family names?
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…at this time I think it’s OK to call Nagisa, Nagisa. But Iris really is the Seventh Brave…
And Nagisa played the classic blunder. He assumed that one victory assured the other. He got full of false-confidence, and his alliances on the board ended up being just that.
He found out, far to late, that the Elder Kiyruu Owns the game, and Nagisa just barely bought himself a place at the poker table. But I do think Elder’s trump card will be his undoing the next game. Getting higher level politician in on the game feels wronger and wronger…