Musaigen no Phantom World – 10
Hey, it’s a transfer student! She’s so pretty!
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Quick and easy, nice and fun. Not bad for a Ruru-centric episode….I’ll keep it short and sweet this week. Just add a Phantom Wish Granting Witch to get the story moving. |
Forced Perceptive (But Not)
I loved some of the show’s compositions
Once you start seeing things from other people’s perspectives, you change yourself and the world a little. I found it very sweet that this was something that both Ruru and Haruhiko found independently of each other, when neither one was looking for it. Also, it would be easy to prop up this one as part of the “supposed harem” label the show seems to love to tease it’s audience (and stump it’s haters) with. I like how it reinforces that you can have feelings for someone, same gender or opposite – it doesn’t matter, even strong feelings, but the doesn’t necessarily equal a romance. Seeing eye to eye with anyone is a challenge. And sometimes, like Ruru learned with her bruised feet, you have to ask for help no matter how if you’re heights match or not.
Ruru thought for a moment he was looking a the girls, but….
It’s one of the things that I’ve always loved about the studio. While many are apt to dismiss it for moe (and dumping on their hate for moe onto one convenient spot, deserved or not) and the whole “cute girls doing blah blah blah”, what fascinates me is not the set pieces or any overly complex plots, but how they frame the shots, and how they frame the characters in those shots, the true movers of their stories. Just give us something to absorb, and our imaginations will deliver the rest. It’s easy to dismiss, all you gotta do is confirm your biases and move on. But even a simple episode such as this, was able to tell us a great deal about these people that didn’t need a rehash or a narration or some silly special moment or a bunch of episodes of fighting.
She got up there with ellipses…
By not overextending themselves, by using ellipses during the scene above, they could communicate a great deal about Ruru’s character in that moment without resorting to silly or stale “internal monologue” or having a a melodramatic special moment forced on the audience. She got up there, where she belongs, became who she needs to be, and did what only she could do. Not being stepped on. She learned you don’t need to stand shoulder to shoulder with someone to see what they see, but the change in perceptive sure can help. Haruhiko learned the same thing, albeit in a different direction. His was built on absence making you think about a person in a different light, if you find enough chances to.
Making a goofy joke out of that is just icing on the cake…
My Extras Explode with Delight
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That was a cute episode. I loved how all it too was a neat witch to set things off, just the sort of catalyst a story like this needs from time to time. She could have been a bit more discerning in granting wishes, but I love the gimmick of how she was able to help Ruru fill in the backstory. She must have a treasure trove of material to fall back on (or a gargantuan shelf of anime media) to come up with stuff like that on the fly.
Ramune!
Special little additions, well it was pretty much seeing the girls in the yukatas, and how they went out for the festival. I really like the design choices from sensei’s mature colors to Kuyumi’s child like ones, and on up to Mai’s classy hairstyle. There was also the fact that Ruru’s assumed name was literally “of the Summer”, which is just to ironic. It’s the little things that make a story stick. Welp, like I said, I’ll keep it short this week. Next time it looks like we get some chibi magic going down, and maybe a bridge between Haruhiko and Mai will be built.
See you next week!
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: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
O_o Preggo Fairy….
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
No! Just no!
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
Nice having an episode centering on Ruru. And maybe after this she won’t be abused so much by Haruhiko. Maybe he’ll start treating her like a person and not just a nuisance.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Yeah, that was the thrust of the episode. I really do wish that we’d get a bit more insight into why she chooses to hang out with him over literally anyone else. I don’t mind if there is no reason at all, there really doesn’t have to be other than she wants to, but they keep hinting more, and it can’t be that big a revelation to hold of since episode 2.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
That’s pretty much the same type of relationship between Dimension W’s Kyouma and Mira.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
That’s just how Yuuta and Rikka’s relationship began…..
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Really simple episode this week. Ruru’s way too carefree for not considering what she could and couldn’t do after trading up for a human sized body. Also, she’s around Haruhiko all the time so she should’ve known how things are supposed when students are in class.
That Phantom Witch is interesting and probably would’ve been more fun if she were introduced earlier in the series.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Yeah, YQZ pretty much gave us Lila right at the start of Hana no Uta
POWUH: iLurker with 1 comments
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