selector infected WIXOSS -06
FK YA BATERU
I would say that stuff is getting serious, but I’ve said it before and will say it again. So let’s just say the flavor is bitter.
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Schadenfreude
Akira is suffering
It’s interesting to see Akira’s reaction to the fact that Ruuko has no established wish. Af first, she takes it as a colossal joke, but we see she doesn’t laugh long. It does make me wonder what Yuzuki would think if she was part of that knowledge. I think it would be just like Akria’s reaction. We can cut straight to the point. If Ruuko has no wishes then why participate? Why ruin it for everyone else? This also brings up an interesting facet of Ru’s behavior that we might not be aware of. What has she done that is so scary. Does she completely change as a person when playing, and it is something the storytellers are not yet showing us?
After a (very little seen) curbstomp we see Akira’s world slowly but surely going down the tubes But then, when you play big, and don’t have the stuff to back it up, the only way down is the hard way. Iona is a cold character, and hard to like, but I do tend to agree with her. Akira’s behavior of both “picking off” Iona’s scraps and hitting weaker opponents is pathetic. This would be horrifying just by itself, but then we hear her wish. To ruin Iona’s life. Again, not to keen on that character, but that is so shallow it barely marks any depth. I’m thinking they better give her some saving graces as a character; and not just a pitiable back story either. She is just to darn straightforward harsh. But will that even help? She jumped right into battle, one we have to wait a week for!
She get’s straight to the point
Iona’s point of Ruuko playing without a wish is as blasphemy is not quite harsh enough in my opinion. It’s downright cruel. I asked above, what aren’t the producer’s of the program showing us? They have a tendency to not just leave the game mechanics out, which I think let’s the story shine more, but leaving off whole battles. The new character Chiyori and her battle with Yuzuki was cut out completely; but depending on how her story goes we may get it from Chiyori’s POV later. If my guess on this stuff is correct, then making battles short but sweet for all the players may be playing into a rather big Ruuko reveal. Which is something that both Urisu and Iona have knowledge of.
That looks speaks volumes
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I Will Follow You
Bringing some much needed happiness….no wait. NO. NOOOOOO.
It’s middle of the first cour and we finally get our left out from the OP Selector and her LRIG. Chiyori is almost exactly the bright and happy bit the show needs right now. You think that, and then the rest of the plot hits you like a trainwreck. Hell, she’s even younger, and doesn’t even believe the game will have a downside. She learned it all in the novel. The novel? Yeah, the card game has an in universe light novel. Didn’t anyone tell you that Yuzuki? And heck yeah, Eldora. She’s probably explained everything about everything to Chiyori, probably twice. But this LOLi comes off a bit “soft on the top” and to darn bouncy for any of it to really sink in. I cannot say I’m proud of Yuzuki in picking this Selector battle. She’s taking that trait from Akira, and it’s, as she experiences, a good way to make a win feel like a loss. I wonder if how you play the Selector battles is the key to the conditions that Hiyano-san mention. The end doesn’t justify the means, but the means do create the end.
She seems the patient sort
ON a releated note, I could not find listing for the VA’s for Chiyori and Eldora, but I took a sharp listen a couple of times and made a guess or two. I am almost 100 % certain that Eldora is Satomi Arai (FK YA Kuroku!). At first I thought that Chiyori was played by Emiri Kato (Mayoi Hachikuji), but it could also be Yukari Tamura (a long time vet, many to list, but her bubbly nature made me think of NIPAH! Higurashi’s Rika Furade) I’ll gladly take other suggestions.
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Nowhere to Come in from the Cold
Well this isn’t easy to talk about that’s for sure. No one deserves this. But for the sake of narrative, I did enjoy how they wove HItoe’s further story in and out of everyone else’s. It reinforces both the horror of Ruuko not having a wish, and the deplorable and equally horrific wish that Akira carries in the black place she calls a heart. It also cuts right into Chiyori losing her first Selector battle. That would sink the heart enough, but they just have to add more. When Ru get’s called out by HItoe’s mother, the woman is desperate to find out what is happening to her daughter, and she handles it very well. She doesn’t blame, she won’t judge. Just help her help Hitoe. This strikes Ru so hard she almost reveals the whole shebang. It’s a sharp blow for Ru, to see this caring mother, and dwelling on her own past, and her own mother. Then we get that “scary” vibration going on again. It’s starting to shake her up, as that is just what the possessor of a battle hungry LRIG needs.
The Ghost of Pain’s Past
The Ghost of Pain’s Future
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Extras from the Deck
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I don’t even think the preliminaries are out of the way yet. We have one more major knock down to go as we get to see Black vs. White next week. That will take us to the middle of the first cour, and we’ve barely scratched the surface of the game’s deeper mythology. I think they’ve done a great job so far on giving us in universe clues to how the game works, while sticking close to the drama and reactions, making that the major focus. With a split cour coming, I think this show is going to hit us hard for a few more episodes, let us breath for the penultimate, then finish us off in the final. Leaving us struggling to get back up for the next round. What do you folks think?
POWUH: iLurker with 7 comments
The story is just getting even more darker now. There’s something really disturbing getting in Ruuko’s consciousness . There’s a destructive nature inside her that resonates with Tama, is seemed even more battle-hungry ever.
That bitch Akira got what she deserved, despite how short their battle was. She really, really disgusts me, especially around the part where promised that girl who lost to Iona that she take a fall for her, and immediately stabs her in the back. She literally killed her and she show no remorse for it. No redeeming qualities, even though she lost twice. I wonder what kind of hell awaits her if she loses one more time.
Hitoe’s situation seems to be worsening as her mother is noticing the drastic change. I have to compliment her mother for taking the initiative to find her what’s really happening to her instead of blaming others.
I wonder how Chiyori will fit into all of this. She seems to understand the risk into playing thanks to both the card game’s light novel and Eldora. However, the way she describes what happens when you lose three times is a little creepy in my opinion. I wonder if the novel she gave to Yuzuki will play some into this.
The preview seems to show the fated battle between black and white. Can’t wait to see it.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Welcome to Metanorn, We(ss! Very good to have you here, and I welcome your comments.
With Akira I want to see redeeming qualities. As I said in my post, it would round the character out, and make the downfall that much sweeter. Yes that is quite messed up, but bitchy character being bitchy and losing in a bitchy way is boring.
Thanks for making me think of Chiyori more. I, probably like the creative staff, made her first appearance a placeholder with the promise to talk more. And, to counter you, I don’t think she understands at all the risk going in. At her age, the consequences are to big to think about, and an LN is of no help to her. Interesting that she passes it on to Yuzuki.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
About time Akira got a little taste of retribution. A shame the rest of the battle wasn’t shown first. Her source of fun was fun was exploiting desperate people and mocking their wishes so Ruuko, having no wish of her own, robbed her of the usual ammunition needed to inject her cruelty. You reap what you sow and her last words before running off after a well-deserved defeat were the pinnacle of hypocrisy. “Beating me until I groveled… You were enjoying it!” Convenient. How easily these people forget they were on the other side of the playing field doing exactly what they’re accusing others of. And she’s more depraved than I originally thought (and thought she was very much so, already). All these dirty tactics not even to better her lot in life but to do everything in her power to completely ruin someone else. Talk about raw animosity.
Ruuko’s love for battle may be coming from her growing link with Tama. If both members of the team share the same desire, their efficiency will spike. That attack Tama unleashed during Akira’s was powerful. This theory may be plausible for Iona. What we’ve seen is, though the Selectors and LRIGs have been paired up, they don’t see eye to eye nor do they have a common interest. On another note, anyone who catches wind of her disposition would be insulted and cry foul. Why do they have to put something on the line to participate when another has nothing to risk on the table?
Chiyori is cute, upbeat but so clueless of the conditions WIXOSS sets out for Selectors. How nice the situation for her would be if she didn’t have to know the harsh consequences of three loses. That chipper smile will disappear the moment she does. For the time being, she’s the only light yet to be swallowed by the darkness.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…heck, Chiyori might figure out how to beat them all and not even worry…
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
The odds of that are slim to none. Akira thought she had an easy path to success and look what’s happening to her now. Everything’s going downhill.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Actually, I think Akira’s complaint to Ruuko about getting beaten and making her grovel is entirely projection. Ruuko didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as Akira thinks, and wasn’t taking much joy from beating her down. That’s all Akira thinking that she is because Akira would have been if the roles were reversed.
They didn’t say what Chiyori’s wish is, did they? It could be something completely innocuous that doesn’t effect her going forward. Something like “I want a chocolate sundae every week”. So if she turns out to dislike chocolate sundaes, that’s not a life-changer. The other thing is that it might be unhappy to see Chiyori lose something, even her life, but she may not be that upset about it. Who knows.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
All said and done, Akira got what she deserved. If you live by the sword, you’ll die by it and whatever you do to others will eventually find its way around back to you. Bad karma. In others words, she has no right crying her eyes out, acting like a victim after what she’s done.
I don’t think Chiyori has such wishes. What’s shown is, excluding Ruuko’s unique case, the Selectors all have wishes that are capable of making a huge impact in their lives. Hence, the game will only accept those who are strong in their convictions. You win some, you lose some. That’s what life’s all about: taking risks.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I do wonder. If I was doing this, I would hit the newest character first in terms of background, and then riff on Iona and Akari, who we know the least about as well.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
From the episode credits, if I’m reading the name right, Chiyori is played by Mako Morisaki. 杜野まこ Now I could totally not be reading that right, but it’s certainly one way to read it.
Eldora is Arai Satomi.
You know, I have no problem with Ruuko being the wrecking ball for wishes. You know what Ruuko’s wish is? To beat your ass at this game. To have fun, and enjoy playing. And if that wipes out some people’s terrible wishes like Akira’s, so be it. Would it be better if she had some “I wish my grandma would live forever” wish? I don’t really think so.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
That’s a good wish.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Amazon BD preorders show Wixoss has gone up to 10th demanded, just above Sidonia BDs.
I’ve been keeping tabs on developments, although I haven’t been really watching it since the first few episodes. Is it worth following or not?
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
If you are not an avid hater of Mari Okada and melodrama, feel free to do so.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
The recent episodes are getting darker and the conditions for participating as Selectors are increasingly harsh with one already suffering the penalty. So right now, yeah, it’s worth following.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
It’s gone from a show I didn’t have very strong convictions about in the first two or three episodes, to very much wanting to follow. And not just because I blog it. I choose to do it because I wanted to blog an Okada work, and am quite happy to see her outside the comfort zone she typically works in.
When I found out it would have a second cour, I became much more interested in how they would do out the story. As I said, I would love to see them work more of the character backgrounds into the work. Akria just screams out the most. I want to know what makes her such a colossal pain in the ass. What makes Iona such a purist? They’ve teased us, and I want more.
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 386 comments
Ya, I’d have to say the same thing, At first it sounded like a interesting show, it was a little slow, but most shows are like that, but now I’m wanting more! I sorta feel like Tama. Can has more WIXOSS.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Yeah, the slow burn at the beginning left me tepid at first. I really wanted Okada to strut her stuff just like she did with Black Rock Shooter; even though I said I would not compare the two.
But then, I would be asking a writer to redo what they’ve already done. WIXOSS is a FK YA BATERU of a different stripe than BRS. I’m happy with that. The slow burn is cooking rather nice.
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 386 comments
Mmmhmm, I also thought of Black Rock Shooter with this show, but Fosh shot that down, that punk! But ya, the slow burn is starting to get heated up.
I like this phrase! it gets my vote! ill replace windowX OS with Fk Ya Bateru!~
desu!