Shimoneta to Iu Gainen ga Sonzai Shinai Taikutsu na Sekai 03-04 [NSFW]
This week on “Prison School”
I was wondering after episode three if Shimoneta had lost its steam, and whether I’d continue to write about it. But episode four brought back that frenetic five minutes at the end of the episode that 1 and 2 had, so let’s see how it went.
Short
She’s like his kid
It’s rare to have a character in a show that is a teeny high school girl and have her be almost entirely uncute. Not that Otome Saotome is ugly or evil or even a bad character to be disliked. Just that the combination of Satomi Arai’s buzzsaw of a voice, a short, obsessive girl with a bob cut, and being an arch drawing prodigy who also blackmails Tanukichi makes her just a not cute character. What she does do is reinforce Ayame’s view of the students of the school, that she has absolutely no idea how to actualize her feelings toward Anna, who she’s had a complete artistic crush on since she first saw her. Even her paintings that have won awards reflect this lack of knowledge, showing cartoonish boys and girls in idyllic settings, like painting “Precious Moments” figurines. But she realizes that she’s hit an artistic block, and is trying to break out of it.
Everyone gets saved…
Unfortunately, it’s by harassing Tanukichi (everything in this show happens by harassing Tanukichi). And her obsession with Anna gets her put as the #1 suspect for being Anna’s stalker, who is leaving creepy notes and pictures in her locker and mailbox. It’s scaring Anna, and means Ayame wants to do something about it, finally showing that she’s actually her best friend. So there’s a plan to catch the person, with Ayame posing as Anna’s date. Otome goes even further, taking Tanukichi in drag to support in winning Anna’s heart by saving her. Things go pretty much as planned, smoking out the stalkers (yeah, more than one), but Tanukichi gives Anna the thrill of her life by landing on her, accidentally kissing her, and giving her a little goose just for good measure.
Someone’s having quite the experience
The End of Innocence
“It’s for your own good”
Can it be the end of innocence if you don’t actually know why you’re doing what you’re doing? After episode 3 was mostly a setup for introducing Otome, and getting Anna in a compromised position, episode 4 gave us more about the “H Kinshi” plan that Anna’s mother, Sophia, is pushing. Not content with just throwing kids lives away as punishment for saying a bad word, she wants to lock every child in an electronic chastity belt that will tattle on them should they have more of a ‘reaction’ than the authorities deem ‘moral’.
No more playing Just the Tip either…
I’ve been trying to think of any sort of similarly oppressive law in history, and I just can’t come up with one. This takes a wholly involuntary biological reaction and tries to eradicate it by edict. That’s just not something that’s going to happen. Like the courtiers of King Canute’s disbelief at his ability to hold back the tides, no matter how the supporters of the H Kinshi law want it to be true, you can’t stop a pubescent boy’s boner. And railroading a school full of squares who think that they need to prove how upright and moral they are into supporting this law is bordering on evil. These kids have been gaslighted into believing their natural reactions are somehow bad, and now they’re being pressured to support further shame.
Sanitized for your ‘protection’
She Knows Not What She Does
Anna doesn’t waste any time
The fact that the railroading, er, pledging ceremony will interfere with Ayame’s plans to get a school full of dupes to storm a porn forest seems like it’s going to be the main focus of the rest of the episode, but instead, the story takes a bit of an unexpected turn when Tanukichi starts getting the same kind of stalker letters that Anna had been getting the previous episode. Poorly written and creepy, and as if that weren’t enough, there is someone following him. Even leaving a glistening pool of fluid on his patio and in a letter (drool? Riiiiight). Not one to turn down the chance to turn something to her advantage, Ayame decides to check off two things at the same time, by exposing Tanukichi’s stalker and, er, exposing Tanukichi’s stalker for Otome, who needs just that little push to get over her artistic block. Matter-of-factly hiding in Tanukichi’s closet may be the best scene yet for Otome, but the best is yet to come.
Caught in the act, but not ashamed
The identity of the secret stalker is revealed pretty quickly, although the method of reveal is excellent. Anna, who hasn’t talked to Tanukichi since he was injured going after her stalkers, is obsessed with him, and is feeling things in her body that she has absolutely no idea how to deal with. Even when caught by Ayame in the act of tying up Tanukichi and ravishing him, she doesn’t realize that what she’s doing is the very essence of the ‘immorality’ that her mother has been railing against. To the contrary, she thinks that it’s the very expression of pure and just love, and thinks that her actions are exactly what her parents have been trying to teach her to do. So she’s not mortified when Ayame sees her naked, astride a pantsless Tanukichi, just a little embarrassed and yet still happy at his ‘acceptance’ of her love. Not that he had much choice, tied up and blindfolded.
It’s a huge success for Otome
Bonus Anna
Tanukichi should have been a little happier about this, no?
I was waiting for Anna to have a realization that what she was doing was ‘wrong’, but it never came. Either seeing Tanukichi looking at a gravure magazine, or getting poked by the thing attached to his abdomen, or even Ayame’s stunned reaction at finding out it was her. But it seems that nothing can dissuade her from the high she’s on, although you wonder if something will happen later. But then again, Anna doesn’t even have the vocabulary to describe what she was doing, so I wonder if even describing it to her mother would get approving nods that she was doing the right thing, rather than the things her mother is trying to suppress. There’s also the hints from the previous episode that Tanukichi might be thinking about Ayame more than he had given credit for, as he wondered who he was saving, and also blurted out her name secondarily to Otome. This show manages to finish up strong almost every time, so maybe that’s why I was disappointed in episode three, even though that was a big action scene too. But totally back on track with episode 4.
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: 900-999 with 915 comments
Well, things got a little creepy towards the end. I don’t think Tanukichi SHOULD be happier. I think he could be happier, but considering that he admired Anna for her pureness and exemplar morality, that must have been a hell of a shock, just about as much as it was for me, who stood staring at the screen three minutes after ending the episode, mouth agape, with the message “Now Loading” on my head.
And I was disappointed by Ayame’s reaction to Tanukichi’s… Thingy. I mean, the opening kind of teased this, but for someone who keeps saying lewd stuff, she was pretty overwhelmed in face of the real deal. She lost some points.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I don’t know if I’d consider it creepy, but it was certainly startling. I just love the dichotomy the show has exhibited between what Anna thinks is appropriate and what the rest of the world does. The fact that she even justifies her actions after the fact, with no hint of worry, to Hyoka (who I’m extremely pleased they’ve kept in the show as a character) is terrific characterization.
And I think that Ayame’s reaction is great. It would be ok if she was more ‘roll with it’, but I think it’s a perfectly acceptable reaction, even given what she’s doing. There’s a difference between showing people pictures, or even seeing pictures, and having someone exposed to you. Plus the amazing shock that she’s had seeing Anna in flagrante delicto just set the stage. Plus, it shows the difference in Ayame’s and Tanukichi’s response from Otome and Anna. I think that there’s some interesting subtext that neither Anna or Otome was ashamed at what they saw or did, but Ayame and Tanukichi were.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
In those scenes, at the end, with both Ayame and Anna they are showing how disconnected they are from what they are doing. Dirty jokes aren’t the basis for revolution, they’re social cues. Well, for a kid they might seem revolutionary, getting away with something naughty for a time. But they’ve exaggerated that here.
Anna’s actions are just one more exaggeration, and extension of what you tell very young children, “if you love someone very much then a baby happens” Love is good, babies are good, so there is nothing bad happening her.
Both viewpoints are warped just enough here.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…an awesome character. You have to admit, she ain’t boring in the slightest. Besides, cuteness is in the eye of the beholder. I like a study in opposites.
I love how comically evil this is getting, as that is perfect for satire. They played the escalation to the new PM device very well.
Also, I’m noticing both sides are playing the regular kids as if they have little individuality. It doesn’t matter if they are raiding the porn forest (good job naming it that!) or coaxing them into chastity belts, they are blocks to be manipulated for a purpose.
Also, I found it interesting and funny, Ayame’s reaction to an actual penis. So to JP above, it’s great. Shows that she can be all talk, and little walk. By contrast, Anna knows what to do, even if she’s a little “baked out” to realize it totally?
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
They have definitely ramped up the evil parts to comedic levels. And yes, even if they have the rest of everyone’s ‘best interests’ in mind, there’s still a taking for granted that levels both sides a little more than they possibly should.
I looked at Ayame’s reaction a little different. She *knows* that it’s ‘dirty’ to see that. In contrast, Anna and even Otome don’t have the same reaction, because they haven’t been told over and over that it’s bad or dirty. They’ve been told that things are immoral, and that they shouldn’t do those things, but they’ve obviously never been told what those things are. I alluded to innocence, but still wonder who it matters to that that particular ‘innocence’ is lost? Anna can’t even conceive of her actions being immoral, because how can something so pure and natural be immoral? I think that’s some surprising depth.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Well, “innocence” as you put it, and/or as society puts it, to me, is pure arse-gravy. Not knowing is simply being uninformed. Innocence also goes hand in hand with guilt, and what are you guilty of if you know how human bodies work.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
I dropped this after episode one, thinking it was one too many sugars in my cup. But you know what, after seeing blogs on the recent episodes, I might have to revise this opinion.
*queues up episodes 2-4*
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
GJ!
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
GJ-bu?
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
It’s close to my best show of the season, alongside Jitsu wa Watashi wa.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
I haven’t checked out Jitsu wa Watashi wa. I didn’t like the manga that much (the quirky character designs bothered me, I dropped it after the MC gained his second harem member) so I haven’t bothered checking out the show.
None of the new shows have been knockouts for me so far, but been enjoying a number of them (sequels are pretty much pre-determined for me, like Working!!! which had awesome 1st and 2nd seasons).