Classroom ☆ Crisis – 12
This is one Ninja-Accountant you do not want to cross!
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…on balance I don’t think this episode came off as bad as I thought when i originally watched it. Frankly, it’s just more par-for-the-course, and not any more or less worse than what’s come before… |
“…no common ground to start from…”
Nice reminder of where the show takes place…
To be honest, I do think the series could be done quite a bit better. But, I’ll take it as it comes and save “how it should have been done” for another time; if I do that at all, quite tiresome really. In taking the thing as it presents itself, it’s a solid build-up from what most of the plot threads have been suggesting from word one. All the characters have had to take it on the chin, and roll with the punches, and they’ve come up better for it. I wouldn’t call it outright character development, but they’ve done quite well in turning the established facets of the series leads; Katio, Mizuki, Iris, Angelina, and Nagisa.
Along the way they’ve managed to keep the A-TEC class in the loop, and they get to make a great comeback this episode. It’s good to see these kids doing what they do and do it above the curve. I’m glad that Saito held their horses in reign, and had them concentrate on their own tasks. They aren’t some cavalry ready to go save the day. They are engineering nerds, so dadgummit, they are going to nerd! Nagisa didn’t exactly bleed for his plan to save A-TEC, but he worked hard at it. Time to pay that all forward.
“…our lives have come between us…”
With Angelina/Hattori we get the culmination of a pretty awesome characters; with a great many hidden depths. She’s more than a bombshell body, she’s smarter than she even lets on. She got to bitch-slap the CEO, and then she reminded him that the time for accountability was over and done. It was time for action. Double burn. Then you add the sneaky ninja tactics, and that just seals the deal. But for all these qualities, she is much more than even that. She’s steady-on. A guiding force that has perhaps done more for Nagisa than he’ll ever repay. I’m glad they dropped the obsession she had with him in favor of a more nuanced character. I wouldn’t call her motherly (she would kill me with her pinky finger for saying that), but that sort of nurturing aspect isn’t easy to come by. She wears it well, and it informs her actions.
It’s just a shame that they wasted her potential crowning moment of awesome during this episode. We’ve been waiting to see her really unleash. She’s a blazing hot shuriken of justice…slicing through some copy and paste sticks of butter. C ☆ C has performed very well on building the characters and shaping their dynamics. But this melange of very badly drawn action tropes just doesn’t really fit the mold they’ve established. Yuuji’s return is in very poor taste. It sticks out like a broken thumb; an awkward intrusion into an otherwise decent set of plot lines. But, they are on rails, and when you have this sort of mix up, best to check off the boxes one by one. Insipid villain making one last call? Check! Stupid death-trap plan? Check!! Intrigue with some shady shell company? Check? Shell-company turns out to be part of Nagisa’s contacts? Check! Waste time with allies running down the clock? Check it off!
“…so much is left undone…”
Speaking of boxes that need to be checked off, how about that Iris? I know they were probably joking around when they named her the Ace Pilot, and here they pretty much shellac that joke with a nasty finish. She’s two for two fails right now. X-2 and X-3 brought to an early grave. This is a character pretty much unhinged from any real agency from the start, and I’ve been waiting for her turn to shine. She will shine, won’t she? No, I’m sure the rescue will pay off next episode, they always do, don’t they?
That just drains any tension out of the scenes they have to work with. It makes a cipher of a character only good for this one predictable thing. That isn’t shining. I mean, I would like to see it surprise me and take it in another direction, but I’m not sanguine about that. This is very “written” as Highway would say. There’s a certain level of satisfaction with having things come out as you would expect. I won’t deny that. But there are some real opportunities being wasted….
I mean, who needs character build when shelf-bought destiny will do just fine?
It’s OK, no one really suffers around here…
But for all that griping, I do think this episode winded up exactly where it need to be, given what has come before. And honestly, the speed bumps aren’t all that shocking taking the whole show into account. So, I have no doubt it will get to where it needs to for the finale. I’ll see you then!
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
Man….Yuji you bastard, you just can’t leave the show in peace can you? And how dare you accuse Nagisa of thinking of nothing but power and the company when that’s all you and your brother did?! You hypocrite!
However, I like how A-TEC worked together to try to both save him and save A-TEC which is what he would have wanted. I also like how Nagisa through all his pain and torture only thought of them and Nagisa/Iris. But then again, he’s been doing that throughout a large portion of his life, taking the pain and torture for Nagisa/Iris.
And the lady in question wants to do something for him but doesn’t know what. All she can do is pilot, but even that has been taken away from her because of her PTSD.
And poor Misuki, she just started loving him and now his life is on the line and there is nothing she can do.
I like how Nagisa has made allies as well as enemies in his life that will do anything for him. That’s some true loyalty. Angelina tried to save him, but she did the absolute number one thing that you DO NOT do:
NEVER TURN YOUR BACK ON AN ENEMY!
Especially one that’s that insane and you haven’t immobilized him yet! I don’t know what they’ll do to Yuji, though the guy looks completely insane so I’m not sure anything would be any worse than the inner hell he’s already in. Just put him in a mental institution for the criminally insane.
Though, then again, I highly doubt Kazuhisa would allow that kind of blemish to the family name, so he’ll probably just have him killed and announce his death as an “accident”.
I just hope he makes him suffer before doing him in.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I wouldn’t be the least bit dismayed if Kazuhisa has this sort of day all the time. Brother goes nut balls…bunch of students act out…political allies turn coat this way and that. It just seems like his daily cup of tea.
Yeah, I was kinda ticked that Angelina didn’t smack Yuuji with some knock-out technique. What’s the point of being a Ninja-Accountant anyway? I guess Yuuji had some script approval to get the leg up on her that way…
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
In his shoes and after a while, you’d come to the conclusion that you’ve seen it all.
This ninja has a conscience. Otherwise Yuuji would be a corpse in no time already.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Arkham Asylum would definitely take in a certified nutjob like him. The deranged cross-eyed expression and drooling certainly confirms that.
Where suffering is concerned, it needs to be slow and painful. On equal or more severe grounds in light of all bruising Yuuji left on Nagisa’s during his time in the Kiryu household. I could surely imagine he went through hell.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Arkham Asylum, by it’s narrative nature, is not so much a prison, as it is a temporary nut-job abode with a revolving door.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Well, to be fair, that’s only for the really interesting criminals. If you notice, all the background nutjobs that aren’t good enough for Batman’s rogue’s gallery, don’t get to go anywhere. 😛
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Well, this took an interesting turn. Not sure what to make of the events entirely but I’m liking how most of it is going. A part of me was actually hoping the A-TEC group would be able to catch Nagisa at the last moment, regardless of whether that would seem cliché or not. Working both near insurmountable tasks at the same time had to have been quite a challenge in spite of their noteworthy abilities. Now I’m more curious than ever on how the show intends to wrap its story up.
Ideally, Angelina leaving that bastard Yuuji alone in order to feed him to the sharks later so as to not dirty her hands with his rotten hide is admirable but in actuality, she should’ve knocked the weasel out right there to limit possible setbacks. His type is irredeemable, so there is indeed no need to give second chances or show any kind of sympathy or leniency.
And seriously, Yuuji accusing Nagisa and Kazuhisa about only prioritizing their career over everything else? That’s some hypocritical BS right there because he fitted that stereotype far more than they did and leeched off Nagisa’s accomplishments to rise through the ranks. Using such an invalid, self-righteous justification only results in inciting people to want to kick his ass harder!
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I’m hoping they rope in the cliches as well, but I would be fooling myself. They are on the cliche-train, and it won’t stop until it hits the final station.
In fiction, I find that I don’t mind the protagonist killing antagonist, provided there is enough narrative cushion to justify the action. Nevermind the poor writing that went into Yuuji’s construction. As it’s delivered, there is more than enough cushion to space walk his ass without the benefit of suit. Angelina would have done nothing wrong…
Again, his hypocrisy is born of poor writing, so whatever he thinks his justifications are they can run behind the paper-thin guise of “he’s crazy pants”. And again, spacewalk…no suit…
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
She would be my KSP Kerbal Resource Director.
KSP is seriously eating into spare time… ^^;;