This show had to have some kind of merch line, right?
See, this episode really harps on just how many characters have been squeezed into the plot - - and how the sorceress girl up above, in particular, has seemed especially superfluous to the proceedings. On the one hand, such happenstance could easily be the product of over-eager designers getting carried away with how many fairy tales they could potentially make over. No scary mercenary impulse behind any of it. On the other hand, though, ever since that nerdy girl Eva pilot was added into EVANGELION 2.0 when there were already too many pilots, I almost have a reflex now to look for any character’s accompanying figurine.
On less cynical topics, I found it highly amusing that these final few chapters have so exactly taken on the plotting qualities of some blockbuster Hollywood trilogy. Look at STAR WARS, MATRIX, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, et al… the third installments almost always open with the rescue of one of the main characters. Perhaps that’s just Serial Storytelling 101, but I found it particularly amusing here because such epical conventions are being employed in a story about a bunch of high school kids who threaten each other with “bikini ambushes” and tacky fashion. It’s almost like settling some dynastic feud with a poolside chicken fight.
In simpler terms, that means this show’s pleasingly ludicrous at nearly all times - - even when it’s not trying especially hard to.
However, getting back to earlier questions posited about the character designers’ motivations, I’ve got to say that it’s not really… sensible to make two important characters as dandies with white ponytails. I was confused about which one ruined Ryoko’s life, and that’s not helpfully when I want to laugh when one of them’s getting ambushed by bikini girls.
Watch this episode, "Okami-san and the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing” below and decide for yourself, then read my comments on the previous episode here.
Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here. Follow him on Twitter: @tompinchuk
