I've got to hand it to the staff; I didn't think that a show could be this ridiculous and yet genuinely entertaining at the same time.
Let me explain myself a bit. I didn't enjoy this episode ironically, nor did I enjoy it for all the wrong reasons. A lot of my complaints from the last episode still hold true here; I still don't feel much sympathy for Yomi, given that she should know better. The drama still feels forced, and the evil counselor is as ridiculously evil as ever--she's attempting to strangle students now? How has she not been fired yet? However, for me this episode was truly enjoyable because of several factors. One, the battle scenes and everything in the "other world" was amazingly done. Two, the plot twist involving Yuu that ultimately sends Mato into the other world is exactly what this show needs. In the OVA, this part was towards the end (minus Yuu), and the viewer finds out that the battles that they've been seeing throughout the running time was Mato in BRS's body looking for Yomi. The show plays it differently, with the battle already over by the time Mato shows up. I say that this exactly what the show needs because it's finally starting to establish the rules and relationship between the two worlds outside of the "FEELINGS" excuse we've gotten up until this point. Also, the show has finally set itself apart from what the OVA covered before, so now we're not just watching a retread with some new characters thrown in for marketing purposes. To be fair though, the recent announcement of the Insane Black Rock Shooter Figma to be packaged along with the limited edition of the anime boxset was nicely timed...
Anyway, now that the show has started to answer some of the questions that have been floating around since the beginning and has finally taken a slightly different path than the OVA, I'm excited to see what comes next. The reveal about Yuu's character brings up some interesting implications about the connections between the two worlds since STRength isn't her alter ego, they are one and the same. Also, given what we've seen of the counselor so far (how she very clearly knows about the other world, tells students whatever they least want to hear for maximum psychological damage, and that it's implied that she and Yuu have met before in a context outside of the school) it's likely that she's not who she says she is but is literally Black Gold Saw in the real world. I'm also interested in learning how Yuu was able to send Mato into the other world, since it was different than what happened in the OVA. From what the show told us, it makes more sense than the OVA method since my current guess is that Yuu's body in the "real" world is what Black Rock Shooter is to Mato in the other world, a borrowed form while her "real" self exists in the other world. Clear as mud, right? But this is all speculation on my part; it could be proven wrong in these last few episodes. That's another reason why I enjoyed the episode despite the show's continued flaws. I love to speculate and try to anticipate where a show will go next based on what the characters or the plot have done so far. Right now, I'm predicting a hypocrisy moment for Mato as well, since she states that people need to learn to deal with their feelings, yet I'm pretty sure that this new form isn't called Insane Black Rock Shooter for nothing. Regardless, I've found a part of this show to truly enjoy. If the rest of this show is on this level, I'll be satisfied.
Images from Nico Nico Douga.
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