My thoughts on the latest turn of events…

DO NOT WANT!

This episode was made of fail and lose, and I say this not only as an advocate of yuri, but also as a fan of coherent plot…and a hater of Kyoshiro.

Episode Rating: 6.5/10

Picking up where we left off in episode seven: Kuu confesses to Kyoshiro, Kaede style, and gets rejected, Rin style. They both storm out of the house to jump off their respective cliffs while Setsuna looks on with a probable sense of satisfaction.

Kyoshiro needs to clear his head and think about what to do, so he jumps into a lake…fully clothed (not that I’m complaining about that last detail). He goes through the usual routine: flashback of his nii-san, think about current state of absolute angels, strengthen resolve to destroy them, and lose resolve when he thinks of Kuu.

Meanwhile, Kuu’s up to her usual routine, thinking about Kyoshiro, lamenting on her weakness as a human being and an absolute angel…then getting distracted by something shiny. Whether intentional or not, she ends up jumping off the edge of a cliff to her certain death, only to be caught last minute by Kyoshiro.

Apparently having done a whole half hour of thinking between the time he decided not to have secks with her and now, Kyoshiro lets loose the floodgates of emotion and confesses his love for Kuu. Being the naive and simplistic being she is, Kuu is immediately cheered up by this sentiment and the two hug as cultural festival fireworks go off in the background.

However, Kuu is not as naive as she appears (…anymore) she questions Kyoshiro’s will to destroy the absolute angels, her being one of them. He says that he’ll protect her from the others, no matter what, and that his late brother will surely understand his feelings.

Reassured, Kuu offers Kyoshiro the invitation to the dance, but he declines for now, saying that he needs to settle things with Setsuna first. Right on time, who else but Setsuna herself conveniently shows up and immediately proceeds to angst over Kyoshiro.

However, Setsuna is interrupted by a parting of light in the clouds, from which descends Kyoshiro’s nii-san and Kuu’s prince, Kyoshiro Kazuya. True love and a reunion with his brother? Ayanakouji: Best. Day. Evar. Or not…as he runs to hug his brother, Kazuya punches his little brother, sending him flying into the nearest wall. As Kuu and Setsuna run over to check Ayanakouji’s well being, Kazuya calls out to Kuu “Let us go, together…”

There was also some randomness with the KaonXHimekoXMika trio, but I didn’t understand enough of it to comment. *shrugs*

Thoughts

Hopes of a KuuXSetsuna scene the likes of Kannaduki are quickly becoming fleeting dreams, damn you Kyoshiro.

So this episode sucked, badly. It began well enough as Kyoshiro rejects Kuu, showing his ability to set aside emotion and maintain his resolve to destroy the absolute angels. But a quick dip in a lake later and he pulls a complete 180 and confesses to her? Wth is that. Kyoshiro’s like the John Kerry of the anime world.

Then there’s Setsuna, who despite being a pretty awesome character, never catches a break. She’s lost pretty much every fight that she’s been in, is seen as nothing more than a weapon by Kyoshiro despite her love for him, and just as she’s about to give Kuu the beating of her life, she’s interrupted by Kazuya. …but at least she’s got awesome hair =D

The appearance of Kazuya makes me think that the plot of Kyousora is going absolutely nowhere. Every week there are new characters and potential storylines introduced, but none of them are developed to a coherent point and show no signs of a conclusion. I smell a deus ex machina ending, and unlike Kannaduki, I have a feeling it’s going to fail hard.

Also, what was up with the school festival, despite looking more like the Olympics, it was just annoying. The episode tries to build a sense of drama but in the background you have this annoyingly happy announcer reporting on the school’s cultural festival? It just doesn’t work out. The only thing I can think of is that they were trying to use the festival as a contrast to the depressing events, but even that fell apart when Kyoshiro confessed and the fireworks rang out in the background.

However, the episode wasn’t all bad. Kuu momentarily was revived to her former glory of having random sparkling fantasies and having the mental capacity of a five year old, no internal monologuing though, makes me sad =(

In addition, the KaonXHimeko relationship has been revived! It seems like Himeko is the one with the unhealthy obsession with Chikane Kaon this time, which is fine as well. She kisses Kaon to give her all her mana, and ends up breaking Mika’s seal. Hopefully she goes on a rampage and kills Mika, that would be awesome.

In any case, one or two bad episodes is inevitable with Kyousora, much how Kannaduki kind of sucked until the ending. I just hope they manage to pull things together plot wise, or come up with an ending which rivals that of Kannaduki.

~ Shirukii ~