Those last few episodes from the radio tower guy and creepy as fuck back Stand to the whole Bite the Dust ordeal was intense as fuck

Kira was a 10/10 villian

DiU was absolutely glorious.

This show's early-2000's anime aesthetic, for which I'm a sucker, cushions much of the badness here. It helps that I cannot see everything relating to the mechs as anything but so-bad-it's-good comedy. It absolutely has to be intentional parody. There's no way it's not. Death of the mangaka, etc. The pacing is so erratic that even I've noticed it, Soma and everyone in his sphere is a total joke for the first half of the series's runtime (again, it has to be intentional), and nearly all of the bad shonen villains are awful, with the exception of Miyako, who is pls but stokes some of the more interesting conflicts. It's filler and I treat it as such.

For there is shit that I like here. A few things:

The instant Soma snaps out of his hilarious Gundam screaming sessions in episode 7, he becomes perfectly fine as a character. It's like he suddenly attains cognizance: he's been taking all of this goofy shonen material too seriously and that the love triangle was his scene all along. Not to say he's particularly great, but I do like that he attains some semblance of maturity. Thinking of him being totally cool and not visibly jealous - as I'd expect of most anime dudes angling for attention - with Himeko getting dual sun/moon motifs for her and Chikane, apologizing for the impromptu kissing in Ep 7, etc.

Himeko straddles the line between the typical pathetic unassertive shoujo heronie and this amazingly idealistic and sweet figure. It's weird. Usually this is a character archetype in anime that triggers an instant eyeroll reaction, but she's tolerable so far, if bland. That's probably because there's still space for her to grow. She could even take a page from Madoka. I could easily see her doing that, even with this show's dubious writing.

I was going to say that I liked how Michelle Ruff yesss Chikane seemed more vulnerable and susceptible to being swayed by impulse than your typical Aloof Girl; Miyako's preying upon her (perceived) vices in Ep 7 was definitely the one standout scene for me, fanservice notwithstanding. I found Chikane's ultimate rejection of Miyako's temptation unconvincing, which was surprising to me, given how frequently heroes/heroines come out of these nadirs with renewed resolve. This actually gave me hope that something interesting would happen as a result of her being unable to overcome those weaknesses.

But then, how often does that happen?

Ahem.

Don't know what to make of the non-flute flute scene. My opinion would not change if there was a flute involved. I'm utterly conflicted.

It's both [title=I know]problematic[/title] writing and indicative of a deeply screwed up character dynamic and I don't think I am in a position to provide sufficient commentary. It's one of those rare developments that I think signals both flaws in the writing process that simultaneously function just fine within the narrative itself.

My initial reaction to this twist was that the latter was true: Chikane's despair - and possibly her internalized homophobia, as I've seen posited elsewhere - was made evident up until this point. This was always a possible, but totally implausible, result, especially in retrospect. For this reason, and having not seen anything past this, it doesn't entirely come across to me as the kind of development made solely for shock value. It doesn't feel tacked-on to me, nor fanservicey. I think that's part of why I'm at such a loss.

Because, like, now what happens? Can't imagine that Himeko is going to be the same, especially vis a vis her two love interests. I think she should either bail or become Madoka already. I'm both terrified and interested at the idea of how her character might be handled from here.

Soma getting completely wrecked and failing was amazing because for once the hero doesn't save the day, and yet jfc that total bleakness and absence of any hope at all. He doesn't appear to be dead but I think he wishes he was. Especially since he has greyscale???

And Chikane is wtf. Guess I got my deeply-flawed protagonist, didn't I. We've gone way past Byronic. Only thing is I now feel awful about finding her fascinating.

I got the bleak protagonist-goes-batshit-insane twist I've always wanted and yet never thought would actually happen.

:U

I can't say the rape was enjoyable to behold, no. But I'm at the very least surprised that the show managed to throw all my expectations back into my face.

WHOA GOD

The drama.

This dumb show got me amazingly tense after Chikane just suddenly showed up at her estate. Himeko just being all "I don't even care, I'm happy" is amazing. You know what I love about KnM? There's a dearth of heroic willpower in the protagonists. The second something seems slightly pleasant, even when it's an obvious trap, they just give in and shit goes to hell.

Himeko: "You're still here and it wasn't a dream, I'm so happy, now watch me cry ;____;"
Chikane: "Oh yeah, I was in the garden. Aren't these perfect for an omelette? Also I'm going to kill you."

Gut punch is my favorite kind of punch.

Himeko openly weeping after the gut punch is so good.

NO DON'T BRING THE MECHS BACK.

This episode was satisfactory. I actually liked it for realz in a sort of watch-through-my-fingers way. If there's one more like this then this show will ascend to Guilty Pleasure-tier.

Yeah, I got wrecked.

In spite of all of the terrible badness, I was defeated and I'm now an emotional trash heap.

I'll take the loss with dignity.

Chikane did nothing wrong.

I guess I'm fine with Charioce right now? I'm disappointed that he has exactly two emotions to choose from, but I think his motives and objective makes sense. There's no way he could've gotten the approval of either side if he were to propose it, even less so if they knew what kind of knowledge the humans discovered. And I figure that he can't have any emotional range because that's how he chooses to be king.

What I'm really disappointed about is how clunky the execution and pacing has been for a while now. I actually let out a groan when that old man laid out a whole backstory preceded by a "I'll make this brief because we don't have time" right in the middle of a really important thing. Took me out of the experience a bit, that did.