Hiya of us, and welcome again to Improper Each Time. Immediately is for certain to be a second of reckoning, as we return to Blue Reflection Ray with Mio’s promised reprieve simply now coming to its finish. Having vowed to rewrite the previous and thus present her doomed world with a future, Mio is ready to do no matter it takes to guard her sister Hiori. In the meantime, Shino waits hungrily within the shadows, plotting to show that very same sister into the despairing gas for her ambitions, with Mio’s demise doubtless serving because the catalyst.
It’s all a satisfying muddle of determined hopes and brewing betrayals, lent some welcome emotional weight by the clear benefit of Mio’s problem to the Blue Reflectors. “Embrace your trauma with the intention to overcome it” shouldn’t be a universally relevant resolution, significantly for somebody like Nina, who has not solely suffered extra acutely than any of our heroic leads, however who additionally lacks the help community that cushioned characters like Miyako by their restoration. And past this, for all we’ve discovered in regards to the reflectors, they nonetheless look like appendages of a system we don’t perceive, designed for functions that stay wholly unclear. Thus our heroes enter the day of reckoning with no plan, no coherent philosophy, and no understanding of their very own goal. Let’s get to it!
Episode 11
We open with Ruka now captured, laid out on the couch as that creeper Uta makes her bizarre smile and begins getting all grabby. Even for a bunch of villains, I really feel like permitting Uta to be one in all your representatives is simply terribly publicity
“Is that this your first time dropping your emotions? Don’t fear, I’ll be light.” Whereas Mio’s argument hinges on the erasure of feelings being a needed protection in opposition to sufficiently debilitating trauma, Uta fortunately leans into the thought of this course of as an invasion, feelings being “taken” in the identical means chastity could be “taken”
“What we wish is you and your accomplice’s little flowers.” As soon as once more, Uta deliberately drawing a parallel between extracting emotions and sexual assault
Uta is so desirous to brag about their plans that she really informs Ruka they’re concentrating on Hiori
In the meantime, Shino is singing Mio a lullaby a couple of rose that pricked the boy who picked it, “so he would have one thing to recollect it by.” A tune that suggests it’s only by the struggling we trigger that we exist within the reminiscence of others – a troubling implication, given their common philosophy of erasing disagreeable recollections. They aspire to stay as ghosts, haunting others however in the end fading into oblivion
And naturally, this entire maternalistic lullaby situation emphasizes the infantilization of their worldview, the way it’s actually simply an try to retreat to the baggage-free simplicity of early childhood, the everlasting sunshine of the spotless thoughts
With storm clouds hanging overhead, Shiori and Momo go looking for Ruka
Miyako’s cellphone connection breaks as they attain the rose backyard. She prepares to go out herself, however is confronted by Saiki Yuri, the lady who was spying on her beforehand
Momo soothes Shiori’s nerves by reworking, her new look serving as a reminder that they’ve grown stronger collectively. I additionally like how their dialog continues by Shiori’s personal transformation – these transformations don’t happen exterior of time just like the frequent commonplace, and thus reworking earlier than the battle is tactically needed
Hah, they’ve really acquired Ruka chained to the altar on the chapel. Simply actually not her day
Mio’s reworked look is de facto fairly one thing. Along with her prolonged, color-shifting hair and lengthy antenna-like ribbons, she appears to be like like some sort of ominous moth or crow. I suppose that matches with the persistent crows exterior
“We weren’t in a position to discuss the opposite day. So… I wish to hear what you’re feeling.” Hiori makes an attempt to place the teachings of her relationship with Ruka to work in reaching Mio. That is doubtless the one reply to Mio’s elementary critique – that with the intention to lighten the load of our recollections and genuinely join, we should discover prepared companions who will settle for our emotions with out judgment. Not everybody is powerful sufficient to embrace their emotions alone, however a trusted accomplice could make issues simpler
That does make me surprise how the Purple Reflectors really work, although. The facility of the Blue Reflectors relies within the belief and energy of their bonds, however the Purple Reflectors appear in a position to grasp energy although most of them hate one another
“You don’t must know. That means, you gained’t endure.” Mio sees her emotions not as a burden to be shared, however a curse to be guarded in order to protect others
“I can see how a lot you’re struggling.” However Shiori’s counter proves the weak spot of Mio’s perspective – as a result of Mio’s struggling is Shiori’s struggling, even when she will be able to’t perceive it. Holding your ache inside is not going to forestall the folks you’re keen on from feeling it alongside you
Shino really agrees Mio ought to share her emotions, clearly as much as one thing
Oof, the character faces are tough in a few of these cuts. Blue Reflection shouldn’t be essentially the most visually spectacular present at the perfect of instances, and at others the location of characters’ eyes and mouths make them appear like animated thumbs
With Shino in attendance, Mio’s resolve is hardened as soon as once more. “Reflectors can’t shield anybody.”
Yuri claims she is working for the AASA. Alright, lastly somebody who really is aware of what’s occurring!
“The Widespread is a world created by folks’s collective unconscious. It’s the place the place everybody’s consciousness and recollections are saved, and it’s a spot we should not work together with. Initially, the crystallized variations of everybody’s emotions ought to solely exist within the Widespread. They need to not seem in our world. After the battle with the Sephira, the space-time turned distorted. The legal guidelines of the world have been modified. And this distortion is now shortly spreading. And the rationale it’s now rushing up…” …is the method the Purple Reflectors have been pursuing. Alright, that truly covers quite a lot of it! So Reflectors are certainly inherent intrusions on our actuality, “guardians” that shouldn’t really be interacting with people in any respect
And the Purple Reflectors’ stolen emotions have gotten gas, used to foster additional distortions of actuality
Mio states that Reflectors can solely momentarily quell fragments – until the emotional root of the fragment is handled, they’ll develop as soon as once more
Ooh, I like these fantastical backgrounds we see Mio wandering by as an evidence of her path right here. The metaphor is evident: younger women are set to stroll alongside winding stone paths flanked by abyssal chasms, an illustration of the claustrophobic expectations positioned upon them, and the harrowing penalties of not fulfilling them
“So that you assume the worst experiences will make you stronger. You make me sick. Your shitty previous is ineffective.” Nina responds to Shiori’s optimism with comprehensible venom. We’d wish to retroactively assign which means to struggling with the intention to really feel like we at the very least gained one thing from it, however the reality is that the majority trauma is simply trauma, most scars are simply scars. Struggling doesn’t inherently make us noble or clever
“We gained’t let the unhappiness and the struggling of all these women go to waste.” I can really see Nina’s level – struggling has no inherent worth, however the Purple Reflectors can really put that struggling to mechanical use, and thereby give some which means to the plights of their targets
“We’re going to attach these emotions and open the door to the Commons. Then we’ll handle these Fragments ourselves.” So that they’re mainly going for a human instrumentality challenge to make sure complete mutual understanding, with them as overseers to ensure everybody performs good
I like this conception of magical women – they’re really too highly effective for our world, beings that shouldn’t exist right here, and thus their very presence causes distortions and ripples. I’m basically a fan of magical techniques that see magic itself as someway poisonous or hazardous to life, an aberration in actuality – Roadside Picnic has been one in all my favourite articulations of “magic” ever since I learn it
“Principally, the dignity of these emotions might be misplaced.” Apparently, Yuri sees the very privateness of their emotions as essential to their nature
Shino’s resolution is to easily mould everybody’s emotions into nice, agreeable shapes, so there’s no disagreement or unhappiness. She sees the reply to the inherent battle of human id within the erasure of human id
The Purple Reflectors then declare it’s time to take away their rings, which appear to be resonating with their stockpile of vitality
Ruka wakes finally, and begs Hiori to not give up her ring
“I gained’t hand over my emotions, it doesn’t matter what!” However the rings are merely an emblem – Hiori now has complete confidence in her emotions, and doesn’t want the ring to ignite them. Thus Ruka breaks free
Ooh, some good fluid cuts as Momo leaps into battle. Not many drawings, however the choreography possesses a robust sense of affect and follow-through
Aw shit, we’re rolling credit proper by the battle. An excessive amount of to get to!
“People are weak.” I’m wondering if Shino is a Sephira herself. She actually hasn’t expressed any precise human feelings thus far
“I don’t need you to endure anymore.” Mio, that’s a humorous factor to say whereas flinging spear-pointed chains at somebody
“This time, I’ll be the one that will help you.” Shiori provides each an apology and a promise, assuring Mio she is now sturdy sufficient that her sister needn’t shoulder all the burden
Mio can’t be swayed! However Momo dives in entrance of the strike!
And Finished
Welp, that may’t be good – now Mio is blooming into some sort of self-hating monster of regrets, and our dependable senpai Momo is seemingly lifeless. I think about that’ll all play out horrifically subsequent episode, however to be sincere, I’m extra intrigued by the knowledge we obtained within the margins right here, relating to the distinctive nature of the Commons and what Reflectors are literally supposed for use for. I’m fairly taken with the thought of “magical women” being an final result of seepage from an inhospitable, unreachable world of magic, and should think about the present might be taking a dramatic flip as we swerve into the results of Shino’s ambitions. As for Shino herself, she’s frankly the present’s weakest narrative hyperlink in the intervening time; she’s simply “evil,” there’s no substance to her, and her potential to thoughts management others diminishes the substance of the conflicts round her. Right here’s hoping she features some context or texture as her nefarious goals come to fruition!
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