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Last edited by Tony K. on Tue Sep 12, 2023 8:39 pm; edited 2 times in total

Episode 09: Drowning in Dreams
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Summary:

While recovering from her collapse, Miyo learns a great deal of Hazuki's past, causing her (Miyo) to question the kind of life she wants to live. Later, a man is attacked by Grotesqueries, causing Kiyoka to work on a shorter schedule. While he's out in a meeting, Arata appears at Kiyoka's residence in an attempt to dissuade and deceive Miyo into pursuing a different life path.
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Comments:

Man, Arata is the worst kind of manipulator. Who needs superpowers, when all you have to do is goad people with words? As if Kaya wasn't enough of an obstacle in her life, now Miyo has to deal with this fiend, not just trying to break her psyche, but even pressuring her into an emotional outburst. And the fact that he even pulled one over Kiyoko, who's usually so calm and collected, seems like a pretty amazing feat.

Hazuki's backstory was nice. I think it's exactly what Miyo needed to hear: the story of a girl who didn't get along with the "family" around her, until she realized she needed to get out of that environment and live a better life. If there weren't so much more supernatural intrigue and conspiracy to the story overall, I'd even call this the pivotal moment of the series. But I guess we'll have to wait and see how the rest of the plot works out.

The little romantic moment between Kiyoka and Miyo was also great. I feel like for all the drama or twists that occur, it's good to have these occasional interactions where the two of them just be honest and lovey-dovey with each other. It helps relieve some tension and is actually rather sweet the way they portray it. Here's hoping they eventually reach that, and it stays that way for good.
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Episode 10

This has been a show that I've found consistently enjoyable right from the start. There have been no lulls or dips in interest for me. And things are getting especially critical now that the Usaba family has sunk its claws into Miyo. I'm assuming Miyo's mother sealed away Miyo's powers to protect her daughter. It seems we will get the scoop on that and why her mother married into the Saimori family next time. Only two episodes left... *sigh*

Original discussion started here.
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Episode 10: Summer Cherry Blossoms, and the Mistake
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Summary:

Kiyoka and Miyo arrive at the Usuba mansion, where Arata explains that he is actually a member of the Usuba family and is also Miyo's cousin. The two are later introduced to Yoshirou, the head of the family, who explains that Miyo's nightmares come from her ability to telepathically tap into and influence peoples' dreams. In an effort to help contain her power, the Usuba's insist Miyo stay at the mansion, which Kiyoka refuses to accept. In an effort to take her with him, Kiyoka challenges Arata to a duel.
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Comments:

Well, looks like Miyo's ability is basically Inception. That's actually really cool! I wonder when the story gets that far, if they'll do any kind of Inception or Paprika like head trips. This is definitely a power with a lot of potential, both good and bad. Pretty much every one and living thing sleeps, but with the state of mind Miyo is in, she's still very much a blank slate you can influence to do who knows what. I can see a conspiracy where someone uses the Grotesqueries to make people unconscious, then using Miyo's ability to brainwash them. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait a while to see if that theory ever comes to light.

The duel itself was quite neat. And the fact that the Usubas are apparently built for battling other supernatural-powered people makes sense. For that, I'm wondering if the Usubas have this long history of being the keeper of the supernatural world, or something to that effect. It was interesting to see Kiyoka lose his cool, but also falter just long enough when illusion-Miyo stopped him from winning.

I'm hoping Miyo's stay with the Usubas either doesn't last too long or affects her character too much. As fragile as she is, I thought she was making very good progress from what she initially was at the beginning of the season. She just needs that little extra push of confidence and one big action for herself, and she'll really start to blossom after that.

Hopefully, we won't have to wait too long between the end of this season and beginning of the next.
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episode 10 irritated me though.

kind of 'bad guy" I really don't like but despite his smarmy "logical explanation" that denotes an intelligent bad guy playing mind games, he and grandpa are idiots who constantly spout nonsense everyone should see through. But everyone keeps falling for it.

"She should come to our house, she is family and we can protect her."
---"Why didn't you try to take care of her before now and left her to suffer."
"We didn't think she had any powers."
---"So... you don't care about her, you only care about her powers." (kudos for Kudo for actually spotting that)
"Uh,.... *sigh* I will pretend you did not just destroy my argument, taunt you, and say it does not matter, YOU cannot protect her, so she has to stay here if you want her to be safe and protected."
---"I will not give her up!"
"Oh, okay, how about we duel. If I win, we keep her, if you win, we will tell you how YOU can protect and and keep her safe at your home.
---"A duel it is!"
... instead of.... "UH, you just said the only reason she has to stay here is because I couldn't keep her safe and protect her... but now you're saying I can? Why should I duel you? You guys are dumb as dirt."

Writing "smart characters" is dependent on the writing actually being smart... this fails a bit.

Yeah, I definitely feel the Usubas don't actually care about Miyo's well-being, just her power. I'm sure either Kiyoka will come back and beat them senseless, or their attempt to take advantage of Miyo will completely backfire on them. Miyo has had enough sad times, as it is. The law of karma will save her, and any applied retribution will be glorious.

Yeah, I agree the whole Usuba clan taking Miyo back was not particularly well-handled. I'm sure a better rationale for the duel could have been crafted.

I think there's a chance that they're actually going to try to change your thinking about cousin a little. The stuff about him "just wanting a task to be responsible for" gives me the idea that he's a little more facade than genuine bad guy. He's convinced that his duty is just and that he cares about her. I think he also truly believes that the Usaba's duty is to "protect the world from corrupt ability users" and once he realizes that the cackling skeleton guy and grandpa are actually trying to grab power for themselves, he'll switch sides... while remaining a smarmy jackass.

I suspect you are probably right... but him raising the fact that the Usuba family tends to intermarry and that he sees himself protecting her... as her husband... kinda made my skin crawl a little.

If Arata starts falling for Miyo, we might have ourselves a possible reverse harem!

But seriously, as for his reasoning, I feel every character has been pretty clear-cut with their intentions, so far, with nobody having a questionable grey line. They've either been good or bad. All that devious stuff Arata said to Miyo and Kiyoka in Episode 09, and then having to resort to a Miyo-mirage to win the duel makes me believe he's more disingenuous than not.

I don't think he's complete scum like Kaya and Kanako. But his manipulative nature, thus far, is off-putting enough for me to dislike him. That being said, if he becomes some kind of anti-hero or finds a way to redeem his heinous actions, I'd be down for that, too. The harder the reversal, the better the redemption.

I'd say Kazushi is a little grey... helps his brother in possible self-interest without getting his own hands dirty. Leans towards "good" but enjoys a little chaos.

Last edited by Tony K. on Wed Oct 04, 2023 11:22 pm; edited 1 time in total

Good point. I completely forgot about him because he gets so little screen time compared to everyone else. Guess we'll have to wait and see if he plays any kind of bigger role, later. Maybe he'll end up trying to push his dad out to do some kind of positioning for their family.
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Episode 11: My Mother's Legacy
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Summary:

Pending
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Comments:

Pending
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Screen Caps:

Episode 12

I am delighted this is getting a second season, but I have to say this one ended on a very satisfying note. If the Gods of Anime had not been kind and this was all that was ever adapted, I would have felt a satisfying story had been told... with one exception. I want to see more suffering from the non-Miyo parts of the Saimori family. Much more.

In any case, I had a bit of a strange moment when I went to record my rating of this show in ANN's Seen All Anime List. I really, really enjoyed this show but ended up only rating it Good. As I've stated on other occasions, my ratings make no effort to be "objective." I don't carefully weight technical merits and other measures to come up with a rating. A rating simply reflects my subjective engagement with the show. Based on that, I should have been able to rate this Very Good without a qualm, but instead my strong instinct was to give it a Good and I can't really explain why. My weird brain. *shrug*

Original discussion started here.
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Episode 12: Light in the Darkness
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Summary:

Pending
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Comments:

Pending
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