Okay, this is getting a little too dumb now…
What They Say:
Since Shoko declared independence, the students of Sakimori have been leading a carefree lifestyle. All of a sudden, the power goes out. Finally, the students manage to turn the power back on, and they broadcast a video of themselves singing a song.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After the first four episodes of this series went from having some rather silly plot ideas to absolute insanity, I thought I was probably ready to deal with however dumb it wanted to be. Okouchi does it well; it’s dumb in a smart way… so to speak; there’s no doubt that everyone on the staff is just having fun and putting care into making everything as ridiculous as it is. And the results were so unbelievable that it was fun to see what crazy ideas they had next. I can’t say it’s really changed from that line of thinking. But everyone has their threshold, and this series seems to be determined to see how much sillier it can get with each passing moment. It’s bound to start grating on people sooner or later. For many, the first episode could’ve already been too much. I’m not going to say that I suddenly hate the series, because I certainly don’t, but this was the episode that started to make me wonder if there’s any chance this series is going anywhere.
With the previous episode ending as Shoko has declared their school to be an independent nation, holding the threat of Haruto’s Valvrave over both sides of the conflict, it was inevitable that there would be plenty of wild shenanigans from the members of this new country. After all, what kids don’t want to be able to do whatever they want without any adults to tell them what to do? Well, probably a few, but those aren’t the ones who will stand out when the time comes. The antics these kids engage in make for another example of, given the impossible situation, a fairly accurate portrayal of what would probably happen. The inaccurate part, other than the initial premise of course, is how long all these dumb kids are able to sustain their society, more or less. When the power goes out and the inevitable in-fighting and finger-pointing gets underway, we get another taste of what such a situation would probably end up dissolving into. Of course, the way it’s all resolved is so incredibly cliché that it’s nearly impossible to think of the main part of this episode as remotely original. And once that issue is out of the way, all the internal conflict seems to be washed away relatively instantly, although with a little bit of realistic bitterness left behind.
The episode starts to offer something a little more out of the ordinary at the end but, as is par for the course for this show I suppose, it’s only uncommon because of how insanely cheesy it is. The school— uh… country makes a music video to let their families know they’re doing okay. It’s nearly impossible to give any part of this sequence justice by describing it, but I can almost guarantee that it will make any viewer either laugh or cringe, and in either case, it’s a scene that may prompt some looking over one’s shoulder to make sure nobody is watching.
There are some dashes of plot development here and there, and some romantic subplots touched upon at the end, but it’s hard to try to take any of that seriously with the bulk of what this series is giving us.
In Summary:
I know I’ve been entertained by how dumb this show has been, even applauding it in some ways, but even I’m starting to back away and wish it would cut back on that a little. It’s still fine, but when it juggles clichés with overly dumb ideas, it’s hard to be very enthusiastic about it.
Grade: C+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Custom-Built PC, 27” 1080p HDTV.
