Maybe silliness is more appropriate than delicacy for this show after all.
What They Say:
Module 77 is headed to the Moon while the students are appointed as cabinet ministers. Akira finally speaks to Shoko and it is revealed that she is Satomi’s sister. Module 77 is attacked by the Dorssians and Shoko’s father is held hostage by Wartenberg.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The last episode was… controversial, I’d say. While that’s not necessarily a good thing, it does get people talking, and at least it’s hard to say that this show is just another one from the cookie cutter. But after what happened, it clearly needs to follow up on that, and this show may not necessarily be the best-equipped for that challenge. That depends on how you look at it, however. What it ends up giving us is so out there in such a patently Valvrave fashion that it may actually be the best choice.
The episode actually spends most of its pre-battle with the Dorssian time (since, of course, we’re still on that formula, although there are now obviously some big twists thrown into the mix to offer something a little different each time) with Haruto and Saki together, on an innocent little date of sorts, never really addressing the elephant in the room. Haruto makes some attempts to bring it up, but Saki is always quick to dismiss it and keep their happy little fantasy world going smoothly. As the issue is never directly addressed, even in the minds of the characters as we see them, this could be interpreted in a couple of different ways. Saki could simply be trying to avoid thinking about it due to the trauma she should probably be experiencing. However, between the end of the previous episode and several different parts of this one, it seems slightly more likely that she wasn’t too traumatized at all, and may even be happy, now taking the opportunity to have a relationship with Haruto, even if it’s due more to the guilt he feels than anything else. Again, this deals with the issue less delicately and realistically than it deserves, but as we transition from last episode’s scene to the aftermath as it exists in the Valvrave world, this does feel like a somewhat natural progression for this ridiculous, sporadic series.
The rest of the episode, including the battle section of it, addresses the issue of Shoko’s father, who has been taken captive by the Dorssians they now face, and how Shoko herself will deal with this. Although Haruto and Saki are involved in this battle in a way that, until the final line of the episode, appears unconnected to their screen time outside of their robots, the connection is definitely there in Shoko, much more than anyone in the story, especially Shoko, realizes at this point. Following her extreme optimism, Shoko is losing everything she cares most about, all at the hands of the person she loves. If that wasn’t enough, L-elf is ready to literally pull the trigger on her if she doesn’t comply with his plans. So once everyone learns everything that’s happened and how it’s happened, Shoko’s future isn’t looking too bright, and with L-elf in the picture, it doesn’t look like her early reveal of still being alive was necessarily telling of her entire role.
With the final line of the episode, Haruto unwittingly possibly puts the final nail in that coffin, as well as addressing last episode’s issue in a way that’s far more stupidly funny than a response to that event should be, especially with Saki’s face indicating more of what I suspect her thoughts are. But hey, this is Valvrave, where “stupidly funny” is the name of the game. Does that mean this was a good way to deal with this? I guess it still depends on where it goes from here, and obviously it still depends on each person’s own interpretation of what the appropriate tone to take is at this point. I’m still not terribly fond of the choices made, but at this point I’m probably more likely to just give up and accept it as the only thing that would ever make sense for this show.
In Summary:
This episode has no choice but to address the event ending the last one, but actually does so as little as possible. The subtle choices are pretty nice at times, but in the end it gets such a ridiculous answer that it kills any serious thought that may have been possible. I don’t think this show does the serious aspect very well, though, so that may be the best depending on your take.
Grade: C+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Custom-Built PC, 27” 1080p HDTV.