The choice is about to be made.
What They Say:
It’s their final day in the sealed box. Mutta has enjyoed his two weeks wit the team, and he wishes to avert ruining their bond, as they make their final decision.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the show bringing this arc over quite a few episodes, it gets to be difficult when you get to the end of it. You kind of gripe about it a little during it since it’s taking so long to get through it, but you also have a lot of fun with it because of what it does. With the sealed box arc, it’s definitely given us a lot of very good material as we’ve gotten to see how everyone reacts in such an environment for a length of time, the personality conflicts that arise and how some people are able to make it work for everyone rather than just surviving for themselves. You come away appreciating all of them all the more, especially in comparison to how some of the other teams have gone.
With the bonding having gone as it has, and really ending with the noodles they made and ate together, they finally get their final assignment. Amusingly, it’s one that gives them a different kind of challenge as they’re allowed to do whatever they want, but they have to make their selection by 4pm. That puts additional strain on them, but they’re now creatures of habit and opt to go through their daily routine of tasks in order to work it out in their own minds. There are some good reveals along the way as Mutta really pushes himself and becomes even more intense than before, but its’ also weighted with a look towards what happened over the two weeks as they worked and got closer through struggles. It’s a small montage overall but one that’s worthwhile as they go through the motions of cleaning and so forth.
When it gets down to the final vote, the tensions really start to ratchet up, though most of it is internal before it starts to spill out because of certain personalities. Mutta has it down right when he knows that it’s all about showing JAXA how they’d make sacrifices for the greater mission, but there’s something about it that he’s trying to figure out how to work to all their advantage. His idea when revealed is comical, but it’s one of the more interesting choices there since it mixes in luck with it all, avoids voting and other underhanded methods. It essentially says that everyone is worthy of the shot to move forward and it’s up to random luck at this point. The discussion over it is is a lot of fun, especially because of the way they all agree to it in the end, understanding that it’s the right choice.
In Summary:
Though things don’t come to a full conclusion here, working through most of the last day of the sealed box is very engaging episode. Seeing how the group functions and works while counting down to the time when they have to make a choice isn’t a surprise considering their natures, but it does add more stresses as they go through it without realizing it. Bringing it down to this one method of deciding is amusing and you can see how the reactions are all honest based on how they viewed their own chances, especially those like Fukuda and Serika, but also Furuya. And all of it works to make you crave the next episode to see how it really unfolds, and to see more of how the other teams worked through it as well.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
