Nothing saves the day like a deus ex machina.
What They Say:
Racing heartbeat and expanding fantasies… After being accepted to her dream school, Stella Girls’ Academy, Yamato Yura is excited to begin her high school life. “Maybe, at this school, I can change!” Then, when she lies down to rest after moving into her dorm, her hopes still high… she finds a Desert Eagle under her pillow! High school girls?! The C³ Club?! A survival game?! A new youth survival story is about to begin!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
As is fitting with how her character has been heading, Yura has gotten to the point where attempting any social interaction whatsoever is something she’s not willing to be involved in anymore. She has decided she can’t be a part of her original team based on self-deprecating nonsense, despite all their pleas for her to return, and Rin has made it very clear that her mindset is no more welcome in her team. Rather than try to actually change herself for the better or just simply listen to what her friends who love her are trying to tell her with open arms of acceptance and the chance for redemption and healing, she spends her days alone, mindlessly shooting zombies at the arcade for untold hours until she looks like a regular deadbeat of society. Rento is possibly the sweetest of the cast, so in keeping with both her kind character and the pattern of making things as unfortunate as possible, the show always puts her in the position to experience the harshness of rejection from the shell that used to be Yura. This time Yura isn’t as aggressive, and is in fact rather passive as a result of taking the blame for all the problems in her life upon herself (as she should, but not in this way), but she has fundamentally lost the capability to accept any social connections, which hurts even more for Rento. Fortunately, Rento isn’t quite ready to take it this time, and she tells Yura the one thing that really needs to be said, which is basically that she’s actually being extremely selfish by trying to distance herself from others.
That’s only the first few minutes, though, and for most of the episode Yura is nowhere to be found. The rest of the characters lament this outcome, wishing that she’d come back, especially Sonora (this episode is too much of a downer to call her Sono-chan), even though she continues to put on her cool face that inspires more than one person to question her nonchalance. One of the few scenes that really work for the intended effect is a conversation between her and Rin, who repeats some of the same concerns as Sonora’s teammates. At this point, it’s pretty safe to say that every character is good except the main one, so between that and the fact that Sonora is about to leave with no return in sight (oh, and the fact that there’s only one episode left), it’s finally time for Yura to bounce back.
But how could that possibly happen in such a short amount of time with as far as she’s fallen, especially when no character can even reach her any longer? Ah, well remember that earlier reality-altering event that didn’t fit in this show at all? This sure seems like a good time to bring that back for a deus ex machina to make all that bad stuff go away. Sure, at least there’s that connection, but it didn’t make sense then, and it sure isn’t an acceptable source of redemption in a very real, if embarrassingly melodramatic, human issue that’s taken up so much of this show.
In Summary:
With one episode left, this show has some relatively strong material that’s thoroughly drowned out by the disappointingly lazy conclusion to Yura’s complicated character arc. Nothing says plot convenience like coming back from despair via magical forces that have no place in this show…
Grade: C
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Toshiba Satellite L655-S5191 PSK2CU-1C301U Notebook PC.
