I'm setting myself up for a couple of days of frustration. I'm going to be finished too soon and will spend a couple of days stewing waiting for ep 24.

Ep 20 begins the final plot arc. Haruue is obviously in the middle of it all somehow. And it occurred to me that Uiharu and Kuroko have, or really should have, quite a rep in Judgement. They cracked the eyebrow case, for example. More to the point, they plus Konori were the ones to solve the Levell Upper case, and that was a hell of a challenge.

I'm trying to figure out why someone went to a lot of trouble to place Haruue with Uiharu. Or alternatively didn't go to any effort to avoid doing so. One possibility is that they were careless and didn't research Uiharu's record.

A different possibililty is that they did do so and chose Uiharu deliberately because they want Branch 177 plus Mikoto involved. Konori, Uiharu, Kuroko, and Mikoto are smart and tough and resourceful and tenacious, and if there are secrets to uncover, they'll find them. Maybe somebody wants that.

Unfortunately, there's a third possibility: it's a deus ex machina. Sadly, that's the most likely explanation.

(I wish I could include Saten in that, but she didn't make any significant contribution to the previous cases. With any luck that'll change this time. I think she brings a different viewpoint to the table and may see things the others do not. Plus there's the way she's hooked into the rumor mill; she may find things that apply.)

UPDATE: End of ep 21. I'm having a hard time articulating the feeling I'm getting about this.

Y'all remember the game "X-COM: UFO Defense"? An amazing game, one I spent a lot of time playing. There was a sequel to it, which placed most of the action underwater. The second game was idiotic.

It wasn't the same creative team; it was another who were handed the source of the first game and told to create a sequel. Enough the same to attract the same customers, enough different so that they won't feel ripped off.

It didn't work; it felt too much like a me-too. In the first game, flying was one of the technologies you could capture from the aliens. That was the case for the second game, too, except that it didn't make any sense. Zero buoyancy isn't all that difficult when you're underwater; all it takes is an adequate quantity of styrofoam attached to your object, or something else that floats. (Let's not discuss this in comments, please; I'm simply using it as an example.)

It's the same thing here. This story seems like a retread of the Level Upper story, almost like it was put together by a different creative team. And it has that same kind of second-rate feel to it. The plot revelations feel forced. The characters don't feel like they're in character. The story concept itself doesn't feel fresh and original -- because it isn't. This is the Level Upper story with a big paint job on it, pretty much.

I don't think it's the case, but it feels as if JC Staff reassigned the first team to something else and let a different team pick up and finish the series, and the second string doesn't measure up.

UPDATE: Ep 23, what a ripoff. So Kongou saves Mikoto, but we don't get to find out how she did it? Yeah, Mikoto was out cold when it happened, but she was also out cold when Kongou confronted the two men and we saw that part.

UPDATE: I continue to be underwhelmed with the story telling, but there's no doubt that they've set things up nicely for a slambang finish. I wonder if Kongou is going to be part of the strike team. Looks like she will be, and maybe the reason they didn't reveal her power this time is because they're saving the reveal for the next one.

Interesting point: whatever her power is, it doesn't seem to have been affected by those loud speakers.

I really want Saten to manifest a power before this is all over. Somehow or other, she has to have a moment of awesome or I'm not going to feel satisfied. But even without that, they've got a hell of a striking force. Mikoto has enough firepower for the team, and Kuroko and Kongou are both level 4. Konori's X-ray vision is sure to come in handy, and she's well trained in hand-to-hand. And before it's all over I bet Uiharu's power comes in handy, albeit in some sort of absurdly contrived way (e.g. "We must get this crystal from here to there without its temperature changing in any way").

But before it's all over I want Saten to have a power, and for it to be a game changer. It's probably not going to happen, though, because it would break continuity with the manga.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 04:22 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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