Elite Class II ‒ Episode 8

So we come to episode 20 and we can finally get to know Kushida’s deal. it’s time.

At the end of the day, Kushida is obsessed with the rush she feels every time When she is praised and recognized. At her young age, she had enough physical and intellectual strength to stand out and pile up on her. However, as she grew up, she had to face the fact that she was once the biggest fish in the small pond. In the wider world, there will always be stronger and wiser people.

So Kushida had to find other ways to gain peer approval. She found someone willing to do all the dirty or monotonous jobs that everyone else didn’t want to do. The problem here is that those jobs are despised for a reason, and just because she gets the compliments she wants doesn’t mean her stress has stopped growing. She needed an outlet, so she vented on an online blog – which worked fine until someone found it in class that day. Then, when everyone turned against her, she spoke out all of their darkest secrets – causing the class to plunge into infighting around her.

High school is Kushida’s chance to start over – playing with before but not found. Unfortunately, anyone who knows what happened to her middle school class is a threat to her plans – hence her obsession with getting Horikita (now Ayanokouji) fired.

The problem is that Kushida’s goal is actually two No one cares about her duality. Both are keen to use her skills to achieve their goal of being promoted to Class A. Also, the compliments I get from them are not for the “good girl” she pretends to be, but for being the real person. Doubly tragic, at least as far as Ayanokouji is concerned, she suspects this is indeed the case. More than once, we’ve seen her on the verge of confiding in him – only to turn back at the last minute.

In the end, it was fear that dominated Kushida’s life—— Fearing that she will be exposed again, she indulges in public recognition. It blinds her to the other way forward and makes her reckless when her goal is within easy reach. She should know by now never to let your opponent choose a match — especially if you think you should win the match. But she still can’t stop herself from reacting to Horikita’s provocation, thanks to the fear deep inside her. But even if it’s not over for Kushida, as long as she continues to succumb to fear, she’ll almost certainly eventually collapse and burn.

Score:

Random thoughts

• Shouting out how you really feel seems riskier than blogging. Honestly, I wonder if a private blog that only she has access to is not going to work.

• Personally, I think Kushida should learn boxing. Using a sandbag for a while may be just what your doctor ordered.

• When Kushida was asked to tell her backstory , she should have reconsidered her plans. If Ayanokouji doesn’t know what’s going on, he’s not a target – especially since he’s kept her outburst a secret until now. If Guangbei didn’t tell him, it probably meant that she was telling the truth, and she didn’t know the specifics.

• At this point, Kushida has understood (or At least highly aware of (suspected) Ayanokouji is the mastermind of the class. Then why didn’t she tell Ryuen?

• Can’t understand how Kushida sees the Hirokita couple The extremely indifferent Ayanokouji is more threatening than Ryuen.

Currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Richard is an anime and video game journalist with over a decade of Living and working experience in Japan. For more of his work, check out his Twitter and blog.