How would you rate this episode ‘s ninja son?
Community Rating: 4.5
Before Ruby, Kana, and Mem-Cho take the stage, take us backstage, in the A group of chattering idol groups to get everyone excited, then let’s get into the crowd and keep up with a group of idol fans young and old. The multidimensional perspective of this concert doesn’t change much from the manga’s depiction; the biggest difference is in the performance itself. B-Komachi’s music and dancing really add a new dimension that bland storytelling alone couldn’t. We can pinpoint the moment this veteran idol fan became a Ruby fan. We could see that the girls’ training was paying off as they kept going despite the sweat and difficulty breathing. We can hear how big Canner’s inner voice is to resonate with the music and the cheers of the crowd. When Aqua sternly dances with a pom-pom — memorably recalling his hit toddler performance — the contrast between lively movements and serious expressions makes it all the more fun in the anime. The twinkling star representing Ai Weiwei shines through the performance throughout, and it’s just another way the different details of abstraction and literal storytelling come together to make this scene special. Ruby may have gained a lot of fans in the performance, but in this Focus, Kana stole my heart again. As much as I’ve gushed about her over the past few weeks, somehow I always have more to say. I’m always on the lookout for new parts of Kana to like, and this week her most fascinating trait is how scary she is. She’s always full of foul language, but there’s a world of difference between a hurt pseudonym lashing out and a smug pseudonym taunting playfully (like a cat hitting a favorite toy). She can use her languages like armor, or they can play games, and we see her using both: the former with Akane and the latter with Aqua. Considering that Kana’s entire life revolves around power struggles, it’s no surprise to find out that Kana and Akane have a history based on mutual rivalry. Her complicated relationship with Aqua was sparked by what she believed to be “losing” him as a child actor. Kana may be ruthless as a professional, but when she talks to herself at a B-Komachi concert, the mask comes off, culminating in a full-blown on-stage ego crisis. Why Does she want to win that much? She craves validation. Normally, I’d call it a compliment quirk, but Karna’s case cuts so deep that it’s more of a compliment complex. After Aqua and Kanna reconcile with sharp banter in their own style , the rest of the episode is focused on establishing the next arc. To get closer to his vengeance, Aqua will be teaming up with actors from the AI-related Lala Lai troupe in a stage play—err…Tokyo Blade. There’s some dramatic irony in it, and only the audience and the emotionally astute Mem-Cho know that Akane and Kana will be playing rivals on and off stage. We won’t see the return of this arc for a while, which makes it bittersweet. So far, there is no indication of when The next season will come out. The end of the episode provides a nod to the darker elements of the show A tribute that reminds us that it’s not just the entertainment industry that is cruel; Ai Weiwei’s murderer is still out there somewhere. The music at the end of the episode comes after the little AI puppet in the “Idol” music video, and it also represents her: put on a show, get tangled up in the strings around it, and die. The puppet’s black eyes echo the most terrifying and disturbing image in the entire show: Ai Weiwei’s signature starry eyes, completely lifeless. The last few photos of our main cast look terrible…well, that’s it. We’ve been waiting a long time, and this non-ending doesn’t make the wait any easier. That said, I wouldn’t be so disappointed by the end of the season if it hadn’t been consistently brilliant at taking the comics to the next level. Rating:
Lauren blogs at Otaku Journalist and writes about model kits at Gunpla . She spends a lot of time teaching her two little new humans to bring peace to the space colonies.
