天下制覇

Nice solar flares.

And yes, I know that censual refers to censuses, not censoring, but the pun had to be made.

Impressions:

It feels a little weird to say this after the early chaotic episodes, but I feel like this week’s episode lost a little bit of its way and focus. The somewhat long sex scene thermal nuclear healing scene was awkward enough on its own. but like the previous episode centered on Takashi, it just lacked any of energy or impetus. I do think that part of it is a conscious direction choice, like a relative lack of music and background sound that makes the scenes feel all the emptier in comparison to Hayato and Chitose’s busier and more well-adjusted lives, but that doesn’t make Takashi’s stuff more engaging. This was made all the worse by Chitose and Hayato revealing that they’re fairly fatalistic about what’ll happen to them if Takashi actually gets his act together… shortly before Takashi lays down and takes it like a little girl. Remember that he thinks what’s going on in Gretagard is real, so… again, Asuka deserves far better than him. At least Asuka continues to be decent. And smart enough too to have at least an inkling of what’s going on with him and isn’t fooled by Shuusuke trying to pretend to be him.

Kobato continues to raise some unusual questions though, such as preparing a number of breakfasts for him in the morning. Although that could just be because mornings are Takashi and he seems to relinquish control at the drop of a hat so anybody could walk out should the alarm clock startle him badly enough, but I like to think that she’s not completely in touch with what’s going on with him in relation to the periods of the day and who’s in control. Yes, I prefer the "she’s crazy" outlook. Oh, and Kobato’s "brother" is more than content to keep channel flipping through the OreTV instead of going back to the real world. Big surprise there. I’d have rather seen more of Creamy Hiyoko.

Preview:

A bunch of Shuusuke.