天下制覇

Polish is such a beautiful language.

Impressions:

So… this was odd. It’s pretty much a retcon of the end of the previous season but instead of… say… just starting there and doing it over, they re-begin the story already in progress after it and choose to just go "Uh, yeah, Yuuji disappeared at Christmas and he’s evil now. But showing that would cost money, so we’ll just tell you about it and then recap who all the rest of the characters are." It’s like some kind of zen mixing flash forwards and flash backs. So let’s talk about the 4 or so minutes that weren’t recap. There’s "The day Yuuji disappeared" as king of snakes firing his ‘cannons’ at Shana at the start, which totally isn’t Freudian at all, and yet another random training scene. Actually, come to think of it, Yuuji’s only appearances as himself in the episode were Shana imagining him walking in on her in the bath, and him floating in the air naked. I think JC Staff is trying to tell us something, but I’m not entirely sure what. And then Shana trains with Margary to use FLAME HAND against her BEAR FLAME HAND to fulfill the ‘action’ quota for the episode. Stellar. That’ll be useful at the next Flame Haze arm wrestling competition.

As for the other 80% or so, well, there’s nothing better than recap, retcon, flashbacks, and recycled footage, right? And since it’s Shana and talking, they have to get her in the bath ASAP. It takes all of about two minutes before she’s naked and fantasizing about Yuuji walking in on her. Yeah, some recapping was probably necessary, but was there anything really important enough that it needed an entire episode to cover, particularly at the expense of actually showing Yuuji go bye bye? Shows far longer than Shana, sci-fi ones in particular, do recaps at the start of their episodes all the time, but here’s the thing. They’re quick recaps covering the plot points that are now relevant, not a reminder about every single character’s motivation. Assuming that your audience needs a little reminder about some specific event, fine. Assuming your audience has forgotten the entire cast’s motivation for being in the show? No. Yes, Shana, we know you’re not letting Yuuji disappear. Yes, Yoshida, we know you’re angsty and useless. Yes, Eita, we know you’re useless and angsty. How about instead of Eita, we cover snake boy and his firm… sturdy cannons. Although I do find it amusing that they try to show him as a damsel in distress at the start of the OP. That suits Yuuji all too well.

Preview:

The search for Yuuji may or may not actually begin.