天下制覇

How did she function before the show began?

Impressions:

This may not have been the worst way to handle things, but it was pretty close. I was fully prepared for them to just skip over Clarion losing to Captain Goon, and the majority of the episode sure as hell looked like that was the approach they were taking, even going as far as to have shown that she lost. Then, at the 18 minute mark, they decided to use that fight… the cliffhanger of the previous episode… as the climax to this episode which so far had absolutely nothing at all to do with it, through a flashback, and end on the 'cliffhanger' that Clarion lost and was buried… which they had already shown about fifteen minutes prior. It boggles the mind. But at least they threw what little budget they have at the fight. Certainly not impressive, but not an embarrassingly awful still-fest or constant glares and pauses to announce every single thing going on, unlike some action shows I could name.

As for the other 75-80% of the episode, who cares? It was Nene faffing around, probably to try to frame her pathological codependence on a girl she's known for a few weeks or so as Friendship Forever®. Christ. Clarion wasn't even gone for half a day before Nene was getting the mopes and pangs of longing. Maybe that'd work if their relationship was something other than holding hands and looking at kittens, or the writers seemed aware that's probably a sign of severe psychological trauma instead of Friendship Forever®, but alas. At least it wasn't uber angsty, but it still wasn't adding anything positive to her character/the writing and certainly not the hell going anywhere or being amusing in the process.