O Maidens in Your Savage Season

[interregnum]

Spoiler: Paging Ms. Understanding...

and we're starting to fumble

That is a very generous assessment, that "starting."

"What is up with the moon? Are they in Tartarus or something?"

Heh, yeah.

O Maiden trying to channel some Iron Maiden.

Spoiler

[frantically scrolls through Iron Maiden album cover on Google image search]

Aw, come on, guys! What kind of metal band doesn't have an album with a hellscape on it?! The play on words was perfect, except for you screwing it up. YOU'RE MAKING ME LOOK BAD IN FRONT OF THE ANIME PEOPLE!!!

the thing that upset me most was Sugawara's handling of Momo's confession.

For clarification, were you disappointed by the show's choosing to make the yuri route difficult, or were you bothered by Fading Beauty not receiving Twin Braids Girl's affection well?

Misunderstandings are the worst and the laziest form of writing.

Certainly among them, yes. But I don't think the Izumi/Kazusa/Fading Beauty mess has any misunderstandings, at the moment, does it?

I mean, Kazusa doesn't know about the Izumi/Fading Beauty stuff, but being kept in the dark or being misled isn't quite the same thing as getting the wrong idea.

Unless you mean that you don't like that we're edging inexorably towards the immediate drama coming from a character choosing to withhold information unnecessarily, rather than that character struggling with his indecision (that is, that we'd be getting Kazusa's clueless worrying as the focus instead of Izumi's emotional dilemma)--because, if so, I am right there with you. A full episode of Izumi being standoffish and "it's nothing--why do you keep asking?!" would be a total waste of our time.

But I think his keeping this incident with Fading Beauty to himself for a day or two is more than okay. I mean, realistically, he's gotta give what happened some thought, if his immediate reaction isn't "that chick's f***ing nuts, dude." Running to Kazusa and immediately saying, "This and this happened, and I got rock hard but don't know if that was just physiological or if I really do like her, but I will let you know!" would be an absolute disaster.

Edit: Oh, I just remembered. The Jujo being pregnant thing is probably going to cause even more unnecessary friction, awkwardness, and misunderstandings.

"WE CAN'T KISS THAT'S HOW BABIES HAPPEN!!!"

I mean, cluck your tongue all you want, but I think this is exactly the kind of rote absurdity the rest of us signed on for.

Cough.

But, yeah, I...I hadn't considered that. I was too busy being unhappy that Gal-chan was off the show (or not, who knows) before we could, like, do anything with her. She's easily the most interesting part of Glasses-senpai's story.

Now...at least episode of people freaking unnecessarily out about the consequences of activities they aren't yet partaking of. Hoo-ray.

Borderlands 3 is about to take the rest of my September.

Control is taking up a lot of my time, so I sympathize.

 

[Guest]

Spoiler: Paging Ms. Understanding...

For clarification, were you disappointed by the show's choosing to make the yuri route difficult, or were you bothered by Fading Beauty not receiving Twin Braids Girl's affection well?

Spoiler: To answer your question

Yes.

Spoiler

Certainly among them, yes. But I don't think the Izumi/Kazusa/Fading Beauty mess has any misunderstandings, at the moment, does it?

Spoiler: The weather outside is weather

Izumi and Kazusa are starting to. The fact that he was reluctant to hold her hand was an indicator. She's going to overthink that, despite her hesitant "that makes sense." Especially since she's the most giddy about everything of all the characters. Her time to fall is coming, and it's going to be bad. I'm almost worried that we're going to end this series with her and him breaking up.

Spoiler

But I think his keeping this incident with Fading Beauty to himself for a day or two is more than okay. I mean, realistically, he's gotta give what happened some thought, if his immediate reaction isn't "that chick's f***ing nuts, dude." Running to Kazusa and immediately saying, "This and this happened, and I got rock hard but don't know if that was just physiological or if I really do like her, but I will let you know!" would be an absolute disaster.

Spoiler: AND THEN I SMASHED THAT PEACH

I want to think that simply talking about it could resolve the situation, but I'm also an adult. So, thinking back to Teenage Angst times, maybe it wouldn't go so smoothly. I could easily see Kazusa overreacting and not even hearing all of what is being said. Simply hearing "I touched her butt, I got rock hard." So... potential disaster, agreed. Still, him withholding that information is going to affect the relationship, because he's going to not act in his normal manner. So, she's going to catch on, sooner or later and that's going to just make matters worse.

Spoiler

"WE CAN'T KISS THAT'S HOW BABIES HAPPEN!!!"

I mean, cluck your tongue all you want, but I think this is exactly the kind of rote absurdity the rest of us signed on for.

Spoiler: Don't worry, I got you covered:

*Note* The spoiler tags may or may not be relevant. I'mma leave that for future generations to decipher.

 

[ZetsubouKaiji]

This show will well and truly jump the shark if Nina and Momoko get together.

Spoiler

They need to find more supportive mentally healthy partners. Momoko's confession was unhinged and not a sign of anything healthy. Nina was just coming off rejection. She thought she understood everything, but Izumi rejecting her made her question seriously question herself for the first time. Of course she wasn't receptive to a half incoherent rant from Momoko.

 

[Guest]

This show will well and truly jump the shark if Nina and Momoko get together.

That's like your catchphrase at this point. I didn't even know what that term was until I joined this community and was posting alongside of you.

Spoiler

They need to find more supportive mentally healthy partners. Momoko's confession was unhinged and not a sign of anything healthy. Nina was just coming off rejection. She thought she understood everything, but Izumi rejecting her made her question seriously question herself for the first time. Of course she wasn't receptive to a half incoherent rant from Momoko.

Spoiler

I think that's subjective at this point. Especially since Momo and Sugawara have essentially swapped roles as of this episode. We have Sugawara over here falling apart and admitting that she usually "acts cool" and "looks down on" Momo. Yet, Momo is over here playing it cool like, "Alright, I'm out then. See ya later." I honestly think they can suite one another. Each holds a piece that the other needs, and while they don't necessarily mesh and work in perfect unison like conventional couples -- KazusaxIzumi -- they work in a different way. I mean, 100 different people will show you 100 different ways to express love. What's unhealthy to some, or even most, may be perfectly fine for the minority.

At the end of the day, Sugawara is crying and crying for all this male attention and yet she's getting what she wants from Momo, one way or another. She just hasn't realize it/hasn't accepted it yet. I earnestly believing that scene was a stepping stone for them to have something bigger at the very end. I don't necessarily think we'll see them doing anything or solidifying anything, but I think we'll see them come face-to-face once again.

I'm over here trying to be optimistic. Is it worth expecting for anything less than what you want?

 

[Hemfrik]

I'm starting fear that neither Milo/Hitoha nor Pedo/Blonde are going to actually happen.
The show has also seemingly entirely stopped including jokes, comedic happenings, or humurous incidents of note.

Overall, reasons to watch approaching zero, let's hope for some sort of School Days ending (barely a joke, I detect a slim chance of tragedy for at least one of these subplots)

 

[ZetsubouKaiji]

Overall, reasons to watch approaching zero, let's hope for some sort of School Days ending (barely a joke, I detect a slim chance of tragedy for at least one of these subplots)

Nah, it's Mari Okada. The characters might dehydrate from crying, but other than melodrama no one's in real danger. She after all did write a horror thriller where none of the characters died.

 

[AustinDR]

Spoiler

I still have no idea what Milo meant by calling himself a coward. He willfully played on Hitoha's emotions despite knowing she was confused. What, was it "I know I shouldn't play on your frustrations like that, but I was having too much fun with this game, so instead of trying to drill this into your head, I'll instead play along. So sorry, I guess. "

 

[interregnum]

Spoiler

I still have no idea what Milo meant by calling himself a coward. He willfully played on Hitoha's emotions despite knowing she was confused. What, was it "I know I shouldn't play on your frustrations like that, but I was having too much fun with this game, so instead of trying to drill this into your head, I'll instead play along. So sorry, I guess. "

Spoiler: Cowardice

If you look at what prompts him to call himself a coward, it's Erotica-chan's plea to understand why, despite her throwing herself at him--thrusting her face into his crotch and placing her bare loins all but on his mouth--he doesn't have an erection.

She specifically asks if it's because he thinks she's predictable and unfeminine^. To which he tells her that she has it all wrong: that the reason he's not displaying arousal is because of him, not because of her.

Compare this scene to the interaction between Fading Beauty and Izumi on the platform: she says that his protests are hollow because he's hard. We all know that that accusation is bull****--because none of us is a totally inexperienced 16-year-old. To Izumi (and maybe to Fading Beauty, I dunno, how much we can trust what she's saying), though, being aroused belies his belief that he likes Kazusa and not Fading Beauty.

Flawed though it so often is, I don't think the writing is accidentally giving us two instances of love triangle (of sorts) where the hinging factor is the dude's erection.

Milo-sensei, for however physically sexually experienced he may or may not be (I mean, maybe he's a virgin, who knows), is experienced enough to know the physiological and the emotional do not have to overlap. So, it's not that his lack of erection signals a lack of attraction, just a lack of confidence: his worry is keeping back his desire. He's afraid of letting himself get involved--with Erotica-chan, with bootylicious Femme-sensei, with who knows what else.

He's not using online erotica chat as a rote opening move to score chicks. He's doing it because it's indirect. It's safe. And it's enough if it doesn't go anywhere else--though, obviously, he's DTF if the chance arises. (Consider, however, that we don't know if this in-real-life meet-up was something he was used to doing or not. This arraigned hookup might have been a first, more about his excited connection with this one girl he talks to rather than a regular, if occasional, activity on his part.)

Spoiler: ^

Rewatching this scene, turns out she is comparing herself to Femme-sensei, when she makes that description, assuming that he is turned on by his voluptuous co-worker. So, point for that, show. I missed it, the first go-round, so I apologize for saying it wasn't--though, honestly, it could have been a little more overt. But fair is fair, and it's definitely there.

Now, if you want to know why his strategy is to consistently give in to her, assuming she's just gonna chicken out each time...all we have are guesses:

• a contrivance for the sake of drama
• safely dipping into the relationship he's afraid to have because he believes Erotica-chan won't ever follow through
• an excuse not to pull the trigger with Femme-sensei
• stupidity, in that he hasn't figured out she doesn't actually hold sway over him
• pleasure at tormenting her

Could be any number of these.

 

[AustinDR]

EP 11:

Spoiler

I do commend Niina for at least giving that pedo-creep a good punch in the face. I would've also personally cut his dick off myself for good measure, but that'll do.

 

[ZetsubouKaiji]

Episode 11:

Sure, show. Sure.

Spoiler

So pedo-sensei's big goal was a convoluted plan to coax Nina in sleeping with him? What a dumb and oversimplified ending to the weirdest and most uncomfortable plot this show had going on. There were probably much easier and more surefire ways to get her to sleep with him. This was just dumb.

Buuuut the show had to quickly dispense with a bunch of plots because it wanted to go full on stupid with a kidnapping to protest the unfairness of a ban on romantic relationships. This all just came out of left field

I mean come on the Hitoha plot with Milo had something interesting going on with Hitoha being upset that she felt good about feeling pathetic, but fuck that there's only one episode left so dramatic kidnapping to end the season.

This show doesn't plan to pay off any of the interesting stuff. I hates it.

 

[AustinDR]

Remember friends: when in doubt,

Spoiler

take your teacher hostage until your demands are met.

With that being said, yeah; I give the show the benefit of the doubt regardless of whether I feel that the direction the story's going. With the Milo/Hitoha story line, while I might have thought it was passable, with Hitoha's desperation with her developing feelings for her teacher, it was mainly a weaker arc. As was Momoko's.

Spoiler

Can't deny that the ultimate endgame with Pedo-Sensei was undermining. So if he was really only wanting to go after sex, then why did he have to play mind games? I honestly wanted there to be more about what was really going on with him and Niina that we only got snippets on, but at the very least, it seems that he's done.

The terrorist gambit. Honestly, what the fuck, girls? I figured that there would be some drastic length they'd go to not only repeal the ban, but to reinstate Sonezaki. But straight up kidnapping? At this point, I'm thinking on frick all with these girls. These thirsty girls be crazy, man.

 

[tootalls]

dumb shit.................

Spoiler

I know kids lack years and with it experience and thus, make some dumb choices..........but this shit..........this is next level stupidity. Sonesaki expelled as an example....sad, but no big deal, she could just go to another school and still graduate anyways.... But they're acting like it's the end of the world. I mean, that phone call talking about the "would you wait if I was on the other side?" shows they at leasy understood the gravity of their own actions. They know jail is a possibility for a crime, but the crime itself #1 logically wouldn't work in the 1st place and #2 has a motive that isn't worth it...............the worst thing that could happen if they just did nothing is Sonesaki finishes school elsewhere.

Though this concept always bugs me in anime, and idk of it's legit Japanese culture or not, but the notion students can be penalized for something that happened OFF school grounds, and in THIS case, has zero proof that it even happened. It's just a claim from some anonymous person. Even is there was proof, there is always a ton of reasons anyone could be at any location. Though I heard Japan in general has like a 90 something % conviction rate due to some things ppl from other countries would call questionable prosecution tactics......................

As for pedo...........I don't think everything he's done has been a big plan to get blondie to sleep with him, I think as a pedo, he had a minor right in front of him, alone, telling him to bang her, and he couldn't restrain himself in that moment. He's had decent restraint being around little girls in his career, but banging them would probably lead to prison for him, so smelling their air was probably enough for him to get by. But one of his favorites, almost ripe, probably won't tell, close to legal, throws her self at him...............it's like tossing a bag of crack to a recovering drug addict or something. I think her coming to his place was more of a HER thing, than a HIS PLANS thing.

 

[AustinDR]

High schoolgirls be thirsty. That is all.

But yes

Spoiler

Sonezaki getting expelled sucked, but what the girls are doing to repeal it is not good and logically is not sound. At least they acknowledge that they'd be tossed into jail for the kidnapping at the least, but still. Way too in the moment. I mean, at the very least, the likely outcome would be that Sonezaki ends up going to another school and graduating as you've said. Again, it's bad for them, but not "Let's kidnap our sensei" end of the world, zombie apocalypse, biblical prophecies are being fulfilled bad.

 

[interregnum]

Spoiler: Up to 11

Go home, show. You're drunk.

Spoiler: briefly

More after going home and having dinner--if I still care--BUT...I do want to weigh in on this: I don't think Pedo-sensei's plan was to dupe Fading Beauty into sex with him.

I'm 95% in agreement with the explanation @tootalls gave, with that other 5% being that it's the writing: Pedo-sensei was a plot point, not a character. I think trying to make sense of it--and this applies to A LOT of this episode--is a wasted effort. Because you'd be giving it more thought than whoever is responsible for it, whether that be Mari Oka or the folks behind this show inventing something whole-cloth just to give the season an ending.

 

[AustinDR]

Pretty sure this is going to be an anime original ending. But yeah, I do admit that regarding Pedo-Sensei, I'm grasping at straws there since...he's not a character but a plot point.

 

[prico211]

Spoiler: 11. nose hairs are the ultimate mood killer

I'm not even going to spend time on Pedo. He'll probably make another surprise appearance for no reason as he's done throughout the entire show.

I'm not going to go into the idiocy of this school. Or Sonezaki's mother for that matter.

So Izumi is the bad guy again because he wants to be reasonable and take things slow? Sure, because we need to have that awkward phone call with Kazusa...

Momoko, here's a shovel and I'll help you dig that hole deeper.

The ONE character I was interested in is no longer around. Well, Jujo was barely around to begin with. Forgive me for actually wanting to know more about her situation, but instead we get more Kazusa's panties dilemma.
I do find it very irritating that the entire school knows her private life thanks to one douchebag teacher and she can't even try to defend herself. Crap, I wasn't supposed to go into the idiocy of this school...

Those girls went the extra mile with how they tied up Milo-sensei.

Oh boy, this post is just a bunch of nonsense-- LIKE THIS SHOW!

 

[AustinDR]

I just LOVE that lesson: if you're a guy who just got a girlfriend, you should go ahead and pork her instead of taking the more respectable route and just play it slow. If you do play it slow, then you're the bad guy who doesn't even deserve to have a lover.

 

[interregnum]

Pretty sure this is going to be an anime original ending.

Anyone want to be industrious and go to one of those manga upload sites just to check out if this episode's, um, "development" is from the source material?

Take one for the team?

Spoiler: Addendum to Nothing

Look, I don't think this is just the Catholic school in me talking when I say that "protection" isn't foolproof. So, like, check yo self, Erotica-chan.

Sheesh.

And, yes, I want to take a moment to point out that this show is so utterly tone deaf that it has this pregnancy issue blanket the whole episode...and not one of the girls seems at all any less driven to have the sex they are absolutely not ready for RIGHT THE F*** NOW. (Which, for the sake of pedantry, is tone deaf because it seems very much that the show itself doesn't see this hypocrisy, rather than it using this contradiction to tell us something about the girls' myopia.)

So, my notes for this episode are basically "WHAT THE F***, SHOW?!?!?!" in giant letters and then it's underlined a bunch of times. Because--and I'm not kidding--I must have said that aloud 5 separate times, while watching this. What an absolute goddamn s***show.

Spoiler: Kazusa

I almost managed to sympathize with her, this week. Not because of her emotional turmoil, of course, but because she, for the first half of the episode, was spinning around with this look of apprehensive confusion which very much matched the color of my aura as I watched this mess play out.

But, alas, this camaraderie did not last, as Kazusa, even before the Les MisErotica uprising, went back to her melodrama well to fetch a pail of we've seen this already: she's insulted that Izumi won't f*** her...just like earlier in the show; she's worried about Fading Beauty taking Izumi from her...just like earlier in the show; she won't just frikkin' SAY THAT, despite the door to this conversation being wide-bloody-open for her to waltz through and resolve.

Inexperience can't be the excuse here, show. Kazusa is too far along in the story for hesitation to play a part--narratively, I mean. (A real-life Kazusa would totally run off without having the big conversation, yes. And real-life Kazusa would be boooooooring. Just like real life.)

Izumi brought up Fading Beauty. You pressed him on how weird it would be that he'd mention her in a conversation about his reluctance to sleep with you. He denies that it was an indication of anything--which you all but know is goddamn lie--and then you are supposed to TELL HIM WHAT SHE SAID TO YOU. Tell him that you think he doesn't want to touch you because he doesn't like you. Demand that he tell you if he wants to f*** Fading Beauty, call him out on his bull**** denial of it (because he will tell you that he doesn't, and it will sound utterly hollow), and then tell him to get his goddamn head on straight or you will beat him to death. Then you storm out.

Spoiler: R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I just LOVE that lesson: if you're a guy who just got a girlfriend, you should go ahead and pork her instead of taking the more respectable route and just play it slow. If you do play it slow, then you're the bad guy who doesn't even deserve to have a lover.

What stings about it, of course, it that Izumi's nobility is being held against him...except I'm not sure it's his nobility that's at the core of his hesitation to get things moving with their physical relationship.

Glasses-senpai's boyfriend? Yup. 100% buy that he's being a gentleman.

I think Izumi's reluctance isn't about social morays but about his own hesitation: I'm not sure he likes Kazusa as much as he feels he's supposed to. Or maybe he's wondering why he doesn't feel like he likes her like he's supposed to. Which is as likely to be because he's adjusting to the crush side of their relationship more slowly than he'd have thought as it is to be that he doesn't actually have romantic feelings for Kazusa (just very strong feelings).

Spoiler: Bonus feature

Sad thing is...I actually thought that ridiculous "why did I dooooooo thaaaaaat???" running scene, after her too-understanding talk with Fading Beauty worked. Because its ridiculousness directly reflected the ridiculousness of her responses in the previous scene, rather than how it was employed in the first episode.

Spoiler: Glasses-senpai

Spoiler

...okay, that's not entirely true, but I just really, really, really love that line/moment in that Avengers comic.

Anyway.

Yeah, uh, this is an interesting development, in that I think it's believable and fittingly ironic that the tattle-tail prude got ratted out for being in a skanky part of town, but...did we really need to have the pregnancy thing happen to ratchet up the stakes to make her expulsion more believable?

And, just to say...who ratted them out? Because that person had to be NEAR THE LOVE HOTEL to see them. Which, I mean, why was that person there?

I'm 90% sure it's the assistant principal (or whatever rank the shouting guy is) who saw them. He doth protest too much.

Spoiler: Twin Braids Girl

First off...you should date Kazusa.

Second...unless you were hoping to date Kazusa, why on Earth would you be upset that Kazusa--who you know isn't a lesbian--isn't interested in having sex with girls? Was that supposed to be some kind of test to see if she'd stop being your friend if you told her you were both into girls and more specifically into Fading Beauty?

Are...are you actually crazy?

What the hell happened with this character?

Spoiler: Erotica-chan

I don't even...

So, nothing happened at the love hotel. And she felt kind of ashamed of herself...but in a good way. Like, in a "I feel safe with him" kind of way, I assume, rather than a "I think I might have a shame kink" kind of way. And Milo-sensei has taken that exchange to mean that they are buddies and possibly no longer concerned that she's going to try anything? Which she is...aware of but undeterred by? Despite his clear intention to fawn over Femme-sensei?

...and then she decides to take him hostage in a ploy to save Glasses-senpai that belongs in a lesser School Rumble subplot?

"This is genius, guys. There's no way we won't get expelled. Or arrested. Nope. Not like our friend and her boyfriend got expelled because of an unproven accusation! Not like unlawful imprisonment is a crime!"

Spoiler: Fading Beauty

Apart from a surprisingly really-happened-this-way scene in the club room, the only reason to talk about Fading Beauty, this week, is obviously the Pedo-sensei scene. Which might be the worst scene this show has thrown at us.

I know the point was to show that she's not who she thinks she is, that she values herself as more than just the youthfulness/beauty she'd been placing all of her self-worth in--which is kind of does. She down in the dumps, so she contacts Pedo-sensei out of vulnerability. She want shim to violate her so that she won't have to worry about that issue anymore...but then tosses away that worry on her own by punching him--the thing that has been holding her to that standard--in the face. (In the least cathartic permutation of such, for the record.)

But...why is he meeting with her? Where are they? Is this a pre-arranged meeting? Is it spontaneous? I looks spontaneous, but he's also acting like it was arranged. If it was arranged, is it a hotel? His apartment? If it was spontaneous...why does she know that he's there? It looks like a hotel. Is it his apartment? And why in the hell is he meeting her? I thought he didn't want to, y'know, ruin her? Does he want to have sex with her or not? Was he, like, marinating her in un-innocence? Was that what we're supposed to get from his scheming? Did he hope to have her f*** Izumi and then tell him about it? Is he looking for some vicarious thrills?

Too many questions. And as I said before, I don't think all these questions spawn from just poor implementation of his character. No, I don't think he was a character at all, and trying to apply logic to any of his actions is, therefore, a fruitless endeavor.

 

[AustinDR]

Show: You're the worst character in the show, Momoko.
Momoko: I know.

 

[g3data]

Pretty sure this is going to be an anime original ending. But yeah, I do admit that regarding Pedo-Sensei, I'm grasping at straws there since...he's not a character but a plot point.

Mari Okada is the mangaka and the director of the anime, so a big X to doubt on that. Maybe it'll be like Akira with how Otomo had the movie's ending contain alot of elements from stuff that would later occur in the manga.

Anyone want to be industrious and go to one of those manga upload sites just to check out if this episode's, um, "development" is from the source material?

Take one for the team?

No point in trying. Either the translations are behind or the anime overtook the manga weeks ago.