“Kurokami Medaka’s brainwashing has just been completed.”

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Impression

Pi886Yukuhashi Mizou – Oudo’s sidekick, and the member of the Thirteen Party we knew the least about before this episode. While all the other members participating in the Flask Plan have been selected based on strength and power of their Abnormality, Yukuhashi is slightly different in that respect, as he has nearly no physical fighting power, and can read minds, which allows him to manipulate and psychologically affect his opponents, but do no direct physical damage. That’s why he ended up having to use the sleeping gas – it’s not that it was an easy way out, it was the only way out for him. Similarly, even if he had a method of inflicting physical pain on his opponents, he’s most likely going to be close enough to them for their emotions to transfer over too, resulting in him feeling the same pain that they do. Because of that, he’s actually pretty different from the other cold, battle-hardened members of the Thirteen Party due to his more pacifistic nature than, I dunno, Munakata. On the other hand, Yukuhashi’s close loyalty to Oudo as being the only person that can block out the constant stream of thoughts transmitted to him will always come first, no matter how much Kikaijima tried to sway him.

I was actually pleased to see Kikaijima get a bit of focus this episode. She’s always been less central to the plot than Zenkichi or even Akune, but she managed to get her own turn fighting against a member of the Thirteen Party – and for a Special, she held her own amazingly well. Part of that was fuelled by her strong desire to protect Medaka and do what she can; she’s even willing to rip off her fingernails to either transmit pain to Yukuhashi or stop herself from falling asleep. Clearly, Kikaijima believes that Medaka is a normal girl in some respects (there are things that even Kurokami Medaka doesn’t know), and thinks that something as trivial as mentality (Special, Abnormal etc.) isn’t important enough to become a factor when establishing friendship between people. I did appreciate the gratuitous fanservice shoved in our faces though, it’s been some time since we’ve had an opportunity for that.

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So Medaka is now brainwashed, and is no longer the Medaka we once knew – that cold, uncaring look in her eyes similarly to Naze is proof of that, and it’s  definitely a far cry from what she used to be. Oudo’s also turned up after having finished his little experiment, explains his Abnormality to us,which isn’t restricted to just Weighted Words or the manipulation of gravity as thought by Akune. Being able to directly release EMP waves that stimulate motor nerves let’s him control the minds of others – and therefore their actions, using what is literally just electricity. And here a decent point is raised: if someone’s mindset has been reworked or changed, then what’s the difference between brainwashing (Oudo’s method) and reforming (Medaka’s method)?