“So what? Are you just going to give up?”
Impression
We delved into the world of character development once more – and most of this week’s focus was on Wakaba and Himawari, whose budding friendship only deepened with the events of this episode. Kenjirou could take friendship building lessons from these girls…I still haven’t forgotten how magnificently that plan from Episode 6 failed. Anyway, I’m glad we got another episode dedicated to Himawari-chan on top of her induction into the Vividteam, because she deserves one. Seriously, Yellow is the best – I probably sound like a broken record by now, but I’m sure both the guys who hit on her and Wakaba both agree (: I’m sure either Takamura or a few of the guys working at A-1 Pictures are Himawari fans too, or I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have gotten this entire photo shoot session with Wakaba’s favourite girls’ magazine and all. I think I’ve taken a few too many Himawari screencaps too…ah, never mind. And meanwhile, Aoi and the recently discharged Akane are casually shafted aside in inflatable rubber suits while working part-time. The power of friendship ;_;
I agree with the lady who scouted out Himawari – even if she’s not smiling all the time while posing, there’s still a certain charm and atmosphere to the shots, especially with various bits of scenery in the background. Wakaba’s insistence to have Himawari do the proper, full photo shoot was a bit insensitive. She didn’t mean any harm and was excited for the opportunity that her friend would get, but it was rash of her to overlook the factory tour Himawari was really keen to go on, especially when it was Wakaba herself that brought up the idea of visiting. While the resulting confrontation was slightly tense to watch, it’s good to know that Himawari still really treasures her friendship with Wakaba, and completely panicked after realizing her hairpins might have been lost under the incoming tide. Thank goodness Wakaba managed to find them and give them back quickly, before the issue was dragged out for too long.
The Alone attack this week seems rather arbitrary, and was more like an add-on to the other events of the episode rather than having any real significance. The Alone came from space though, which raises a few more questions (if we didn’t have enough of them already) including the issue of where they “spawn” from, if that’s even the right word to use. It doesn’t seem like any of them do much travelling while on Earth, and seem to always appear in Japan around Blue Island, hinting that they’re materialised directly from somewhere else. Also, they’re getting more desperate in their tactics to destroy the Manifestation Engine – I’m unsure of how sentient these Alone are, but a suicidal kamikaze attempt seems pretty reckless to me, and it was easily dispatched by the Vividteam after some friendship bonding between Akane and Aoi. Rei herself didn’t even get a chance to power up the Alone this time, yet seeing Himawari try to find her hairpins has only strengthened her determination – she’ll never find what she wants if she doesn’t look for it, even if there are only 4 feathers remaining.
Finally, I couldn’t help but notice the many wonderful camera angles we were treated to this week. It’s not a one-off occurrence for this ep either, and I really do admire their casual lack of care over these things. Like with Strike Witches, they’re not even trying to hide anything – Vividred is just awesome like that 😀
