Impression:
I am happy to say that this wasn’t too bad of an episode as I came in with low exceptions. It was quite funny, especially with Akari. She woke Izumu up by attacking her and ruining her duvet cover! The battle this week within the Kawagoe Research Facility felt a lot like a dungeon round you’re do in a videogame and receive some rare items if you complete it. And because of that I have mixed feelings about is how early on Uzume was able to get her hands on (and let alone be given the opportunity to pick one herself) a rare card.
We learned a bit more about how the game works and much like many of card games we know, this too has their share of traps cards. We also learned that some cards have a limited amount of use so the user has to be careful of how often they use it. Also as I mentioned last week, I figured there would be a healing card along the way, but it turns out that the Repair card can also be used to heal the dolls as well.
Amidst sprouting new information of how things work, there was also a subtle plot development. It appears the Kawagoe Research Facility is where Fantasista Dolls were created. I am pretty sure that ‘the-man-in-weird-outfit-that’s-totally-her-teacher’ is one of the employees who worked there, as he revealed to us within that hidden room that stashed the rare cards has another hidden door that won’t open unless one meets up to its conditions (whatever it they may be).
There was also a spat between Sasara and Uzume. Sasara has been shown to be very pushy, and has zero tolerance to seeing herself and others be lied to and gets pissed off about it. So of course when she saw that Uzume was not being honest to her friends about not actually enjoying horror movies and lying to Manai about ‘seriously considering’ about joining the Cards Club, naturally Sasara called her out on that and gave her crap. Uzume on the other hand gets frustrated about getting lectured and called a liar when in her mind it’s fine because she doesn’t want to hurt others as well as (more subconsciously) a way of protecting herself from getting hurt too.
The reason for Sasara having no patience for those who lie and betray others is because she believes they have been abandoned by their previous master. However right now, I am more convinced by the theory that the master had purposely slipped them into Uzume’s bag- but who knows it will be interesting if their previous master did abandon them since there are various ways it can go, and one of the possibilities is the most cliche reasons that had probably crossed your mind as well.
Although I still find it a bit of vague, I think Uzume does have the dolls she had defeated today in her hands. But what is really nagging my mind is whether she will or is even able to use any of them in the future, especially that doctor/nurse one from the military set will probably be proven handy as I have a feeling she is the healer (as implied throughout the fight).
It was no surprise to see Manai showing up and reveal that she is another competitor for Uzume to face. I can see this fight going two ways, either under the condition of losing to Manai, Uzume will have to join the Cards Club. As for the second option: regardless of the results, Uzume will choose to go to the Cards Club (as she is probably going to have to wound up there one way or another). OR, Manai has no intention of fighting Uzume and seeks help on a mission she wants to do (as implied in the preview).
