Ok, so, I think this is pretty clear by now…the powers in Inou Battle are in their own way the focus and not the focus of the series. The plots of the characters are shaped by them…but they barely make an appearance often. The big battle we had in episode 1? Most we’ll get for a while I think. Right now the series is following up Andou’s relationship with each of the cast. Two episodes ago was Chiyufu, last episode was red haired girl, this one Sayumi. So, how does it start out?
This delightfully hammy self-insert sequence where Andou takes out all the girls and is their king is pretty fun, but whats even better is the payoff. It turns out to indeed be a mini-video game made by the girls. And for why?
Awwwwwwwwww. Seriously this is just…incredibly cute. It shows that, while the girls pick on him like..ALOT, that they really do care about him and see him as a friend. Making a game with his character as the main hero? That’s a serious display of friendship.
So, it turns out, Sayumi was the one who did the most work on the game, so much work she ended up a bit sick. And guess who’s got to go see how she’s doing?
So from there, we go into Andou encountering Sayumi. We learn quite a few things about her. First off, she wears contacts normally, which means at home…
We also learn she’s got a very energetic, very nose little sister who’s very unlike the proper, almost stoic Sayumi.
Well, its here we get a bit more on Sayumi’s backstory and its rather interesting. She was driven by her grandmother to be proper, to be an ideal lady. This affected her so much that in middle school, she made it to student council president. However, she sought the same perfection in her team, so much so she drove them away. While at first, Andou thinks she didn’t try to become student council president in high school was because of him, its really because her failure in middle school left her traumatized.
A lot of the episode is Andou thinking Sayumi’s upset with him due to some things she says and does but…nope. Turns out the entire conflict was…really nonexistent. So…what else to we have?
Well, an interesting backstory which explores a curious idea. The episode is littered with flashbacks showing how, soon after they got their powers, Sayumi presented the idea of using her Route of Origin to remove them, by returning them all to their pre-powered state. Naturally, Andou is opposed to this. So, they decide this by a fight, even though Andou’s power is useless and Sayumi’s is lacking in combat effectiveness.
Well, as we learned in the first episode, Sayumi is a black belt so……
But of course, Andou’s a lot more tenacious than all that. Its not until he does everything he can and gets tossed around a lot Sayumi then decides to try and remove his power…only to find she can’t. He expected as much (its almost as if genre-savviness is his super power), but wanted to keep the possibility open. We then get to the real reason why Sayumi wants them to give up their powers.
Sayumi’s based her entire life on doing what is proper, but there is no proper way to have superpowers. There’s a lot of uncertainties that plague her about their powers. What if someone uses them for evil, or loses control? However, Andou declares he’ll help stop them, that his true power will “awaken” when his friends are in need. Huh…..a hint to what his true power will be in time?
The last bits are some intense shipping fuel for Sayumi and Andou while the sun sets.
Overall, a good episode for Sayumi. I’m actually surprised that, with the Matoko moments last episode this wasn’t hers…but I guess her’s is next episode? Honestly, while the episode’s content is nice…I never get the point of these things. Is it supposed to give shipping material? If that’s the case, its false advertising if they don’t end up together, and if they do the other shipping episodes are a waste of time. It’s not bad…but I don’t like how they only focus on the girls in relationship to Andou. He’s the main character, but it feels very dating-sim-y that it always revolves on him and his connections to the girls. Maybe I’m spoiled on having shows which shift focus to other characters? Anyways, I no longer expect powers, and the emotional stuff I’m getting used to. The series is going to need to shake things up soon to not wear out its welcome.