And so we are back to that wacky teacher, who teaches his students through incredibly odd means. At last we left him off, he wanted to be in a 30 person event on an online game, so he told his class they had to do it. They’re short one person, so he goes to retrieve that person. It turns out though that the person he thought was missing was actually a student of his who stopped coming to class. And…it’s a boy who dresses like a girl.
There we go, now that you’re all caught up, let’s jump into this week.
So we pick up exactly where we left off last week. Kagami’s annoyed when he sees him in the house. Not because he’s a truant or because he dresses like a she, no, he cares because now he really does need another person to join his 30+ person crew. As he runs out he tells him to train the students until he gets back.
For the next part of the episode Luce (the cross dressing truant) trains them all and the students all learn incredibly fast and get good at the game. After finishing their training they become very friendly with Luce and ask if they can play again later. Not thinking about it Luce says yes.
After the students leave he freaks out and has a bad flashback of how some kids were jerks because he liked crossdressing and how they called him a freak. Because of this he doesn’t want to get attached to anyone again for fear of losing them. The next day he logs in, but leaves the game AFK so that at least the class can enter the competition. Kagami managed to bring the angry irregular twin tails student council girl to fill in, but hearing of Luce’s not showing up, he runs after him.
Eventually he catches up and has a speech about how he doesn’t care because he’s his partner and how he believes in him blah blah you get the idea.
Luce comes back and they win the competition, but his insecurity isn’t resolved and we’re left with the open ended question to be answered next episode if he’ll go back to school or not.
This episode….it was okay. It wasn’t my favorite lesson he’s given to a student that’s for sure. Yeah the whole “be true to yourself” motif is a nice one, but still, I guess it’s hard because I’ve always had a bias against trap characters.
Look, i’m not saying that I have anything against crossdressing in anime. Hell, “I My Me Strawberry Eggs” is one of my favorite shows. I’m just saying, I hate traps. When you introduce a character and don’t immediately tell the audience what gender they are if they look a certain way, that bothers me. Being animation, you can make anybody look like anything. But I’m sorry, you can’t draw a character as a girl, give them a female voice actor, and then say “nope, it’s a dude.” that would be like me putting up a picture of a pig and saying “nope, it’ s a dog.” it doesn’t make it any less a pig, it’s not a dog just because I say it is. And yes, I am fully aware that for some people they do manage to make themselves look convincingly like the opposite gender, especially in Asia, but the point i’m trying to make here is, if you’re going to do that, just tell me right away. Don’t make it a “Surprise” Because it just pisses me off.
Well, enough of that rant, back to the review. I do like how the cast is growing and all the characters are interacting with each other. Everyone being in one place is fun and interesting. The only real issue I had is, what was even the point of him being in that one school and then getting fired only to get a job in another school? Couldn’t the series have just started with…him getting the job in the second school? Did…did he really need to have that weird first 2 episodes with the fake sexual harassment thing?
Anyway, This episode had some nice moments, but I can’t say I like the trap characters. Yeah, I know we’re supposed to feel bad for him and all as he can’t be himself in public, but….I guess I just don’t care enough? Yes, you think people can’t accept you when you crossdress so you lock yourself in your room and don’t go to school. Couldn’t you just…..not crossdress at school and then come home and do it after? I mean there’s alternatives to literally locking yourself in your room with a combination lock. I’m not saying don’t be yourself..but…there’s gotta be a better way than that. Yeah, I know it’s a touchy subject but I think that Luce is a bit of a whiner. Everyone else once they got a shove from Kagami went for it, but Luce kind of just….sits there and is sad about how people will hate him. Iunno, just seems like a weak character to me.
Still, the other characters were fun and next episode should wrap this arc up. Hopefully Luce will sack up next episode.
Episode 5.5/10
-Hideki