I didn’t even know I had this fetish.
Impression
I told you she was best girl.
My poor heart. You win, Kyoani. I’ll watch your stupid show. I feel like I’ve been bought off really cheaply. In retrospect, all Phantom World had to do was to just pander to my brand of fanservice. I’m not particularly proud of that. I mean, I have nothing against boobs, it’s just that Mayonnaise-sama’s huge, bouncing in-your-face ones didn’t really impress me all that much, especially when Kyoani chose to do that fully knowing that this would be everyone’s first impression of their new work. I’ve seen some of the promo art for Phantom World since last week’s episode, and apparently Mai has a small mole on her inner thigh, which is very visible from certain revealing angles when she’s wearing spats. You can go look it up if you want, I bet it’s really easy to find given that fan art has exploded at an even faster rate since that official image was released. If that’s your thing, then I’m happy for you. But it’s not going to change the fact that I’m not a Mai fan – I was perfectly happy with my Windows 7 Mori Summer, and I didn’t need a forced upgrade into a Windows 10 Mayonnaise edition.
Now Reina, on the other hand, was made for lewd. Apparently the novels already sexualize her a lot, but… wow. She didn’t even know what she was doing, she just instinctively did it. And she wouldn’t stop until she was told to let go. Her best girl game is currently off the charts. I’m proud of having labelled her best girl last week. I honestly don’t think the loli can beat her, guys. That’s a big deal coming from me. I didn’t even have a finger sucking fetish until that scene happened. Can we all agree that the cherry on top was that lewd string of saliva that left her mouth when it was over? This is what they mean when they say ‘Kyoani finds a way’. Kyoani reinvents things, and transcends previously established boundaries no matter the genre. With fanservice, they’re not satisfied with the standard boobs, panty shots and swimsuit episodes. They’re after something more tasteful, if you’ll excuse the pun (and if fanservice can ever be tasteful). Something unique. Like inner thigh moles and finger sucking. I also noticed a lot of leg stretching. Kyoani seeks to awaken the fetishist within you, deep down in your heart of hearts. And I approve.
As for the episode itself, it wasn’t bad. I felt that the second half largely redeemed itself because of the lewd Reina scene, and that it was otherwise quite mediocre. Oh god, I hope she continues to heal everyone’s wounds like that. Ahem. It also seems like the Koito recruitment drive will take a little longer than expected. At the moment, it doesn’t feel like she has much to her character other than being a stoic, reserved girl with what should be a powerful ability. It’s a pity she jobbed during the very battle her power was introduced in, because it would have been nice to see her hold her own without Team Mai coming to rescue her. Her Parole also sounds really tiring to chant, especially if she has to do that every time she wants to activate her hyper voice thing. I actually thought they were just green flames from what the OP seemed to indicate, but apparently they’re linked to her voice ability.
Phantom World has also started hinting towards a plot. I don’t think it was a coincidence that they were sent to a factory belonging to the company responsible for the virus – both the strange thing Ruru took back and the robot’s dying words (‘my directive is to protect Alayashiki’s secrets) are most likely going to be important in the future. I hope, at least – if Kyoani can take a break from fetishizing different body parts every now and then. Haruhiko also seems very set on emphasizing that their world still doesn’t know a lot about phantoms, and that they’re not sure of the exact nature of the reality they live in. I was confused by his opening monologue, in fact – he says that phantoms which cause trouble must be sealed off, as if that ‘trouble’ never really existed (in terms of quantity and extent as it does now, at least) before phantoms appeared. But the show seems to imply that phantoms were always there, just that they couldn’t be perceived. Now that they are perceived, suddenly so is the trouble that they cause. So how is it that their previous reality didn’t recognise the existence or impact of phantoms? If they’re created by the human consciousness, then how does something which originated like that have a physical impact on the real world? It all reminds me a lot of Dennou Coil, a now-very dated but very deep and quaint series where technology and actual reality start blurring. Except this also has lewd finger sucking.
Please remember to correct your best girl allegiance to One True Reina. If you don’t, she’ll eat you. is that a bad thing
Ooh! Another (resists urge to drop DJ Khaled ‘meme’) series with “coil” in it!
Now as for the current plot, well, if Phantoms were having an impact on the world it beforehand it was a) written off as crazy talk b) written of as a mystery or c) handled by ‘specialists’. As for that last point, however, we don’t know how long this official organization for dealing with Phantoms has existed as things could have very well been handled much like in Monogatari before everyone could witness Phantoms (on that note Araragi’s healing ability was the first thing I thought of when Reina healed Haruhiko, but…)
The other point to consider in terms of the impact of Phantoms is: “the act of observing changes what’s being observed”, no? Phantoms definitely aren’t roving about aimlessly like the Buranki. So their activity was certainly kicked up and affected by people suddenly being able to perceive them… although on that note those graveyard “ghosts” really weren’t doing much compared to every other Phantom we’ve seen thus far. Curious.
As for the plot moving forward, I’m rather frightened. It could either pass up on beginning to make use of its potential, or it could REALLY make use of its potential. We’ll see~!
On a more persona level there were three points of interest to me:
[1] I’m wondering if Reina…
a) gains different energy based on what she consumes, like with real food (satisfied Phantom=positive energy, subdued Phantom=neutral energy, healing wounds=negative energy – I mean Haruhiko didn’t even get as flustered as when “all girl’s school” was mentioned)
b) has to eat a certain amount of real food in proportion to her phantasmal consumption, like a diet that she can (or will have to learn to) follow to use her powers most effectively
[2] Mai has to stimulate the areas of her body that contain the different elements (Chinese mysticism), right?
Now we know there’s an official organization for handling Phantoms, so might she eventually gain a device that allows for more direct (non perverted) stimulation and thus heightened powers?
[3] Ruru is such a distinct Phantom! It worries me.
At the same time there’s potential for quite the origin story. Her outfit makes me wonder if she’s genie-like… and is currently only with Haruhiko to be his friend until he properly makes friends with others (he seemed kind of lonely for a moment when he went back to his empty room after the others left)… hopefully she doesn’t disappear if that’s the case, but maybe just moves on to “grant the wish” of someone else.
[1] Does she gain any energy at all? I know there’s a theory floating around that she’s got a massive army of phantoms in her stomach (think Chamot from Rokka) that she might unleash in the future, but I’m not sure how much I’d back that idea. Haruhiko has some weird reactions. He gets flustered from the mere mention of an all-girls’ college, yet when he gets to the very pink-looking love nest of two college girls he doesn’t react. When he sees Mai and Reina naked in towels he doesn’t react. He also nonchalantly invites them both to his house. What is he doing?! How can he react so calmly to Reina sucking his finger?!
[2] Come on, now. No way are Kyoani ever going to discard their fanservice for non-perverted stimulation.
[3] As for Ruru, one thing did come to mind that never made it into the post – where does she even go at night? Haruhiko waves goodbye to her, and she just flies off into the sky somewhere. It’s so strange that she doesn’t know anything about herself – and yeah, she’s definitely very distinct. Totally human-looking, for one.