Reiji again
Best thing about this episode again
So, it’s time for the Semi finals match against Saisei but the day before, Riku does another love declaration to Takeru, saying that it’s thanks to him that he likes to stride again. Okay, we got that last episode, can we move on to something else now?
Oh Oh, look!
It’s the return of the childhood flashback!
It’s been a long time,
how are you doing?
Ready to be developed now that nobody cares?
So the Semi finals are here. There’s again loads of people who came to see a competition between high school clubs. I call it the ” Captain Tsubasa” syndrome, where a huge crowd was filling an immense stadium just to see two little clubs competing against each other.
All the ships are shipped again, racing against each other, they talked about non important stuff so I won’t bother mentioning it. I just want to say that Heath and Reiji are particularly hot in this episode. I know I’ve said it before but it’s true. It might be the only thing that I enjoy about the show at this point.
Okay so the race starts with Kohinata, apparently this episode it’s not about connecting feelings but about the look that they have in their eyes. While they are running they say stuff like: I have to win no matter what for [Insert Boyfriend name here] even if I have to face [Insert Name of the second Boyfriend in the Rival team]. I’ve got to give it my all, I cannot lose no matter what. For the team. If I lose it’s over. It’s our dream, It’s our destiny, This is the last summer blablablabla you understood.
AND THEN MY FRIENDS
AND THEN
Takeru has a flashback again, which shows us that apparently him and Riku did stride together when they were kids with Nana as a relationner. And they promised to go to Honan Academy and to win the EOS together.
WAIT A MINUTE
AM I SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE THIS?!
Seriously
Nooo
Ok. This is going to be long.
They are first year students in high school so that means they are like 15 or 16… When they made they promise they were like 9? So in 6 years they forgot EVERYTHING? Their promise was: to go to Honan and to stride in the End of Summer Tournament…. THAT’S AWFULLY PRECISE! AND THEN YOU’RE TELLING ME THAT OOOH WITHIN SIX YEARS NANA AND RIKU FORGOT EVERYTHING LIKE OLALALA I DON’T KNOW THOSE GUYS THEIR FACES ARE REALLY UNFAMILIAR! DID I STRIDE WITH THEM BEFORE? I DON’T REMEMBER!
Also, Nana said at the beginning that she wanted to join the stride club after seing a video online. But now, no, she actually planned to join long time ago after her promise with the boys. The whole environment in which they were evolving those past few months is just too precise not to remember that promise.
Ok, let’s say that, I dunno, Riku and Nana both are victims of the Ass cancer and they forgot everything. How can you explain that they did not remember all that childhood bullshit before uh? Like how this match was special? I mean they could have remembered everything during their first match, Nana being the relationner again and Takeru and Riku gay boyfriends once again. But neh, now, just now, because we’re done with the brother complex so now it’s the best moment to bring the childhood stuff now.
I’ve said it before but, if you introduce plot elements in a bad way, nobody cares. How many times did they make references to the childhood stuff? Once? That’s not enough, and it’s like they completely forgot about that part of the story while they were concentrating on the shit brother drama.
Guy who came up with this plot #1: Oooh shit we forgot about the childhood stuff what are we going to do Jean-Baptiste?
Guy who came up with this plot #2: It’s okay Christophe let’s say that they remember everything during that particular race just because.
Guy who came up with this plot #1: But people are going to see that it’s pure bullshit!
Guy who came up with this plot #2: Nah It’s okay, let’s put more contact and awkward sentences between the guys, they’ll focus on the ship and not on the plot.
Anyway, let’s continue, I’m sure the are going to explain things aha. So, Honan wins but I don’t care. I’m a bit disappointed for my prince Reiji because at least he’s not involved in any shit drama so that makes him more likable than the rest of the stride gang. Honan is like “yeah we won, let’s beat team Kakyoin now” Saisei is like “yay you won, beat Kakyoin now”. Then they sing a song while doing crazy flips and parkour shit.
What ? Takeru, Riku and Nana’s reunion? Now that they remember they’re going to doing something different? AHAHA You’re so naive. NOTHING! NOTHING HAPPENS! They are like ” we meet here 7 years ago” LOL SO NOW YOU REMEMBER THE EXACT NUMBER OF YEARS!
“But Takeru you’ve changed so much, how was I supposed to remember you? “. HE DIDN’T CHANGE AT ALL! HE HAS THE EXACT SAME LOOK! ARE YOU FREAKING BLIND RIKU? HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO REMEMBER HIM? WELL MAYBE BECAUSE HE WAS YOUR FRIEND, BECAUSE THAT PROMISE WAS ACTUALLY IMPORTANT TO YOU, SAME WITH STRIDE?!
Oh and Nana is as transparent as usual, it’s almost like she wasn’t concerned by that promise. Even 7 years ago she was useless. Poor her, seriously.
So how, why did they forget? Does this childhood stuff actually matters? Is it bringing something relevant to the plot, to the relations between characters in that particular trio?
But it’s okay
it’s fine
I get it,
I shouldn’t be upset by all this bullshit.
Look they gave us shipping material right?
Why should I be pissed off the the total lack of coherence in this show if I can ship all those guys together?
hahahahahahahahahahah.
I’m so angry right now.
Oh yeah, and Now Riku is like “I wanna run with my brother now”
And they are all like ” waaaah”.
The end
To sum up things, we have a whole new plot device which doesn’t bring anything to the characters, to the story or whatever the hell you want. It’s not believable at all and thus it cuts and erases all the feelings that I could have towards the characters. I’m not moved by their reunion, by their past. And don’t tell me:
” NNNEEEHH, It was useful, it’s thanks to this memory that Takeru won.
NO IT’S NOT! TAKERU KNEW ALL THE TIME ABOUT THE CHILDHOOD SHIT!
” Buut it’s because Riku and Nana remembered it so it gave confidence to Takeru”
HOW COULD HE POSSIBLY HAVE KNOW THAT THEY SUDDENLY, AFTER LONG MONTHS SPENT STRIDING TOGETHER THAT, YOLO NOW I REMEMBER, JUST NOW, BECAUSE OF REASONS? He was racing remember. So maybe he’s some kind of mentalist or something but you can’t read through people’s mind normally. Well at least I can’t.
” Buut I’ts because it’s the end of summer and they promised to do the EOS together, so it’s why they remember now”
Yeah? So why this particular race? Why not the race before? Are the semi finals special? Do Saisei has something to do with this childhood bullshit ? I don’t think so.
Maybe I’m missing something, maybe I don’t get something that could help me to understand all this… Please tell me, I wanted to enjoy it but I truly cannot. Maybe I’m focusing too much on the details, I dunno. This whole childhood crap is the biggest bullshit I’ve seen in quite a while. To me it just looks like they inserted this childhood stuff so badly and without caring, thinking that ” It’s anime maaaan, it’s okay, it’s not real”. Fine, so don’t expect me to care about this show then.
Right now, I just feel that whoever made this thought: ” YOLO! WHATEVER, let’s just end this”. I won’t say that Diabolik Lovers has better plot, buuuut, it’s almost the same thing aka poorly written. In Diabolik Lovers they just put a shit story, badly introduced and handled to make us believe that something was actually happening between all the abuse and blood sucking scene. Here it’s almost the same thing. They just put random unbelievable and useless drama to fill the moments when they were not racing, touching each other, saying gay stuff to each other. If I missed something please tell me cuz I cannot believe Madhouse did that. It doesn’t make any sense to me whatsoever. Also, sorry if I used too many caps lock. I’m just pissed off, and sad.
Anyway. I’m done. I’m really done. I’m done mentally and physically after this episode. Honestly I’m glad It’s over, if this show had 24 episodes I think I would have dropped it after this one. Good luck dealing with the last episode Berry. There’s nothing to save about this show and there’s actually nothing left to save. I mean, what are they going to do next episode? Racing? More shipping material? Do we actually care if they win or not? I don’t give a single fuck, personally, they could win or lose I’ll be like:
“Look at my eyes Boris, do I look like I give a fuck?”
I don’t
In Japan, Stride’s part of a multi-media franchise made up of the game, audio drama CDs, light novels etc.
A fan says the anime’s basically an ad for selling the merchandise:
“…the production of all the “Prince of Stride” media is top-notch and each media helps build into the Stride canon…I could see how a Japanese teenager could really get into “Prince of Stride.” However without having access to the other Stride media, the characters presented in the anime seem flat.”
The boys’ personalities and Nana’s romance with them is fleshed out in the side materials. The anime’s mostly ignored the source game’s otome elements and cut out the backstories and conflicts of most of the male cast to focus solely on the sport aspect. For example :
-The childhood flashback was taken from Takeru’s romance route in the game. Takeru once knew Nana and Riku in their childhood; they all raced in a kid’s Stride held during the very 1st End of Summer. He’s the only one who remembers Nana and their promise to go to Honan together. Takeru was also a lot chubbier then. He also has a soft spot for his pet golden retriever, Yamato.
-Hozumi’s estranged from his wealthy businessman father, and prefers to stay with his stepfamily instead. He’s very close to his stepsiblings.
-Heath’s foot injury is more prominent and serious in his route.
-Reiji comes from a prominent family of Kabuki actors, who want him to quit Stride and idoling after graduation to take up the family profession. Shizuma (pink hair)’s family are gardeners for Reiji’s family; an injury he suffered killed his Stride career.
Kyosuke and Riku’s conflicts remain largely untouched. Reiji is the only dateable non-Honan guy, Ayumu cannot be dated.
Well it’s a shame that this anime is just an add for the other medias. But even if the game was available for the western audience I would not buy it.
They choose to focus more on the sport and to lighten the importance of some background elements but still we know basically what happened.So, for the people willing to buy the game after seeing the anime there will be no surprises. And that’s a shame, maybe they should have focused on a single route, Riku’s maybe, because here, the anime is just a mess. Everything is rushed the characters are plain and it’s frustrating. I wanted to love this anime but I can’t.
And I don’t understand why we can’t date Aymu, is he just a comic relief then?