What would Nanoha have done?
Impression
Haifuri feels like its been doing a Kancolle. In that instead of focusing purely on slice-of-life or purely on naval warfare, it’s stuffing them both in a blender and pressing the ‘wild ride’ button. And I think it’s working. I can’t fault them for doing it either, because (i) they’re probably trying to attract the Kancolle audience; and (ii) their target demographic will tend to be amenable to a mix of the two, me included. Sometimes the transition does feel a little abrupt like it was this episode. Even if they’re all on a ship, I guess something involving swimsuits had to happen somehow? A lot of skin was exposed, but unfortunately it wasn’t as lewd as the toilet paper stuff from last week. Swimsuits are pretty standard fare you see, while toilet paper is completely unexplored territory! And it’s only implicitly perverted. Everything is left to the imagination instead. How you respond to it and what connotations you take away from it all depends on you and your inner lewd.
I would have liked to see Shiro in a swimsuit. And Mei. I was particularly looking forward to theirs and Mina’s, so not getting to see two out of three made me die a little inside. Mina did look as delicious as ever though.
Anyway. It looks like Furushou did nothing wrong. On one hand, now I don’t have to feel as guilty for liking her any more. On the other hand, it’s a little disappointing because I really was hoping we’d get a politically charged conspiracy plot featuring Furushou and her sympathizers attempting to overthrow Principal Munetani and/or the Blue Mermaids as an organization. It would have been really fun. Mind control rats is not as good an alternative, I’m sorry to say. Up until the very end of that scene, I was hoping for Furushou to reveal to us that she was just faking her concern and amnesia, and that she’s really thinking that everything’s going according to plan. Her eyes weren’t red back when we saw her firing at the Harekaze in Episode 1, after all. If the entire crew can’t remember why they acted in the way they did (just like Tama) then I guess it really is the mind control rats.
And that’s how it’s gotta be for the Musashi too. I was wondering how, if Moka really was in some sort of crisis, she’d have managed to hold out all the way until now, but I suppose she’s locked herself in somewhere so that the rest of her mind-controlled crew can’t do anything to hurt her. But in doing that, she’s probably lost any chance of escaping the ship – we don’t know how the mind control works and how it’s activated, but I don’t think it ever naturally just wears off. So many other ships have randomly gone missing too. Tama was only shaken out of it presumably because the rat in her pocket wasn’t too fond of water or something – meaning that the best chance of getting the Musashi back to normal is to sink it, or at least start capsizing it so that they all come into contact with water. And what are the chances of that?! The Harekaze are already pulling off miracles by managing to somehow intercept all the shells being sent their way, and it looks like the various instructor ships of that other boys’ school are done for as well. Is it all up to Akeno to save the day?
Except this time her actions are rather controversial, even for her standards. Moka really is her one and only, isn’t she? We all knew it was coming – that Akeno might have to end up choosing between the Harekaze and her legal wife. And in picking Moka, she’s essentially abandoned her duty as captain. I had no idea Moka meant that much to her. I was actually predicting that she would have been convinced by Shiro’s words – because Shiro’s completely right. It’s one thing being a carefree captain like her, but it’s another thing entirely to abandon your responsibilities and your ship to go help someone out at another ship. That’s not being a captain at all. At the very least, I thought Akeno would have convinced the rest of the bridge crew to help her with the Musashi – because what can she do by herself? Even if she makes it to Moka, what happens if she’s surrounded by physically enhanced and mind-controlled high school girls? And now she’s a sitting duck in the water. I don’t think she’s thought this through, and in the worst case scenario she might even end up a prisoner on board the Musashi if she’s not blown out of the water by it first. Remember, the Admiral Spee were willing to do the exact same thing to Mina. I was worrying about Moka dying, but isn’t Akeno at more risk at this rate?
