Dorei-ku keeps amping up the stakes every week! Unexpectedly so, too. Last episode we got to finally identify the ‘big bad’ and everything in falling into place with all of the factions moving towards their own goal and trying to overtake each other and then, with just 3 episodes left and many plot lines pending resolution, they added yet another faction to the mix!
Oh well, honestly I can’t complain because Itabashi Gekkou, one of the new characters, is just too much fun! I really enjoy ‘chuunibyou’ characters. Their over-grandiose way of speaking and dramatic antics! They’re just wonderful to watch.
The episode opens with Gekkou poetically speaking about his Maria-sama. Soon enough we learn that Maria is a counselor lady from a chat online and she helps people. There really aren’t a lot of details about her situation, but I suppose it’s beside the point right now. He’s given the mission to learn information about Ryuuou’s ‘agents’ that will be infiltrating Gekkou’s school. In this bit we learn how Setagaya was able to enslave Fujiko. It turns out the Judgement SCM he owns can override a lot of stuff on the regular SCM. That’s pretty OP and I’m looking forward to seeing how that’s dealt with, but for the time being, the focus of Gekkou’s mission has to do with Maria helping some mysterious person named Kiyo.
Later we see Zero meeting Ryuuou on the street and Gekkou comes out, trigger Zero to show another personality named Kiyo that’s insde his mind. To echo Chuo’s comment towards the end of the episode, “Nothing surprises me anymore.”
Zero, as Kiyo, is able to override Ryuuou’s orders and gets away with Gekkou and Maria and then we learn they’ve been working together for a bit to rescue Zero from slavery. Here I was able to accept the situation since at first I was a bit annoyed that it seemed Maria and Gekkou had too much information but they hadn’t been shown investigating, but there was no need, as there was a mole right there!
There’s some backstory where we are told a bit about Kiyo, Zero’s mother, and her relationship with Maria. I suppose these might end up becoming allies to Eia, considering they have a similar goal in mind. I found the backstory a bit too tragic in regards to to Zero forgetting about Kiyo after the accident. The fact that he couldn’t recognize Maria again after she visited and yelled at him in her apartment and the fact that Maria’s character design would make her memorable, I found that bit a little weak, but well, let’s blame it on shock or something.
Either way, Ryuuou’s mind seemed to be elsewhere as he was more concerned with trying to get a hold of Julia. Things really keep building up! Very enjoyable episode with a kind of less serious mood when Gekkou is concerned, but still contributing something to the plot. There’s still worry in my mind that there’s too few episodes for things to be resolved properly, but if this show can pull it off, I’ll be impressed.