On a scale of 1 to ‘wtf did I just watch’, episode 6 broke the scale and a part of my soul. Of course, I was a little nervous when the episode started with a text message reading “This episode contains a completely ad-libbed section for your enjoyment.” but alas, I decided it was probably no big deal. Honestly, I’m going to assume the ‘ad-libbed’ section was the part with the gardening club at the end and that was the most normal part of the episode.
At the end of last episode, we recall the groups discovery that Shiroyama is a complete masochist. We also learned a lot about the state of the relationship between Midorigaoka and Shiroyama in these last two episodes. In a effort to bridge the gap between the two of them and make it so they are close friends again, Kikawada has a plan. They are to play basketball together to beat him, for each basket the Midorigaoka/Shiroyama team gets. They get a candid picture of Momoya-sensei.
The game goes fairly well, though there isn’t a lot of teamwork to be had between the two of them. Midorigaoka hogs the ball and won’t pass, there is absolutely no respect for the rules of the game. Still, as he scores, he gets two pictures of Momoya-sensei and Shiroyama seems generally pleased to see his friend happy.
Their happy basketball game is ruined by Spudio the 22nd bursting out from the ball holder and saying that there was no time to be playing basketball and the world needed saving from the Sphinx. So the three of them are whisked away to the 2.D world again, but there are some very distinct differences this time from the last times they’ve been sent there.
- They are trapped in desks, only able to move their upper bodies and their hands.
- Spudio has somehow become a giant rock creature and is stuck in the ceiling.
After a few moments of awkward banter between Midorigaoka and Shiroyama, the Sphinx arrives and it’s just pure green. His name is the green hill Sphinx, which is just word play on Midorigaoka. The Sphinx is also the top of it’s class and good at sports, so basically it’s just Sphinx Midorigaoka.
This was about the moment it hit me. This was the moment I paused the episode, took a deep sigh, stared to the side like I was looking at a camera and I was on the office. Then slowly, I clicked play again.
The Sphinx claims he is going to give them a super hard riddle and gives them an absurd amount of time to solve it in.
The first one was so simple, that me as a girl with very limited knowledge of the Japanese language who sits through most of these episodes with very little understanding of the word play at work took one look at it and went “Holy crap that’s easy.”
“What kind of bread [pan] isn’t a bread you can eat.”
There are a ridiculous amount of answers to this question, so Shiroyama provides three of them. The Sphinx and everyone else are super impressed with his skill, but he’s like “Um, guys that was really simple.” and then they move on to two more riddles. Each supposedly ‘super hard’ with absurd time limits, he answers them all quickly and simply because they are all insanely easy. He gets praised by everyone in the room, basically worshipped and everyone gives him nicknames he can call them. Even the Sphinx gets in on it.
That’s when it happens, the moment i’d been waiting for since the Sphinx showed up. The cut away back to the real world, when we realize he’d been dreaming the entire time and none of the episode happened at all. I knew this ending was coming, that’s why I had to pause the episode earlier and sigh to myself.
With that conclusion we cut away to what I assume is the ab-libbed part of the episode with the two members of the gardening club as they discuss the other characters in the series. Nothing special really happens, other then the vaguely funny debate over if Midorigaoka is an S or an M. Which we eventually discover they are talking about clothing sizes, rather then if he’s a sadist or a masochist.
God, this episode was levels of absurd that I can barely understand. I had to sit there for a good 10 minutes questioning what I just watched. Thank Goodness I had Promised Neverland to watch to pull me back into something resembling a sane mindset.
Next week I believe we’re returning to proper form as the preview provides a sense of urgency as a crazy powerful looking red Sphinx appears. Also Spudio is back to normal, so I don’t have to see that ceiling abomination ever again. On a side note, how is Spudio going to return? They crushed him. Can he possess any random rock that looks like a badly constructed piece of concrete?
Magic? Space? Time? Guess we’ll find out next time.