Ensemble Stars! Episode 22 [Um… WHAT???]

W… What he heck was this episode??? What did I just witness…? What even happened? I’m so confused… I legit thought we were getting a fine centered episode, but I was mistaken. Instead we got this hodgepodge of random moments smooshed together. I’m not even mad. I’m just BAFFLED that they thought this would make a good episode. I’m not even joking, I’m not even sure what was supposed to be happening or what happened for that matter. Trickstar was going to represent Yumenosaki Academy but then they didn’t want to anymore…? But then they won the chance to? There honestly was too much of their jargon flying around that I couldn’t keep track. DDD? SS? Yeah, I’m lost.

At first it looked like they were building up to a fine centered episode and I admit I felt a little disappointed, but every unit should take at least one episode to focus on. It felt like they wanted to give Himemiya the spotlight and development… but then threw all that out the window because this episode tried to cram AS MANY UNIT DRAMA IN THIS EPISODE AS POSSIBLE. But why are they sending Trickstar off??? Are they graduating from the academy or something? Did I miss some vital pieces of information somewhere???

And then we’re suddenly pelted with information that Wataru could have been the one who initiated the revolution in the first place. While I guess there was SOME backing for it as he was the one to help create Ra*bits and hinted to Nito that there was sabotage going on behind the scenes. But otherwise, it felt weird for this to be addressed NOW. There was no build up for this confrontation. Where did this even come from, Hokuto?! And then they just left it like that… What?!

It honestly feels like I missed an episode or something. There was a lot of information flying around like I should know this… but I don’t and I’m really lost. I even had to check if I accidentally missed something in the previous episode. I also have trouble keeping all the different events straight in my head and often forget what they stand for or what they even are. So now Trickstar is not representing the school? Or they’re just competing to earn the right? buries face in hands I don’t know anymore…

Though I admit when Wataru was accidentally overflowing the teacup, I laughed a lot harder than I probably should have. But it’s not everyday you get to see him legitimately surprised or shocked.

And then… WHY IS THERE A SUDDEN KNIGHTS PERFORMANCE?! I mean, I’m glad they get another performance with the inclusion of Leo this time… BUT WHY?! This isn’t even a knights focused episode! WHAT?! Though I suppose I’m glad that my complaints of their first performance were heard. They actually gave them a better performance here, even if the 2D segments were strangely paced at times. I did like how they all started out on different parts of the area and then eventually congregated back on stage. And we got to see FULL BODY MOVEMENTS and no weird close up of one of their feet. It’s always nice to see performances where you can see where everyone is in relation to each other on stage. So I’m glad we got to see that for knights since their first performance was really badly choreographed. I’m just confused as to why we even got this random knights performance in the first place.

And then… WE GET SUDDEN VALKYRIE DRAMA. Which I was personally curious about, especially Mika’s feelings towards Nito leaving the group. And man, he was a lot more hostile towards him than I expected since he was the nicest to him while Nito was still part of Valkyrie. Though I guess it’s understandable as Mika saw it as a betrayal, especially since Nito left the group while they were at their lowest. But it was nice to see him perform with them one more time so prevent them from being disqualified since Itsuki was missing. Though I wish he did it on his own volition rather than his other unit members pushing him to. I just wish this whole thing had its own episode rather than a few minutes of rushed screen time. BUT WHO HAS TIME FOR PACING?! I feel like this was supposed to be a really touching moment between all three of them… but it came out of nowhere… And why was Itsuki just… laying there in the snow like a drama queen???

But we can’t stop there! Rapid fire all the units singing rehashed songs and/or the songs they sang during ending credits! GO GO GO!!! And then Trickstar wins?

…

WHAT THE HECK IS THIS EPISODE?! I honestly am at a loss as what happened. Feel free to fill me in on what the heck went down in this episode, because heck if I know! After I finished watching, I just stared at the screen and went “WHAT?!”. And while previous episodes have had terrible pacing problems, this had to be worst. Nothing made coherent sense storytelling-wise and I wasn’t sure what or who I was supposed to be following. They kept bringing up random plot points and then dropped them to pick up another. I literally had no time to stop and think about what was happening before they were bringing up another “plot point”. I actually thought this was the finale for a second because everything felt so finalized… But it looks like we’re getting another episode next week. I hope next week’s episode MAKES SENSE.