「希望と野望と絶望と」 (Kibō to Yabō to Zetsubō to)
“Hope, Ambition, and Despair”

There were some in the comments who were expecting the return of the kidnappers from the first episode and, sure enough, here they are. There should have been no doubt that Classroom Crisis intends to let nothing go to waste. I do admit, though, that it took some time for me to remember all the pertinent details; it’s been a few months and my memory’s a sieve. Here’s how it is: in episode 01, some labourers on an asteroid named Coldwood kidnapped Nagisa. Now Yuuji is trying to theatrically kill Nagisa by blasting him into space on some kind of jury-rigged shuttle towards Coldwood. In the meantime, the labourers from episode 01 have set up a construction company named Cold Wood (back on Mars, not on Coldwood). It’s like Classroom Crisis is trying to punish me for not paying enough attention.

This also means that the plot has come entirely full circle, as many good plots like to do. Once again, Nagisa has been abducted and once again A-TEC needs to come together to rescue him. A-TEC has matured since then (Kaito actually manages to follow Nagisa’s paper trail, for example), but Nagisa’s kidnappers are less reasonable people this time, and Nagisa is in a far worse position. It’s neat that we’re wrapping up like this, but it’s also slightly contrived. I mean, apparently they live in a surveillance state but an executive of a powerful business manages to get nabbed so easily. Yuuji goes out of his way to knife Nagisa for last week’s cliffhanger just to patch him up again to prolong his revenge. Angelina, actual ninja, manages to kick all the butts but get taken out completely stupidly (where was this earlier?). At least Classroom Crisis seems to be aware of this, and various holes can be explained with only a bit of hand waving. Kazuhisa has been overlooking the little people in every way (a Lord of the Rings moral, with Kazuhisa as Sauron this week), Yuuji’s craftier than we give him credit for, but also too crazy for logic, Angelina was in a hurry. Still, it does seem that we may be going a tad too fast keep up with. It’s the penultimate-episode-syndrome.

Not that Classroom Crisis is not still doing its thing well, as a whole. A special commendation, on my part, to the character of Yuuji, who has clearly gone over the edge and is still entirely pathetic, but still remained understandable enough to illicit a modicum of sympathy so that we don’t write him off entirely as just a deranged, nihilistic supervillain-wannabe. Classroom Crisis doesn’t play down what a twisted maniac he is, but does hint at some Freudian excuses he may have for why he turned out this way. That man is a walking mass of complexes; it’s a shame that we probably won’t have time to get into it. But his need for attention and validation, his uncomfortable position as the middle brother, his lack of proper emotional outlet in a cold corporate world—I can buy that. Oh, he’s still an ass and I’m still totally rooting for him to be utterly defeated, but at least he’s a more interesting character than he could have been. Just a hint of a third dimension is enough.

Looking ahead

Speaking of stunted egos, Iris is still hanging around in the background, being entirely passive, wondering, like us, what role she can possibly play. Now that she can’t fly, she really doesn’t have much left. She’s been left to do deal with the revelation that she’s not really a Shirasaki Iris by herself but, frankly, it doesn’t seem very relevant right now. She’s alone, and she’s hurting. Next week should rightfully be her episode, though; they’ll likely have to fly towards Coldwood again, and if you recall the fastest route has a real asteroid field in it. Perhaps Iris will be called on to conquer that, and in turn conquer her PTSD. I doubt it’d be that simple though, and it wouldn’t be like Classroom Crisis to be so straightforward. And, of course, they need to work in the last of the Shinamiyas into the conclusion. Remember, no details wasted.

12 Comments

  1. Man….Yuji you bastard, you just can’t leave the show in peace can you? And how dare you accuse Nagisa of thinking of nothing but power and the company when that’s all you and your brother did?! You hypocrite!

    However, I like how A-TEC worked together to try to both save him and save A-TEC which is what he would have wanted. I also like how Nagisa through all his pain and torture only thought of them and Nagisa/Iris. But then again, he’s been doing that throughout a large portion of his life, taking the pain and torture for Nagisa/Iris.

    And the lady in question wants to do something for him but doesn’t know what. All she can do is pilot, but even that has been taken away from her because of her PTSD.
    And poor Misuki, she just started loving him and now his life is on the line and there is nothing she can do.

    I like how Nagisa has made allies as well as enemies in his life that will do anything for him. That’s some true loyalty. Angelina tried to save him, but she did the absolute number one thing that you DO NOT do:
    NEVER TURN YOUR BACK ON AN ENEMY!

    Especially one that’s that insane and you haven’t immobilized him yet! I don’t know what they’ll do to Yuji, though the guy looks completely insane so I’m not sure anything would be any worse than the inner hell he’s already in. Just put him in a mental institution for the criminally insane.

    Though, then again, I highly doubt Kazuhisa would allow that kind of blemish to the family name, so he’ll probably just have him killed and announce his death as an “accident”.
    I just hope he makes him suffer before doing him in.

  2. Unless their plan is to have Nagisa die in the last episode, I am not sure how the plot would be resolved other than having Iris overcome her PTSD. I guess the fact that the that the rocket is attached to a LGV (light guided vehicle) could come into plan in some way, with the A-TEC team coming up with a plan to remotely control the LGV, but it would still seem that they need to deploy the guidance path somehow, and that should still involve Iris.

    Incest Emblem
  3. Iris will get over her Panic attacks, if she focus on “I want to rescue my Half-Brother!”, in the past she did not have this Attacks in Episode 1… So explain to me, why she has it now? Because seeing Nagisa for the first time, trigger something inside her? If she use Nagisa rescue mission, perhaps she can overcome her Panic Attacks. Just let her drive in Auto Pilot, if there is nothing to avoid. And the Meteoroid field from Episode 1 is surly still there, then She could regain Manual control, and give back to Auto Pilot, and when she is near him. She regain Manual control again.. Of course backup with the remote Backup from the Base

    Well, that is the conclusion i picture for the Finale episode

    WorldwideDepp
    1. It was triggered when she saw Hanako bleeding after being shot (protecting her) while in the cockpit when there was the attempted hijacking. Ever since then, more memories began surfacing which made it worse. Don’t know why it would trigger at that point aside from plot.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
  4. I feel that A-TEC demonstration will get a good response, but I think that Kazuhisa secret family history is going to be revealed which will overshadow A-TEC success. This will lead Iris to inherit the company and have Nagisa as the CEO, and this will lead to A-TEC’s restoration. The fact that she is the real heir does not seem to impact the story that much, so I feel this kind of scenario will be the final episode.

    YurekaFreelancer
  5. Yuuji is what Ngaisa could have been in another route, I think. Still, his supposed Freudian excuse is so pathetic compared to what Nagisa has been through that the sympathy he was given seemed very forced.

    I still don’t see how can they solve everything in just one episode. Either it’s going to be rushed, or there will be several Karma Houdinis in the end.

    Mistic
  6. Angelina getting shot (again!) is one point that makes me really angry. She already failed in a similar way when the shuttle was kidnapped a few eps back. There she knocked people out but left them alone with their weapons floating around. And here again, she just chooses to ignore the crazy guy without making sure he can’t interfere anymore. Yes, I get it that they wanted to make sure Nagisa doesn’t miss his flight, but there are other ways to do this.
    Another point I don’t like is that no one takes care of Iris. All of them leave her alone with her problems and I doubt they have another pilot ready. So in the end she will just overcome her trauma when the plot needs it. I’m not a fan of this development.

    Arthur
    1. after watched the Last Episode:

      *Bow in Respect* You done really well. Form a Start of sinking the Titanic for me, with introduce Angelina’s Play, and improvement of telling your Story. You grown in a little hidden Diamond, that began shine

      You done well, CC. You done very well

      WorldwideDepp

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