「舞台上の宣告者」 (Butaijou no Senkoku Mono)
“Players on the Stage”

First of all, a quick note: I updated a few items in my last post based on some of your helpful comments. If you were initially confused by mention of the Spanish Armada, why Malga was talking to Asama about doujinshi in the middle of battle, or why Asama was allowed to shoot at Makiko-sensei back in season 1 (among other things), go check my episode 1 post again and see if it has been updated since you last saw it. Thank you, and I hope this helps.

As with last episode, I’ll be doing explanations followed by impressions. Let’s get to it!

Explanations:

Shakespeare-chan and Macbeth

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Who was the first ghost that attacked Neshinbara?

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Why is Shakespeare-chan so much stronger than Neshinbara?

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Why did Musashi want their transport ship to crash into Great Britain?

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Why did Futayo start talking about trials and evidence when she cut the transport ship’s cable?

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The levels of Great Britain

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Who is Scarred?

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What’s this San Martin that Juana spoke of?

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What was bothering Malga?

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Impressions:

This episode was slower than the first one, but a lot still went on, so I’m going to jump right into it. First of all, the authors’ battle between Neshinbara and Shakespeare-chan. I went over how she whooped Neshinbara in detail under the Explanations above, but it was their past that really piqued my interest. I’m very curious as to how those two went from a Tres España elementary school to entirely different countries, as well as whether they had a role in its destruction. But more than that, it’s Shakespeare-chan’s grudge that resonated with me. As an author, she has to be used to criticism – it may sting, but it’s just part of the job description. However, as a kid she wouldn’t have built up calluses to that kind of thing yet, so shouta Neshinbara’s criticism probably hurt her a lot. I think all of us can remember tiny things that really hurt our feelings as kids, so it’s a nice little touch to see that in her. Beware the kid you wound as a child, lest they grow up to be powerful and haven’t forgotten.

Fortunately, beating Shakespeare-chan in a one-on-one fight wasn’t Neshinbara’s entire plan, or Musashi would have been screwed. With Noriki and the other’s help, they held the Queen’s Cards off long enough for Musashi to perform one hell of a sliding turn, which whipped it around the island and lost the transport ship that Masazumi and the others were on in the process. Which brings me to the next part I enjoyed – Tenzou and Scarred (seiyuu unknown). I mentioned this under the explanation section, but Scarred is most likely a woman, which means this scene is ripe for some shipping! That slap, Tenzou shielding her with his body…ohhh, the hopeless romantic in me is getting excited!

Then there was Neshinbara and Malga. Neshinbara had some good bits, what with the revelation of the curse Shakespeare-chan had levied on him, and the fact that he was getting pilloried all over the net, but I liked the subtlety behind Malga’s worries a bit better. As a writer, it’s easy to not give enough attention to the secondary characters and leave them as one-dimensional characters with little depth, but Kawakami avoids this. He really focuses on every member of his cast and makes sure they each have unique attributes, worries, and motivations that keep them from being flat or boring characters. Someone being worried about what their lover thinks of them…there can be nothing more natural than that, but seeing it in a secondary character like Malga is what makes it noteworthy and impressive.

Finally, there was the scene between Felipe Segundo (Shiratori Tetsu), Juana, and Gin. That was hi-fuckin’-larious! Of course, the point of this scene (and the one with the Tres España characters before it) was to introduce Felipe, who is the Student Council President and Chancellor of Tres España, and to reveal the most important fact about him – after the Battle of Lepanto, he no longer feels he has any reason to live. A horrific battle where many lives were lost, and the only thing he takes pride in from it was having saved some Elven orphans in the aftermath. That reminded me of a particular scene from Fate/Zero (yes, I finally finished it!), and, along with Juana and Gin’s trip to give candy to the orphans, it made it even harder to hate Tres España than it was before. Not that, after Muneshige and Gin’s actions in Season 1, there was much of that happening anyway.

Still, the way they went about it was hilarious! Surprisingly though, the best part wasn’t even the extreme close-ups they included of certain areas, but rather Gin’s deadpan reactions to what she was seeing. Oh Gin, you’re so awesome!! All that judgment + “I wish I could get Muneshige-sama to do that for me” and “I wish Muneshige-sama had a mind like yours.” Oh man Muneshige, Gin wants you so bad! Take care of your wife, sir. Right now!

tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – Musashi did a lot of losing this ep, but they won where it counted. Plus some subtle things went very, very right. #Kyoukaisen

Random thoughts:

  • Shakespeare-chan’s Armament of Deadly Sins converts all the pain of its user – even the pain from the criticism of one’s work – into ether. I can understand that particular pain, I really can. In fact, I bet I understand it better than many. Still, you have to get over it, Shakespeare-chan! I forgive you for your grudge against Neshinbara since you were a little girl when he hurt you, but by now you have to know that criticism is just part of the job. Besides, if you’re not getting criticism, that probably means you’re doing something wrong…or worse yet, nobody is reading what you’re writing.
  • By the way, let’s give credit where credit is due – Neshinbara might have gotten whooped by Shakespeare-chan, but he was instrumental in achieving their goal of stalling the British attack for long enough to “lose” the transport ship. There’s nothing wrong with losing a battle if it helps you win the war, even if people ridicule you for it on the net. Especially if people ridiculue you on the net.
  • Poor Koni-tan. Ask and you shall receive, right? Lesson learned: don’t ask.
  • Tenzou was useful twice in one episode! Not only did he help stop the ship from crashing off course (side note: that was a weird thing to write), but he was also the survival expert that kept everyone on the transport ship from starving. Too bad that wasn’t enough to stop Masazumi and Neito from dissing him for never having had a girlfriend. Poor Tenzou! It’ll be alright man. I see good things in your future.
  • I approve of spear-fishing Futayo and all-girl uniform Masazumi. More please!
  • Tamura Yukari as the Queen? There’s so much talent in this show. She can only be amazing. Can’t wait to see more!
  • Political intercourse, HAH! Nice Toori. Seriously, only Toori can get yelled at by an entire country at once. That takes skill.
  • I liked how you can clearly see that there are no letters between Juana’s thighs and breasts at the beginning of that scene. Sure, that could be a sign that Sunrise wasn’t animating things properly (conservation of detail and all that), but really I think they just didn’t want to ruin the surprise. Plus, I like to imagine that Juana was awake and secretly trolling Felipe. Go, Elf-girl! Get yo man!

Full-length images: 05, 19, 22, 23.

 

ED2 Sequence

ED2: 「ソラノウタ」 (Sora no Uta) by 奥井雅美 (Okui Masami)
Watch the 2nd ED!: Streaming ▼

Preview

74 Comments

  1. Gin is adorable! Tes!

    And ah! I didn’t realize it was because of Toori that they were talking about trials when they cut the cable – I thought it was because of what would happen to the ship itself. So thanks for the clarification on that.

    Watt
  2. Oh, Lloyd! Knew I recognized the Chancellor’s voice, wow.

    Anyway, another fun episode. I have to give particular note to Tenzou. Normally he’s mostly funny, which works, but he came off as really rather cool in this!

    Great to see some followup with Malga too, and Neshinbara thanks to their talk. Really curious what consequences Neshinbara’s curse may have, and I hope secondary character development continues like this, threads we can follow instead of just the occasional moment of focus.

    Xan
    1. I’m really beginning to think that the whole primary/secondary character dichotomy is the wrong way to look at Kyoukaisen. That’s not to say that characters like Toori and Horizon aren’t more important to the overall plot, but for this arc it almost feels like Tenzou, Neshinbara, and Malga are more primary characters than the true protagonists. It’s almost like every character gets treated like a main character for a while

      Stilts
  3. Frist of all, bravo for your passion, Stilts and you fellow watchers of “this show”. But I feel like Stilts’ dedication and hard efforts are being wasted on “this show”. Sigh~. Think of the possibility when Stilts actually gets to cover a great show! The sky could’ve been the limit at RC!… A bit of waste of opportunity if you ask me (…and I plead the Rule 14 of the Internet, folks)

    deathtogeneric
    1. Thank you for your compliment. Still, let me share a little of my personal philosophy with you all, lest anyone else decide to ignore your cited rule 14:

      Great work comes from skill coupled with experience and passion. If I have any of the former, I am only able to realize it here due to the experience you all have allowed me to acquire through writing here at RandomC and the passion I have for this show. There are a great many shows this season that I would have enjoyed writing about, but there are none I am more passionate about than the ones I am covering now, so it is only them that will allow me to write to the best of my current meager abilities.

      tl;dr – passion is essential for good writing to be realized, even if it leads someone to write about something you think is quite silly. Don’t worry, there will be other shows. I’m not going anywhere for a while yet : )

      Stilts
  4. It is telling of the show that some of best scenes around belong to the antagonists (I LOL-ed so hard on the “letters recovery” scene and then was close to shedding real tears at the sight of the reminiscence of carnage wrought at Battle of Lepanto…)
    There is some real trouble coming with the Great Armada being prepared, and I expect the Musashi crew to be drawn into the fray (I also think Testament is having some serious issues with timing, as in real world the Armada was in 1588, 60 years before the 1648…)

    ewok40k
  5. There I was going ‘uh, okay I don’t quite understand what’s going on here’. Then things got more and more emotional especially with Tres Espana Chancellor and the lone child, I got so absorbed that I stop worrying about thins I don’t understand and just going ‘wow’. Yup, pretty much like the first season again.

    Salbazier
  6. Thanks for the clarification on Shakespeare-chan’s attack, Stilts. I was frankly scratching my head at the literal battle of words between the two authors.

    And I believe that Scarred is the girl with Tenzou in the OP sequence. So don’t you worry boy, cause you’ve already protected your girl with your body, then received a(unjustified though) slap in the face from her. Won’t be long now before you’ll have a girl who you can dedicate your life to (and shame on Neito and Seijun for dissing him).

  7. Bwahahaha, ‘Political Intercourse.’ Toori is such a cracker, Gin seems like she needs a bit more love from Muneshige, poor Malga could use a bit of loving too, Tenzou being a cool guy, could go on listing the other characters… but yeah some of the few animes where I just adore every character and there’s really no truly evil character around, everyone seems to be all shades of grey which is good for such an incredibly huge cast of people AND THE SEIYUUS, DAYUMN. I don’t mind the pacing as it’s a lot quicker than the 1st season which went over only 2 days XD Thank you for the hard work Stilts! <3

    Mutare
    1. Wow Moomba, down. I know you luff Shakespeare-tan to an unhealthy degree, but Neshinbara was just a kid! Besides, it’s Toori that might suffer for this curse, and he hasn’t done anything to deserve getting a knife in the back. Well, other than maybe flashing a lot of guys. But that’s just his thing! D:

      Stilts
  8. Couple of awesome points in the episode:

    Neshinbara being owned (HAHAHA, he’ll probably get his grudge match in the future..)

    Drifting cars apparently is out of fashion here, we drift ships instead.

    That ? uniform worn by Neito and Masazumi HNGH

    Those letters..how? Love Gin’s reaction to it.

    Toori is finally clothed again!

    The explanation on cutting the transport ship seems legit, that was the biggest ? I had whilst watching. The other points were more of a “good to know” kinda deal. Just a thought, why isn’t there more info revealed on the queen(?), is she supposed to play a minor role or not?

    Also, I have been wondering whether you knew all these beforehand or had to do some “homework”, prodding around to find out. I’m guessing the latter but in any case, GJ. Things really make more sense with all the explanations around. Cheers.

    1. All in due time on the Queen. I’m sure they’re just building up to a larger part for her. Can’t wait, can’t wait!

      And I do research after I watch the episode (and some intelligent guessing, where noted), which is why it takes me so much longer to publish these posts than it has for past series I blogged. Still, I think it’s important to do it that way so I can get my impressions from a fresh perspective before I dive into the minutiae

      Stilts
  9. WOW! i don’t remember ANY of this!!!…well except fo the tranny {that guy/girl kicks ass!} “kids JUST SAY NO” i have to watch again…sober. but THANKS for more of that IN DEPTH breakdown of the ep, u truly are showing the layers upon layers of this thing.

    BROOKLYN otaku
    1. I don’t know, I’m pretty sure that won’t be the last time we see Toori’s “divine weapon,” ifyouknowwhatimean. Which is a shame, because his uniform looks really cool! …even if those sparkly things coming off his earrings seem like a great way to get an ear yanked off.

      *shudders*

      Stilts
  10. STILTS! A Personal KUDOS to your dedication on blogging one of my top shows for this season, great job on breaking down things, i now have a comparison outlet for my own interpretations of the show, as well as resource center for the things i am unsure of.

    PS: i do share your sentiments when RC didn’t cover kyoukaisen’s first half. mah, t least now your her for it. 😀 *good job*

    n30nl16ht
    1. Domo, domo ^^ And yeah, it sucked when Season 1 was dropped, but I don’t blame Takaii for doing so. This is a hard show to blog, so for anyone who isn’t really experienced (Omni, Divine) or totally crazy (that’s me!), it’s just too much work for a pastime. Thankfully there are a few of us crazy mofos around, ne? 😀

      Stilts
  11. Stilts-san, I just wanted to say thank you for blogging this series. Your Q&A section basically answers all the questions I ask myself during an episode. Keep up the awesome work!

    geezer
  12. Wow, thanks so much for blogging this show Stilts. Helps my enjoyment of everything IMMENSELY. It can get a little confusing at times with the explanations glossed over in the show itself.

    A question about this episode though (if it’s not a spoiler for future ones) How long ago was the Battle of Lepanto? And are Juana and the little elf girl in the flashback meant to be the same person, they do have the same bangs…

    Thanks again, and keep up the phenomenal work!

    dafuba
    1. The Battle of Lepanto originally took place in 1571 AD, which should equal out to 1571 TE. However, that would place it 80 years previously (remember that it’s currently 1648 TE), which seems unlikely since Felipe Segundo and Diego were both there, and they didn’t look terribly young at the time either. Also, Felipe also had a wife and kids at the time, so it’s not like he was a boy. My guess is that it happened within the past decade, though I don’t know for sure. It was fairly recent, though.

      As for the little elf girl, I suspected that might be Juana as well, especially since the voiceover was clearly Tanaka Rie using a slightly lolier-ish voice. I actually meant to mention as much in my post, but I totally forgot :X I don’t have conformation one way or the other, but it’s a pretty safe assumption that they’re one in the same.

      Stilts
  13. @Stilts: Typo, “Tamaura Yukari”
    “Too bad that wasn’t enough to stop Masazumi and Neito from dissing him for never having had a girlfriend.”
    –> My thoughts when I saw them mocking him. “Look who’s talking, girls. Not like you have any past experience.” 😀 By the end of the show, Tenzou will probably score a blond big boobed hottie. Though I have to wonder what is her role. Maybe she’s the actual Queen or something and the Yukarin one is a fake?

    “I approve of spear-fishing Futayo and all-girl uniform Masazumi. More please!”
    –> I also liked her white “combat/official uniform” shown in the ED

    Are those four weapons Armaments of Deadly Sins on that Queen screenshot?

    boingman
    1. Thanks! I really shouldn’t start these posts so late. Trying to edit at 2am doesn’t work as well as it used to.

      Yeah, bifauxen Masazumi isn’t too shabby either :3

      And no, I don’t think those are Armaments. I’m pretty sure Shakespeare-chan’s armament is the only one that Great Britain possesses. Not sure what those things around the Queen are, though.

      Stilts
  14. When Portugal was under Spanish rule, sometime in the 1580s, the Portuguese galleon known as the San Martin (Saint Martin) was created to be the Flagship of the Spanish Armada. The ship was eventually damaged badly by Sir Francis Drake and his ship, Revenge.

    History doesn’t play out quite the same in Horizon, so I’m thinking that instead of Drake using Revenge as a ship, he’ll be using the San Martin. And his talent would consist of something like revenge.

    Dorian
    1. Sir Francis Drake is the wolf looking guy on England’s student council and Juana mentioned that the Saint Martin will be Tres Espana’s big surprise for the Armada war.

      Dynellen
      1. Agreed with Dynellen. San Martin is a seriously Spanish name, so that + how Juana referred to it makes me 99.87236% positive it’s a surprise (i.e. super powerful ship) that Tres España has in store for the upcoming war.

        Stilts
      2. Bloody hades. That was Tres Espana at the end? Ugh. I guess I was a little too busy with something that distracted my full attention and made a silly error for that prediction.

        Though, I was just saying that in real life the San Martin was a super powerful ship. It was the largest known galleon at the time. So since Tres Espana is making it, it will be as big and overwhelmingly powerful as the original.

        Dorian
      1. isn’t San Martin still under construction inside the clouds above Henares Academy?

        My guess: it’s other faction ship that wanted musashi to be involved with the Armada War. I take it that Musashi only wanted to circle england peacefully by ship drifting (LOL), but the stealthed ship urged Fairy Queen to activate EX.Caliburn defense system (She was aiming for the stray shells anyway and maybe to scare those unidentified ship.
        I might be wrong, though.

        G27
  15. I don’t understand, but didn’t Masazumi said that Horizon has been sleeping around 20 hours?
    And Nate that those 2 weeks have been fun or so? Also they said something about the food.
    But the last scene said May 20 and the day they crashed was May 19.
    I’m little confused about how much time passed since the crash.

    Waga Ou
  16. Yo Stilts, I haven’t got past your 1st season digest Part 2 yet. But man, you really did put effort into it.
    I have trouble recommending Fate/Stay Night and Fate/Zero to people because they have lengthy expositions and scare people with it. But I still think Horizon is so much lengthier…
    Even making it near impossible to understand.
    Anyway, I just stumbled upon an entire character chart for Horizon that’s up to date.
    http://a.yfrog.com/img28/9771/17×2.jpg
    Can’t believe anyone compiled this information. O.o

    Random Hobo
  17. I gave up trying to understand this series a long time ago, but strangely enough I still watch it cuz I enjoy it, damn I cant help but like Toori Aoi and his crazy antics, and Horizon is turning out to be a funny character too.

    Ryner
  18. @Stilts regarding Shakespeare-tan I hear/read that she is a half-elve, and elves in general for horizon mentally develop slower. Apparently a 20 year old elf would still have the mentality close to 10 years of age for a human.
    So since Neshinbara and shakespeare-tan are about 17/18 she’s mentally only 9 years~, but if we take into account, when they were at that academy, Neshinbara really hurt her.
    IMO kids take things quite seriously, so getting criticized heavily for her age definitely left a lot of hate there…

    Either way excellent post! Keep it up you crazy fan 😀

    FlavoryF
  19. About losing the transport ship, i dont think that it was the objective all along. Masazumi decides to cut the cables and lose the transport ship cause it was going to crash with Takao (if i’am not mistaken, its one of Musashi ships) after the Excalibur Caliburn create a turbulence that shakes the drifting Musashi.

    But such a decision was to be made by Toori that is the Chancelor and is in charge of military affairs, that is why Futayo says she will give a favorable testimony.

    Jordanx
  20. Just finished rewatching this episode on my way to completing my re-marathon of season 1 up to the currently available episodes. Caught a scene of the transport ship signaling towards Musashi (probably in Morse code, the standard code to use when communicating by flashlight. Its amusing to know that even with all the advanced technology available in the future past, people still depend on using Morse code with flashlights when they have to communicate secretly) during Neshinbara’s and Naruse’s midnight tryst.

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