「ハイレベル」 (Hai Reberu)
“High Level”

Last week, I said that we’d have our final character introduction in this episode. Well, while that was true, it was also a lie – because it turns out that Oda was that “new” guy. In other words, an old friend returns! Or maybe he shouldn’t be called a friend? His past with Ryouta is not a pleasant one and the person to be blamed for that is himself.

Oda Nobutaka, a flawless young man who has everything – friends, athletic skills, knowledge, wits, popularity, good grades, and he is admired by everyone around him, especially girls – high school friend of Ryouta. Such an admirable and talented person who has everything must’ve been bored at some point. So he started playing around with girls despite having a girlfriend. Pulling the NTR act on Ryouta resulted in them losing contact, and him becoming an owner and a host of a club. As Ryouta said, he being on the island is not something worth questioning. The question now is, how will the two of them act from now on? While they can’t be considered friends anymore, will Oda still go for the kill whenever he runs into Ryouta? Obviously Ryouta won’t fight this man, or anyone else for that matter. But somehow, I have a feeling that Oda might not be Ryouta’s enemy anymore.

Someone who should be considered to be an enemy is Date. Last week I said that Ryouta was naïve, and it surprised me that many people thought I was being too hard on him. How is he not naïve? Blindly trusting unknown people while exposing your team mates to danger – is that not naïve? To me, that is really foolish, especially when you have an injured person on the team. Even if Date showed them his unused BIMs, and treated Taira, there should be some sort of doubt. This week, Himiko shared her opinions on Date to Ryouta and he still believes that the man is good. So, I am not taking back what I said last week. However, it’s good to know that Ryouta finally knows what kind of man he has been trusting. Too bad that the final scene ended with a cliffhanger, but I doubt anything bad will happen to Ryouta. I mean, those cases are unbreakable!

Tyrannos Japan sure has a lot of weird employees, and the way they’re monitoring the island without feeling any kind of guilt is quite disturbing. But from what I’ve seen, it looks like there might be a rebel in their group who is rooting for Ryouta. I’d recommend keeping an eye on that guy. I wonder how the company will react to next week’s battle when a participant will face someone from the previous game! Murasaki will finally face Date, the man she loathes more than anyone or anything. Next week’s episode is the penultimate one for this show, and I’m really looking forward to the intense battle it hopefully will bring us.

Random thoughts:

  • That insert song was quite nice!
  • Wow, six BIMs wasted for nothing!
  • Oda and Hidemi’s relationship is quite peculiar.
  • Fooling someone by using angles, that’s clever!
  • Mixing rice with cup ramen seems interesting. Have you ever tried that?
  • So the girl who slept Oda did that even though her friend was going out with him? What a good friend she is!
  • Why would you talk about someone who is walking right behind you? And when someone says that they’ve heard such a conversation and hands you a case, why would you take it? Call me harsh, but that is foolish.
  • It saddens me that Taira’s importance as a character is fading away. I really like him.
  • Aww
  • Full-length shots: 7, 16, 17

 

Preview

46 Comments

  1. “Mixing rice with cup ramen seems interesting. Have you ever tried that?”

    I’ve mixed rice with pretty much anything from egg omelet (while egg is still in liquid state) to russian borsch to spaghetti and uncooked meat. In student days when you were low on supplies, everything went together 😀

    Edios
  2. So the girl, who purportedly hates men to point of not wanting to even touch one who was injured after helping to save her life, throws herself into Ryouta’s arms as tears pour from her eyes from relief and a hundred other emotions.

    Ryouta pushes her away and says he needs a bath, instead of spending one minute comforting her. I don’t care how uncomfortable you are with the situation – just let her cry on your shoulder for god’s sake for a bit.

    7godeohs
  3. a bit of the manga was skipped as mentioned above… and it is pretty good, so for those of you who like the series, it should be worth checking out (battle and some info)

    Himiko and Ryouta, you guys should go get married now… I mean it… totally a good couple together xD

    and I must say, the preview title is such a big spoiler xD (next week will be awesome)

    jrj
    1. Thanks for the heads up on the chapter with Kira. It was good.

      I’m totally rooting for Himiko and Ryouta too. It’s funny how in the flashback this episode, Ryouta didn’t have the courage to confess to that girl back in high school but in this insane death game, he went and rescued Himiko (back when Masashi held her) while initially being completely unarmed.

      RifuloftheWest
      1. there is more on this you brought up in a later chapter of the manga… but yeah, Ryouta has changed since then, so I guess you can say that is a form of character growth maybe? xD Although he is still kind of a terrible NEET in a way…

        jrj
      2. Well, Oda said that the difference between him and Ryouta is that Ryouta isn’t aggresive enough and is always on the defensive. Maybe Oda saw himself in Ryouta minus the self-esteem, that’s why he was hanging out with him, because he knows Ryouta has potential to be great. So now that Ryouta’s life is on the line he has removed that barrier that makes him inferior to Oda.

        I agree with Stereoman, In a game of death you shouldn’t trust ANYONE even if it’s a cute girl like Himiko (even though they are this show’s OTP)or a chubby not so intimidating guy like Taira and you should be MORE suspicious with somebody who acts so kindly like Date.

        Ryouta should always remember that every single person in that island was sent there because someone hates them so much that they want that person to disappear. You shouldn’t give anyone your full trust and always leave some doubt just in case. But on behalf of Ryouta I think that he’s like that because he hasn’t lived outside in the real world that much and thus he is like what Date said — “a kid who’ll believe what anyone says.”

        Glad they explained how Oda got the controls to his mouth without using his hands. But I was wondering how could Tyrannos Japan monitor them without the participants knowing that they were being monitored?

        Almost forgot — Light Yagami is that you?

        Just Passing By
      3. The difference between Ryouta and Oda is an important theme for this arc and maybe even later arcs in the manga, so it is nice to see the contrast being established now xD But I still think Ryouta’s approach is better in a situation like this since there is limitation to his chance of survival if he is all by himself… but having said that, I think Ryouta will learn his lesson this time.

        As to the comp behind this, for now just think about the chip the players have and also the whole BIM control mechanism. If such systems can be implemented, monitor the player without being noticed isn’t all that far fetched either xD

        jrj
  4. @Stereoman
    “Last week I said that Ryouta was naïve, and it surprised me that many people thought I was being too hard on him. How is he not naïve? Blindly trusting unknown people while exposing your team mates to danger – is that not naïve? To me, that is really foolish, especially when you have an injured person on the team. Even if Date showed them his unused BIMs, and treated Taira, there should be some sort of doubt. This week, Himiko shared her opinions on Date to Ryouta and he still believes that the man is good. So, I am not taking back what I said last week.”

    i think the issue is you seem to think that Ryouta,Himiko and Taira as a team, but if we take Ryouta’s POV, Himiko and Taira are also complete strangers just like Date plus unlike the other two(Himiko attacked him the first time he met her, remember?) he’s quite friendly and helpful(being a doctor and all).

    if you were stuck on a island with a bunch of strangers who would you trust, a older guy who refuses to show you his BIMs / a girl who attacks you without provocation from your part / a doctor who not only treated your friend but also cooperated with you by showing you his BIMs?

    i think, from Ryouta’s perspective, trusting Taira or Himiko is much more naive and foolish than trusting Date.if Ryouta didn’t have that much faith in others, to being with, he wouldn’t be with Taira and Himiko in the first place.
    and lets not forget tht while we, as viewers, have access to Date’s thoughts at each turn, Ryouta does not.

    hmmm, rather long post oh,well, time to spare and points to make 🙂

    shadowalker
    1. You make a fair point, and I would agree with you if Ryouta would’ve met Himiko and Taira recently.

      I do think of Ryouta, Himiko, and Taira as a team because they’ve gone so far together. Had he trusted them earlier on, I’d call him a fool for that. Himiko has saved his life, so has Taira. The three of them have worked hard to gain each other’s trust. Date however, he showed them his BIMs without hesitating. Isn’t that strange? To me, that is suspicious.

      1. well, i have to admit i also thought Ryouta was a little too trusting of Date, even though not enough to call him naive or foolish.
        true, unlike Himiko or Taira he seemed to trust Date right off the bat but then we have consider the effect of ‘first impressions’, Ryouta met him while he was helping Taira and he agreed to show him his BIMs without arguing, which is quite different from how he first met the other two.
        and also being with Himiko and Taira may have also caused Ryouta to drop his guard a little and be less wary of other people, after all if the first two people he trusted have proved to be trustworthy, why not the third?who seems very friendly and decent compared to the other two.

        “Date however, he showed them his BIMs without hesitating. Isn’t that strange? To me, that is suspicious.”

        well, thts one way to interpret it, another would be, tht Date is actually too trusting of strangers or has nothing to hide.by all means a innocent,helpless doctor who doesn’t know anything about the game and was sent to the island for some unjustified reason.
        we only know otherwise because of Murasaki’s story(which i believe is the main reason Himiko distrusted Date from the beginning) and by having access to his thoughts, Ryouta on the other hand has none of these advantages.

        shadowalker
    2. sorry I know this is not addressed to me, but I want to say something about it…

      Ryouta will learn his lesson, but he will not change completely. It is a good trait of his to be trusting and helping others if approached nicely. That is how he formed JP’s Ace team, and that is how he survived this far. Don’t forget, without Taira san, He could have been killed by giant lizards… Without Himiko, he could have been killed by our sadistic commando guy, and whether we like it or not, without Date, Taira san might have died a lot earlier…

      On the other hand, if he stop trusting others, he would end up just like Oda… (there is more of that in the manga)

      jrj
      1. “Ryouta will learn his lesson, but he will not change completely.”

        i’m going to assume tht your referring to the final few minutes of this ep since i haven’t read the manga and rather not read spoilers(no offense).rather than thinking of it as something he needs to learn i tend to think of this as a one-time mistake or a slip up on his part(reasons of which i explained in my reply to Stereoman).after all he didn’t trust Taira and Himiko right off the bat.
        i agree on the rest of your post though.

        shadowalker
  5. I’ll have you know that there probably is not a single ramen-loving Korean that hasn’t put rice in it (or at least in the leftover soup).
    I’m not sure if it’s also a common practice in Japan, but hey, why not.

    NaYa
    1. They do it in Japan as well, and it’s nothing that would be considered a rare thing since there are other dishes that do something like that as well. An example would be a dish like zosui where you can take the leftover broth from a hot pot and throw in rice to make a porridge.

      But with ramen specifically, I know a lot of manual laborers used to do that because it’s something they can scarf down real quick during their short lunch breaks, it was cheap, and most importantly getting that rice in their stomach kept them full during their long shift.

      In certain prefectures a bowl of ramen that you put rice in was actually called “Construction Worker Ramen” by some folks. That of course wasn’t the official name, but when you did it that’s what they referred it to.

      Liddo-kun
  6. evil fat host & others are watching ryota match rocker guy seeing how ryota survive til a moment wait two realize have they met before?

    after exhaust bombing with kira appear take back his bomb & himiko checking on ryota give seeing rocker person remind a person from his school time.

    during know a guy used to be a pal til he steal a girl from ryota cue beatdown & notice it same person while speaking of rocker he stuck with lizard lady.

    & yea himiko still don’t trust the doctor person so ryota being huh yea so try get medicine til yep the doctor is LIE cue boom on ryota?

    3ves
  7. *Mixing rice with cup ramen….
    I guess you are not from any Asian country because we ALWAYS do that.
    Anyways, the episode was good, I even think that it’s farther than the manga (translated ver.) because some company licensed it. Is that right?

    Michael
    1. I’ve read a few translated chapters after this one but it’s getting really close. If they get to the last part I read, I feel like it would be a decent stopping point for now. I’d definitely like to see a second season someday though!

      Kira526
  8. Whenever that creepy psycho kid talks it sounds like Hakaze Kusaribe from ZnoT.

    Cup ramen with ANYTHING is totally OK. I don’t eat it often but when I do I like add-ins, like leftover chicken and spring onions. Rice sounds good too.

    Marc
    1. Duh, I’m replying to my own post. It IS the same VA. It’s funny I had almost exactly the same thought months ago when I started watching Zetsuen: “Hakaze sounds just like Inaba Himeko from Kokkoro Connect.”

      Marc
      1. Her currently dubbed series this season. 😀
        Fairy Tail: Ultear and Virgo
        Hidamari Sketch x Honeycomb: Oyasan
        Hunter x Hunter: Kurapika
        L: Awashima Seri
        Medaka Box: Naze Youka
        Psycho-Pass: Shion
        Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun: Yuuzan
        Uchuu Kyoudai: Nanba and Itou
        Zetsuen no Tempest: Hakaze

        She is the voice of Celty(Durarara!) xD

        JC
  9. I think Ryouta still accepts the case because he wants to gain trust from Date that he is a trusting people that trusts others (easily as he later recalled and as Oda told him)

    if I were him… I might take the case AND stick “close” to Date lol

    Zed
  10. The “rebel” rooting for Ryouta is also in the opening near the end when the line “The game has just begun” is said by him. So it looks like he plays a bigger role in the story after all.

    LightHawk
  11. i thought he was a scehemer last episode… now i have to agree with you, ryouta is really naive, if harsh i would say he’s seriously dumb
    but he won’t die… i wonder how they’ll explain it next episode. surely not reflexes? i mean he definitely let his guard down till the last second…

    yumeruhime
  12. i thought he was a schemer last episode… now i have to agree with you, ryouta is really naive, if harsh i would say he’s seriously dumb
    but he won’t die… i wonder how they’ll explain it next episode. surely not reflexes? i mean he definitely let his guard down till the last second…

    yumeruhime
  13. Why am I aactually more interested in who will betray whom first in Nobutaka – Hidemi pair than with the fate of our “main characters?”
    Ryouta is good gamer when it comes to skill and tactics, but hopeless when it comes to judging people…

    ewok40k
  14. “but I doubt anything bad will happen to Ryouta. I mean, those cases are unbreakable!”

    I thought so too! With the way the first one didn’t break in Oda’s traps.

    It’s funny to see Oda and Hidemi together. Oda is a player and Hidemi betrays the men she’s with. So it’s like a contest to see who one ups the other first. Either way, I call them the dangerous duo.

    Tai

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