「戦場緋夜と吉野咲希についての考察」 (Senjou hi Yoru to Yoshino Saki ni Tsuite no Kousatsu)
“A Study of Ikusaba Hiiyo and Yoshino Saki”

Nanana finally bends her own rule and tells Juugo the location of the next ruin. In all honesty, I was actually quite disappointed by this development at this point in the story. I can see where they’re headed – with the follow-up epiphanies in Juugo’s head, but it just felt so out of place and almost like a copout to just beg her for the solution. Up until this point, the whole mystery aspect of this show rested on the fact that Nanana was a neutral party and she didn’t directly involve herself with the hunt. I feel cheated because Juugo had the solution all along! Not only that, but why go through all the trouble “for fun” when there are real stakes involving these Collection pieces? I don’t think the Matsuri or the Three Skulls are kidding here… they mean serious business; whereas the Adventure Club kind of just fell into this mess without knowing what they got themselves into. It just feels too easy for Juugo and co. to just waltz around with the answers because Nanana’s on their side. The show suddenly lacked any sense of urgency at this point, but I’m still willing to play along.

That small complaint at the end aside… this has got to be my favorite episode in a while. The next best episode for me was actually episode 4 because it just tied together all the available information so far well. Albeit, the timing and speed of information in your face was quite off-putting, but I think this week handled it much better. There was just enough information handed to you at the right time for you to grasp what was going on, while still keeping the mystery of who is Yoshino and what does Hiiyo want with her? The past few weeks have been slow with the introduction of various characters, but they work very well with the existing cast and adds to the mysteries revolving around the island and its history. The realization of Yun-chan’s importance was quite a surprise (hey! I thought she was just another cute girl) but Hiiyo’s past was what really sparked my interest. I never thought of Nanana as a show with serious consequences, but now that I know that real life-threatening instances have occurred, I’m more skeptical of what’s happened to our crew so far. Juugo just looks like he can do no wrong (or maybe he’s just really physically fit) because even being tossed out of buildings, he doesn’t die. Unlike another Adventure Club member though… Hiiyo seems to have damaged someone permanently. I wonder who she is and what happened to her… better yet, I wonder if we’ll get to meet her.

No doubt, my favorite part of the episode was the reappearance of Tensai. She is clearly many people’s favorite and her entrance reminds me of some girl that gave her money last episode (that I admittedly forgot). I was hoping to hear an explanation from her about Hiiyo’s relationship with Yun-chan and who she is but that wasn’t the case. Instead of hearing about who Yun-chan was before, we hear about who she currently is. Nothing that we don’t already know, but obviously I’m more curious as to what she knows and why her memories are gone. Did she solve the ruin and get to the treasure? Maybe the treasure granted her a wish of wiping her memories… but that doesn’t explain how she ended up with the Three Skulls. The remaining 2 episodes will surely answer that piece, but that leaves the season finale with a stepping stone for more. Unfortunately I think that means Nanana will be left with more to be desired and not my idea of a satisfying ending… but maybe open-ended enough for a second season or specials. There’s just so much potential that this series has with its wide range of possibilities that I wish it was given more time to thoroughly go through it all.

Bottom Line – @RCCherrie: This is what I’m talking about… loving the current direction of #Nanana_TV. I hope the last two eps on a good note.

Another note: Just a forewarning and a reason (or excuse) for my absence on RC. I haven’t been timely nor have I been writing quality posts because I’m pretty much going through the busiest most stressful time of my life right now. On top of my regular full-time job and RC, I have commitments that have taken almost all my time and will continue to do so for the rest of the month. Rather than apologizing every week, I thought I’d just let everyone know that my posts (and replies) will be late. Please be patient with me as I work out my priorities and try to balance out my life. I greatly appreciate it and I can’t express how badly I feel every week for not being able to keep up =(

Yay! More full-lengths: 08, 24.

17 Comments

  1. Don’t worry about it Cherrie! Stressful times are always difficult, especially when balancing different commitments; focus on doing things one thing at a time. We’ll all gladly be patient here.

    As for the episode, I’m glad we’re getting a good pace in terms of progression but I’m still not sure where it’s going. By the way, doesn’t the girl who got injured look oddly like Ibara? I wonder if that’s a coincidence – although the way they set it up, there doesn’t seem to be any way they would be related in whatever way.

    NKNKN
    1. Hard to focus on so many things at once but thanks for the consideration =)
      As for the girl… I think it might be the one with her face hidden in the photo – the one with the book in front of her face lol =S just a guess though. Don’t think it’s Ibara.

  2. Take it easy cherrie and hope that everything is ok. This ep set things up more naturally than any ep so far, but i still feel like the characters are still not as intriguing as id like them to be and that makes me worried since we are entering the final two eps which is most likely going to rely on the audiences’ feelings towards the cast.

    sonicsenryaku
  3. no worries on the late reviews Cherrie, take all the time you need! your reviews are much appreciated.

    I agree, this was the best episode, for me certainly, in a while, specifically after last week. I wasn’t really looking forward to the show anymore, but this week def got me reinvested. The end got me really fascinated about what happened to Nanana? too bad other people have seen Nanana, since I’d say it was all in his head.

    Isshin talking about Hiiyo leaving members behind?! Pot meet kettle.

    That reminds me from last week when the landlady accused Hiiyo of neglecting Nanana. Uhm…right back at ya.

    I wonder what Yoshino’s job was.

    well, looking forward to next week.

    a box like Hippo
  4. No worries Cherrie, real life takes priority with these types of things.

    This was a pretty good episode, yeah, one that can somewhat naturally lead to a climax at the end of this season. We know our main principal players in all this right now and we have our villain. I doubt this show will get a real conclusive ending (it’ll probably be one of those ‘read the light novels for the rest!’ type things) but at least we can hopefully make it through this arc without getting rushed.

    As for Nanana, while it was kind of cheap that she broke her own rules, I also wonder if it will have some repercussions. I mean, she did mysteriously dissapear at the end there. I wonder if that’s related.

    And Tensai is back! I thought it was rather d’aww worthy that Juugo was actually quite worried for her – he constantly went to check up on her house, and was visibly relieved when she got back. Seems he values her more than he’s willing to admit.

    Dvalinn
    1. I never thought of it as repercussions (altho your theory could hold true) because she was the one making up her own rules for this “game”. If she really wanted to disappear and “rest”, then she should be helping Juugo find her murderer, but she doesn’t. I don’t think she knows who killed her so it’d be hard for her to protect that person, but to me – she probably likes sticking around and interacting with people.

  5. I’m wondering what other developments the source LNs will introduce to the series.

    Also, word is that NoitaminA(Nanana’s programmining block) is refusing to do any more 2-cour series, especially after the 2-cour fiasco of Samurai Flamenco.
    So we may never see a 2-cour of Nanana in the future, unfortunately.

    zztop
    1. Samurai Flamenco was just… too out of the box, even for a time block like Noitamina. I think it suits a certain audience and unfortunately, the majority just isn’t that audience. That said, I don’t think that means they should stop doing 2-cour shows >_< PP was great - loved it and I think the new season will be awesome too; even better if it continues as a 2-cour. We'll have to wait and see though... for Nanana, I don't even hope for a 2-cour sequel, just ANY sequel will work.

  6. Tensai’s. entrance. was. excellent. Like something from an old-school detective novel. I’d like to think she actually plans her entrances so that she arrives at just the right moment to give out the critical piece of information.

    whemleh
  7. I feel so left out, I try to like Tensai so much but every time she comes in I just cant stand her. I feel like Touma (index bruh) needs to come running up from know where and sock her in the face XD! Admittedly I see her purpose and the show wouldn’t have as much as an appeal if she wasn’t there, but something about her ticks me off.

    Edawk

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