Akanesasu Shoujo – 09

「そこに在る黄昏」 (Soko ni Aru Tasogare)
“Facing Twilight”

Now that the Broadcasting Club has reached Seriousuka’s fragment, the girls have much to learn about. Luckily, Seriousuka is patient enough to accept them being there as long as they learn the ins-and-outs of her fragment. It might seem infodumpy, but the exposition is well appreciated as it gives us background on why the fragment looks like how it does, what the King of Twilight is doing to fragments, and why Seriousuka wants to harness the twilight amber before the King of Twilight intervenes to annihilate the fragment.

One development that stuck out is the fusion between Ero Yuu and Yuu. Because Yuu is gone in Seriousuka’s fragment, the only way that Yuu can appear is through Ero Yuu’s appearance, resulting in a Being John Malkovich situation where Yuu’s consciousness goes inside of Ero Yuu as she tries to pilot the both of them to victory. Sure, her victory mainly involves getting in contact with the Asuka she knows and loves, but they do make for an interesting synergetic duo. Particularly, the ending leaves us on a fascinating note with the two as Yuu tries to have Ero Yuu call out to her equalizer mode to help protect everyone. I’m also left wondering about the fate of Ero Yuu as they are sent back to Asuka’s original fragment.

But the ending was definitely a nail-biter with how the Broadcasting Club was warped out of Seriousuka’s timeline while she fought off the King of Twilight. However, just as they leave, Seriousuka finds out that the King of Twilight looks all too familiar. Her little brother possibly becoming the King of Twilight would be a rough twist on Seriousuka after she’s been trying to find him all this time. Now that this has happened, however, it will be interesting to see what the consequences are for the reveal, what Seriousuka’s fate would be, and what it means of Asuka’s party with Asuka most likely wanting to go back to Seriousuka’s fragment to save her.