First Impressions / Gakusen Toshi Asterisk

「力と代償」 (Chikata to Daishou)
“Power And Its Price”

I went into this episode expecting it to be kind of boring — luckily I was wrong.

The Urzaiz Sisters

As deliberate as the setup was, I’ll appreciate getting a chance to see what the Urzaiz sisters are truly like. Nowhere near as ferocious as their battle against Lester made them out to be, it’s a shame that the sisters weren’t introduced to us earlier. Finding a nice balance between eccentric and normal, overall they both have a pretty charming personality that is only accentuated with all their sisterly love. Sure, that love might manifest itself completely differently depending on which sister you’re talking about, but there’s no doubt just how precious they are to each other.

On a side note, wasn’t it adorable seeing Irene let Priscilla walk all over her? Apparently the voice of reason between the two, I loved seeing Irene calm down whenever Priscilla put her foot down. While it remains to be seen just why Priscilla has so much control in the relationship, I’m willing to bet it helps keep Irene’s Ogre Lux from getting too close with her. Which actually leads me into my next point — those damn Ogre Luxes!

Ogre Lux

In all honesty, I’m quite surprised how little significance Ogre Luxes have had thus far in the series. Not often seen and rarely used to their full extent, I think the most action we’ve seen was during Irene’s fight against Lester! In any case, I can’t believe I forgot about the fact that these super-weapons have a personality of their own. Which doesn’t make it too hard to believe they’d also have the ability to influence their wielders. Something I’m glad the story is fleshing out a bit since thinking about all the possible complications gets really interesting, especially when you consider that most of these weapons seem to have some sort of cost to use. Be it blood or having to face your possible death when you sleep, it’s a really interesting topic that I wish we had more information about.

Looking Ahead

After a pretty fun episode, I can’t wait to see next week’s ensuing fight. We’ve gotten enough development for the Uraziz sisters that it should feel pretty substantial and with the end of the season right around the corner, it looks like this first half to the show is going to go out with a bang. In any case, I’ll catch you guys next week for what should be an explosive episode!

33 Comments

  1. Holy shit. I just realized that next episode is going to be the finale for the first cour. I’ll be honest here, these past few episodes ever since the Kirin/Saya pool party have been so hard to watch that I never noticed that.

    I hope that it’ll at least end in a way that will leave me hyped for the next cour because it’s getting real close to a whimper now.

    Tuna-flavored Shrimp
    Reply

  4. https://randomc.net/image/Gakusen%20Toshi%20Asterisk/Gakusen%20Toshi%20Asterisk%20-%2011%20-%2017.jpg
    It’s not so much Priscilla controlling the relationship. Irene just backs down a lot to her sister’s face. Irene loves her sister very much (more than she did her birth parents) and is willing to back down/do anything for her.

    https://randomc.net/image/Gakusen%20Toshi%20Asterisk/Gakusen%20Toshi%20Asterisk%20-%2011%20-%2027.jpg
    Claudia didn’t mention one important fact to Ayato about her dreams.
    Vol 9 spoiler:
    Show Spoiler ▼

    zztop
    Reply

    1. Show Spoiler ▼

      WorldwideDepp
      Reply

    1. perhaps an short scene of the Big Sister here, talking to herself or just showing that she is thinking on the rooftop, would easier the “shockwave”. It is just an Hard Cut, that could be more smooth out. Thats all

      WorldwideDepp
      Reply

  6. i found something peculiar about claudia’s cognizant abilities. In ep 1, claudia embraces ayato and holds him dear as if she has met him before…which brings me to one of two conclusions. 1. claudia knew ayato when he was younger and he is suffering from MC amnesia or 2. the place that claudia actually met ayato was in her dreams…probably in every single one of her dreams, she has met ayato and he has tried to save her. Or maybe he was a glimmer of happiness in her horrible premonitions of death. Either way it would make sense to me as we know her lux can see into the future. At this point, those are the only two reason that make sense toward explaining claudia’s behavior in ep 1 or why she seems to care about ayato so much. Seriously, claudia is the most intriguing female of the bunch and i enjoy her limited screentime. It’s too bad the show doesnt utilize her more….oh that’s right, this series would rather be dull and generic rather than slighly interesting

    sonicsenryaku
    Reply

      1. yes; a very welcome change. Claudia is just up front and honest about herself and it’s so refreshing. She says how she feels, she takes initiative, she’s confident. Those are the groundworks for much more interesting character dynamics; it helps slightly deviate claudia from the trope she’s supposed to be…but you cant win them all right?

        sonicsenryaku
        Reply

  7. Doing alright and the calm before the Storm. But, you are about to build to much on this Boys shoulders, dear Animation Studio. He is not an World Saver you know. He is a boy just with Two hands, and looks like, an supporting Lux Weapon. But he can not save everyone
    Like in Break Blade, if you want to save an Enemy on the battlefield, you must do more then just Survive and need Power for that

    Do this Boy here, have this Power?

    WorldwideDepp
    Reply

  8. Okay, easy money but I’m putting it down on “Victory for the Urzaiz Sisters” to actually mean they have a victory over Dirk by losing to Ayato and Julis. Not that much of a stretch considering it looks like Dirk is a bit of a gambler and he trusts cute-dog-ears’ predictions, so I’m guessing the lose will be used to free Irene from her Ogre-Lux and put Dirk so far into the hole that he can’t enforce the sisters’ debt to him anymore. Or something.

    Aex
    Reply

  9. Usually I’m not attracted to the ojou-sama, but after this episode I want to root for Claudia (not that she’s going to get Ayato 🙁 ). They’ve also thrown some more characters into the mix such as the Cats and the Seventh Golden Eye. Cats must be those who have some sort of defensive powers that Dirk is keeping secret. Who knows what the second one is going to turn out to be. Typical evil villain though. Didn’t bother to ask Korona who Ayato’s victory would be over. If it’s not in the evil overlord list it should be XD.

    Now the one thing I that caused me to facepalm was Saya being lost. No GPS in this world? She can’t pull up a map on her screen and ask for directions? Sorry, but being lost in this world without some explanation is just lazy story telling.

    Bear
    Reply

  10. I like the Urzaiz sisters a lot. At first, I was worried Irene was going to be a generic evil villain, but fortunately, she’s much better than that. And yeah, their relationship is cute.

    Poor Claudia. That’s some price to pay for her Ogre Lux.
    And once again, Ayato turns her down. Come on, man. I understand you’ve got a fight in the morning, but this is the second time…

    Mormegil
    Reply

    1. Not really sure what you mean. I mean, he’s agreed to help her already and Claudia doesn’t need help as obviously as the Urzaiz sisters do right now, so he’s focusing on the plan he has in mind for them.

      It’s obvious something is going on with her, but what is the biggest question-mark in the show, even ahead of Ayato’s sister. She’s too guarded to get to talk, too, but at least now he knows to keep an eye on her.

      Aex
      Reply

      1. “Keeping an eye on her,” huh? With all respect, those are some nice, sugarcoated words for being half-assed. The least he could do is to tell her that he’ll be there if she wants to talk or something, but he didn’t even do that much.

        Sorry, but I don’t buy his being sidetracked with the Urzaiz sisters as being justification for being aloof to this degree. In fact, that even implies a certain arrogance on Ayato’s part; that he’ll just manage to muddle through things as they come and hopefully they’ll turn out alright.

        That’s the kind of mindset that has me saying that when the rubber meets the road, there are going to be people that could well be hurt, even killed, because he felt “keeping an eye on them” was going to be enough. That kind of half-assed preparation doesn’t save anyone, and it’ll be a detriment to Asterisk as a whole if the plot twists itself into a proverbial pretzel to say otherwise, IMO.

        Ryan Ashfyre
        Reply

      2. I think you’re selling Ayato short when it comes to his attention to his friends for some reason. He doesn’t come off that aloof to me, just as much as any other nice guy that has a lot on his mind (Pheonix Festa, missing sister, Julis, and now what he wants to do about the next match). You might find it a lame excuse that he has other stuff going on that could be called more urgent(sister issue aside), but it’s pretty realistic, actually. And Claudia would probably get a bit annoyed if he just dropped everything and forced her to tell him what was up, considering she’s counting on him to give the Festa his all. There’s no sign that her life is in danger yet, and given his track-records his “keeping an eye on” people is better than most. He also has confidence that she, and the other girls, can handle themselves, so he doesn’t feel that he needs to be their white knight all day. They’re proven capable, and he’s proven he’s more than willing to help when asked for it. The Julis incident only got that bad because she was stubborn, and this was a good first step for Claudia in opening up. This is probably something she’s kept bottled up inside for 1200+ days, considering her mother sounds like she got turned into a corporate robot and there’s no mention of a father. It isn’t that easy to just let someone in, even the person you love, and forcing the issue can often turn things in the wrong direction.

        We haven’t even actually seen what he’s going to do with the little information he’s been given. I honestly think he’ll take the “close, but not too close” approach. You know, during the times he doesn’t need to be training for the best-of-the-best tournament Claudia needs him to win.

        Aex
        Reply

      3. Oh, sorry, kinda went off on a thing and forgot to include the main reason I’m not overly worried about her right now: she’s one of the forces manipulating things behind the scenes. We’ve seen plenty of proof of that. Chances are even if Ayato was as aloof as you think he is, she’ll have him ending up at the right place at the right time anyway, or at least close enough to get there in time when things inevitably go wrong. Add that to the other stuff, and she’s not at the top of my list of people to be concerned about at this exact moment in time.

        Still my favorite girl, though. Saya’s a close second.

        Aex
        Reply

  13. This anime is turning better than expected so much I am anticipating next battle too.
    I am curios on how our Hero will overcome this ordeal, given the tarot prediction. Obviously he can’t afford to loose, so what?

    Solaris
    Reply

    1. “Victory” can mean a lot of things, so it’s not confined to victory in the match. It just means they win. “At what?” is the big question for me. I’m guessing something happens that either destroys Gravi-Sheath, or gets them out from under Dirk, or both.

      Aex
      Reply

      1. Yeah. The tarot response was a lot shady in that regard too. I also don’t think that it meant ‘winning the match against Ayato and Julis’ but maybe something other regarding the ogre lux.

        Solaris
        Reply

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