First Impressions / Gamers!

「ゲーマーズと全滅ゲームオーバー」 (Geemaazu to Zenmetsu Geemu Oubaa)
“Gamers and Wipeout “Game Over'”

Crash.

Is it just me, or did the animation get shifty this episode? In fact, the first half of this episode felt off to me, and I’m not sure why. Probably because there were multiple issues. The animation for one, and the pacing felt choppy. Lots of close ups too, and the gags weren’t as on point as usual. For a series that has been firing on all cylinders so far, it was an odd change, like maybe the extra run time really threw them for a loop and they were having to scramble to make it all work.

The payoff, though, was well worth it. The entire second half was a glorious wealth of reaction faces, with one for every character and mood (as long as that mood is freaked the fuck out). A lot of the time it’s not a good idea to belabor the joke or spend too much time setting it up, but this was definitely a time where it was needed, because showing exactly how everyone’s wild misconceptions were spinning out of control was crucial to setting the stakes for the final scene. None of the accidental confession would have worked if we didn’t know why Tasuku, Aguri, and Chiaki were freaking out, or what put Keita and Karen in the position to act as they did. The foundation had been laid by previous episodes, but they had to fill in the rest for the knockout punch to work.

And work it did! The pacing still felt disjointed throughout the episode, but good writing and a hilarious payoff can cover for many sins. I was howling with laughter during the second half, and especially when everything spun out of control. This is movement! This is chaos! The status quo is destroyed, and now we get to live in the glorious post-apocalyptic future! Tendou is going out with Amano, and her reputation is toast! Aguri and Tasuku both think the other is cheating, with members of the newly minted couple! And Chiaki thinks Aguri and Tasuku are cheating with each other! Everything is different, but it’s all still the same, because everyone is spending too much time in their own broken heads and not enough talking to each other!

Let this be a lesson to you, boys and girls. Talk to each other. Talk to your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your friends. Don’t keep things buried inside. Or, at the very least, and if you do, maybe don’t immediately jump to the worst conclusion because of your crippling low self-esteem? Just a thought. Because if there’s one stat all of these people need to level up, it’s that.

Random thoughts:

  • Male bathroom etiquette rule number one: Don’t talk in the bathroom. Yes, it’s the first rule, before things like, “Please wash your hands” or, “Maybe don’t pee on the wall.” Don’t talk in the bathroom!

My SECOND novel, Freelance Heroics, is available now! (Now in print!) (Also available: Firesign #1 Wage Slave Rebellion.) Sign up for my email list for exclusive content. At stephenwgee.com, the last four posts: I get it now!; Guardians of the Galaxy, Glee, & Firesign; That’s not supposed to go there . . .; and The Carcer Principle.

End Card

35 Comments

  1. https://randomc.net/image/Gamers/Gamers%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2039.jpg

    hahaha the only one that get the best part
    https://randomc.net/image/Gamers/Gamers%20-%2006%20-%20Large%20End%20Card.jpg

    was only amano by becoming a couple with tendo, tendo got a boyfriend but in expense of her good image while tasuku and aguri suspected each other for cheating and chiaki suspecting the pair for playing around with keita(oh chiaki~ you actually treasure your gaming friend huh?)

    https://randomc.net/image/Gamers/Gamers%20-%2006%20-%20Large%20End%20Card.jpg

    poor aguri…never showed up on end card.

    maou
    Reply

  2. https://randomc.net/image/Gamers/Gamers%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2038.jpg

    So this was what episode 1 was foreshadowing about.

    https://randomc.net/image/Gamers/Gamers%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2034.jpg
    https://randomc.net/image/Gamers/Gamers%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2035.jpg
    Tasuku, this is what you deserve for trying to make a rom-com out of your friend’s situation. 😛

    https://randomc.net/image/Gamers/Gamers%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2019.jpg
    I don’t really get why Chiaki would be worried for Amano just because they’re both gamers.

    Magnus Tancred
    Reply

    1. don’t really get why Chiaki would be worried for Amano just because they’re both gamers.

      Because Chiaki actuallu likes Amano, she jsust didnt realsie it yet (she loves him as his ingame character).

      ewok40k
      Reply

  3. Finally back to where the show started, and the road there was hilarious! The tangled web of misunderstandings continues, but now we get this massive shift. Can’t wait to see how Aguri, Chiaki, and Tasuku process the new relationship from their twisted perspectives, while Amano and Tendou deal with the relationship that they (unintentionally…sorta) began.

    Keita is really bad at galge if he chooses to run away and leave the girl like that. In what situation would that ever be the right choice? Go get some lessons from Kami nii-sama.

    Re: bathroom
    At least they weren’t using adjacent urinals when others are open, which is rule 2 (washing hands and not peeing on walls are unfortunately low on some people’s list, particularly in school/college). Anime also seems to ignore that one quite often, though that’s probably for drawing/spacing reasons.

    SK
    Reply

    3. @SK

      Correct on rule number two. Given five urinals, like in this scene, the correct one to choose for the first person is urinal #2; for the second person, urinal #4; and for third and beyond, whichever, until more space opens up. People who pick the one right next to someone when there’s another a space away that’s open are MONSTERS.

      @TRF

      Monsters!!

      Stilts
      Reply

  4. Am I the only one screaming throughout the episode “Just say it already!” to Keita?? I have a feeling I’m alone in this haha

    The setup was great though, even if it felt dragged out. Necessary drama, I would say. So necessary, they removed the theme songs for it, and I would say it was worth all the drama. Next episode is going to be great.

    Kaineng
    Reply

  5. Well, that would have been worthy of Feydeau. I’m not a great one for farce personally, but this is so outrageous it was almost like a 20 minute adrenaline rush. And the way it kept cutting back to the clock so as to emphasise that all the turbo-charged overthinking was going on at the same time was masterful.

    Angelus
    Reply

  7. 1. yea some of the visuals did get a little “shifty” this ep. But that was mostly within the first half of the ep.

    2. I dont think the “disjointed pacing” in the first half was a result of poor directing (although i think some smarter directorial decisions might have circumvented it) it feels to me more like the disjointed pacing might have been a product of the material the episode was adapting. I imagine the LN is probably written as vignettes from time to time and this was material that was probably hard to adapt with continuous narrative cohesion

    3. I find it genuine sweet that out of Aguri, Tasuku, and Chiaki, Chiaki was the only one who’s reason for being at the big gathering was a desire to look out for Keita (as horribly mistaken as her deductions are). She didnt come because she wanted to confirm whether the person she was crushing her liked her or if a person she finds a potential love interest is into someone else; she simple wanted to find out if Keita was being manipulated and look out for him on the off-chance he was pleading for help. The girl may hate Keita……but i think we all know that she really doesnt hate him and the show using a scenario like this to illustrate that spectrum of Chiaki’s emotional investment in Keita is an effective way to flesh out their relationship

    sonicsenryaku
    Reply

    1. True on #3. Not that I blame Tasuku or Aguri for being worried about their relationship, but it was nice that Chiaki was only there because she was worried about someone else she has no (stated/realized) romantic interest in.

      Stilts
      Reply

  9. They spent the entire second half coming to their own assumed conclusions, then had everything they thought they knew destroyed in five seconds. So good.

    After all, if anything they thought they knew was really true, why the hell would Keita ask out Tendo, and why would she immediately say yes with a huge smile? (Best slip yet in a show of may good ones, and loved the way she just snapped into a “yes” without a second’s hesitation)

    Realities have imploded, assumptions just got shredded, everything they know is wrong, the world is born anew amidst glorious chaos. Next episode, where are you?!?!

    Aex
    Reply

  10. https://randomc.net/image/Gamers/Gamers%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2003.jpg
    Tasuku and Chiaki were too dense to not notice Keita and Aguri going all “sneeki breeki” beside them…

    https://randomc.net/image/Gamers/Gamers%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2037.jpg
    I honestly fear the day that Keita has to retract his (accidental) love confession to Karen and tell her it was one big misunderstanding. Mainly because Karen is still a nice girl and who knows how she’d react to that. Man, I’ve never seen such a large amount of misunderstanding since Hayate the Combat Butler. (Though it’s a recipe for some good comedy.)

    Oh well, at least the funny reaction faces from this anime should fill the gap left by KonoSuba season 2.

    Incognito
    Reply

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