Lostorage Conflated WIXOSS – 02

「理由／迷いと覚悟」 (Riyuu / Mayoi to Kakugo)
“Reason / Hesitation and Resolution”

With introductions and slight recaps out of the way, WIXOSS finally got to down to business this week by providing a flashback. Flashback? Yes, flashback. Well and some bare bones basics of the new wave of Selector games we get to feast our suffering loving hearts on, but this moment as all about one Piriluk and her personal tribulations. manga readers rejoice. We’re still in early days when it comes to tying everything together, but WIXOSS has at least filled in the missing reason for one of its key players.

Piriluk as most WIXOSS watchers know has been a running feature ever since the first two seasons, and while her LRIG status was always known, we never really got any information on her background—until now. Probably to no one’s surprise she was a Selector in a former life, fighting to save a friend. She did manage it of course, just not in the manner she intended (as to be expected) given the suffering shenanigans at work. The interesting bit for me though is what happened after this fully expected tragedy. In LRIG form Piriluk (or Kiyoi) was probably one of the few examples of a LRIG with smarts, able to play Mayu’s rules against her by figuring out how to grant a wish through defeat. Naturally Mayu hated this, leading to the really ironic transfer of Kiyoi/Piriluk back to human form, just now with a few missing memories for the funsies. Given everything in WIXOSS is designed around the torment of girls (and guys) I’m not sure this was such a bad trade, but hey, no denying forced amnesia and a little guilt can become bothersome in their own right—just ask Suzuku.

Beyond simple flashbacks though we also got the rough overview of what’s to come, and once again it’s not too surprising. Mayu is permanently gone, but it seems the melancholic spirits of progenitor LRIGs remain, and have decided that Carnival makes a suitable replacement to keep the fun and games going. Why is Carnival back in LRIG form? How can she be in the Room while still possessing Bookmaker’s body? Why in the hell would Carnival of all people be chosen for battle round three? No damn idea, but I’ll roll with it as it Carnival, being chaotic evil, promises some hilarious tasty psychological mindf*ckery before all is said and done. Part of this reason is the obvious missing components. We know that this battle round will be like the last season with memories (in the form of coins) on the line with some key card to spice matters up. The consequences of defeat, the prize on the line for those chasing victory? Will find those out later of course, although I really want to know right now how the hell LRIGs in human form are winding up back as LRIGS. Yes, Tama you adorable batoru cinnamon bun, I’m looking at you. There’s quite a few changes being promised by the looks of things, so all we have to do now is sit back and watch the chaos unfold.

Considering it seems everyone will be getting in on the action, I doubt we’re going to be disappointed.

Preview