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「少女／理想と現実」 (Shoujo / Risou to Genjitsu)
“Girl / Ideal and Reality”
I think we can safely shelve any doubts about Lostorage being a slow burner, because it appears there are no brakes on this ride of suffering. I honestly expected the show to continue focusing on Suzuko for a bit, maybe flesh her out and slowly push her into torment. Definitely was not anticipating Chinatsu receiving that treatment, especially this quickly. And oh boy, what a bit of torment it’s turning out to be.
Chinatsu is the literal embodiment of suffering here, anchored to a father receiving the sh*t end of the employment stick and forced to work just to help the family, all the while committed to school to keep her dreams alive. It’s a harsh situation where the poor girl is high strung from the pressure of keeping it all together. And that’s before WIXOSS chose her as a Selector. I think the surprise is not that Chinatsu’s life fell apart here, but how the chance encounter with her friends set off a new cascade of horrors and failure which (once again) threw her hopes into a tailspin. It’s hard to think of a better (worse?) setup for the Selector games occurring in the background, and certainly gives one hell of a boost to potential pain, suffering, and all round psychological mindf*ckery. Compared to the original WIXOSS, this is a noticeable improvement in terms of starting foundation.
When not staring in awe at Chinatsu’s utter collapse, however, we did receive some tasty morsels of information as well. Probably the most intriguing bit is the prize for collecting five coins: the ability to alter, destroy, or create a single memory. Although obvious now how memories will factor into these games, it does raise the question about what changing a memory will do. Does it only affect the Selector, or everyone else too? Are there unspoken consequences for actually changing memories (like the body switching from the previous show)? For all the knowledge a fair bit remains unknown, and with the speed that Lostorage is moving this creates a tantalizing amount of suspense. I can hazard a guess though that Suzuko’s and Chinatsu’s relationship will be the vehicle for discovery, especially given how quickly both are becoming antagonistic foils to each other. Whereas Suzuko wants to reinvigorate her friendship, it appears that Chinatsu has abandoned the idea altogether (now fighting for herself instead of a lost childhood friend). When these two finally battle meet, it’s going to be intense. Any other reaction just wouldn’t satisfy the suspense.
Of course the missing piece to all of this remains the Selector’s consequence of losing all their coins. It’s still uncertain what ‘disappearance’ means, although memory deletion (at least how it plays out here) is likely the modus operandi. In particular we had that bit with Chinatsu forgetting some moments with Suzuko, while her LRIG Mel seemingly became more like Suzuko over the course of the episode. If I had to guess, I would say disappearance likely involves whatever the hell happened during that moment. New form of body swapping maybe, or maybe memory swapping? I have absolutely no idea, but I definitely want to find out. Thankfully should not have to wait too long either, for if the preview isn’t lying, the true fireworks are about to begin.
Random Tidbits
Dr. Hanna is the new Chaika of card games, complete with additional vocabulary!
Typically you never want to beat your loli, but given Chinatsu’s circumstances, I think we can make an exception.
Looks like Chinatsu has another childhood friend, who very likely will factor into her growing (mental) conflict with Suzuko.
ED Sequence
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ED: 「undeletable」 by Cyua
Preview
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Wixoss(As seen in the anime) would be a really fun game to play if there wasn’t some life changing conditions attached to it if you lose.
Anyway I agree that so far the show has started stronger than the first series. Hopefully they can keep this up and have a strong finish.
Yeah, this show has had a strong start. Things are moving fast, but I like that the drama is still building between the two leads even though they haven’t even been reunited.
I hope you’ll consider blogging it weekly, Pancakes.
Oh I’m definitely considering it, I just have to figure out if I have the time yet 😛
I’m wondering why Piruluk (black haired girl/blue haired girl as an LRIG) is now a selector. I thought Ruko’s (the former MC) last act was to reset the world so tragedies brought by the card game would not happen again.
Lots of options I’ve seen. This season could be an alternate universe for example, or Ruuko’s wish didn’t affect Piruluk for whatever reason (i.e. retconed the continuity). One particularly intriguing idea is this season being a prequel, with the LRIGs here being the first generation, and our current batch of Selectors serving as source of the second generation.
It’s more likely to be a sequel, though. You can see stuff from the old series wrecked in the background during the battle scenes. Also, the white room is in ruins too.
Oh I definitely agree (even pointed it out last episode), but you have to admit the possibility is there 😛
Like when the Weather Guy claims that there is a 60% possibility of rain? Sure 😉
More seriously though, I would prefer a sequel rather than a prequel. Not every prequel can beat the shit out of the original like Fate/Zero did.
First, let me just say I too hope Pancakes will cover this show weekly. It already looks like this show will be at least as good as the original series.
The second episode was pretty good. The suffering has officially begun. It was nice to be introduced to most of the selectors, I’m sure we shall see more of them in upcoming battles.
The whole memory aspect of this “game” looks like it might not be so different from the originals wishes after all. If you can create any memory you want and make it a reality and that memory will alter the rest of your memories, then this game is effectively granting wishes but limited by only being able to effect your past.
On that note, disappearing by losing the game might not mean just death. It might erase you from reality, making it so you never existed in the first place. Oh boy, I sense much suffering and angst in the near future. I feel kind of dirty for feeling excited to see what this show brings. lol
Please cover this show weekly!
I like that they are starting to push into the darker elements early instead of spending a lot of time on the fluff.
I like the characters and overall conflict but damn I’d love to know what the cards they use during battle actually mean in terms of effects. Why not explain the tactical side of the battle, if there’s any? I love me clever plans but the battles feel like they’re just spamming buffs.