First Impressions / STAR DRIVER

「遠い世界」 (Tōi Sekai)
“A Faraway World”

So, who didn’t see this plot twist coming? Even so, it was developed well this episode and at the very least kept me angsting throughout. I was always thinking in the back of my mind that the writers were planning something like this for Sugata, since it’s such a common plot twist nowadays to have the “best friend and rival” of the main character to become an antagonist, and while it’s not a very original idea anymore it certainly opens doors to many interesting routes the story could take. The problem with that is, it could also lead to a generic “try and force save/defeat person x” series, which would be a big disappointment unless the producers can somehow break the trend and actually pull the story off, which I just can’t see happening.

To be honest, the way things are right now, Star Driver is looking too much like Naruto: three main characters, love triangle between said three main characters with Girl A liking Boy A but Boy B likes Girl A, and Boy A turning into an antagonist that the main character wishes to “save”. Like I said, there are many places you can go from there but they’re usually dragged out and end up making the story feel long in the tooth, as is the case with Naruto in my opinion. I problem I already have with this is that the bond between Takuto and Sugata wasn’t really developed that well in the episodes prior to this one, focusing on Takuto and Wako instead, so the drama which stemmed from Takuto’s concern for Sugata came off feeling a bit dry for me as a viewer. I simply couldn’t find myself caring all too much that Sugata turned to the “dark side” because we never really got to see much of Sugata before last episode, so unfortunately this develpment comes without any real emotional backbone for me, even if the episode itself conveyed Takuto’s feelings well. Still, I’ll maintain faith that the writers can pull it off, and judging by next episode’s preview we’re speeding along to Takuto and Sugata’s break up battle, so at least the pacing will be up-to-par.

That aside, Divine must have some mad predicting skills or inside sources with Bones, because he told me a few weeks back he was waiting for the episode when Kiraboshi ended up activating Zero Time while Wako was bathing. Looks like he got his wish this week, with only a cloth separating us and pure fanservice. We were also shown Wako’s grandmother in full for the first time that I can recall, and right off the bat she began drilling Takuto on his Tau mark. I have a sneaking suspicion that Wako’s grandmother is connected to Takuto’s grandfather somehow, and it’ll be interesting to see how deep that connection goes, if there is one. Mami also returned for her second attempt to take down Takuto, which of course resulted in her defeated at Tauburn’s hands. This was definitely one of the less exciting fights thus far, but it was only meant to be a plot device to get Sugata to wake up somehow, and it also shortened the time we were in Zero Time this week, which is a plus in my opinion, as the most interesting parts of the story are always outside of Zero Time. Speaking of recurring characters, it seems that Midori retained her position as a Kiraboshi head even after her defeat in her battle with Takuto, so I suppose that you don’t necessarily have to be a Star Driver to be in the leadership of Kiraboshi. As for whether she’ll actually play any type of major role from now on, I doubt it. So far, it seems to me that Watanabe and Keito are the main Kiraboshi heads as far as characterization goes, as they get the most screentime out of the five heads and are the only ones in Takuto’s class. Of course, that’s not to say the other three will just be fodder.

By the way, someone should really analyze fish girl’s story to figure out how it connects to the plot at hand. It’s quite obvious what the story is referring sometimes, and seems to be foreshadowing what will happen in the future of the series a bit, but at other times it’s just plain confusing. If anyone has found an in-depth analysis, let me know.

 

Preview

51 Comments

  5. interesting way to weak the sleeping beauty… and what you get is a dark princess? … can’t wait to see the king of cybody in action…
    as far as the fish girl’s story, Show Spoiler ▼

    Of course, this is just my personal take on it… could be completely different…

    jrj
    Reply

      1. you mean scarlet kiss girl? she is a second year student who is also the head of student dorm… you don’t see her as well since she is in grade 2…
        or if you mean Head, then it should be yet to be revealed…

        jrj
        Reply

  8. So from Scarlet Kiss’s first phase (her smirking) it appears she succeeded in ‘mind controlling’ Sugata.

    Whether it actually did work or not is hard to tell, but regardless, Sugata has indeed changed.

    random shit everywhere @.@

    Dawn
    Reply

    1. Seems like she got reverse raped when she kissed him. I would hope the King aura would trump some inferior First Phase.

      Maybe there’s a future plot development when they think killing Scarlet Kiss would free Sugata, but then *gasp* it doesn’t work and she was controlled by him instead. Or something like that.

      xcswmboy
      Reply

  12. “By the way, someone should really analyze fish girl’s story figure out how it connects to the plot at hand.”

    There’s a missing word “to” in between ‘story’ and ‘figure’ in this sentence of the last paragraph. And isn’t fish girl’s real name “Sakana”?

    belatkuro
    Reply

  13. Is Sugata under the control of Benio(kiss ability)?

    When he got slapped his eyes changed, which mean that he’s no longer under her control.

    So why fighting Takuto next ep??
    Any idea???

    DerPilz,
    Reply

  15. fist girl story
    Show Spoiler ▼

    there, hopefully this will help out how to connect the fish girl story with the plot

    lkaze
    Reply

  17. I’d argue Head (Sakana-chan’s master) will shape up to be a major antagonist or at least character soon enough. We always see him in the background every episode, Hell, he’s the one that ushered in the 2nd phase by poking the fishing girl with his diamant blade. He’s not terribly active right now but you get the vibe his role’s gonna grow sooner or later.

    synkronized
    Reply

  21. You can’t really blame Sugata to be the bad guys, how would you feel if you were told that your fate and destiny is already laid out before u and there nothing you can do to change it not to mention you stuck on an island where you can’t even travel to a neighbor island or see the world. I myself would do anything just to change some laid out destiny.

    arixx
    Reply

  23. zz Suzuku, you forgot to include the screenshot with the red pill blue pill scene >.<

    There certainly was asspull in this episode but seeing how this show is suppose to be a clichéd modern super robot show, its probably expected. But ya know, 20 years ago this kind of development isn't clichéd. Think about it, what if 100 years from now, they have pretty much cover the bases of every combination of plot points, wouldn't everything become clichéd?

    Suppa Tenko
    Reply

    1. I think we’re already at that point now lol. The “best friend turning enemy” plot device has existed for centuries, along with pretty much every other type of plot you could imagine. You could say that there are no original stories, just recycled.

      Suzuku
      Reply

  24. king’s pillar is a bit overkilled I mean he can just keep making that explosion every time he want?
    and since they are fighting in the next episode I wonder if we will get to see takuto to lose

    Secsuey
    Reply

  27. I keep wondering how everyone is seeing a love triangle in this series. No, wait. It’s obvious why everyone thinks that, since it’s the easy and usual route to a story. What I’m wondering at is why everyone is still seeing it here, since the series is making pretty clear from the get-go that Wako and Sugata aren’t really interested in each other. They have the same burdens and are very close and thus are kindred spirits. They care for each other.

    The only indication that it could have been an actual triangle was perhaps in the previous episode, where Wako actually gets asked if she likes Sugata. That’s Takuto being insecure. And before Wako could actually answer Takuto’s question properly in the previous episode, shit hit the fan.

    There is no TRIANGLE!

    SpacyRicochet
    Reply

    1. Maybe people are saying it is because when he did ask she hesitated. Maybe she didn’t really think deeply about it. I’d say lets forget the whole thing and have him ask her if she does glass.

      Silentcid
      Reply

    2. When Wako’s texting a reply to a friend about Takuto she changes ‘not really’ to ‘kind of’ (the question is whether something he did was hot). When Takuto hears how Wako can never leave the island he becomes determined to change that. Their first (sort of) kiss was together. Several other points. None of this is really conclusive normally but when you consider the methods used in anime to put two characters together it’s suggestive.

      Grant
      Reply

      1. I was mostly doubting the fact that people thought Sugata and Wako had feelings for each other. I completely concur with Takato and Wako ending up together with almost no doubts whatsoever from whatever party.

        However, and hopefully not spoilering too much, there is one extra piece of doubt now. However, that’s on the same level as Wako hesitating a little bit at Takuto’s question. Nothing truly important.

        SpacyRicochet
        Reply

  28. Sugata’s felt underused for the series so far, and sadly episode 7 really didn’t change that. His main contribution until episode 6 was to show up, look good and stay out of Takuto’s way when it came to Wako.

    Grant
    Reply

  29. +++

    In the first episode, Takuto said:”I guess my FATHER is this island”, and the picture that his father painted was ALREADY on dorm’s wall.His father is really something….

    I’m looking forward to seeing Takuto’s past, so far we’ve seen Sugata’s and The South Maiden’s.

    DerPilz,
    Reply

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