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「あらゆる罪の源たる、ふたつの大罪がある。焦りと怠惰だ。」 (Arayuru Tsumi no Minamoto Taru, Futatsu no Taizai ga Aru. Aseri to Taida da.)
“There Are Two Main Human Sins from Which All the Others Derive: Impatience and Indolence”
If there’s one thing you cannot say about Youjitsu after all these years it’s the series taking its sweet time getting going. We may still be in the throes of introductions and plot establishment, but the games are already afoot and the key characters making their presence felt. And those cliffhangers you know and love? Oh yeah, haven’t forgotten about those too.
Barring the standard insanity of Youjitsu’s various school tests, each of its arcs has always revolved around one (or more) of Kiyotaka’s classmates and this latest affair is no exception. Much as teased last week the star of the moment is Kei, a girl whose mindset is probably well-understood for any anime connoisseur at this point. Naturally though, because Youjitsu, things are taken a little further than usual; Kei may be the victim of harsh bullying over the years, but should it naturally lead to parasite self-labelling and overtly latching onto support at every available opportunity? Eh truthly likely does for some, but I’m still hard pressed keeping a straight face at scenes like the heart to heart with “boyfriend” Hirata. At least it’s better than watching Kakeru pop a Perrier sparkling water like it’s a 500$ bottle of champagne – those moments will never not be hilarious and no one can tell me otherwise.
In terms of the test at play, however, the twist is once again not going to be which class actually wins as much as who winds up deducing the winning strategy. As with last season’s final arc it’s all about cooperation here, but specifically this time interclass cooperation: the simplest strategy is deducing the VIP as a group so everyone can partake in the spoils. Of course some like Class A will try staying above the fray while others such as Kakeru will take the more selfish and authoritative path, but in the end some measure of altruism and trust (or simple Kouenji gym obsession) is required to successfully get through this test alive. With that in mind full bet on the VIP for Mars being either Kei or Honami – you don’t allude to special treatment or have Kei sucking up to a kid from another class if one of these girls wasn’t the target in question.
Which one it is will need a couple episodes yet to reveal, but rest assured it won’t take long for Kiyotaka to find out the answer.
This was the area when I found it difficult to read in manga and LN, too. Too much exposition, too little happening.
We’ll soon be “getting somewhere”, thankfully.
It’s just too much complexity IMO. While the reasoning behind the complexity makes sense, it doesn’t work from an entertainment perspective – though at least you can ignore the test mechanics without losing too much overall.