We are slowly moving into the collaboration games! Remember, the loser will get a penalty for sucking at the games. That’s alright though, because, as of week four, all of us seems to suck at this. I never thought it’d be this crazy. It’s a combination of the shows, the predictions and the people predicting that makes this collab game a really fun and insane one. How did I fair this week? Lets check it out.

This anime is frustrating for a lot of things. Firstly, the pacing is so fast that any reasonable prediction won’t really happen. You’d have to adjust to the anime’s constant sudden changes in the status quo. I mean, who had “Theo will lose his title as a lord/ruler” in this episode? Some of us where even predicting he’d conquer the Savis region and become king, but the pacing is too unpredictable for that logical progression to happen. A lot of us even predicted he’d ally with the Alliance, but he becomes a ranking knight under the Federation instead. Gawd almight, this show is making me crazy. I also can’t help but be annoyed at the smart narrative being constantly wringed out of its intellect and nuance. One big thing to happen in this anime is that the story kinda plateaued, and this kinda serves as an Act One or a prologue for the actual story. The anime is also twenty four episodes, so I believe the show is just fast forwarding to the good bits. I’m not sure where that is. I guess after the twelve episode, or the first half, of the anime. Who knows? The surprising thing is that this is an A-1 Pictures anime. This is a studio that sold us ERASED because it faithfully adapted the original source, despite the sudden cut off and infuriating ending. I kinda respect them for that, but this anime troubles me. I still trust the studio, but I just hope to gawd the anime stabilizes at some point.

Anyways, the anime opened with SIluca’s adopted father smugly commenting that she overplayed her hand. He refused Theo’s request to join the Alliance, since it might look bad if a rogue lord joins them. It might open the floodgates for more lords to jump sides. Instead, the father wants war. He plans to take the Savis territory away from Theo to ensure the region doesn’t fall apart. Siluca is shocked by this development, and then she immediately went to Villar Constance for aid. After being rejected by the Alliance, she quickly asked for aid from the Federation. She is playing an aggressive game, but Villar’s mage actually rejected Siluca’s request. With no other choice, we went immediately to war. Like, exposition is done for five or six minutes and then immediately to war. Previous episodes had good ten or twelve minutes for some planning and exposition. This episode, the characters are itching for war.

I actually predicted someone will get beheaded, and f*ck it all to hell, no one got their heads rolling. A lot of people died! What the hell?! There were a lot of random knights slashed to death, but nope, we’re too good for a beheading. This is getting ridiculous. It’s as if A-1 Pictures knows four bloggers are making a prediction game with this anime. Even more surprising, Aishela actually got injured in the battle. She almost died, but the pink haired priest from the previous episode used Revived on her, but while casting it, Siluca also orchestrated a counterattack. They were defending the castle gates on three points, and apparently, one of their members got killed. I don’t think the dude was ever shown, so this is a problem.

Not only is the fast pacing slowly ruining the anime, but the lack of a proper world building is affecting the dumb battles as well. I still don’t know the scope of the Savis region. I don’t know how many lords are in it. I don’t know why they only have 3,000 men against 24,000 when Theo already ruled the region, including the single lords that he hooked up with last week. I also don’t understand why the King of Savis is on the Alliance’s side, since he is under the Federation banner. He attacked Theo because he doesn’t want him to join the Alliance, but he’s apparently with the Alliance now. I also do not understand why the bride in the first episode is in the battlefield. She’s such an important chess piece, but she decided to just hang around, exposed and susceptible to attacks. Yeah, just ride your horse in an open field. No one can launch a surprise attack on you in that vulnerable position.

Theo is the victor of this battle though. With the help of Villar, he managed to drive the Alliance out of the region and he is now the rightful ruler of Savis. He refused the offer though, and chose to be a knight as long as Siluca is his mage. Oh, ham fisted romance, I love it. Villar accepted though, and so the progression of the story has changed once more. The allies that served under Theo are now aligned with Villar and the region of Aruk, while Villar rules Savis, or something. At this point, I just want the show to properly stabilize. I love the planning and the negotiations that immediately lead to battle when both parties don’t meet eye-to-eye. I also love the idea of a group of people battling each other with established characters on both ends. The showdown between Lassic and the King of Savis looks cool, and I hope we get more of that in later episodes. As for now though, Theo seems to want to be a wandering lord or whatever. Meanwhile, I just f*cking want to actually score some points predicting this anime. Stop being so unpredictable!!!

Notable Characters in this episode:

The pink haired girl is apparently a core character now. I should learn her name. She saved Aishela from the brink of death, and I feel mixed about that. I want characters to die, and not just random soldiers, to really paint the horror of wars. I want the show to be like Game of Thrones where we invested so much on Ned Stark only for him to end up as decoration on a wall. Either way, her healing magic is awesome. I’m sure that’d come in handy in future episodes.

Siluca’s adoptive father is awesome. He lectures his daughter through calm smug-ness, which I really enjoy. He is also dangerously smart as he immediately realized SIluca will call for a truce, but he yanks the rug under her by demanding Theo be killed as exchange for a ceasefire. Doesn’t really make sense, but it was a way to spite Siluca who he believes is beneath her.

Predictions: At this point, the pacing is ruining all of our game. My first few predictions are no longer viable because of the fast progression. I’d like to think like the anime when it comes to predictions, since a certain pattern is apparent though. Not sure if this’ll help me in the end, but I’ll make up for points with the other two shows.

Plot Related: Theo rushes in to save Villar Constance from enemy attack

Character Related: Pink haired girl will heal an injured Theo

It seems the big climax of the anime is the entire group joining one huge camping trip, which might happen in the last episode. For now, we got the Outdoor Club going to a camp site, while Rin goes on her own camping trip. For some reason, Irina’s comment about Rin’s solo camping is actually swaying my opinion of the show too. The club has too much sugar in it, so it’s a vast contrast to Rin’s refined flavor. When they were eating ice cream, I liked it but it was too much cuteness and not enough slice of life. It also feels counterintuitive to relax with indoor amenities when you’re going camping. It’s like travelling, but then you’re only eating at fast food chains because you feel more at home in them. I mean, gawd forbid you travelled a long distance to avoid meeting new experiences. This is a vast difference to Rin’s experience, which flooded the show with ambience. You can actually inhale the dust of the rustic café she stumbled into.

The anime is also weirdly fixating on food a lot. I feel like once we covered all the usual food, like cake and curry, we’d be going hunting next. Yeah, I’d love to see the girls de-fur and gut a rabbit. For now, the laid back title is proving true, but I guess the sweetness of the marshmallow is slowly having an effect on me. It’s a good thing Rin is the needed contrast to the sweetness, but I wonder how they’d actually blend together when the group combines into one. The anime seems to have a format of setup then pay off, and this episode sets up an event that the next episode will follow through for the pay off. That’s good. This’ll help us gain points on the predictions. The anime ends with Rin waving to a live cam, while the girls are planning on a hot spring visit.

Let’s now list the best moments in the show:

• Firstly, I actually joked in our group discussion that I wish a coffin would appear in the anime. Surprisingly, it actually happened in this episode. It’s adorable, but also a missed opportunity for some points. I really suck at this prediction game.
• Nadeshiko seems like a strong character by herself. I laughed when she was able to fetch the random items needed for insulation, and I also laughed when she was excitedly running uphill while the other girls are almost wiped out. I know people like her, who can scale a mountain and then climb a tree and then scale another mountain with no problem. Nadeshiko also feels like a good camping buddy, since she’s so curious and it makes exploring places fun when you’re buddy is like that.
• The dog scene felt unnecessary to me. I mean, have Nadeshiko actually chase a car to wave hello to a dog. I’m fine with that, but Rin following a car and having a dog look at her just feels random. Perhaps it’s the first time I’m actually reminded that this anime is a four panel manga with this simple gag routine.

I’m actually glad we have a pretty straightforward anime like this in our prediction game, since all of us are getting points here. As I said before, this episode is a setup and a bunch of stuff will carry over the next episode. This makes the prediction game easy. See, information is key in this game of ours. Then again, you really can’t be confident in this, I am slowly realizing.

Plot Related: The curry will be too spicy

Character Related: Nadeshiko will drink milk after going on the hot spring

This episode is about the soccer dude, and nothing much happened. The story is starting to fizzle out as the episodes progresses, and I am really slowly losing interest with this anime. It makes for easy predictions though, since we are thriving in the predictions for this anime. The show is just so lazily written and horribly animated though. There’s nothing to really clamp on to, and you’re just watching the show collapse onto itself. It looks like the fourth wall breaking is a staple of the anime now, since it happens in the episodes now. That’s an easy point for me. But yeah, let’s talk about the episode.

Um, Shunsuke is a very good soccer player who believes his Hello Kitty charm wins him the games. His teammates are sick and tired of his selfish attitude though, so the captain benched him. Devastated by not being able to practice, he starts blaming his Hello Kitty charm. Seriously, he wasn’t benched for a game, but just practice and he hates that. See, this is where the bad writing and awful animation kinda hinders the anime. If it was game day and he was benched, then I’d feel his devastation. Since he wants to keep on winning, by himself, seeing the team lose will hurt. But nope, the animation cannot really give us an actual soccer match and the writing seems to give us the safest way for a resolution without any stakes. Have the guy sulk for a bit, a few flashbacks, get the other guys to solve his problem and then end on a happy note. Lazy writing! Boo! Hiss! But yeah, he sulked and the other Sanrio rangers try to help him by making him realize that he is running away (?). For some reason, he is bothered by a girl that once gave him a Hello Kitty charm, who suddenly vanishes one day with no real explanation. Someone should check up on her and her family. Shunsuke knows her home, so he must’ve regularly goes there or passes it on his way home, but she just suddenly is no longer there. I think the trauma he has is because the girl is a victim of an SPC monster or something.

But yeah, contrived problem, contrived resolution that leads to a contrived happy ending. That’s fine. Let’s just finish watching this anime already. This anime has previews, so that’s fun. Next episode is about the last members of the Sanrio rangers, and it looks like there’s contrived trouble here too. I’m gonna avoid making Sanrio products prediction, since the show seems to be moving away from it as well. Maybe it’ll return when the group comes together and we get a beach episode where the guys wear Sanrio speedos…………it could happen.

Plot Related: Seiichiro puts his face very close to Ryou, making him blush and break eye contact

Character Related: Seiichiro will say “I’m going to (I will) protect you”

It looks like the group is getting a some good points across the board. Some points are given on technicality though, but this is to be expected on an unexplored venture like this. As long as I’m not losing, then I’m fine with it. I can’t be confident about my progress though, since I’m sure the stacked predictions will completely change the game week after week. To hear the others gloat though, check out their blog and feel free to make your own predictions as well. This collaboration is a game we want readers to join in as well. What do you guys think of my predictions? You think it has a good chance of coming true? What about the other bloggers?

Check Irina’s post HERE, HERE and HERE

Check Leap’s post HERE

and check AstralGemini’s post HERE

And do you guys watch Koi wa Ameagari no you ni? Well, me and Keiko is having a wonderful time discussing and dissecting the show. We’re also predicting some of the plot threads, and I am doing much better with the predictions here. In fact, a lot of my analysis came true in the latest episode. Read up on it HERE