Vandalism has never been so daring.
Somehow it became a near automatic notion that girls school are always called “Gardens”. I suppose the students there are commonly termed as “lambs”? Btw, since Uiharu and Saten were able to enter the Garden only by invitation, how did Touma manage to sneak in to the district and visit Tokiwadai’s dorm? Have they changed the policies by then?
Railgun needs MOAR Konori-senpai and MOAR interaction time with her two favorite kids. MOAR exploration on the Konori × Kuroko work dynamics would be good too.
Strange… Most of the text is in English.
For girls, that is deemed as one hell of a nasty experience. Thick monobrow tattoo DO.NOT.WANT.
Although unrevealed at this point, it’d be damn cool if Uiharu’s ability lies within the field of technopathy. Either that or she could mind-control people using her flowers.
*Snort* My gawd that was hilariously cliché of a motive to go around giving Tokiwadai girls the taser and faux cosmetic ink treatment. Maybe Juufuku isn’t the kind who would consider the idea of “eyebrow plucking”.
Hyuu~ Way to grab a lady’s heart, Saten!! d(ﾟ▽ﾟ )
You’re one to talk, Kuroko. :p
Thoughts
99.9% filler this week, with the remaining 0.1% hinting of the first canon arc. Even though the writers took full liberty into churning an Anime original, this was by no means a bad episode. I quite enjoyed it. As long as it made me laugh, I enjoyed it. Juufuku’s melodramatic excuse for revenge is so PftLOL, and I’m glad I didn’t choke on anything when the sakura petals started drifting across the screen + cheesy music playing in the backround. It’s also nice that they briefly showed and explained some of the more interesting quirks about the Garden of Education e.g. the affluent European setting. I also love the way the writers kept emphasizing the friendship between the four main girls very early on to establish and nurture a growing emotional bond which could later be used as a compelling plot device. Wrt Juufuku’s seemingly filler role, I agree with Zyl Kuroko that her part in this episode may serve as one of the building blocks in accumulating tension and invoking a greater response once the more serious events kick in. Also contrary to the Manga, there may be more decent people to empathize with. Urban Legend is next and it looks like they’ll finally touch on the mystery in a more concrete manner.
Aaaah, finally someone who’s noticed that Kuroko guestblogged this week’s Railgun entry over at hontou ni!!
wrt ’sinful’, it’s probably Kuroko saying that Ruiko is being unfaithful to Kazari by triggering Miho’s flag rather than the flag triggering itself. I suppose we can safely assume, as Crusader/Calawain have noted, that Kuroko is a one Oneesama type of girl?
Whoa. That does make sense. :D
Initially I was thinking along the lines of Kuroko being snarky about Saten popping that smooth “I like it” remark which triggered the flag. Kind of like “Saten-san, I didn’t know you had those inclinations (*cough*like me*cough*)”.
Btw what are the chances of Kuroko guestblogging over at your place again? :)
I’d sure like to read her comments once a certain “unfortunate, spiky-haired, long-winded person” decided to drop by. Then again if things were to play by the Manga, she wouldn’t be aware of her Oneesama’s rendezvous with him. ^^
Except for the skirt flipping, Saten’s (unrequited) attraction to Uiharu seems less obvious in the anime than in the manga. The studio seems to playing up her Odd One Out status (Level 0) if anything (and iirc Uiharu was Level 2 in the manga but she said she’s Level 1 in Ep 1). Maybe their saving up Uiharu promotion (more alienation) and increased Uiharu admiration of Mikoto (MOAR jealousy) to buttress the motivations for Saten’s role in the Level Upper arc.
Just couldn’t resist going into Kuroko POV because of her fabulous sinful comment. Hopefully she’ll say something just as awesome in the next episode to get my writing gears in motion.
Yes, I see your point. If that’s the case wrt emphasizing Saten’s Level 0 status, then perhaps the Anime writers’ aim is to invoke as much empathy as possible from the viewers regarding Saten’s plight later on. I thought the Manga did a good job on this even though Saten didn’t mingle with the others (i.e. Mikoto and Kuroko) as much as she did in the Anime. And yes, just as you mentioned, the reason I find the Manga version really engaging is because of Saten’s relationship with Uiharu. From the way things went in this episode, it’s quite obvious the Anime writers are trying to flesh out Saten’s personality, which is a good thing. However at the same time, it’s kind of ironic how I’m a bit worried that the way they did it didn’t focus on her relationship with anyone at a more personal level (instead, opting for the more general teamwork between Mikoto, Kuroko and Uiharu). Saten’s current absence of an attraction towards Uiharu in the Anime also may not guarantee a later scenario (the phone conversation) to have as much emotional impact as the one in the Manga. Hmm maybe we’ll just have to wait for Uiharu to fall ill *mwahaha*.
Btw, I’m an awfully poor judge of character so I got puzzled over Saten’s behavior towards Mikoto in the Manga. From the way I interpret it, she seems to have a friendly and flustered admiration for Mikoto (much like how one would feel when meeting a celebrity) and she maintained this impression throughout the Manga. The Anime changing this and making her seem almost hostile towards Mikoto at first, even expecting Mikoto to behave arrogantly about her Level 5 status, could be a good plot device, especially wrt your mention of the possibility of Saten feeling more alienated and jealous towards Mikoto in a more convincing way.