Told you that despite all accusations, Ichika is not that much of a pervert.
The title of this post sums up my reaction for these two episodes. They are… well… filler. Unnecessary filler on top of that. It’s moments like these that made me question my choice to write episodics. Still, it’s not totally bad if you consider these humor and comedy a warm-up, since the following episodes after this are not supposed to be laughed at.
Episode 5 Summary:
- Ichika was ordered to deliver some manuals to a certain room in the middle of the night. How he did not realize there is a trap laid there for him is beyond me. He finds himself tied up to a chair and was forced to participate in a weird show aimed to “please” him. We start with Maya wearing a cow-girl cosplay (literally, as in an actual cow, with spots, tail and everything. I am somewhat amused by the choice), and then we get Houki as a fox miko, Cecilia and Laura as bunny-girls and Charl in a “French Poodle” costume.
Episode #05 – “Lovely Style”
- However, Rin didn’t even get a turn as she was ambushed by Tatenashi who stole her cat cosplay to play around with Ichika herself. Needless to say, the reaction of the other girls was… predictable. But other surprises were in store as Chifuyu herself makes an appearance in a maid outfit. Obviously forced into the outfit, she is not pleased.
- All of this was a surprise birthday party for Ichika who (I can’t believe how) forgot his own birthday. The episode ends with the reveal of “M”, member of the “Phantom task” Organization. And she reveals herself to be Madoka… Orimura? And right after she states that she must take down Ichika in order for her to remain as herself… she shoots Ichika with an actual gun.
Tatenashi-nyan sees your porn… and approves it.
Episode 6 Summary:
- Continuing from the massive cliffhanger in episode 5, Ichika was about to be shot by a real gun when Laura saves him and attempts to fight back Madoka to no avail. It wasn’t an entirely fruitless effort though, as she was praised by Ichika for her beautiful eyes (more specifically her golden eye, but he let her believe otherwise). Later, we see Ichika and Charlotte on a mission to protect some containers holding IS equipments to be shipped somewhere. Their presence was crucial to defend the containers against a duo of IS pilots, although it ended badly due to an explosion caused by some stray bullets.
Episode #06 – “The Secret Base”
- Ichika protected Charlotte from the explosion but not without paying a price. He seems unable to deploy Byakushiki from then on, so he hands it over to Chifuyu for analysis. Charlotte feels guilty about the situation Ichika is in and volunteers to serve as his bodyguard as he seems to be a target of Phantom task. However, she also has troubles of her own as the same incident that caused Ichika unable to deploy his IS made Charlotte unable to… wear underwear. She fears leaving a bad impression on Ichika if he were to see her like that.
- Recalling a promise that she made in the past to her mother to not lie, she faces Ichika and was about to reveal her situation to him. Luckily, Laura steps in at the exact moment when Charlotte’s “situation” seems to have been solved by itself. Although Ichika still ends up being called a pervert, despite his best efforts to look away. Women…
Overall Review:
- My, what a bunch of unnecessary filler these two episodes were. I feel obligated to say that other than Madoka’s reveal, nothing else like this happened in the light novel. In fact, there was a racing competition between the Personal IS users where Madoka appeared to attack Ichika once more and Cecilia got injured during the fight. Why the anime staff replaced all of that for this… weird birthday anniversary contest is beyond me. Not to mention that said birthday party in the novels had more characters involved and it was held in Orimura’s house. Even the forgotten Dan and Ran – Ichika’s best friend and his sister – made an appearance there. Makes me sad that Ran didn’t have more screentime…
This scene gives my inner otaku the urge to hit a certain bassist called Mio…
- Episode 6 felt the same as well. Sure, it was great for Charlotte fans, but the whole thing felt unnecessary. But before you state that Charlotte had no reason for going around commando-style, I feel obligated as well to explain the mechanics behind this:
- The IS is deployed by converting the standby accessories (Ichika’s gauntlet, Cecilia’s earring…) into the whole armor. This is done by using something akin to “hyperspace” in which the IS and its armaments are stored in. During conversion, the pilot’s IS suit will replace the clothes he/she was wearing. This is what was happening to Charlotte’s underwear, as it was constantly being sent to the inventory of her IS the moment she puts it on. If she wanted to avoid that, all she had to do was remove her IS’s standby accessory (her necklace) so her underwear wouldn’t automatically disappear.
Wisest words ever said?
- The only reason she didn’t do it was because she felt that without her IS, she would not be able to protect Ichika if such a need arose. At least she was being thoughtful. On top of that, I really like Charlotte’s flashback. As you may or may not know, Charlotte’s mother was not married to the head of the Dunois Company. He adopted Charlotte when her mother died and after seeing that she had an high IS compatibility, he thought of using her for research. All the girls have a deep backstory but sadly nothing much about these are brought up in the anime. I think backstories help to build characters and show what motivates them so I will admit, I like it.
