Sydonai takes a bunch of Monsters, Inc. rejects with him to raid the Outlaw servers of the Piper of Sorrow Dreams, Drell Kubelik. Several other Outlaw headquarters get attacked, and with no moderators the Outlaw forums become filled with spam and troll posts. Wilhelmina finds some disturbing information, and tells Shana and Yuuji about how one time Destructive Blade Sabrac out-bandaged her and would had killed her had Pheles not sucked her up with a Dyson vacuum. Realizing that Sabrac is very dangerous, Yuuji steps up his training and is even able to momentarily disarm Shana (before getting a foot in the kidney).
Meanwhile, Tanaka has been aloof because he fears that everyone thinks of him as a big wuss. Satou decides that he will be getting a job working at an Outlaw HQ, in spite of the dangers; however, he is surprised that Tanaka no longer wants to follow along with Marjorie. Tanaka wants to see a vibrant Ogata, and is afraid that she will get hurt if he hangs out with Flame Hazes. Finally, Tanaka makes up his mind and returns the bookmark-cellphone, and Satou leaves before Tanaka can ask for a hug and a shoulder to cry on.
So after an emo Kazumi episode, we get an emo Tanaka episode. Is Ike next? Tanaka’s angst was a lot more annoying than Kazumi’s, since Yuuji can fix Ogata up any time and Ogata is in danger in Misaki City regardless of what Tanaka does. However, I was amused by the flashbacks of all the great times Satou and Tanaka had being abused by a drunk Marjorie. I also liked when they showed a sad Tanaka playing with the UFO catcher and letting a bear (Marjorie symbolism!) slip through his claw.
Yuuji has been steadily built up all along, so I have no problem with him being tough and competent now. I loved him taking it to the limit over Alastor’s protests, although to be fair Shana is a total weakling. Sabrac is going to be a tough challenge for the Flame Haze team, and it was hilarious to learn that Pheles used Wilhelmina as a distraction in the battles with Sabrac. I also demand more Wilhelmina paper-pushing scenes, because the idea of trashy fanfic novelist Wilhelmina is comedic gold.
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yuuji’s all nice and cool, but why is there no hardcore shana development and fighting?? maybe its to set up for the future development that should be happening quite soon……hmmm
lol….I definitely missed that one.
I actually found Tanaka’s emo moment much less annoying than Kazumi’s. I was also thinking that what he does won’t change what’s happening to the city, but his choice felt very “human” to me compared to hers.
Also the contrast between him and Satou made it work well. Kind of ironic that they parted ways for essentially the same reason - they both care about someone else enough to put them first, above themselves.
Tanaka opened his eyes in this episode. Like, holy crap, man.
Tanaka didn’t open his yes, he’s just using these stickers.
Doesn’t Tanaka look a little like Brock from Pokemon?