Something, something, Aristocrats joke.

— Even if I had the ability to phase through bullets, I’d still be pretty nervous to see people shoot at me. Plus, Rinka’s pretty new to her powers. I’m surprised she can stay so collected.

— Then of course, after the bad guys take aim at Rinka together, they allow each other to get beaten up by the schoolgirl one-by-one. The little things like these may seem like nitpicking to you, but in my mind, they add up. And at the end of the day, I can’t shake the impression that the anime is just mediocre. It’s not bad like Rail Wars! bad. It’s just very whatever. The lack of care devoted to the minor details contributes to that.

— Glasses always break so easily in fiction. In reality, lenses are some pretty durable shit nowadays.

— So the penguin goes berserk and summons a tsundere shark. Okay then. The tsundere shark has the ability to pluck your glowing fish out of you, thereby rendering you powerless. In any case, it seems rather convenient for Peggi to suddenly display this power.

— Yet another character shows up to prevent Kobushi from absconding with “[the] rock that houses glowing fish.” Lots and lots of characters in this show.

— I like how there are loud explosions in the middle of the night, but these fights never seem to attract anyone’s attention.

— Rinka’s father saves Kobushi from the new guy, but then the girl, uh, falls in love with him. I’m not sure a mother could love that face. I’ll groan if it turns out she just desperate for a father figure in her life ’cause she never knew her dad.

— So the cosplay samurai reveals herself to be Minami, and she tells Kyotaro to throw away his “cheap justice” and join her side. Then this giant ogre-like being shows up, shoots waves of magical snakes at our heroes, which then allows the bad guys to steal back the all-important rock. Minami tells Kyotaro that she’s out to change the world. It seems to me that stories involving the evolution of mankind will almost always unfold in the same exact way: the “mutants” will try to fuck the rest of us over. I say “mutants” because it’s just easier that way; I’m obviously comparing these individuals with special powers to the X-Men. EIther way, I think it’s obvious what the bad guys are trying to do.

Minami and her compatriots are going around, giving people special powers to see if they are worthy of her cause. Then in the end, her cause will take the world away from the rest of us lameass, normal folks. Sure, there are slight variations from narrative to narrative. In Hamatora, Moral wanted everyone to have super powers. Still, it’s always a “‘mutants’ vs. humanity” deal, which is then followed by the “we ‘mutants’ are the rightful rulers of this planet” sentiment. I honestly would love to see a story — any story — involving ‘mutants’ or individuals with special powers that doesn’t involve them taking over the world. After all, isn’t this kind of misanthropic to assume that if you give people special powers, a good percentage of them will use it to take over the world? Call me naive if you want, but I think bad guys make up only a small percentage of our population. Sure, I’m not denying the fact that certain people out there would use their superpowers for their own personal gain, but it’s just silly how every single time ‘mutants’ show up, society literally falls apart (see: Shinsekai Yori).

— After his encounter with Minami, Kyotaro tries to avoid his friend, but Rinka eventually locates him. Still, Minami must have meant a lot to him then for the guy to react this way. Childhood friend?

— More tragic backstory for Kyotaro. Actually, none of the young characters in this story seem to have had a normal upbringing.

— Ah, Minami’s family had adopted Kyotaro after he lost his parents. So this bizarre sibling-slash-childhood-friend thing that anime loves to do. Anyway, kinda funny how the entire family — including the adoptee — now has superpowers. The family that stages a bloody takeover of the Diet together, stays together. Too bad the ungrateful adoptee won’t join them in their cause.

— Oh lord, it turns out Rinka had saved Kyotaro’s hide half a year ago. She just doesn’t remember him, but he certainly kept her in his thoughts this entire time. This would explain why the guy was practically stalking her. If I were in Rinka’s shoes, I’d be a bit put-off, but judging from the way she keeps blushing around him, I suspect his childlike enthusiasm for justice has already won her heart.

— Murasaki has special powers now too: psychometry. Basically, she can see the history of anything she touches. Imagine seeing an animal get butchered every time you pick up a piece of meat to eat, though. Yeah, yeah, she’ll have to learn how to control her powers. In any case, Murasaki’s more assertive nowadays, so… good for her? Whoops, that assertiveness leads her to run away from home to stay with Rinka and her dad. Man, how can they afford this?

— Yep, Kobushi never knew her father. Hell, she didn’t know her mother either. And yes, this is why she’s become infatuated with Rinka’s father. Yeesh.

— The rest of the episode is kind of boring as Murasaki gets settled in with her new “family.” Kind of a disappointing way to end this arc, actually. All’s well that ends well, I guess.