On Holiday: Labor Day Anime Special pt1 (Majestic Prince, C3-bu & Love Lab)

I’m going to do something a little different this week, since I planned on having fun on Labor Day – a day to celebrate working people.  I decided to take it easy this past weekend, and cover the usual anime in shorter fashion.  Well, I won’t totally stick to that. If i’m particularly inspired then some of these may be longer. But for now, I’m gonna do a “Week in Review” type of post for this weekend for some shows. Starting with Majestic Prince episode twenty one.

Majestic Prince ep21

This is another one of those character development/transitional episodes that I really never mind the show having. It’s slow, but the general set up is worked out and both sides have placed their chess pieces for the coming battle. There’s nothing more each side can do until the final battle to the death begins.

It’s an obvious statement, but the team just doesn’t look or feel right without Izuru, even though Toshikazu has proven himself to be a clear-headed, capable leader. Izuru will get his chance to play the hero now. Though being a hero usually entails you dying heroically.

My only annoyance was seeing the little girl from Toshikazu’s maintenance crew escape back onto the Star Rose. I don’t understand what it is about mecha shows and them having to have at least one child on board. It’s just the stupidest -!

Minor annoyances aside, I’m looking forward to seeing how the GDF start things off.  The Star Rose is a pretty awesome little flagship, but they’re literally stuffing all their eggs into one basket, both with the Star Rose and with the mission.

C3-bu ep8

Yura NO!  How sad for the episode to end this way.  Stella fought fair and square, and so hard all the way to the final match, but Yura allowed her hate to get the better of her.  I knew things might come to this when two themes kept coming up this episode.  One was the whole “playing zombie” thing.  That’s where a player who is hit doesn’t say that they’re hit and continue playing illegally.  It immediately gets the entire team disqualified.  The other theme is the one of Yura comparing herself to Rin.  And the more ruthless she got, the more fair the comparison.

"playing zombie"? Oh I get it! I've never heard that before though. #c3bu

— Cesar (@DonKangolJones) September 2, 2013

You could see things turning this episode, too.  Though Ren was doing her best to keep the piece and be super loyal  and helpful, the other girls were quickly getting sick of Yura’s milataristic streak.  The key thing being said was that they weren’t having fun, and that is totally counter to how the team was trained and raised by Sonora.  In the end, Yura knows what she did was wrong, and that she has to fix it.  I’m interested to see if Yura will be able to face Sonora after what she did.

It doesn’t feel good to win dirty.  It doesn’t feel good at all.

C3-bu ep9

What the hell?!  I expected Yura to change – but for the better!  The poor girl has fallen into the same hole that Rin did.  And this may explain why Sonora has been so quiet about this change.  She’s seen this all happen before.  And we know this from the story she tells Yura about Rin before Rin leaves the club.  Rin was a shy, almost voiceless girl just like Yura before joining C3.  It’s just that Rin changed when her master died in battle.  And while Sonora may be her mentor, it seems that as she becomes more obsessed and focused, she becomes more of a soul match for Rin.

@DonKangolJones Well it makes more sense than anything in all of the End of Evangelion movie.

— Rex(ie) Whitefish (@Slyphoria) September 2, 2013

I knew the club and Yura were growing apart, I just didn’t suspect it was going to be this fast, nor this extreme.  It’s sad, too.  The whole time, what Yura has really been wanting is friends, but in her obsessive desire to change, she’s become more focused on being someone else.  She’s become focused on killing her old self and never looking back.  Her happiness was right next to her the whole time.  I just hope she’s able to figure this out before she loses herself completely.

It’s funny.  I was just starting to have high hopes for this series.  But I forgot what studio was making this quirky little show.  It’s GAINAX, and they like to f*ck with their audience’s expectations from time to time.  The latest I can remember being Panty & Stocking.  I certainly won’t drop this show, especially this late in the game.  I will say that this shock to the system has given me quite the shake up.  The samurai/bushido code aspect of this show has always been strong, but I’m worried it’s taking over right now.  And I don’t particularly like where the story is going.

Love Lab ep8

So many good, funny shows to watch, and I regret missing episodes every time I do.  This episode is no different, though it may pay off waiting since this appears to be at least a two-parter with its cliffhanger ending.

It seems the Newpaper Club – nay!  The Newspaper Association is able to apply some pressure to the Student Council.  Funnelling extra questions to them in a rather brash and upfront method, they’re in a powerful position with the capability of crushing their phones if they want.  Which isn’t very hard considering the girls in the council are all a different flavor of crazy!  And I’m mainly talking about Riko who is hell bent on changing her “Wild One” image no matter the cost – to others.  She starts the episode in some super cute and annoying voice and demeanor very reminiscent of a character from a shoujo series, or dare I say the Precure franchise.  And it haunts this entire episode!

In the end, the real drama comes when Sayori gets caught by Sakagami-sensi, a person who I can only nicely describe as an “old bat”, who grills her about her boyfriend.  Sayori attempts to protect her friends by admitting to having a boyfriend, but telling the lie that her friends knew nothing of it, and that she’ll be withdrawing from the council.  A clear attempt to save her friends, but will it work (I hope not)?  And if it doesn’t, how are the others going to save her?

Personally, I wouldn’t mind them tie Sakagami up and throwing her in a broom closet, but where would be the drama in that?

@DonKangolJones because what's easier than putting a pain in the ass chara into a show to cause ~drama~?

— actual gundam pilot (@swordfartonline) September 3, 2013

Note: Delusion Breaker is bestest, most ultimate move!  I want to see it used more often.

Love Lab ep9

Well that was a lot of fuss!  With Sayori on the chopping block, everyone has to put their heads together to get her exonerated!  And I’m telling you, O.J. Simpson’s defense team couldn’t have done a better job.  Though I will say I had no doubts that a certain teacher was in on it the whole way.

I had no expectations before this mini arc that Sayori would get much development, nor did I really care at all about her boyfriend.  Though I find it ironic that she’s the least cute and inviting of the girls, yet she’s the one with a guy.  It also goes to show how tight this whole group is, when the least likable of them still manages to incite an operation of this scale.  It also goes to show that Love Lab is good at using all of its elements to not just be funny, but to tell a story, too.  It’s the mark of a good comedy when its characters can be more than just walking sight gags and jokes.  Sayori’s love of money could easily have been played up to monstrous proportions given how crazy this show is willing to make some of its other characters.  But this part plays up her loyalty to her friends, and to a certain extent her relationship, not to money or image.

Speaking of image, Natsuo can’t just keep taking the bullet for everyone like this.  Kudos to her for knocking it out of the park with this ambitious and brilliant plan ( I knew that cross-dressing would come in handy eventually).  But any of this to work, her impeccable reputation has to be intact, even her friends have recognized this.

Gotta say, nine episodes into this little show, and I’m quite impressed.  It has been solid from start to finish.  I will be quite sad to see this journey come to an end in a few weeks.

Welp!  That’s part one.  Part two coming up soon.  I hope you guys had a good Labor Day weekend and aren’t suffering from the post-summer vacation blues.

Further Reading:

• Love Lab ep7
• Majestic Prince ep20
• C3-bu ep7