This has been a tough one.  Not just because of the subject matter, which as you'll see is less unicorns and rainbows and more zombies and more zombies.  No, actually, zombies and more zombies would have been okay.  This particular episode of Gakkou Gurashi is of a type that makes for really tough recapping, because it relies heavily on sound to convey a very dramatic turning point in the series.  And, in case you haven't noticed, much of this blog is silent, occasional music posts to the contrary.  So how to actually do this?  I've given it much thought, and to be blunt, "I dunno.  I just dun."  Which might be a first.  Well, that's always exciting, huh?  Breaking new ground, heading off into the great unwashed unknown.  As always, however, I must caution you, the reader, against spoileriffic activities and discussions, if for no other reason than I'm watching the show as I do the writeups... Ep06 is as far as I've gotten!  If you even drop hints that could be spoilers, I will not hesitate to do Bad Things.  And nobody wants that.  So!  On with the story, eh?  Last time out, we got to see how Miki joined the gang.  What wonders does Gakkou Gurashi bring us this time?

GAH!!! 
...
Sorry, I'm just not sure that being stared at by a weird kid is how I'd want to wake up after having survived a shopping mall full of undead horrors.  A glass of water, though, is exactly what Miki needs, and after that...

...it's time for introductions!  Well, introduction-singular, as Miki just completely ignores Megu-nee and concentrates on the amazing fact that Yuki is a senior.  While that is something of a shocking revelation, it doesn't seem like enough reason to completely blow off a teacher to me.

A short conversation between Megu-nee and Yuki about explaining the School Living Club to Miki does nothing to help matters, as the garterbelt-wearing lovely seems to just get more confused.  The talk ends when Yuki hands her teacher the water bottle she's holding.  Turning back to Miki, we hear the sound of a water bottle hitting the floor.  Curiouser and curiouser.

A tour of the school is in order, it appears, even though Miki's a student there.  Ever a good kid, Miki points out that they've left the door to the room open.  "That's okay, Megu-nee is still in there!"  Hmmm.  But you'd think the junior would have noticed that...?


The first stop on the tour is the music room.

For a moment before they enter, Miki entertains the hope that the school was untouched, and Yuki's reactions do nothing to disabuse her of those notions.  There's even talk of band practice.

Yuki tries to explain the benefits of the School Living Club, including visiting the music room whenever they want to!  Not thrilled by the music, though.   Miki, too, is less than enthused, suggesting that running the boom box is a waste of electricity.  Yuki, confused by this reaction, suggests that Megu-nee should say something to the junior, then hands the teacher the boom box.

Which promptly hits the ground, the music grinding to a halt as a desperate Miki plaintively asks "Who is Megu-nee?"  She quite clearly sees that the room is... well.   Meanwhile...

...back at the School Living Clubroom, Yuri and Kurumi discover that the others aren't there, the door is open, and there's a water bottle dripping onto the floor.  Unpleasant looks cross both of their faces.  Oh dear, they've warned Yuki about what water will do to the finish of the floor... now they're going to have to rewax.  Again.  Meanwhile, back at the music room...

...Miki's beginning to wonder if being eaten by zombies wouldn't have been preferable to what she's gotten herself into.  Her lil' rescuer is having a discussion with a teacher that isn't actually there, and getting more and more agitated as it goes on.  Kinda like... um... something witty and clever that I can't actually come up with at the moment.  Pretend like I said something really funny, okay?  MAN, I can really come up with 'em, huh?  I amaze myself sometimes!  There's even a touch of madness in Yuki's eyes as she begs Miki to tell the teacher that she can see her...

...and then an out of breath Kurumi and Yuri come running in like the cavalry coming over the hills. I can only assume that they left their horses in the hallway.  Some indeterminate amount of time later...

...the two cavalry officers, after tending to their steeds, sit down to have a chat with Miki.  They explain how, after That Day, their morale was dropping rapidly as they just survived.  So Megu-nee and Yuri came up with the idea of creating the School Living Club.  That made it feel more fun, more like The Time Before.  And then Miki asks the $100K question: who's this Megu-nee person, and where is she now?

"She's gone."  Flashback time!

As the other two girls drag Yuki back down into the school, Megu-nee locked the door to the roof... with herself on the wrong side.  Good reason for that, though: she's been bitten.  No word on how the zombies got on the roof again, or how the School Living Club got them off the roof... oh wait.  We don't actually SEE that they're on the roof.  It could be a hallway or basement room or something like that.  Well.  That puts paid to that argument, doesn't it?  At best, she's dead.  At worst... no, that would be unpleasant, even for this show.

They explain that Yuki's little brain is indeed broken; she doesn't acknowledge that anything out of the ordinary ever occurred.  She still attends classes with her other friends, and she can still see Megu-nee.  

"This is fine."  Miki quite reasonably hopes that Yuki gets better soon.  Yuri, on the other hand, asks the newcomer to play along with the delusional one.  Our junior psychologist points out that the pink-haired loonie won't ever get better if they continue to moddycoddle her brokenness.

The atmosphere between the two gets to the point where punches are on the verge of being thrown, and it takes the intervention of The Shoveler to stop it from happening.  See, that's what happens when you add a n00b to the party.  Not everybody gets along all the time.  Why, I disliked a couple of my employees during my first bookstore run but I didn't fire them because they were good workers.  I didn't have to like them, and they didn't have to like me... they just had to do their jobs.  I won't say it didn't please me when I gave one of them a bad  review though.  I warned him, I did, and gave him plenty of time, instruction and suggestions on how to sell those Pruhferred Reeder cards, but he never did bother.  No raise for you, Skippy.  It goes without saying that I disliked a couple of the managers at the Duck U Bookstore, of course... can't say I'm fond of the Regional Manager that fired me, either, but what can I say?  I'm not perfect.  RIGHT!  The show!  We've got a show to cover!  The trio returns to the clubroom...

No, this doesn't look awkward in the least, why do you ask? 

Yuki has an idea!  By now, those four words should strike fear in your heart, much the way "why is there a clown in the bathroom?" or "let's make an anime about a magical card dealer featured on a pachinko machine!" do.  In this particular case, she wants to have a sports festival!  Reasonably, Miki inquires if there maybe isn't more important things to do since, y'know, zombie apocalypse and all?  Everybody else seems to think it's a good idea, however, so sports festival it is.  You know what that means?

MONTAGE TIME!  No, seriously, that's what happens.  We get a montage of everybody working together to make a mini-sports festival, then competing together in a display of togetherness together.  Then, when the events are all over except for the shouting...

...Kurumi has a chat with Miki.  About how thinking is all well and good, but sometimes you have to work up a little sweat now and again.  And in those times when neither thinking nor sweating get them anywhere, the School Living Club has Yuki.  She has a tendency to come up with these really stupid ideas that wind up being brilliant in retrospect... like the sports festival.  Or the the trip to the mall, she says pointedly.  Oh.  That night, after dinner...

...the real reason this episode showed the sports festival becomes clear.  Y'know, if you think about it, this is probably the first time since before That Day that Miki's really been clean.  I mean, sure, there were the sinks in the room in the mall, but I can state that trying to bathe in a sink is a futile effort.  I mean, I dunno about you, but I sure don't fit in 'em.  During her shower, she clearly comes to some sort of decision.

WHAT decision becomes quite clear as she bumps into Yuri (bow-chicka-bow-wowwww!)... and formally requests membership in the School Living Club.  And thus comes to an end this three episode long flashback.

It also brings to an end the speculation about Megu-nee's status vis a vis existence.  She daid.  And hopefully not a zombie.  That would really suck. 

And this incredibly protracted writeup comes to an end, too.  Dear merciful heavens, it took me waaaaaay too long to finish this... over two months!  Unacceptable, and I apologize for that.  Well, no, actually I don't.  I wish I had gotten it done faster, but I don't apologize for taking that long.  Still, hopefully it won't take that long for Ep07's writeup to come along!

See ya then!

Next Episode: more zombies!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 12:01 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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