Okay, so this project is succeeding about as well as Ben-To!, except now I'm falling behind on a currently-airing series.  Swell.  Ep05 aired a couple of days ago, and I still haven't done Ep03 yet... not the best plan for success ever, I'll admit.  Fortunately for me, if there were two episodes I could give short shrift to, it'd be these.  Simply put, for all intense porpoises, they're repeats of Ep02, just with new girls being added to Gendo Plushyferret's combat team.  I'm going to assume that you remember what happened in Ep01 and Ep02; if you don't, feel free to go back and re-read the writeups.  I think they're pretty clever, m'self, but then I would, wouldn't I?  So go ahead and catch up, why don'tcha?  I can wait... here's some music for you while you read.

You back?  You've got the basic idea in your head again?  Okay, good.  Let's get on with Nutshelling Ep03 and Ep04!



EP03
This is our new girl, Wakaba Saegusa.

She's your standard high school anime kendo girl, which of course means she's the National Champion in the sport.  Swear to god, I'd love to see a fight between her, Tama-chan from Bamboo Blade, and Saeko from HSotD... it'd be a hoot-and-a-half to see the different animation styles going at it.  Who do I have to bribe to make this happen?  Anyway, Wakaba is the reigning Big Man (well...) On Campus, adored by teachers and students alike.  Of course Our Hero Akane runs afoul of her on her first day in the school.

Akane hands the new girl her lunch in a brown paper sack, and it's cold eel on carbonized toast with plenty of brussel sprouts.  Thus Wakaba is disgraced in her own mind, for whatever reason.  This forces her to spend the rest of the episode trying to have a duel with Our Hero, chasing her around campus like an idiot.  Eventually, Akane tires of running away, accepts her challenge, and the two of them have an Epic Duel^©.  It's basically even: Wakaba the incredibly talented kendogirl, versus Akane who appears to have superhuman strength, dexterity and speed. It's almost like she's been created to be a fighting unit... hmmmmmmm.  In the process of trying to hit each other with sticks, the two of them become friends.  Well, heck, if I had known it was that easy to make friends when I was in high school, I would have been whackin' people left and right, instead of being the miserable, ignored loner I was back then (yes, Vauc, even you, in our Junior and Senior years.  Difference is, you I forgave...). 

I got off-topic again, didn't I? 

Anyway, while the two of them are Whacking Each Other For Friendship, an Alone appears out of the sea.  Akane puts the match on hold, changes into Vivi Dred, and joins Aoi (Vivi Dblue) in trying to kill it.  They singularly fail, and the red-glowing laser marshmallows almost fry Wakaba and Momo.  Gendo Plushyferret, never missing his chance to make his harem larger, gets Akane to issue Wakaba a Prius Key.

And now we have Vivi Dgreen.  Unlike the creation of the previous two magical girls, we don't get to see what Kendogirl can do in Dgreen form.  The Alone is just too close to turning the school, and ohbytheway the Phlebotinum Engine, into Alone Chow.  Well, that's just unacceptable.  It's Dockin' Time!

Our Hero does seem to get around, doesn't she?  If she grows up, she's gonna be awfully popular amongst the guys, and not because of her sparkling personality... unless she becomes a fan of Milk Morinaga.  Giving out super-powers is probably a good way to get into someone's bed... certainly better than dinner and a movie.  Anyway, the docking commences and we get...

Vividgreen!  Immediately, her sword opens up, overcharges and boom, one shot kill on the Alone.  Episode over, let's all go home.  Except for one thing... the Dark Girl was there again.  And guess who's in the same class with Akane, Aoi, and Wakaba?

We still haven't learned her name yet, nor why she's apparently helping the Alones.  What I really want to learn is where she got that kickass scarf, I really like it.  Somewhere in the back of my head, I'm guessing that Gendo Plushyferret is trying to take over the world, the Vivid(colors) are unwitting pawns in his scheme, and the Dark Girl is actually the hero of this little story.  That'd be a neat plot twist, and would kick this show into amazing territory.  Of course, it won't happen, but we can only dream.  Well, perhaps we'll learn who she is in Ep04... let's find out!

Ep04
Our new girl this time out is Himawari Shinomiya, and is she ever a piece of work.  Let's meet her, shall we?  Well, yeah, because that's what this episode is all about.

Number 5 is alive!  Yep, that's right, our new girl, Himawari, is actually... a robot!  Trying docking with that, Akane you redheaded freak (editor's note: the owner and proprietor of Wonderduck's Pond is himself a redhead)!

No, actually, Himawari is something even worse than a robot... she's a hacker.  And a recluse.  And a genius... she actually understands the Phlebotinum Engine well enough to speak to Gendo Plushyferret about it later.  And a misfit.  Really, all she needs is a pair of glasses and she'd be the stereotypical computer nerd.  As to why she's a reclusive genius misfit hacker nerd, well, that's also stereotypical.  She was shunned by her grade school class unjustly; because of this, she decided she didn't need friends and sent Number 5 to class instead of showing up in person.  All around the world, students are heard to be saying "so a little bullying means you don't have to go to school anymore?  Jeez, why can't I be in the Japanese school system?"  I was never bullied in school... mostly, I was ignored.  I'm not sure which is worse; at least if you're being bullied, someone is paying attention to you. 

I'm off-topic again.

Through a miraculous series of events, Number 5 is broken by the redheaded freak, and the RGB crew goes to Himawari's place to apologize.  They meet her, realize she's weird, and head for the hills, secure in the knowledge that they're all cool and stuff.  Think about it: Aoi's richer than God, Wakaba is a gifted athlete admired by the entire population of the school, and Akane is... well, without her, the world would devolve into energy starvation (she's the key to the whole Vivid thing, after all).  And Himawari's just a nerd.  No, no, that's not what happens, proving once and for all that this really is a fantasy show.  No, Team RGB talk Himawari into going outside to see the power relay building for the Phlebotinum Engine, of which she has a poster on her wall.  Just as they get there, an Alone attacks, the power relay is damaged, things get all tense and stuff, and only Himawari can keep the relay from getting all 'splody.  She does, and when the Alone begins to power up thanks to the Dark Girl, another angel gets her wings Himawari gets her Prius key. 

The least impressive look on her face possible.  As it turns out, Vivi Dyellow is a hidden badass.  Her weapon is actually a kickass shield/drone thingy that, even at normal strength, can deflect (and reflect) glowy marshmallows.  Almost immediately, she's got the hang of the Vivid System and just like that, she and Akane dock.  Prior to this, I've only shown a tiny picture of the resulting Vivid girl, but the look of the ascended Vividyellow is so striking, I've gotta show the whole thing.

Maybe it's the red/yellow-combo hair.  Maybe it's the expression on her face.  Perhaps it's the flouncy dress.  Maybe it's the huge tracts of land.  Whatever, this is probably my favorite ascended color yet.  Oh, and speaking of badass, she doesn't just one-shot the Alone, she friggin' curbstomps it, boiling it away like a lobster in a pot.  Actually, it's kinda frightening... even Aoi and Wakaba seem stunned by it.  But in the end, everybody's happy, there's a new friend in the mix, her hatred of people has been cured, and now we might actually get into the meat of the plot!

Yes, the Dark Girl was in the episode.  No, nobody's noticed her yet.  Indeed, in the show proper we still don't know her name (though it's revealed in the preview for the next episode).  In fact, Ep05 looks to be about her... and hopefully, I'll do a full write-up for it!

While I'm disappointed in the end of Team Additive Color Mixing, now we've got Team Aquos.  Too bad that doesn't really work, but maybe this'll be different.  Right, hope you've enjoyed the Nutshelling of Episodes 03 and 04.  See ya for Ep05!

Next episode: more zombies!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 01:58 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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