- …and it all was going so well too.
- With twin-tailed Mashiro and the idiot captain leaving the competition in the first round, Asuka and Misaki were all that remained to fly the flag for the school. But while Misaki has the sense to take a competition like this seriously, Asuka is still in her own little world. Much to the surprise, wonder and confusion of her opponents, she just enjoys playing Flying Circus…as if it weren’t a competition at all. Only our resident arrogant douchebag decided to ruin it for the both of them. As a professional who takes Flying Circus very seriously, and as someone who had already rubbed Misaki the wrong way, he could see straight through both of them: Misaki’s anger and Asuka’s naivety. So perhaps it was the sudden shock that he was actually losing some points was what tipped him over the edge and turned him into Super Saiyan mode.
- Shindou is the guy everyone loves to hate; his cocky arrogance and inflated ego sways not just Asuka and Misaki, but the entire competition. As the odds-on favorite to win, we all know that at this stage he will win now. But it’s only now when we realise that the show won’t probably end with the competition final. All of them will return to their schools, reflect on their performances, take out their anger on each other and, as the male MC in a visual novel adaptation, Masaya must choose one of them.
- Aokana is starting to show its visual novel colors now. With all three girls out of the competition, they can only look up, cheer for the underdogs and hope one of them will slaughter Shindou. Unlikely, but they can only hope. Even with her dramatic loss, Asuka takes it with grace, leaving Misaki out cold. As Shindou’s previous opponent, she is left wondering lots of things:
- Why did he decide to perform his super-professional moves on Asuka instead of her?
- Is her reckless anger getting the better of her because she took it too seriously?
- Are the other girls favoring Asuka because she got so good so quickly?
- …more importantly, is Masaya favoring Asuka?
- This was most certainly a turning episode in the show. It has shown us that Aokana is just all about Flying Circus; the relationship between Masaya, Asuka and Misaki is about to be tested in these next episodes. Misaki could well become the third wheel: the girl with the unrequited crush. Of course, with pretty much any visual novel, there are always the hidden endings, with Masaya disappearing off into the sunset with someone completely different, or just remain single or something. Maybe he’ll choose Satouin (as far as I know, that is an option in the game!), or the rather non-existent vice captain in the blue hair, or even his teacher. Even the KyoAni adaptations of Studio Key games offered different choices (Kanon and Clannad, I mean), and while no romance was hinted, Little Busters! did the same too. More than one romance shown in Aokana would be kind of cool, but of course we won’t get that because the Masaya in this anime is no playboy. In fact, one thing I have noticed in him throughout the show is that he shows next to no emotion…not on the basis that he has none to give, but instead he is keeping it inside. Could he be purposefully holding it all in because he has no desire to play anymore? He is the hardest to read out of all of them, and I’m actually finding it rather frustrating…
- Well as Asuka, Misaki and Mashiro are all out, the competition is now a storyline that is merely in the background; for all we know, next week could be the last ‘competition episode’. It’s something I ought to have anticipated, with this being a visual novel adaptation; the focus of any VN is on the characters/girls, and not on whatever goes on in the background. I know what will be up next week, but at the same time I don’t. A difficult one, and Aokana‘s episode titles only make it worse.