- Koito is on a mission. A mission to use the bad-ass abilities she discovered accidentally as a kid to get rid of all menacing Phantoms…even if it means cutting herself off from the outside world. Her back-story says it all: the child of two parents who seriously freaked out when they discovered their pride and joy wasn’t destined to be an OL when she graduates from college, and be the child cast away from her Phantom-fearing middle school. She found her comfort zone in this new high school, with its own Phantom club. Her bad-ass attitude and behavior, as well as her red locks, has made her best girl. Reina can act all sweet, silly and innocent, and Mai can be too rough most of the time, but Koito just doesn’t seem to care…and that’s why I like her so much. Her aloof and somewhat pessimistic look on life was most likely brought on by her childhood, but I believe it’s something that has suited her down to the ground, much like Hitagi from the Monogatari series, or Utaha from Saekano. Making her as moe as Reina is stupid. I do like how KyoAni chose to incorporate those headphones as a part of her identity; they can be, after all, used as an escape from life, something Koito did, and continues to do.
- …and oh is Mai upset. When Haruhiko inadvertently steps into Koito’s Phantom attack which temporarily loses her vocal powers, he feels responsible and spends more time with her, much to one certain upperclassmen’s disgust. Haruhiko belongs to Mai, after all…and he is not allowed to have any other friends outside of their team/family. She pushes him around, insults him at every chance she can get, and often treats him like something on the end of her shoe, so this week was Haruhiko’s chance not to be in Mai’s face finally. I had the initial personal opinion that there ought to be an episode about Haruhiko himself, and that in it, he would snap after Mai pushes him too far. It would be an episode about how he got into Phantoms, how he knows so much about them, why his sealing powers are actually useful, etc…all something that will raise Mai’s own tsundere levels.
- But this was Koito’s show. A filler episode, but still of very good quality. We had her obligatory back-story and her aloof attitude started straight from the get-go. A part of me is a little in envy, as I am not so hot when it comes to random strangers myself. And not just that, but I would kill for some decent and expensive noise-cancelling headphones.
- It would have been nice to see Haruhiko snap, leave Mai and Reina for good and run off into the sunset with Koito (whether she wanted it or not), but no…happy endings are happy endings. No trauma in KyoAni shows allowed. In this case, Sensei becomes the puppet-master who has all of these kids on strings, and the final get-together where everyone teams up to seal the Phantom when Koito is injured yet again forces her to re-evaluate her mission. She has had this personal vendetta against one certain Phantom since a kid, and after seeing this week’s Phantom is that one, she believes she is the only one who should seal it. And it’s only when Sensei notices the differences after the sealing…which makes us all think she knew the whole time, and only wanted these guys to get along. As a former member of the company who released this so-called virus which affected the human race, it wouldn’t surprise me that the manipulative methods she was taught at that company were used here.
- With the tiny little girl and her little teddy bear finally brought in the limelights, the next episode could be her episode. She seems to know more than she actually lets on; perhaps more about the virus, or the company itself, or Phantoms in general…stuff that these hapless kids don’t know themselves. However, we had yet another mindless filler; we’ve had the theme park one already, so the beach/swimming pool episode ought to be coming soon. But has this episode made Koito one of the gang? A part of me says yes, and the other part says no. She is just fine as she is and doesn’t need to be pampered and mollycoddled like Reina is.
- So next week is a little bit of a mystery to me; just make sure Koito doesn’t change. Best girl.