I’m kinda planning on dropping this show from weekly posts, but I feel oddly guilty about doing that, so I’m keeping a document open for any stray thoughts anyway. Let’s go adventuring.
Episode 7
0:39 – This is pretty adorable. White Light discourages all family-like fraternizing, so Renge’s desperate to hang out with the new friends she’s made, even to the point of disobeying orders. Kate’s style of actually appreciating her followers as people leads to much more reliable loyalty
4:03 – This is kinda interesting. “Dreaming big” is a pretty key concept in this show – Kate’s strength is her ambition, not any specific power. It works on the world conquest side of the equation, but it also works on the childhood side, and the show really likes to cross those wires – here, their opponent wants to keep things rolling in the “world conquest” frame, but Natasha’s already turning this into one of their silly childhood games. Again, the influence of the personal keeps exerting power over the political
4:58 – I would not have assigned these two to radio duties. But hey, that’s part of the fun – Natasha on the front lines, and this idiot screwing up the morse code
5:24 – Roboko’s even doing the stupid hand thing anime girls do here
5:47 – Of course she is, she’s wearing a mask! Which in her case is more like taking one off
7:05 – We might actually be getting some plot this episode. This is about as close as White Light and Zvezda could get to a “war of ideals” right here – either stay at home having no fun or come join your friends on a treasure hunt
7:41 – Natasha’s better at this game than Egret
Also, Kate getting upset about the stones is adorable, but you don’t need me to tell you that
8:56 – Yep. Less about treasure than belief in one side or another
10:31 – If nothing else, this show is reliably very weird
10:52 – Criminal masterminds
11:37 – I love their massive stealth walkie-talkies. And this episode seems to be making more clear than most how reliant the show’s shenanigans are on the characters just committing to them
12:13 – They’re always right, Kate. Because you never doubt them
13:54 – Oh man, we’re really going there, huh? A journey back to the same daydream reality where a Ukrainian girl can be left in the sewers, find a robot friend, and come back out in Japan
15:34 – Pretty great image. This is pretty much everything the fifth episode was lacking – it’s buying entirely into its own surreal reality where things like the smoking episode can just happen and then be promptly forgotten, and letting the characters and premise do all the work of keeping it coherent. It’s not crazy for craziness’ sake – it’s the craziness of a dream, where things don’t seem to make sense but they’re all warped, refracted versions of things that do
16:24 – This show’s cleaning up nicely
16:57 – Man, nobody in this organization trusts each other. If only they had leaders they could believe in, like… hm
18:19 – Apparently there are other valid reasons to cede to Kate’s leadership
18:40 – Natasha spewing prophecy left and right
19:16 – Well that’s interesting. True, according to the thematic read I’m going with here (truth follows conviction), but I didn’t expect Kate to articulate it
20:42 – Thanks for answering my concerns, show
22:25 – HAH. Looks like we’ll be stress-testing what family really means, here. I wonder who his sister is?
…and then the preview pretty much answers that.
And Done
Sweet. That episode felt like a direct response to my concerns for the show – it leaned back on its strengths and demolished the status quo, even adding the promise of central drama to come. Happy to see it happen.
Hm I liked this episode for some of the things it introduced (Jimon’s dad was a great addition) but I found the dream sequence making zero sense. Seriously what was with that? What was Kate supposed to represent in that?
Too early to even try to decipher the message there. There are still many pieces of the puzzle not given to us yet.
As Jeroz says, we don’t have enough evidence to really draw a strict conclusion there. It could be Jimon’s insecurities (not actually feeling like a part of his new family), it could be Kate’s, or it could be something actually real within this world, or at least as real as any of this is. Mysteries abound!
The dream? It’s probably Asuta’s fears of Zvezda taking over everything else in his life, like how Kate showed up in the place he considers his “sanctuary” and dragged it into Zvezda business. To Asuta, Kate is both a ridiculous little girl and a giant black monster that keeps consuming all of the other parts of his life.
I’m gonna be sad if you’re dropping the weekly stuff, Bobduh, but I understand; a person’s only got so much time.
One of the things I really enjoy about anime is how straightforward it is. Sure there are metaphors and symbolism, but to a great extent, most shows operate under a WYSIWYG paradigm. Kill la Kill is kind of typical of this: sure, there are things going on beyond the story you see on the screen, but the story itself is pretty blunt and easy-to-understand, so much so that you could even argue that thinking about the subtext can take away from the viewer’s appreciation.
Sekai Seifuku, however, isn’t really a typical anime (despite the pervy way they dress underage kids!), and as such, I’m drawing a sort of an unusual and out-sized enjoyment from it. While it hasn’t been quite as polished since the fantastic third and fourth episodes, Zvezda Plot is doing something you really don’t see much in anime: it’s being whimsical and cheeky, and even, in its own odd way, kind of subtle.
(For example, do you think it’s possible that in episode 4, Natasha’s parents didn’t leave her underground – but actually ditched in her in a mental hospital?)
Anyway, I’m not sure if these somewhat lesser middle episodes have been a sign that the writers are out of steam, or if they’re cleverly laying the groundwork for a brilliant finale. Like you, I think this latest episode hints that they’ve now perhaps fully regained their footing.
Which is why, more than any other show now airing, I’m really looking forward to seeing where Sekai Seifuku goes from here.
Yeah, I still consider Sekai Seifuku the show with the “highest ceiling” that I’m watching – it’s toying with interesting ideas, and has already established a universe where the rules of logic work in service of the rules of character ambition or emotion, so it could still really go anywhere. Personally, I wish a lot more shows were like that.
Keep in mind that this show has 4 different writers for different episodes. I am not sure if it’s individual efforts or do they collab and let one person take the credit