The chapter begins with Akio helping Miho on her morning routine, as she uses crutches to move without putting weight on her diaphragm or jostling her ribs.
It is revealed that very few people like what Shiho did to Miho, Akio least of all. Miho gets much more support after news of her being disowned gets out, and the SDF considers forcing Shiho to resign. When you consider that Shiho ostensibly disowned Miho so that she can continue her crusade against boys in tankery, disowning Miho comes of as counterproductive given the blow to Shiho's image, and Shiho's struggle seems Quixotic.
Akio notes that while his mother has often scolded him, and he believes he sometimes deserves it (not that we've ever seen Rebecca doing it), she wouldn't even consider disowning him, and he notes that being disowned isn't as common in the US(nor in Japan; one forum post I read points out that the most Shiho can do is cut Miho out of her will, which means little until Shiho dies and the estate is divided).
Miho returns to school, although doing that much is difficult, and Sodoko's understanding enough to not mark her or Akio late. Akio carries Miho's things, and Miho's Class Representative helps her into the seat.
At lunch, Miho is called into the student council office, and Miho seems to dread the meeting. Saori, oblivious to it all, offers to save Miho a seat (although her seat should be assigned; in Little Army, Hitomi and Chihiro became close while they were young as a result of having names close to each other in the alphabet), while Akio wonders if things can possibly get any worse for Miho, and hopes that the Student Council, as her friends, have good news for her. While Miho develops more of a rapport with the student council in canon, she doesn't seem close enough to be friends with them.
On the way over, Akio finds out the root of the problem- Miho's worried about her rent. Akio can't do much to help, merely suggesting that her friends will find a way to help. While it's nice to see that Akio doesn't automatically know what to do here, and he's suggesting Anglerfish Team will help out, the latter doesn't end up happening.
Miho enters the student council office, and as it's described and the people within are introduced again, it's as though it's the first time we've been here in this fic, although it was seen before in Miho's first scene at Oarai.
Momo gets down to business, revealing that Saburo is there, and Saburo reveals his intention to sponsor the club, by replacing the Type 89 and converting the KV-1S, with a "loner" tank until the former replacement is ready.
Miho, while astonished and grateful for Saburo's support, brings up her concerns, asking if she can still be captain now that Shiho is no longer paying for her tuition and rent. It's worth noting that Miho calls her mother by her first name while saying this, which is quite disrespectful, and even more so by Japanese standards. One has to wonder whether Miho responded to Shiho no longer viewing her as a daughter by declaring that Shiho is no longer her mother, but this appears to be a temporary thing.
The others find it hard to believe that Shiho would go that far, but Chishiki, the treasurer, notes that while the tuition is paid for the year, a monthly rent of 40,000 yen is due in two weeks. $400 isn't all that expensive as far as rents go, especially considering that housing prices are apparently quite high in Japan, but I can see that it would be highly difficult for families to afford. As Miho begins to despair, Saburo makes a phone call.
The scene cuts to Maho, who is meeting with her mother and expressing her displeasure for disowning Miho, saying that she has every right to get upset with Shiho for disowning her sister, since Miho is her sister. Shiho, however, points out that Miho is now free of her responsibilities to the family, asking if that was what Maho wanted all along, and Maho can only say that she did not want to see Miho cast out. While something of an oversimplification, Maho has a point; it sounds reasonable that Maho would want Miho to be able to choose her own path in life without worrying about Shiho's reaction, as Maho would believe that as long as one of her daughters can succeed her, she won't worry about the other one.
Shiho, however, says that so long as Miho remains in the family, Miho would have to live up to the family name, and Shiho would be unable to oppose boys in tankery. The former essentially means that Maho could not possibly have succeeded in her goal, while the latter is poorly supported. Perhaps some of Shiho's critics would have brought up the presence of boys on Miho's team, but the presence of boys at the school was forced upon them by outside factors.
Maho doesn't accept Shiho's argument but doesn't respond to it. She then gets a call from Saburo, who informs her about Miho's need for rent money, which Maho decides to pay. This is a noble gesture, but I have to wonder where Maho is getting the money to pay for Miho's rent.
Maho returns to talking to Shiho and hears from Shiho that she will continue to pay for Miho's education despite disowning her. Shiho then points out that even if she did not, she knows Maho would.
After Maho asks whether Shiho considered Miho's feelings at all, Shiho then defends her actions, saying that Miho has blossomed outside of her family, and by being disowned, now can follow her own path, rather than being expected to join the JGSDF and become an officer (again, that's not necessarily the only path up for tankers). Maho, however, makes a rebuttal- Miho wanted Shiho's approval, which is why she persisted as long as she did as a freshman. This is despite the fact that in "Little Army", Miho, after realizing that just how far her mother believes in going for the sake of victory, and that her sister, whom she had emulated, wants her to find her own path (especially since she sees her own path as a sacrifice she makes for Miho), Miho decides to do tankery not for the sake of her family, but because of the fun times she had with her friends.
RYSS Evaluation 4
- Maho vs. Shiho
- Final Grade: A-
- Instructor Comments: Student effectively makes her point- perhaps Miho will be better off not having to live up to the Nishizumi family’s expectations, but being cut off from her parents and sister is incredibly painful to her. Student effectively conveys Miho’s emotional distress, albeit while overestimating how much she actively tries to please Shiho. Standing up to one’s own mother, especially not a mother like Shiho, is no small task. Excellent work.
Shiho takes the criticism from Maho somewhat better than she does when it comes from Saburo or Akio, and says that her husband said as much. This makes me wonder how much the author is going out of his way to avoid giving Mr. Nishizumi any screen time or even a name, although it is nice to see that he doesn't just go along with his wife when she goes this far.
Shiho continues, and says that she was not planning to do so when she came into Miho's hospital room, but when Miho refused to punish Mako, she had no choice. This seems to contradict previous indications that Shiho had been planning to disown Miho as early as Chapter 3 because of having boys on her team, and while I can see that Shiho would have ejected Mako from the team and expected Miho to do the same, that being the catalyst for Miho being disowned seems a bit petty, even for Shiho. It's also unfortunate that it's the greatest contribution Mako has had to the story thus far.
Shiho concludes that Miho's friends will take care of her, and Maho will as well. Learning that her mother has known all along about her secret motivation behind her efforts surprises Maho, and Shiho says that she is proud of Maho. It's touching but somewhat Out of Character for Shiho to do this, since she places her school above all else. If Maho becomes a worthy heiress for Miho's sake, Shiho would be glad, but while she wouldn't oppose Maho's reason, she wouldn't congratulate her for it, either.
Saburo relays the news about Maho's assistance to Akio and Miho. This still isn’t enough for Akio, who keeps insisting that Maho could have done more, and when Miho says that Maho would have done more if she could, Akio reluctantly backs down, apparently due to not wanting to start an argument with his girlfriend rather than accepting her point or agreeing to disagree.
Well then, Akio, I did have a longer rant about this in mind, but I’d rather not get into an argument with you about this, clearly seeing as you did something similar with Miho. Consider this responding in kind.
Saburo remarks that Akio was always "a sensitive boy," as Rebecca put it, which I hope implies that he thinks Akio is overly harsh on Maho, even if that's a fairly mild commentary on Akio's deplorable attitude toward Maho. Miho then changes the subject back to his sponsorship, and Miho's pleased that Saburo got a great deal of what was on her wish list, even if she didn't tell him about it, and discusses how to mount the machine guns.
The scene abruptly shifts to Yoshi, thinking about his troubles with girls, recalling that he hasn't spoken to girls for months, but now he's the sole male member in the largest tank crew. He tries to talk to them like they're boys, but they're girls, which means that they're more alien to him than even the Model Club. Of course, he doesn't have many people to talk to, since the other freshmen chose different electives, and the others are ahead of him. It's an interesting commentary on the Senpai/Kōhai relationship, and how relationships between Japanese students of different years are even less equal than those between their American counterparts (although I have seen close friendships between those of different years in which the status as senpai and kohai is not even acknowledged), even if it doesn't go into that much detail.
Back to the girls, Yoshi has trouble when they include him in their girly interests, such as romance films (although Kelly's Heroes is far from a chick flick), and asking him about who he thinks is cute. In spite of that, he does realize that he has a thing for Ayumi, since she's strong enough to load 75mm shells by herself and a bit of a tomboy (which is mainly mentioned in her character profile). Unfortunately, after Aya suggests that Yuuki(whose name is spelled "Yuki," which, in Japanese, would mean "snow," rather than "courage") is interested in him and asks him if he's dating anyone, Ayumi gets upset and leaves.
This scene isquite a change of pace from Miho being injured, disowned and cut off in rapid succession. I also have to wonder whether putting males and females together always has to result in romance. There are plenty of mundane problems for the new boys; they're in an unfamiliar school, surrounded by many new faces, and perhaps things are done differently. All those are interesting issues that could be explored for at least a scene or two.
As the argument among Rabbit Team takes place in the background, and the rest of Anglerfish and Shark Teams eat lunch, Sodoko drags Heishi off for hitting on girls. Anglerfish and Shark Team ask who will lead Anglerfish Team now that Miho's injured; Yukari isn't even sure that Miho's been ruled out, and incorrectly guesses that the meeting was to choose the substitute commander, making Miho's friends seem quite out of the loop when it comes to her. Masaru asks who would take her post, and Yukari is almost universally chosen, as she commanded against Anzio. Saori concedes that she wasn't that good as commander, and Hana says she'll have to work hard to load the gun as well as fire it. It's an interesting look at how Miho's absence affects Anglerfish Team, but the team came off as oddly unconcerned about Miho's present state of being.
After lunch and afternoon classes, tankery practice begins, and the new gear is unloaded. Miho addresses the tankery team, informing them of Saburo's sponsorship.
Duck Team learns that their tank is being replaced, and are not happy about it, although Miho convinces them to accept the decision, reassuring them that they will use the Type 89 as a training tank. This nicely keeps with OVA 6, in which, upon seeing that their tank has seemingly become a Porsche Tiger through Leopon Team's magic show, become quite angry.
Miho also says that with her being injured, Momo is now in charge for the match with Dalian this weekend, and the match after that. Miho apologizes for her absence, but the girls tell her to get well soon.
The chapter ends by introducing Oarai's next opponent, Dalian Academy, spending more time on describing their arsenal than on their OCs' personalities. The girls complain about how strict their instructor is, and note that while Oarai won't be a pushover without Miho, thy can win by confusing them or leading them into a trap.
What I liked
- Maho standing up for and agreeing to support Miho
- The scene with Yoshi was fairly funny, and it was a nice look at some of the issues the boys are having.
- Seeing Shiho in a more human light.
What I didn’t like
- Akio still is judgmental toward Maho.
- Some of Shiho's expressed reasons seemed to contradict earlier developments.
- The problems boys are having at their new school could be explored a bit more.
My Impression of Akio So far: He seems hesitant to give Maho any credit, which is quite frustrating. I hope he will eventually reconsider his perspective and apologize to Maho.
