selector infected WIXOSS

Question. Does episode 8 qualify as a Wham Episode, or just a normal episode with lots of Wham Lines?

Either way, I'd say that was a roller coaster, and I think we'll be damn lucky if episode 9 isn't any worse. I also don't think we're that lucky, so I'm half dreading next week.

...Heh, so not only is Satomi a Selector^note Of course he is, how else would he have known who was involved in this tricky battle? he no longer exists! So the LRIG in Satomi's doing all this to get back at humans in general.

Chinatsu's facade is losing some focus. But Meru's making sure she stays the course...

Hm? It seems Kiyoi knows what will happen should a Selector gets all five coins needed to win. What with warning Hanna to not pursue the mysteries of the game any further...

Speaking of Hanna... I don't like where this could be going for her...*gulp*

That next episode preview... I'm of the opinion that win or lose, Episode 9 is the end of the line for Hanna and her story.

Also, is it just me, or are LRI Gs just plain untrustworthy this season? I mean, there's no real incentive that we know of to make them want to win, unlike last time, where a Selector that wins gets bodyjacked, and given how Riru and Meru have acted...

LRI Gs have always been a mixed bag when it came to trustworthiness. The rules prevent them from giving out too much information about the results of the game and in the old game they had to struggle between wanting to get their bodies back and befriending, then betraying, their Selectors.

New game they get the bodies of their Selectors, but with the exception of Satomi, of whoever he really is, none of them seem to be enjoying it much. Their existence and personalities are shaped by their Selectors' memories, so the only personal attachments they have are with them. I guess they have an emotional investment in winning for their Selectors.

Or maybe there's another secret behind winning we aren't privy to yet.

9. Well, that's two more mysteries cleared up. How did the battles start up again? The collective despair of the previous Selectors willed it into existence or something. I hope Kiyoi called Ruuko and gave her an earful about how she sucks at this whole breaking the system gig. Second, winning doesn't seem to have any unexpected side effects. The LRIG may try to twist the knife when rearranging memories, but nothing else apparently happened. Hanna is probably out for the rest of the show. Kiyoi gives an abbreviated version of her backstory that we already knew about from Peeping Analyze. Still no clue on what her goal is, though she's probably a good guy. Chinatsu "The Edge" Morikawa gets to witness a rather gruesome scene, even by Wixoss standards. That's one person who is screwed even if what Ruuko did last time is repeated.

...Words fail me. I can't really describe how I'm feeling after... that.

All I can really do is wait to see the aftermath next week, and in the meantime, try to take my mind off of what I just saw.

...Heh. So it really is the same universe. After Ruuko busted the old system up, this new system runs on the darkness within defeated Selecctors' hearts. WIXOSS: Carnival of Despair.

Poor Hanna. She's in a bad place right now. Suzuko has to keep her from doing something reckless. Or deadly, in the case of that LRIG who went and ended her existence. The new system is crueler than the last, honestly. Unlike the previous installment, these LRIGs, made from the memories of their Selectors, have no wishes to (try to) fulfill outside of returning said memories. Should they take over the Selector s body, they have to cope with existing as a human. That LRIG couldn't do it, and Aya's having trouble adjusting too. And there's the likelihood that should Selectors win and take back their memories and remember an unpleasant moment in that gap of lost memories their LRIG will unashamedly taunt them.^note Curse you, Anonymous! If she could mock Hanna like that, what's stopping Mom and Donor from doing the same thing if Rio and Shou win everything!?

edited 3rd Dec '16 10:34:30 AM by Diamite

Guess I was wrong about LRI Gs having an emotional investment in their Selectors/Friends winning. Unless Anonymous is an exception and just a horrible little monster.

Given that her name comes from image board design and culture, in both Japanese and English... that is entirely possible. But between her enjoying breaking Hanna, Creepy... er, Satomi in general, and Riru's acting like Kyubey, I'm not so sure any of them can be trusted this season, especially once you factor in they only get to "live" if their Selector loses... and we've seen what happens to them in the aftermath of that.

"Riru's acting like Kyubey,"

I see more Kyubey in Meru, actually. She's the one with the cheerful tone who subtly pushes Chinatsu in certain directions.

Looking back, Anonymous' cryptic, borderline Gadfly behavior and personality makes it obvious that she didn't care about Hanna. I was just under the impression there was some friendship involved deep down. Shows me, I guess.

Riru and Dona at least, I want to believe actually care about their Selectors.

Er, when I said Riru was acting like Kyubey, I was referring to the end of episode... 3, I think it was, where her response to Suzuko demanding to know why she hadn't mentioned what it means to lose was "you didn't ask".

Ironically, this time around, I can actually buy Riru not knowing the history behind the Selector battles for one simple reason: Why would she need to know that?

The LRIGs in general are kind of uninteresting this time compared to the last batch. Not really being their own character doesn't help, but Riru and Meru in particular are just unmemorable to me. It's one of the reasons I feel this is weaker than Selector.

edited 3rd Dec '16 7:44:23 PM by Sterok

I think Meru's got more screen time than Riru at this point. Yeah, the LRIGs have gotten shafted in terms of character development this series. Though honestly you could say the same for most of the characters.

For a show whose big focus is on the old friendship between Suzuko and Chinatsu, it's been slow to get the former to form any relationships. It was only like two episodes ago she started regularly hanging out with Hana.

In the old series, Ruko had Tama, then Yuzuki, Hitoe and their respective LRIGs to hang out with, and later Iona to bounce off of. Here, we don't get as much. There's plenty of characters, but they aren't forming meaningful relationships with each other.

edited 3rd Dec '16 8:57:36 PM by Parable

10. Suzuko really wants to be actually helpful to someone for once. Even The Edge is traumatized after that scene. Shirai is persistent, even though he's never made any progress. Meru is just a yes-woman, and possibly evil. Whoops, The Edge has a regret. Here's the big one, Satomi vs Kiyoi. And... so much for the Kiyoi hype. Of course she can't take down the main antagonist, but I still hoped she would make him sweat a bit. Hopefully she has another trick up her sleeve, even if it's just calling for backup. Satomi is having his fun, but he's got 4 coins, so he can't win another battle for awhile unless he wants to forfeit the OP Carnival. Huh, Donor genuinely cared for Shirai. That makes 1 good LRIG this round. Now we're at 3 for 3 on guys being complete garbage. Kazuki would be ashamed.

Taking bets on whether there's going to be a second season. Hard to see how everything gets properly wrapped up in 2 episodes (though there is a way to take down Satomi at least), so I say yes.

Meru's full on Poisonous Friend at this point. She keeps egging on Chinatsu even as it becomes increasingly obvious that Satomi is just using her as a toy he wants to break in the end. Darn that Satomi vs Kiyoi battle. At least it shows Satomi can't immediately exploit a person's weaknesses. He had to prod around a bit at Kiyoi's past before he struck a nerve. I like how, at first at least, she just shut him down when he started getting all innuendo on her. Pity it didn't last.

I think it's funny how Riru was based on Suzu's memories of Chinatsu, sort of like an idealized version of the person she felt she needed to depend on. Yet for the better part of the series, Riru's been totally sidelined. Suzu hardly needs her for anything.

Then you got Meru, who presumably was made with Chinatsu's memories of Suzuko. At the start of the series she certainly acted more like a grown up version of the younger Suzu. Now though, she's the one who is propping up Chinatsu, subtly guiding her in this direction or that and stiffening her resolve every time she starts wavering.

Suzuko made a Chinatsu she ended up not needing and Chinatsu made a Suzuko she's totally dependent on.

And Shou is outta here due to being unable to maintain his resolve while dueling Rio. Jeez, the male Selectors had a very poor showing.

That being said, Donor actually cared. That's nice, at least.

Agh. Even Kiyoi couldn't stay composed in the face of true darkness.

Another positive: Looks like Hanna's gonna be alright.

...Interesting. Now I can't help but think that should Chinatsu win everything and rid herself of the "chain" named Suzuko, she will have a major breakdown. And I'm pretty sure Mel will use that moment to laugh in her face.

edited 11th Dec '16 10:35:53 AM by Diamite

11. At least Hanna has recovered. And now, the battle we've all been waiting for. The problem with not understanding the card game is that I can't tell who is supposed to be winning or losing at any point, so I don't know if sudden comebacks make sense or are stupid. Suzuko didn't even need Honest to get Chinatsu to spill her heart out. Not bad. Of course Satomi wanted more despair and less reconciliation. Next time, we find out if there's a season 2.

This episode... this was honestly pretty close to my best case scenario, as of the end of the previous episode. And you really don't want to read some of my worse case theories...

Really, the only issue I can see is Creepy showing up when he did, but I still expected that; I call him Creepy for a reason, after all.

But overall... two philosophies entered. One emerged, stronger than ever, while the other was left discarded, like yesterday's garbage. The healing has begun, and next time, it's hope vs cancer.

Right on! Suzuko got her Chinatsu back, and didn't even need Honest to make it happen!

What really surprised was Meru's reaction to all of this. I so expected her to turn on Chinatsu at some point in the battle, but at the end she gracefully accepted that Chinatsu was unable to keep her facade going any longer. So, good job there.

Time to give the Despair Junkie what he wants. ...Wait, I'm sure he doesn't like his own despair.

Have we seen Suzuko use Honest at all since episode 5, when Hanna managed to "bypass" it?

Then again, if she's been using it offscreen and winning, I doubt we'd know, due to how the ante rules supposedly work...

Guess I was wrong about Meru.

Season's over, and I'm underwhelmed. Suzuko did make some clever use of her Coin Betting, that was fun to watch. But overall, the characters weren't as fun as the first series', the LRI Gs were practically non-existent. I actually liked Suzuko but I was never really sold on her motivation.

Is the game just over? Are the LRI Gs in the Selector bodies there forever? Did Chinatsu ended up losing memories? The ending implies there's more to come, but Suzu and Chinatsu were basically living happily ever after, with no Hanna or Shou in the mix.

I think the game is still running, the way "Narumi" was acting is classic Aya so yeah, no grand fix of everything like last time, and given the fact that Suzuko re-introduced herself to Chinatsu at the end there...

I'm pretty sure the cost Chinatsu paid for her coins vanishing was her memories of Suzuko. Catch is, her feelings were untouched, and there doesn't appear to anything actively preventing them from becoming friends again like that one girl from Infected had when she lost.

So yes, things are still screwed up, and the Selector Battles continue... but for Suzuko Homura, Chinatsu Morikawa, Hanna Mikage, and all the other winners and losers, their part in this story is done.

For now.

I guess I missed that part about Chinatsu losing her memories of Suzu. I thought they were just trying to make a fresh start. Your explanation makes sense though.

Welp. Someone pointed something out to me on SV, and I confirmed that it's real. Remember how I said this two posts ago?

"So yes, things are still screwed up, and the Selector Battles continue... but for Suzuko Homura, Chinatsu Morikawa, Hanna Mikage, and all the other winners and losers, their part in this story is done.

For now."

Take a good look at the title logo at the end of the episode, after the "static". That doesn't say Incited, it says Conflated. Season 2 confirmed. Looks like those stories aren't over quite yet...

Fun final battle, and bloody hell Joker is broken, but underwhelming overall. No big twists or anything else shocking really. I guess Chinatsu losing her memories counts, but it felt appropriate more than everything else. The guys are all screwed still, but I guess that other girl is happy? And what of Kiyoi and Carnival? Carnival looks like Ulith 3.0, so Kiyoi is probably going to keep chasing her.

Weaker than Selector, but still enjoyable. The main problem was the main characters and their LRIGs just not being that compelling. Side characters were decent at least. The despair didn't taste as good without a more sweeping change, and while Satomi was a decent antagonist he couldn't match the Akira/Iona/Ulith combo. Hopefully the Conflated is a bit more exciting.