Release The SPYCE

I don't think this show has had the right tone for irredeemable villains, or anything too serious, really. At first I thought it was a regular schlocky spy adventure, but then it had some CGDCT episodes, and then it tried to be serious, and then it went back to the schlocky spy stuff, then back to the cute girls... I'm starting to think this show had a more troubled production than it looks like it did, because it's kinda messy when you take a look on it as a whole.

Going back to possible plot developments, Assuming that Mei is actually a triple agent who faked her betrayal, it's likely that Katrina and Byakko will have a role in the finale as well; remember how they all stayed behind along with Hatsume while the rest of the girls went to Okinawa, and Hatsume herself hasn't appeared since she """died""". It's all too likely that they could discuss a fake betrayal plan while the rest of the girls were away, although the thought of Byakko of all girls being a co-conspirator is hilarious.

It would make good sense, yes. Really, I think the show accidentally tipped it's hand by having Mei act so outlandishly psychotic as a traitor. She's constantly doing stuff that can be understood as giving the girls a chance to escape or talking loudly about the next part of Moryo's plans. Like I said, either the most obvious triple agent ever or she the most ineffective villain in the show. I find it really weird that this is how the show decided to go about this plot point. Also, I can imagine Byakko was just kind of dragged into the whole thing. She was eating with Katrina when the diner exploded, maybe her food was laced with sleeping pills or something.

Also, I was thinking just now, what happened to Dolte? Wasn't she supposed to come back at some point? That was the impression I got, but there hasn't been even a hint of her continued existence.

Edited by TheLovecraftian on Dec 15th 2018 at 10:45:38 AM

I don't actually have much of a problem with that since in my opinion the cheesier the show is the better it becomes. I think that a lot of people were just shocked at the emotional brutality of the scene.

Also I'm pretty sure that Dolte was just meant to be a one-off villain, especially since she's not as cute or sympathetic as someone like Teresia or Byakko. I have to say Byakko's little subplot about becoming a part of Tsukikage was cute.

It really was. Byakko is legit my favorite character in the show.

I figure Dolte was just a one-off villain, but it still felt like they'd bring her back for something instead of just dropping her without mention.

And yeah, the show is generally stronger when it's cheesier. It's just that sometimes the cheese has play off of the more serious bits, and they don't really gel too nicely.

You know what would have been a really interesting way to do that traitor reveal?

Have Mei be a triple agent indeed, and the other apprentices don't know. But then, during the actual treason, Mei offers to Fu that she betray Tsukikage as well... and Fu accepts it. So now you have Fu as an actual traitor thinking that Mei is a traitor as well, and Mei has to play around Fu and deal with the fact that her apprentice is an actual traitor.

It would probably be a bit too serious for the show to work with, but it would be an interesting scenario to setup for the finale.

Yeah, it'll a major surprise if Mei isn't still working for Tsukikage

Main point of ambiguity at the moment is whether Tendo actually intends for all the Mouryou executives to get slaughtered

Episode 11:

Seems that Mei become worse as the time goes on and goes along with being a traitor eh? And seems that Tendo or the people in Moryo will cause a grand scale damage by brainwash other people and will make it world scale if the Sorasaki people are successfully getting brainwashed. Also, Tendo murders her subordinates by slitting her arm... Yea. And on a good news, Mei is revealed to be alive. Yay! I guess but on the same time, Tendo's plan will come into succeession.

@Hylarn You got a proof regarding that? Watched it and seems that it doesn't exist.

This series shouldn't try to be serious. It's a story about cute ninja girls fighting robots and stuff, seriousness doesn't fit it.

Mei is so obviously a triple agent. Either that or so horribly ineffective she wouldn't be able to pull of betraying tsuchikage.

Best girl is alive, all is well.

I don't think Theresia going to die here, that'd be quite the shaggy dog story.

So, I get the feeling that Tenma is planning on betraying all of Moryou top brass now that they're in one place.

It does feel like something she would do. In fact, considering she's placed herself in a different location, I don't think anyone at Kyuten Science is safe from her plan, even Mei, be her a traitor or not.

I hope that we at least learn more about who Tendo is in the last episode, she seems like such an interesting character and I love her design. At this point its basically confirmed that either Mei is a triple agent for Tsukikage or she's playing both sides, but I can imagine that even after she reveals that she was Good All Along to Fuu she'll still be Exiled to the Couch for like a week.

Also the chances of Theresia actually dying are like 0%, there's no way that they would end her storyline like that after they spend so much screentime on it. This isn't the kind of show that would. She sure does love fighting in her sarashi and jobbing.

Interestingly enough, a new Yuru Yuri OVA has been announced, which wouldn't be relevant except for the fact that will be produced by studio Lay-duce and directed by Takahiro aka the same people working on Spyce (which has Namori as character designer). Maybe the theory that the entire story is one of TOSHINOU KYOUKO's manga is true after all

That would explain a lot.

...

I gotta.

TOSHINO KYOUKO!!!!!!!!!!

SUGIURA AYANOOOO!!!!!

Considering Takahiro and Namori it's amusing to think of Spyce, Yuru Yuri and Yuki Yuna possibly sharing the same universe. Maybe the true purpose of Operation Gekkako is to remove all males from the world and create a timeloop where girls can be cute forever: Yuru Yuri is the timeline where it succeeds and Yuki Yuna is the timeline where it fails, leading the Les Yay-loving heavenly gods to get so upset that they destroy humanity.

Which would completely justify Mei being a triple agent: she can't decide which one she likes best.

That's a totally interesting theory right there regarding Yuru Yuri set in the same place as RTS. I mean, come to think of it again, some of the character designs from YY almost reminds me of RTS so yeah...

I mean Spyce's character designer is the creator of Yuru Yuri

Ah! No wonder some of the character faces reminded me of Kyoko Toshino. As far as character design goes... I'm attracted with the main villain, Tendo and Hatsume (Because I like megane... Why do you ask? ). I also think Goe and Yuki are cute :3

Remember when I mentioned that ANN reviewer who thought last week's episode was really good and that Mei's betrayal was really shocking and amazing? I'm going to quote this week's actual review here:

So yeah... like you said, Uninstall, they're completely uncultured plebeians.

To be completely fair to them, you have to be paying close attention to notice Mei loosening Goe's shackles, but even things like Mei obviously trying to get information about Gekkako from Tendo as well as basically just running away from Fuu should've raised some serious red flags.

Final Episode:

Okay, it was revealed that Mei? Is not a traitor at all and was planned from the start on Katrina's behalf in order to take down Moryo easier. Speaking of Moryo, seems that the effects of the brainwashing is rather awful and its nice to see that Momo is able to take down Tendo easily. Also, man that last scene with Yuki and Momo feels like a tearjerker at best as they will never seen each other again as Momo erase Yuki's memories but even then, she asked for it and she live happily in the end and in the end of the day? Momo's got a new apprentice and Theresia also joins Tsukikage so yeah...

Final Thoughts? Was a decent spy flick and I gotta say it's pretty entertaining. Though I have to admit that the traitor plot? Feels like a fucking cop-out but even then, it's still entertaining I guess. Also...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND the leader of Moryo, Tendo, will have my special treatment in a later future just wait and see.

Edited by ElfenLiedFan90 on Dec 22nd 2018 at 6:48:37 PM

Tension? Drama? What's that?

Ahem. Yeah, so, this ended on about as weak of a note as it could. Almost everything feels either rushed or unearned, some of it even feels like both. The second half of the episode has some really weird animation (including Theresia looking really high for a while). And, of course, pretty much everything we predicted comes to pass, almost all of it at the same time.

I'll say this in favor of the show: for all the lack of tension that it had, the final fight was well-made. That's the only bit of praise I can give this final episode, but it is true.

As for the show itself... eh. It's sad to say, but to me, the best thing about it was the soundtrack. The rest of it is a very cliché, paint-by-numbers cute girl show, with a spy theme this time around. No real surprises, no attempt to make something more creative. It's fine entertainment, but I probably won't remember it for anything but the catchy opening tune. Which is a pity. This show had potential. And hey, it's still better than Princess Principal, even if that's a really, really low bar, so there's that.

I've got to ask, what's that "special treatment" you're talking about? I've seen you mention it in a few threads by now...

Edited by TheLovecraftian on Dec 22nd 2018 at 10:37:06 AM

Hehe... Think I'll save that for later because why not.

Anyways, have to admit its sad to see its ending but oh well, at least I have a fun ride.

That was a weak finale. First half was incredibly by-the-numbers, second was just kind of bad and makes me dislike Yuki

So the overall problem with the series is that it needed a couple more plot drafts. You have stuff like like Theresia's arc being disconnected from the rest of the series (and kind of awful), the traitor being overemphasized in the lead-up to the final arc, the generational theme being largely absent before it kind of takes over, and, of course, never being certain whether it wants to be serious or a cute yuri spy parody (it's better at the latter). And Tendo never really got her personality locked down

Overall, I don't regret watching it, but I don't think I'd recommend it to anyone except fans of Princess Principal that really want something like it

Edited by Hylarn on Dec 22nd 2018 at 6:15:07 AM

ahem

HA, CALLED IT

Also, unlike most of the people here I actually mostly enjoyed the ending. The first half felt more like the cheesy spy flick with gay girls that I came to see, and I think that the final fight was well-done. I liked seeing my observations ultimately answered. Also the clock stopping at 0.07 was cheeky. They seemed to forget Theresia, although according to an interview the scene where Hatsume saved her had to be cut for time.

I'm not to satisfied with the end though. They had been hinting at Yuki passing the torch to Momo for a while now, but there doesn't seem to be much of a motivation for Yuki wanting her memories erased instead of staying on as a support agent. That kinda soured things for me, although one shot seemed to imply that maybe things were not as they seemed in that regard.

All in all while I agree it was a show that could've spent some more time in the oven, it had some really strong points and was enjoyable to watch overall even if I was a bit spoiled by watching a superior show in the middle of it

Edited by Uninstall on Dec 22nd 2018 at 2:54:53 PM