Well, I have been waiting for this episode for quite some time. They showed glimpses of the past between Madoka and Kazuma quite a few times, enough to insinuate that this will eventually occur. I was pretty shocked at how this turned out, though; it was nothing like I had expected.
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| Good job changing clothes in such a short timespan. |
Well, they clearly sat the other two end contenders for the final girl together. I was surprised that Ibuki still got mentioned, though; she seemed like the one that would kinda just get shrugged off after her moment in the spotlight faded. At least Ui and Ibuki clearly know that both of them like Kazuma, and they don't need that entire shock factor of two best friends finding out that they like the same person.
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| She changed outfits multiple times this episode. Hina didn't even get that. |
I was actually extremely impressed at how they did this Madoka-centred episode. They had a mix of humour based within the amusement park. This was followed by the cliched things that happen in amusement parks while on an anime-ish date there. I mean, the only thing they were missing was the Ferris Wheel breaking down and the two being stuck up there.
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| Wow, the ring didn't totally disintegrate after all these years. |
I felt this was extremely well-done in a semi-realistic sense. Just because you are a childhood friend doesn't mean that'll default you a win against the many other girls that have much better-developed relationships. Watching Madoka doing things her own way rather than the cliched stereotypical way was always nice, especially after revisiting the memory she was forever stuck in only to find out that the other person had moved on. The final credits replaying their encounter thus far and ending with a scene of her finally being able to let go just cemented how well-done things were. Reality hits hard; I definitely like her more as a character.
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| My face when I come up with my super evil plans...which is pretty often. |
At this point, it is pretty clear that Ui will be the final victor. She was mentioned a few times as being on Kazuma's mind even during his date with Madoka. Clearly, this is the girl he thinks about the most. This episode gave Madoka a chance to shine, but my favourite has to be Ibuki. Her story seemed to reach out the most to me, and being an archer just makes things better. Ui is the worst of them all, with a flimsy back story. Sigh, sigh~ I'm disappointed that she will be the one picked. I guess getting a kiss with the main character that has replayed twice in just the first episode should have raised the flag that it would be her.
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| Realization. It hits like a ton of bricks. |
I gotta say though, I've been pretty satisfied with this anime. There will still be two more episodes, but things seem to already be set in stone. It had quite a few good moments that were enteraining. They did a good job exaggerating events to make things humorous and the main character isn't as bad as many other harem leaders. Overall, I've been pretty impressed with this. I guess I'll see with the final episodes if they can butcher it up badly. XD
~Pearz
