Rating: A-
One of the things I love about this series is about how it plays all sorts of different angles, and yet all of it is, to some degree, interrelated. Aqua is playing a very big and very long game here, and everything which goes on in the series somehow gets worked into that – even if he isn’t above occasionally being thrown for a loop by developments.
That happens from the start of the episode, when Akane utterly throws Aqua off his game for a little bit with her flawless mimicry of Ai Hoshino’s behavior, to the point that he uncharacteristically cannot hold up before Yuki and MEMchi’s teasing about his reactions to Akane. (And while I did like the brief scene where Ruby acknowledges that she also sees in Akane’s performance what Aqua does, the one minor shortcoming of this episode is that her feelings don’t get more than one brief scene of attention.) But Aqua eventually collects himself and soon realizes that it’s Akane invoking the ghost of Ai alluring him here, not Akane herself. That leaves him with understandably mixed feelings about Ai; is she first and foremost an idol to him, a mother, or a love interest? Can she be all three, and does he even know enough about her to differentiate?
With that mindset, and the disturbing revelation that Akane’s insight into Ai is so great that she’s even able to deduce that she probably secretly had a kid, Aqua takes the more coldly practical road and decides to woo Akane (or at least make the appearance of it) so he can continue to use her for her insight. This might not be as completely mercenary as it seems; his eye star shining bright when he declares that he is interested in Akane as an actor suggests that he does have some genuine admiration for what Akane has accomplished, too. Akane’s too insightful to not catch onto at least some of this, and her being satisfied with being recognized by Aqua for her talent did seem genuine, too. Every bit of it plays perfectly into the “liar’s game” theme of the series, as does Yuki more surreptitiously dating her expected match behind the scenes rather than in front of the camera. Akane briefly threw her off, too, but not for long.
But that’s not all that’s going on here. Kana’s game of catch with Aqua as he sorts out his feelings is also a strong scene – even if Kana has to be thinking that she’s getting friend-zoned here – and it looks like Aqua will soon be getting what he wanted from the producer. Arguably the biggest development once again comes at the end of the episode, though the twist this time – i.e., Aqua inviting MEMchi to join Strawberry Productions and be a part of the new version of B Komachi – is fully telegraphed by the opener. My favorite bit of animation in the episode is the way MEMchi’s expression changes as she realizes that Aqua isn’t joking in the slightest about his offer, but also notice that her eyes have substantially more lights reflected in them after that moment than before. Little visual touches like that help keep the series flying on the technical and artistic merits as well.
Now that the new B Komachi trio is being assembled, will Ruby finally start to take a bigger role? We’ll see next episode.
USA Anime 