
Shu awakes in his cell the next morning after being beaten and tries to talk with his cellmate, at first to little avail. Outside, we’re given an insight into the daily lives of Hamdo’s child soldiers as they train against each other for actual combat, overseen by a strict instructor who beats his charges for making mistakes. And elsewhere Lala Ru is brought before Hamdo again, this time in his verdant gardens where the plants enjoy more water than the soldiers, to say nothing of what the civilians might get. This pair of episodes starts fleshing out the world that Shu was brought to, generally painting it as darker than last time but in a few moments some genuine human compassion shows through in the smallest of actions. We also get a much better picture of the lives, motivations, and attitudes of the residents of this world. This humanizing is important to seeing the characters and their actions, whether humane or barbarous, in the appropriate context. A few legitimately crazy individuals like Hamdo do exist, but the vast majority of his followers and soldiers are sane, rational people who were convinced, coerced, or who convince themselves into doing terrible deeds.
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Kimi ni Todoke episode 23 – Full-Spectrum Dominance
SENSITIVE INTELLIGENCE REPORT – RESTRICTED DISSEMINATION
SUBJECT: 1. DEPLOYMENT OF NEW ALLIANCE CAPABILITIES AND METHODS.
……………2. COMPLETION OF OBJECTIVE CODE NAME “BEST END” MOVING ALONG SMOOTHLY.
DATE: MID MARCH 2010 (25-31 DECEMBER 2009.)
1. PREVIOUSLY ACQUIRED COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS ARE NOW OPERATING WITH BETTER THAN ANTICIPATED EFFECTIVENESS. FURTHERMORE AYANE HAS ACHIEVED TOTAL SUPREMACY OVER HER CLASSMATES AND HAS TEAMED UP WITH CHIZU AND POSSIBLY RYU TO PLACE SAWAKO AND KAZEHAYA IN AN OPPORTUNE POSITION. COMPLETING THE FULL-SPECTRUM SHOUJO DOMINANCE STRATEGY IS THE EQUIPPING OF SAWAKO WITH SEVERAL BISHOUJO-CLASS UPGRADES.
2. USING MISDIRECTION, AYANE AND CHIZU HAVE SENT SAWAKO AND KAZEHAYA TOGETHER TO THE LOCAL SHRINE FOR NEW YEARS FESTIVITIES. TOTAL SURPRISE WAS ACHIEVED WITH BOTH TARGETS AND THEY ARE NOW EN ROUTE ALONE TO A MOST ROMANTIC SNOWY NEW YEARS/SAWAKO’S BIRTHDAY.
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