SENSITIVE INTELLIGENCE REPORT – RESTRICTED DISSEMINATION
SUBJECT: 1. INCREASED KURUMI ACTIVITY PRECEEDING SPORTS FESTIVAL.
…………….2. INFILTRATION OF PLANNING COMMITTEE BY KURUMI, COMPROMISE OF PLANNING PROCEDURES.
DATE: 25 NOVEMBER 2009
SOURCE: A RELIABLE SOURCE WITH PROVEN ACCESS
1. KURUMI HAS INCREASED ACTIVITY IN RECENT EPISODE, SPREADING DISINFORMATION ON HER UPCOMING OPERATIONS. SHE HAS BEEN SPOTTED FOR ONLY THE SECOND TIME IN PUBLIC, THE FIRST TIME HAVING PRECEDED THE INITIAL ATTACK ON KURONUMA SAWAKO AND ALLIED ASSETS. THIS IS CAUSE FOR CONCERN IN AND OF ITSELF, BUT FURTHERMORE SHE HAS BEEN OBSERVED IN THE PRESENCE OF TWO OTHER MEMBERS OF HER ORGANIZATION. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME WE HAVE DIRECTLY OBSERVED HER PERSONAL ACCOMPLICES. PERPETRATORS OF PREVIOUS ATTACK WERE INCITED TO PERFORM ATTACK BUT NOT DIRECT KURUMI CELL MEMBERS.
2. KURUMI HAS MANAGED TO INFILTRATE THE SPORTS FESTIVAL COMMITTEE IN AN ATTEMPT TO OBTAIN ACCESS TO KAZEHAYA AND PERHAPS INFLUENCE FESTIVAL ACTIVITIES IN SUPPORT OF PLANNED ATTACK. LOCAL AUTHORITIES (TEACHERS) SEEM UNAWARE THAT THEY HAVE BEEN COMPROMISED. OUTWARDLY FEIGNS SURPRISE, BUT WE HAVE SIGINT INTERCEPT OF HER GOADING HER ALLIES INTO NOMINATING HER. LAST OBSERVED IN COMMITTEE ROOM ATTEMPTING TO OBTAIN IMINT ON SAWAKO AND KAZEHAYA FROM THIS ELEVATED POSITION.
After a lovely Saturday night for Sawako and her friends, the face of the enemy rears its ugly, twin-tailed head once more. For the first time we get direct access to the conversations of Vichy-tan Kurumi and her minions. The three still traffic in rumors even after Yuuka’s defeat and Kurumi’s minions chide her on to get closer to Kazehaya. As if the leader needed any encouragement to viciously attack! While denying at every chance her designs on Kazehaya the gears of an evil mind were clearly spinning behind her cold and pitiless eyes. The sports festival is upcoming, and while this presents opportunities for Sawako, Kazehaya, and the rapidly expanding Allies, Vichy-tan has managed to, in a way like that of Caesar in Shakespeare’s telling, refuse her way into getting nominated for the festival committee. After infiltrating the committee she continues her lies and deception on Kazehaya as well, though the power of love and Sawayakyaaa burns within him, diverting all his attention from her ploys. At the end of the day, she is clearly infuriated by this stinging rejection by Kazehaya and looks down on the school grounds planning her next cowardly attack.
While Kurumi has been worming her way into the committee like the invertebrate that she is, more worthy students have been preparing for the actual competition. Several classmates attempt to make Sawako smile and thus earn the blessings of the goddess in their quest for victory. New allies have joined the cause, with Ekko and Tomo joining the alliance and pledging their everlasting fealty to Sawako. Old ones have become more familiar too, as Chizu and Ayane suggest to Sawako that she start using their first names. She is, however, a little too shy to do the same with Kazehaya. Once Pin lazily announces that Kazehaya will be the committee representative for the class, everyone starts thinking ahead to the festival. Chizu thirsts for the sweat and tears of the vanquished and jumps at the chance, while the others have more mixed responses (and Ryuu doesn’t even bother to wake up.) Sawako goes to the soccer team, and begins intense training with Chizu and the others. stealing a long glance at her love as he walks off the field. She’s having difficulty properly smiling lately, but this is just the indication of the progression of her feelings to a new, if somewhat awkward, level. She resolves both to practice soccer on her own for the sake of her allies and to reach Kazehaya more directly. Towards both these goals Kazehaya shows up with a soccer ball to both help her prepare and give her an opportunity to spend time with him.
Crusader’s Record of Kazehaya War
So it was after a most glorious Saturday that Vichy-tan was trying to work her vile propaganda to try and restart her little operation against Sawako. However after a long and painful fight her rumors are treated like horse shit and she sees her rumors getting laughed out of existence though legends have grown around Sawako and how her smile brings luck and VICTORY. Nevertheless it seems that Vichy-tan’s cult of personality has yet to be utterly crushed and she manipulates her underlings into nominating her as she feigns ignorance and innocence. Try as she might Vicy-tan is no match for Sawako’s might, as the latter is now on a first name basis with her comrades in arms. The sports festival is upon them and they train hard, but even with twin tails Sawako is no pro and will not have to suffer people invading the pitch for her sake anytime soon. Still Kazehaya takes notice of Sawako’s twin tails and her struggles with soccer. Vichy-tan seizes her postion in the festival committee through subterfuge and tries trading CDs to curry the favor of Kazehaya, but Vichy-tan’s choice of music is neither blessed with Sheryl Nome, Macross, or Shin Mainger Z and as such her Ali Project CDs get but a cursory glance. While Vichy-tan is aware of Kazehaya’s growing affection for Sawako Vichy-tan stands powerless before the power of Love and can only brood and plot her next deception.
I do not believe for a minute that the vile wretch is anything other than a manipulative charlatan whose personality is so hideous she’d turn Medusa to stone. Her plotting will not avail her as she is not even a worthy adversary by any stretch of the imagination. I am not fooled by her facade of sincerity as her underlings are dumb-asses that do not even realize that she is pulling their strings. May she regret her position on the committee for it was won not by chance or luck but with a corrupt bargain. This is only the beginning for now we know who the enemy is, and I for one look forward to her utter destruction. May her heart chip and shatter!
Good because love will not be coming for y0u.
ExecutiveOtaku’s Unadulterated Adoration of Sawako and Current Intelligence Report
That’s a pathetic war face! You think that will save you when Kurumi’s fanatical minions are bearing down on you?!
“…it has no effect.”
Sawako in action manga form.
Excellent triple pun combo!
Well at least I thought so. Seems like Sawako might appreciate great/terrible puns to0.
Horror manga Sawako…yet still very cute.
Welcome comrades! Every day the Sawayakyaa Alliance grows more powerful!
All the reward they require.
Giving advice on who to use first names with, or advocating for yuri? You decide.
Oh god, the audio was life-threateningly cute!
Plans are discussed for using first names at the recent meeting of the Allied security council.
Oh boy…
We’ve got four vets and a rookie, not bad. And Ryuu, as pointed out by Shin, is too much of a badass to even wake up for the discussion.
SHE’S GOT A BURNING HEART! Mune wo tsuranuku THRILL wo tada oi kakete hashiru tsuzuketai!
Class D: Who the hell do you think they are!?
Much like Russia, she seems all nice and innocent but is actually a crazy, evil bastard.
Why must you turn my shoujo anime into a house of lies!?
Yes, refuse the crown three times, pretend to be reluctant. Your dupes may not see it but it is as clear as day to everyone else.
And there it is. By feigning humility and lack of ambition her ambition is served without appearing as such.
Just imagine that the ball is Kurumi’s head.
Sayo is giving out some tips on psychological warfare. I didn’t realize this was Souei High School.
EO’s DAAAWWWW of the Week.
Very cool effect, wish it was used in a wider shot.
Sawako’s not the only one with great reaction faces.
…and cover up the blood of anyone who gets in Chizu’s way.
Her fake innocence is sickening.
But it, and her knowing Kazehaya since middle school, has no effect.
Sorry, Kazehaya didn’t have time for your crap, he was looking at and thinking about someone who is actually worth his time.
YEAH, FEEL THAT STINGING IN YOUR HEART! REMEMBER IT WELL VICHY-TAN!
Sawako meanwhile has no need for lies and contrived meetings as she trains like a badass for the upcoming soccer game. She’s already kicked all the soccer balls and SMASHED THEM INTO ATOMS so now she’s moving on to practicing by KICKING BIG MOTHERFRACKING ROCKS instead! HARDCORE!
Yes, let the jealousy consume you!
Like the decent fellow that he is, Kazehaya joins Sawako for some practice. And the meeting gives her the clarity to focus on her objective.
Meanwhile Vichy-tan Kurumi sits like the Grinch in his tower, scowling at the happiness of others.
12 Comments
Wooowwwwww, this is a VERY thorough summary/review. The robot talk definitely is a bit cryptic as I haven’t watched this episode yet, but I’ll definitely get on it tonight. I’ll be sure to try to reread this after I’m finished. Lovely post.
OMG I love that you put in Kurumi’s Jealousy stare. It just makes you realise how evil and a big threat to the Sawako love alliance.
I swear the flowers around Kurumi must have some mind control pollen that when idiots like her two minions breath in turns them into puppets. Hope Sawako’s Healing Smile can cleanse the whole school and show how evil this adversary is.
Damn that was a good look, as someone who usually roots for the bad guys I say that stare alone has passed her evil academy entrance exam. Heck it even broke the past record held by Lelouch vi Brittania for most evil stare. Those eyes, I don’t hate them! I don’t hate them at all !
I love you guys for bringing out all the lies of Kurumi. Being a manga reader, I already know what happens but you did a very thorough post on the anime alone. Nice one!
1stly Good call on DAAAWWWW of the Week
That said this is the 1st episode where there have been some faltering of the series balance.
There is a well known saying that good drama needs conflict, and this week there just wasn’t really any.
As the series goes on more & more is riding on Kurumi developing into a interesting antagonist. There’s been some talk comparing this to Honey & Clover, both have great ensemble cast , along with the pastel visuals & gentle storytelling style. But one thing which H&C had in spades was conflict(admittedly of a very slow paced kind), in alot of the love triangles which took place there we were encouraged to root for both sides.
If Kurumi turns into the cliched scheming opponent who has a one sided ‘special connection’ to Kazehaya ill be a bit disappointed. I hope there’s gonna be more depth to it than that but arrrgh this episode has me a bit worried.
On a more positive note the series animation has remained top notch without being showy. The evil eye was done to perfection, its so easy to over hit the mark when a animator goes for this sort of shot but they really nailed it.
On a side note: Now that i think of it Kurumi kinda reminds me of some strange hybrid of the female antagonists from Kare Kano.
Anyways good post as usual keep up the good work
@ FaS
Glad you enjoyed the post. Heh, the ‘cryptic’ stuff at the top was done in the style of an intelligence report. Figured I’d put my education to good use, hehe.
@ Cherubium
Sawako’s smile will clear the air of Kurumi’s corrupting influence like a beam from Ultraman Cosmos on an evil-influenced monster!
@ Gmoney
Well if you enjoy rooting for the villains, I expect Kurumi to be the Big Bad of this series. Her desperate attempts to win Kazehaya’s heart will only make her eventual defeat sweeter in mine eyes!
@ Tania
Thanks
I’m thinking about reading the manga once the anime is over. I was really surprised to see it out translated in English in bookstores already. I’ll probably get it that way, I’m still not completely used to reading manga off of a screen.
@ Codicier
I’m not worried about the series pacing so far, Kimi ni Todoke has been pretty subtle in its setup episodes, and I believe that this is one of those episodes. There was plenty there to drive that sense of worry that you spoke of, and I think things events are going to proceed at a pretty rapid pace now that Kurumi has prepared for her next move. All of the characters have been more well rounded than it would appear at first glance (especially the supporting characters being more than two dimensional cheerleaders for the protagonist), so I have faith that Kurumi will be done well. She’s an interesting concept. While obviously evil, they spent some time this episode setting her up as almost a second Sawako. At least on the surface she’s the somewhat shy, nice girl with trouble expressing her feelings towards Kazehaya. It’s all an act, but it was still an interesting way of introducing her as someone more than just ‘the antagonist.’
That evil eye was very well done. Like you said, it’s very easy to make such a shot look too threatening or overly dramatic. There was an intensity conveyed in the restraint that the animators used there that was much better than something more direct.
And lastly, I’m glad you’re enjoying the posts! I’m having a lot of fun writing about this series.
I love your review. You NAILED it!!!
I raged quite a bit during the “rumour” arc, so I hope it doesn’t repeat itself when it comes to Kurumi, since I genuinely want to like her, but from the looks of it, everything seems to hint at more trouble.
Kurumi’s icy cold stare is giving me the shivers even a week later! Can’t wait for the next episode when the we see some action.
@ Eri
Thank you. I’m glad you enjoyed the post, and it’s good to hear since Crusader’s are some rather large shoes to fill. Or should I say boots?
@ Shin
It’s hard to say. I’m thinking that she’s going to be somewhere in the middle. They’ve kind of set her up almost to be a standard shoujo heroine who can act deviously to an extent but never usually harmful. But with the dark hints from the rumor arc and that dead evil stare, I think she’s going to cross over to the dark side even if she didn’t start out as such.
@ Epi
I’m really looking forward to it! Going to watch it today and hopefully post on Friday.
It’s just wrong to be that cute on the outside and pure evil on the inside. Of course pretty much an opposite Sawako. Though only that people see evil when she is pure, while Kurumi is evil but they see pure. Truly a foe that Sawako will have to contend with.
Yeah I’m not sure if she was just referring to names or trying to make it a Sawako yuri harem.
Great episode though.
Hey Guys, what a wonderful website!
Anyways, I really like this anime! It was one of my favorite, but does anyone know the name of the opening song or who is singing it. It is so good!
Thanks
Rudy
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