Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re returning to the battlefield of Blue Reflection Ray, as our brave heroines do their best to prevent some kind of dimension-collapsing apocalypse. While Hiori, Ruka, and their companions seek a happier union between conscious identity and emotional trauma, Shino’s red reflectors pursue an all-or-nothing approach: either our emotions must be banished to allow us freedom from sorrow, or our world and the collective consciousness of the Common must merge, ensuring total mutual understanding forevermore.
It’s certainly a fatalistic philosophy, but to those who have suffered like Niina, or made others suffer like Mio, both the assurance of Shino’s confidence and the escape she promises can seem like a light in the darkness. Fortunately, Niina appears well on her way to joining our crew, and is currently kicking all sorts of emotional ass in her defiant antihero arc. Meanwhile, our girls’ trip to the unconscious Momo has introduced a pair of mysterious new characters to the mix, the supremely Uranus and Neptune-coded Ryoka and Amiru. Things are moving quickly in the wake of Shino’s aborted apocalypse, and I’m eager to see how these new additions complicate the situation. Let’s return to the fight!
Episode 14
We open right where we left off, with Niina having just jumped in to save our leads from the despairing and newly empowered Mio. C’mon, join the team Niina! I know you have every possible reason to expect entrusting your heart to another will only lead to crushing disappointment, but this group is different, I promise!
Her situation is very much The Good Stuff, as far as coherent, impactful character writing goes. She is not divided from our party by a cheap narrative misunderstanding, or because the author has decided she is going to be belligerently obstinate – she has tried to trust in others, time and again, and consistently been burned for the effort. There is a wall standing between her and our blue reflectors as sturdy as anything made of brick or concrete, and that wall embodies the genuine, sympathetic frustrations of the red reflectors. I always prefer when emotional dramas are guided by similarly sympathetic differences in perspective, rather than authorial sleight of hand; this is why I always sigh when an author relies on something like “a character only hears the damning half of someone else’s statement” or similar cheap tricks
Thus, as expected, she flips up her hoodie and hustles off with her wheelie suitcase. Extremely difficult to look menacing and tormented while rocking a pink wheelie suitcase
The girls relay this new development to Miyako back at the dorms, who unsurprisingly has trouble believing Niina has changed so dramatically. Another character writing point in this show’s favor – people can change, but it’s always a gradual process. Just because Miyako has come to trust this group doesn’t mean she’s going to drop her judgmental front regarding others
As always, now that she understands Niina’s in pain, Kaori wishes to reach out to her
Of course, Miyako is not thrilled about unconditionally accepting the girl who tried to steal her own emotions. Again, sturdy conflicts built on sympathetic differences of perspective
Hiori is still haunted by dreams of Momo’s collapse
“We’ll have to ask Momo directly. Let’s get her Fragment back.” Meanwhile, Ruka is demonstrating her own personal growth, by taking a more proactive approach to healing the wounds of others
We then check back in on Ryoka and Amiru, who are looking over some photo prints from their school trip in their pajamas, as you do. They really went hard on the prince-princess visual framing for these two; the contrast of Ryoka’s dark wolf cut and Amiru’s blonde braids is about as dramatic as you can get
Oh my god, Ryoka actually played Heathcliff in their production of Wuthering Heights. That fits her archetype even more precisely – not quite a prince, but a rugged outsider pursuing a forbidden love
Amiru appears to be afflicted by some ailment that causes her to forget herself from time to time. These photos are thus granted an ominous secondary implication, as a diary of their precious, fleeting time together
Meanwhile, the red reflectors are now hanging out in a clock-filled void chamber, a very Homura-style home base
Shino desires a “new flower.” Seems like we’re easing off the gas a bit, allowing time for some new character-focused arcs before our leads once again collide
“I mean, I actually do love being ignored, but…” God damnit Uta
Out on patrol, Ruka is confronted by a group of the red reflectors’ victims, who demand she return their emotions to them. Freedom from emotions isn’t an escape – in fact, it’s basically the essence of depression, a deadening of feelings both positive and negative, to the point where you can’t find any reason to go on. Even sorrow represents a genuine engagement with the world; the idea of “nothing being able to hurt you anymore” might seem appealing in the depths of negative feelings, but it is essentially a kind of living death
Ryoka shows up to defend her, and actually dazzles the emotion-bereft girls with her absurd coolness. Apparently even having your emotions extracted can’t prevent you from recognizing how cool Ryoka is
Nice setup for this confrontation between Hiori and Niina. The two are cast in darkness beneath an overpass as a train rushes overhead, offering an implication of violence as Hiori reaches out into the abyss. Kinda funny how Japan’s excellent mass transit system facilitates so many ominous dramatic moments, whether through the aggressive rattling of a train on the tracks or the keening wail of a crossing alarm
Niina still can’t forgive Hiori for causing such pain to her savior Mio
It seems Ryoka has some sort of preoccupation with full names – she asked Ruka’s challenger for her full name, and takes care to introduce herself fully to Ruka in the aftermath
“It’s a pleasure, my little fawn.” Ryoka really does have that prince patter down
Hiori keeps on trailing Niina like a lost puppy. An excellent dynamic between these two – I’m always a fan of the ultimate grumpy-face/barrel of sunshine pairing
Oh no, her suitcase handle is stuck! Goddamnit wheelie suitcase, stop undercutting Niina’s vibe
Hiori at last gets her to stop by calling out their shared desire to rescue Mio
“Once a Fragment’s been taken, you can’t put it back.” Thus Niina only hopes to at least save Mio from Shino’s influence, by killing them both. Credit to Hiori that she actually takes this dramatic proposal in stride, still seeking to understand Niina’s perspective
Ryoka and Amiru’s “special place” is a bus stop, a natural place of parting
Ah, that explains everything. Amiru’s feelings were actually taken by Niina, who attempted to return them, thus learning it was impossible. And of course, Ryoka has every reason to believe these “magical girls” are a united front
“I can’t even describe what Amiru means to me.” Alright, Ryoka
“I thought we’d be the same forever. If I had reached out to her sooner…”
“You only tried to put back a Fragment once, right?” A fair counter from Hiori, and very in her character
And Done
Thus we receive our full explanation of Ryoka and Amiru’s relationship, as well as how they’re connected to all this Reflector business. Neat trick there of combining Ryoka and Niina’s stories, an elegant approach that both tidied the flashback material and also echoed this show’s general insistence on exploring situations from every possible perspective. And it’s also simply charming to see Niina and Hiori bouncing off each other, with Hiori’s irrepressible charm even softening our tormented grouch’s perpetual scowl. These last two episodes have confidently set the board for our next stage, and I’m eager to see how the red reflectors plan to muck it all up!
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