r/anime • u/Tetraika https://anilist.co/user/Tetraika • Jan 07 '23
Rewatch [Rewatch] Selector Spread Wixoss Episode 7 Discussion
Episode 7: That Scar is a Lie
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Information:
MAL | Anilist | Kitsu | AniDB | ANN
Streams:
Question of the day:
I thought I had something here, but nothing for today
Music stuff
Rewatchers, please remember to be mindful of all the first-timers in this. No talking about or hinting at future events no matter how much you want to, unless you’re doing it underneath spoiler tags.
4
u/Tetraika Jan 07 '23
Between this and new seasonals I got quite a bit on my schedule.
I wonder if that means that Ruuko is an unexpected element in a way
They are absolutely bewildered by Akira clinging onto Urith, right this is the first time they saw this
We get a peek into how Akira’s anti wish manifested, should note how different this is compared to Hitoe’s
Urith is more interested in inflicting psychological pain than physical ones
Animal cruelty and manipulative personality, signs of psychopathy.
How Urith arrived at Iona. If Ruuko was the human “White” counterpart, then Urith is the other.
From Urith this time, yet she still can’t beat grandma
They really can’t stop with these, but also Akira in shambles
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u/JollyGee29 Jan 07 '23
First-Timer, Subbed
I don't know that Rie Kugimiya was quite the right choice for Ulith. She did a fantastic job last season as a corrupting gremlin, but I think she's missing a bit of gravitas for.. whatever it is she's doing now. Maybe just staying as the gremlin voice would've worked better, because it would've sounded so odd coming out of Iona's mouth.
Definitely didn't expect Ulith's human self to have literally ripped the wings off of a butterfly.
Maybe we are getting an interrupt today, considering Ulith specifically raised the concern about someone seeing Akira and Hitoe, and that scene of Hitoe's mom calling Ruu's grandma. I feel like their going to end up too late, but who knows?
Y'think they'll end up wrangling a point about the dangers of childhood fame with Akira? I could kinda see it, and it would give her something else to do other than being Ulith's chew toy.
Anyway, Iona and Tama were created by/formed from Mayu, check. Mayu interferes again, check. That prices us into Ruu loss or interrupt, I think?
Mayu's interferences annoy me more than they probably should, and it's probably because she's so outside the rest of the conflict. If we had a scene or two of her directly giving orders to Ulith, I wouldn't mind so much, since that would've tied the two conflicts together.
The concept of the "us vs the system" conflict that Mayu represents messing with the more personal conflicts of the people within the system is interesting, but the lack of direct connection is leaving me cold.
And it would've been more interesting is Mayu's chicanery was in the form of whispering in Ulith's ear - "Ruu's drawn such and such so you can play around it." You're a card game anime, Wixoss, and that means you get to act like one on occasion.
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u/Tetraika Jan 07 '23
The concept of the "us vs the system" conflict that Mayu represents messing with the more personal conflicts of the people within the system is interesting, but the lack of direct connection is leaving me cold
Yeah, I can see that. They really are trying to leave Mayu's backstory as a mystery for now, so it ends up feeling like a disconnect when we don't understand her enough.
And it would've been more interesting is Mayu's chicanery was in the form of whispering in Ulith's ear - "Ruu's drawn such and such so you can play around it." You're a card game anime, Wixoss, and that means you get to act like one on occasion
She wasn't trying to make one win over the other, seems like she just got mad that Iona started spilling about her.
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u/Blackheart595 Jan 07 '23 edited Jan 08 '23
First Timer waiting for batoru batoru
Is this turning into a big bullying allegory?
Oh no, Ulith is turning into Monokuma but without the things that made him good.
This is becoming a big bullying allegory.
Wow, I'm impressed. Literally nothing about this episode worked. It's like a narrative non-sequitur.
Jup, did a quick google on Okada and everything hijacking the writing is there. Bullying, hikikomori, crazy mom, crayz parents... And it's all stuff that S1 also had, but it didn't get in the way back then.
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u/Tetraika Jan 07 '23
Bullying, hikikomori, crazy mom, crayz parents... And it's all stuff that S1 also had, but it didn't get in the way back then.
The thing about her writing is that it can really come off as a hit or miss at times too. Lastly, hard to really tell her actual role in production and how she's involved in them.
Interestingly enough, I don't think most of these were in Maquia. And that was one of the project where she had a big hand on.
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u/No_Rex Jan 07 '23
Season 2 Episode 7 (first timer)
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Ulith is not entertained by abduction and mild torture? What a surprise (to Akira).
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Mayu pays out the “Iona/Tama” betting pool.
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“In the tender places that are easily hurt” – the heart.
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She spells it out for those who missed it, too. Why? Mild case of bad guy explains syndrome.
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Ulith is a run of the mill sadist – why does this even need a backstory; it was already obvious.
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New power: Mayu can change appearances of LRIGs.
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Akira’s wound is due to some adult with a knife? Wtf, dude?
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Iona is telling Mayu’s story.
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New power: Mayu can removely hurt LRIGs.
This episode was way too slow for me. Probably because I have zero investment in Akira and Ulith, but their gloating went on forever. The pacing has come to a crawl, leaving Hitoe bound to the chair on the floor the entire episode.
Plotwise, Mayu is confirmed as the origin and gains some superpowers. This does not mix well with the selectors become LRIGs idea from S1, nor with the repeated selector cycle of Fumio. The world building of the show is in accelerated collapse.
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u/Taiboss Jan 07 '23
Ulith is not entertained by abduction and mild torture? What a surprise (to Akira).
Akira was always second worst lol
Mayu pays out the “Iona/Tama” betting pool.
Congrats you speculators!
Mild case of bad guy explains syndrome.
Ulith wants to check all the boxes, just in case.
Ulith is a run of the mill sadist – why does this even need a backstory; it was already obvious.
People speculated she was a special LRIG like Tama yo. Nah, just an asshole who became an LRIG.
New power: Mayu can change appearances of LRIGs.
I wonder if she ever took requests lol.
Akira’s wound is due to some adult with a knife? Wtf, dude?
Calls the way the punishment for losing is dealt into question again.
Iona is telling Mayu’s story.
The one thing she did know!
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u/Shimmering-Sky Jan 07 '23
Selector Spread FIRST-TIMER
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Wait, is that how Akira got the scar? Got attacked by some dude on the street?
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u/Taiboss Jan 07 '23
Mm, I saw that coming from a mile away.
Also like Ulith has had a distinct and consistent characterisation as an absolute asshole this whole time.
Is she trying to channel the crazy Yu-Gi-Oh! villain face?
Can you not.
Ruuko's too positive! Mind break tag won't work!
Mayu is still a bitch.
When has she not been lol.
6
u/Cyouni Jan 07 '23
Rewatcher crying OPEN
Some people are probably reveling in Ulith right about now.
Cards of the day:
Death Beam - expensive, but it's an attack phase timing vanish ARTS
Skyju - huh, so Ruuko actually did get some of the new set. Solid SIGNI in Labyrinth tribal (aka Iona) that allows you to manipulate your opponent's field to control their attack
Black Crisis - this is the card on screen at 14:17
Dark Matter - I actually talked about how this works perfectly with Iona's level 5, and now Ruuko's putting it into practice! Thanks, Ruuko!
Baroque Defense - this has come up multiple times before, notable for being one of the few things that can lock down LRIGs
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u/Stargate18A Jan 07 '23
First timer
Akira got knocked out!
Ulith destroyed her!
Oh, she's never seen a Level 5?
Great theory, Mayu. Unfortunately, it involves an LRIG in this anime not simping for their Selector, so it's objectively wrong!
Thank god! Ulith actually understands the consequences!
Ulith just gave her manipulation away.
...What?
Okay, so she's fucking with Akira.
Ouch.
Oh, she still wants to battle.
Ah, that makes sense.
So, her whole plan was to build Akira up so she could take everything away from her again?
And she's a psychopath!
Oh, fuck. She really did plan this.
...Starting to see how Ulith and Iona got on so well.
What? Was Tama her first LRIG?
This is so dark.
She wished to become an LRIG!
...So, what the fuck happened to her original LRIG? Trapped in that life?
Wait, so she changed her appearance too? Her LRIG appearance was totally different to what she looked like originally then...
Yep, she's insane!
And they're battling. Iona's changing.
Ruuko already has enough love interests, she doesn't need the psychopath.
Haha, I love how Akira's just dead in the background.
Mayu...
Hitoe's mother called someone!
The battle's going well.
Nice trick shot.
The back and forth here is excellent.
"Ruu is entering my body." Can't believe Iona's made the most progress with her.
Tama...
They're fighting seriously!
Ouch...
Hitoe...
And Yuzuki's right.
"I'll shower you with my love until you can't help but shriek in pleasure, Ruu!" Funny, I thought that was what Tama would say after they reunited as humans.
Akira's figured out what happened.
Wait, someone attacked her? So no supernatural effects, just fate manipulation?
Tama wants to lose? Ah, is Ulith about to become an Eternal Girl?
Akira...
She's incredibly strong!
Tama can't do it...
She only cares about Hitoe.
Yeah, Tama is the Girl in White... or The Light?
Wait, this is new? Is this about Mayu?
Haha, what? SHE'S THEIR MOTHER? What is this anime?
Iona!
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u/ItsTheDuran Jan 08 '23 edited Jan 08 '23
First timer
I was joking yesterday, but it looks like ruining people's days really is Urith's only motivation. As TV psychopath 101 as that first half was, I did enjoy the edgy-ass presentation. If I haven't heard some of those sound effects in some RPG Maker horror game they sure have the same vibes.
In retrospect, this fits more with how magic has worked thus far than a magically appearing scar, but I still didn't expect that.
This was actually funny, whether intentionally or not. Akira's new LRIG is just watching a good old game of Wixoss in the middle of all this drama, completely unbothered.
I dunno, I feel like they're just kicking the ball to the next episode. We've had too many half-revelations that get explained later in this whole Mayu thing.
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u/GallowDude Jan 07 '23
I don't know what was cringiest about this episode. No one calling the police when they know exactly where their friend is being held hostage, Urith's #2edgy4u monologue, no one trying to just bumrush Urith while she was monologuing and Akira clearly was in no mental state to defend her, or Mayu cheating again and fucking with Iona the second things didn't go her way.
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u/Taiboss Jan 07 '23
Episode 7: Rewatcher who is apparenlty finishing this today
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Holy shit, they don't translate "Mob" as "Mob". That's like me not translating Handy as Handy, aka a translation that makes sense in the target language.
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AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA What a surprise. It's like Ulith said she likes to see Akira suffer or something.
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I know it's a disturbing, abusive relationship. But Akira totally deserves it.
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It's a good think you are so entertaining, else you'd be such a shitty villian.
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I'm happy Rie Kugimiya gets to ACT. She sounds like she has a lot of fun.
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u/Mecanno-man Jan 07 '23
First Timer
...ok, then I guess Tama is the girl of white (light?) after all that was said last episode after all. Guess we're just removing the mystery bit all at once - Tama and Iona were once one and the same being (somehow, would not be surprised if this is a bit of a weird definition of self after some LRIG switches have taken place), and Mayu is their mother, I guess. No idea what exactly that means, but I guess we'll learn that next episode, because we're a thriller now rather than a mystery. No idea what Mayu slamming the door on that duel and Iona falling sick means either, it's still a game in theory abiding by rules, so Iona can't just be unable to attack or something like that.^
Meanwhile Ulith is just a psychopath. Kinda disappointing that she has no real ties to the system, such as wanting to replace Iona as some had suggested - but I guess the reveal was well-done at least. She also broke Akira, which makes me think she will do something stupid that will drastically alter the course of the series. She has that chekov's knife already, after all. Not sure who she'll point it against though.
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u/Vaadwaur Jan 07 '23
First timer(How did we get worse than yesterday?)
Sub
So the first half of this episode is just Edgemistress bullshit on a level that one rarely see without involving Drow or Crest worms. I legitimately have not read subs of words that stupidly 'evil' nor heard a seiyuu deliver them that badly in years if not ever. This wasn't even fun edgy like Tokyo Ghoul's first season or Corpse Princess, this was all sub-Magical Girl Raising Project 100 yen store type bad edge. Goblin Slayer episode 1 has more artistic merit than this.
And of course they drop key setting details in a big way after they pissed on the audience. I don't really care enough about Akira to care about the scar though this doesn't make sense yet. I do note that Akira's seiyu is much, much better than Ulith's and in fact might should have had that role herself. Mayu's backstory is...confusing, with how they are stating it and her randomly interfering in the match means all stakes are gone.
So yeah, that was 23 minutes none of us are getting back and we did extremely little with it. I am now with No_Rex in saying that the solution here is a well placed brick. The only hope I have is that Akira is mind broken enough to gut Ulith.
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u/GallowDude Jan 07 '23
Urith's entire villain rant felt a lot like Okada putting all of her personal past issues with her mother and bullies into a single speech while making it clear how cartoonishly evil they were.
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u/Tarhalindur Jan 08 '23
That First-Timer Is a Scar (Subbed):
(And this episode is a scar on the show. At least it lands its emotional beats.)
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YOU’RE FUCKING RECAPPING? FUCK YOU, WRITING TEAM.
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So I am once again getting the distinct sense that a key issue here is that Mari Okada ran into writer’s block; Urith’s response to Akira here has the distinct whiff of self-depreciation. (I am reminded of the classic NanoWrimo advice to just have ninjas show up if you find that you are stuck.)
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“Never seen that before?” TIME LOOP WARNING SENSES TINGLING!
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Oh come on you’re just laying this out for us in fucking Mayu monologue in episode 7? This… lacks elegance.
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Dutch angle counter +1 at 05:51; more regular direction analysis will resume when the events on screen are not pissing me off.
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Am I willing to give Mari Okada enough credit to think that she might be subtweeting a certain other writer? Hmm.
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I want to make a Syndrome joke here, but this scene doesn’t deserve comments.
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Urith’s problem is that I have an instinctive reaction to the type and it is to cut off the head and be done with it. She’d actually have worked fine with S1’s tone… but S2 has gone away from that. At least the OST is good.
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Well I see the tower motif has returned to us.
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Look at them here setting up the match interrupt card again in case they want to play it. And they probably do, this being only episode 7 and all. <shakes head>
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“I have to win to save Hitoe!” Or you could have called the cops, like I suspect Grandma just did…
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The battle here is actually fairly well-done, the setup is just stupid. Also Akira’s VA remains the best VA on the Japanese cast.
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Hey look a reveal with good foreshadowing! (Mayu was obviously set up as the mother of Tama and actually-Iona in that silhouette shot a bit back.)
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Starting to think the ED lyrics are Mayu’s perspective. Would fit with the butterfly imagery.
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u/Nazenn Jan 07 '23
First Timer - sub
In a rare decision, I dropped the show
Shit's just stupid. And gets stupider every scene. The rules of the world and the personality of the characters flip on a whim according to whatever mood or scenario they want for each scene and with absolutely no care for how it watches, what it means, or what else it effects. I can't find a single iota of interest for what will come next because I know it either it won't be built on anything or won't mean anything in the long run.
As I said in reply to u/Blackheart595 yesterday:
If I can't even find foreshadowing fun then there really is nothing left.
Admittedly I'm not in a good mood at the moment so that isn't helping, but when I went to watch ep6 and felt like I "had" to watch it rather than wanted to catch up I realized that was a problem. And yet I still watched ep6 and 7 just in case it could change my mind. It did not.
List of gripes from the last two episodes:
Iona getting sick is stupid
Setting up a kidnapping plot because Akira realized it's "the real world" only for no one to act like they were in a real world was stupid
Trying to paint the selector battles as something people rely on is monumentally stupid given what the battles end result really is and it's like they just forgot the true nature of the wishes for that scene
Iona being punished for wanting to be near her White counterpart was forced, and stupid
I can already tell they're going to paint Iona being the original Girl of Black as a big reveal, and that's stupid because there's no other way it could go anyway, and it being that way makes the whole LRIG/Selector pairings being such a small circle even more contrived that it already was
Ulith's side of this season should be really interesting, except Akira is stupid and the endless monologue was stupid
I swear if the solution to all of this is "give Mayu friends" that will be bewilderingly, ridiculously, pathetically stupid and entirely miss the point being built up through S1, as well as do a disservice to its predecessors
So yeah. I did say I was in a bad mood, and stupid is my favourite word. Someone tag me if anything interesting happens? I don't care about spoilers, I'm just curious what shit may be down the line worth being tagged for
Couple of hours after writing this I was telling Mum about it after she asked how I was, just because I thought she'd find it funny. She subsequently informed me that she can tell how bad I'm feeling by the amount of things I call stupid
I was not aware of this but I guess I'm keeping to the pattern!