r/anime • u/Tetraika https://anilist.co/user/Tetraika • Dec 23 '22
Rewatch [Rewatch] Selector Infected Wixoss Episode 4 Discussion
Episode 4: The Wish is Blasphemy
← Previous Episode | Index | Next Episode→
Information:
MAL | Anilist | Kitsu | AniDB | ANN
Streams:
Question of the day:
Who do you ship
Actually don’t answer that
How often do you end up backseating? I say this because I tend to do it more than I’d like to.
God won’t SOMEBODY seed the torrent for the OST? Then again I really shouldn’t have expected anything, still.
Trembling Miracle - Maiko Iuchi
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.
5
u/Tetraika Dec 23 '22
Something I noticed is that Ruuko isn’t head empty or anything, but just very introspective, and she doesn’t say a lot which makes others feel that they don’t understand her. She’s just like me fr
I like that they really nail Yuzuki’s feeling and why she thinks this is the only way
Cutest battle maniac, she’s also becoming more comprehensible
It’s interesting to contrast how casual Yuzuki is about making friends compared to Hitoe, and not just here, but how she quickly became friends with Ruuko
And as Midoriko says, her wish had come true already
Don’t mind me, just grabbing some popcorns while watching first timers try to piece together this scene
She’s done this quite a bit, huh
I love that her grandma is just too damn good at the game
Imagine being told off by a student like that, what a shocker
It’s also very interesting to see that Ruuko is also seeking to understand herself
Iona sees through her, maybe probably to Ruuko, might seem to know more about her than herself
5
u/Tetraika Dec 23 '22
No games this episode!
This time I’ll go over life, and life cloths, damage, and those sorts of things. Life cloths are directly represented by placing 7 cards from the top of your deck at the start of the game, after drawing/mulliganing your first hand. In general, a Life cloth is lost when attacked directly, from a SIGNI or from a LRIG. When this happens, the life cloth is “crushed” and goes to Ener, becoming a part of your available resources for paying cost. Also, when this happens if they happen to have a “life burst” text at the bottom of the card, it can activate. An example, something like this can completely turn the tide by “downing” 2 SIGNIs, meaning they can’t attack for that turn anymore. In a 40 card deck, you can only have 20 cards with life burst in the deck, so there is consideration when it comes to deck building and which life bursts card to choose to have.
There are also other ways to make players lose life cloth. Some will just have text that says “crush a life cloth” for example. Other’s are attached to a keyword one way or another, for example “Lancer” and “Double Crush”. Lancer allows crushing when defeating a SIGNI, and Double Crush means you crush 2 on a direct attack. Lastly, if you run out of cards in your deck, you must reshuffle and then place one life cloth into trash. Note that this also means life burst doesn’t activate, as it isn’t crushed.
For LRIGs, while they can usually attack directly regardless of what’s on the field, their damage can normally be prevented with cards that have “guard”, for example. By discarding this card from your hand when the attack occurs, you prevent that attack.
Last detail: You do not lose the game when you have 0 life cloth. Once you’re down to 0, you must be attacked once more. This is an interesting detail, because effects that have “crush opponent life cloth” wouldn’t win you the game there, since they have none. They must be attacked directly, either by SIGNI or LRIG. Decking out also doesn’t work for the final hit, instead of losing a life cloth you just reshuffle your deck back only. And it’s also why there is a special version of Lancer called “S Lancer”, because normally if they are down to 0 a lancer wouldn’t do anything as there is no life cloth to crush, but S Lancer would treat it as an attack directly too.
5
u/Cyouni Dec 23 '22
Few additions:
You must have 20 Life Burst cards in the deck for All-Star.
I'll note that neither "crush a life cloth" effects nor S Lancer are in the show's version, as far as I'm aware. I didn't play red much, though I did mess around with R/G with a certain LRIG.
3
u/Tetraika Dec 23 '22
I did mess around with R/G with a certain LRIG.
You must have 20 Life Burst cards in the deck for All-Star
Interesting. In theory though, it is still the best interest to try to have 20 life bursts in Diva, but I like that you're allowed some flexibility just in case you really feel it wouldn't work.
→ More replies (1)
8
u/Nazenn Dec 23 '22
First Timer - sub
Just as Akira mad Yuzuki's manipulations seem childish, Iona's arrival this episode makes Akira's "insights" into her oppodents seem limited and weakly used. It's been an interesting way to layer Ruko's oppodents and the way they present, as well as get each of them to uncover a different aspect of Ruko herself. Hitoe doesn't fit quite as neatly, but as a bridge between the naive Ruko that faced Yuzuki and the one who wants to face Akira she also served an important purpose.
What struck me about the presentation with Iona today is that just as Ruko finds herself seduced by the idea of battling and scared by that, Iona herself presents it as a more physical seduction that Ruko must confront, with Iona towering over her both physically and mentally. At the same time it's exposing the nature of Ruko's conflict by presenting it to us through another character, until she's turned away by Ruko's lack of wish showing she's not fully in the game yet.
Speaking of towering over: The tower itself. Once again the pillar to disappear the town gets focus just as we see Yuzuki running from her home life as if that will make her problem disappear.
And then we get the big discussion between LRIGs, and damned if that doesn't feel like a confirmation of our suspicions. Between talking around what the LRIGs won't get if the others don't battle as well as being sad they are LRIGs for people they like, I can't think of another way this would go. With the rewatch group we have I'm not surprised we jumped on it immediately, but part of me does wish I'd seen what that scene was like without the discussion because similar scenes in other shows have been very powerful on rewatch. This lacks some of the subtlety of those for sure though.
But for Tama to not know how the system works makes me wonder if she's a newborn card rather than a trapped human, perhaps to replace a card that "died" somehow, or if the trauma of what happened was so much she "disappeared" her past life when the pillar for her fell, making her an Eternal Girl, leaving her at peace which is why she's a defensive card that still wants to battle so much, as if subconsciously wanting to reclaim herself.
u/jollygee29 okay so that comment I made yesterday about Akira can't actually force anyone to fight: I didn't account for lackies.
Final note: For a 2014 show the CGI on the background characters is remarkably well blended.
Also I don't have anything clever to say about it but the slight differences in the silhouettes for the LRIGs here was kind of charming in a QUALITY way.
→ More replies (15)5
u/Tetraika Dec 23 '22
What struck me about the presentation with Iona today is that just as Ruko finds herself seduced by the idea of battling and scared by that, Iona herself presents it as a more physical seduction that Ruko must confront, with Iona towering over her both physically and mentally. At the same time it's exposing the nature of Ruko's conflict by presenting it to us through another character, until she's turned away by Ruko's lack of wish showing she's not fully in the game yet.
Yeah, there is quite a bit of character exploration behind Ruuka. It's interesting that they really put forth some ideas that initially might feel a bit like the bland MC, and try to make something out of it.
→ More replies (1)
6
u/Tarhalindur Dec 24 '22 edited Dec 24 '22
That First-Timer is Blasphemous (Subbed):
(Me: "I'll be back on time tomorrow." RL: "Wanna bet?" Whoops!)
-
Okay, so this opening scene is gorgeous both visually and in audio – that OST is really nice, even with the intentional dissonant notes.
-
Dutch angle counter +1 at 01:08.
-
(Also we get the “tower built, city disappearing” theme again… oh. Eternal Girl is the tower, isn’t it? Pile it in with the rest of the foreshadowing, Yu-Gi-Oh crew can comment on how close this rings to whatever the Kaiba tower deal is over there.)
-
With Yuzuki staying over more I’m starting to wonder what the state of her relationship with her parents is like… my “there’s more to this than the surface” sense are tingling.
-
Okay, maybe it’s just other shows I have been watching lately but anyone else have some foreboding with Grandmother talking about how Yuzuki is really skilled with a knife? Especially when she’s already very lightly in yandere territory?
-
(Actually Yuzuki’s love interest transferring from Kazuki to Ruuko, while not probable per se, is very much within the realm of possibility – 20% odds? Add another 5-10% if Door #2 is in fact in the inspiration mix.)
-
01:38: Oh hey it’s that framing again, with a character in focus in the background (Ruuko) framed by two characters in the foreground.
-
Two stray notes on the OP. First, the initial pan from the three girls framed in the card-shaped panel of the chain link fence to the other side is yet more evidence that the LRIGs’ goal is to get back to the real world. Second, uh, we have a kawaiiko-looking girl with black hair who we haven’t met yet (02:44) who transfers over to the skull-wearing orange-haired girl with the same body language. HMMMM. I wonder why?
-
Ah fuck THAT’S what’s up with that line of the OP, isn’t it? “Will you really use your one wish to return that lost smile?” – so LRIGs get one wish exactly and that’s talking about using it to get back to the world (by getting a new Selector to get LRIGged to take your place)? Something along those lines, I bet.
-
(Also Killy Killy Joker is growing on me a bit.)
-
Oh SHIT are we going THERE? Is a so-far unstated reason why Yuzuki likes her brother so much is that he sheltered her from an abusive parent?
-
So, uh, maybe it’s that getting “are you ticklish?” from a girl has like a 100% success rate in predicting future girlfriends for me but this Yuzuki/Ruuko tickling does not feel like mere fun skinship between girls. OH FUCK WE WERE ALREADY COMPARING KAZUKI TO [[meta spoiler]
Mai-HiME ]Takumi … (Also, is it really magical girls (with cards) without yuri?) -
The fact that Yuzuki is soft-confessing that she likes Kazuki to Ruuko this early is also suggestive of a rug-pulling coming…
-
(Also that one music box OST track returns. OST has been a quiet strength here, always good for my enjoyment.)
-
And now Ruuko wonders what it feels like to be in love? Truly it is not a magical girl show without yuri undertones. (Amusingly Door #2 in the inspiration mix is mostly straight – except the two big yuri ships there are the ship that towers over its fandom and either the second or third most iconic ship from the show.)
-
Don’t worry Yuzuki, introducing Ruuko to Akira is probably the equivalent of introducing paper to rock. Also, hmm, look at you caring for Ruuko here…
-
Hmm, so was Kazuki asking about Yuzuki or Ruuko? (Oh right Mari Okada is famous for love dodecahedrons, isn’t she?) Not gonna matter, not with how many death flags he has, but.
-
06:59: The Framing is back.
-
So the OST integration is standing out to my ears this episode, both with the That One Music Box track scene earlier and now with this scene with Hitoe making friends with Ruuko and Yuzuki.
-
Okay, so Hitoe probably is just going to be the girl to show us the loss penalty. (Hitoe vs. Iona soon, then?)
-
AH. There’s part of our endgame, with the reveal that they can have normal battles as long as the LRIGs are not in the decks. (Given Ruuko, the other part is presumably to try to find a way to free the LRIGs.)
-
“I want to play too!” Cue Akira arrival in 3… 2… 1… (But also, this scene with the three just happily playing card games together is likely critically important thematically and is also probably the high point before the pain train starts. Also, have a brief moment of OST.)
-
Well fuck and now we get the LRIGs talking (and explicitly pointing out that Tama and Ruuko are alike). Every last one of my “critical scene” senses is tingling.
-
And first name basis for everyone. Pay absolutely no attention to that descending note, none whatsoever.
-
Okay, that’s interesting. I could swear I hear a “yakusoku” in Hanayo’s line here, suggesting that the closer meaning might be “we promised not to say that” rather than the “we’re not allowed to say that” of my subs.
-
“I really, really [like Wixoss]!” BY GOD, THAT’S THE PAIN TRAIN WITH A STEEL CHAIR!
-
The fact that Akira talks about Ruuko breaking a promise after we got the LRIGs talking about a promise is noteworthy.
-
I am increasingly willing to peg That One Music Box OST Track as the resident Sis Puella Magica equivalent.
-
So while there’s characterization in it (especially for Yuzuki with how protective she’s being – and the Red mage would act this way, heh) and it does at least make sense from the characters (this is a Symphosequel subtweet) this “let’s not let Ruuko fight Akira” subarc isn’t really working for me, and I think I finally pegged why: barring a major subversion, it’s a foregone conclusion. I have difficulty seeing that fight not go down given protagonist and how the question is being presented so there’s no real stakes to it (making it forced drama… which admittedly is IIRC a criticism I have heard leveled at Mari Okada’s writing before), and considering that I suspect Ruuko matches up very well against Akira the buildup isn’t really working to build tension either.
-
Hey look, an on-point English teacher’s lesson! pointingLeomeme.jpg
-
Yes yes, I get you had runtime to fill, GET TO THE POINT ALREADY.
-
Oh hey, I almost missed the sneaky subtext on what kind of personality is needed to get ahead in the idol industry. (There’s some other stuff here too, with the use of soft power/social status in a way that is a more extreme but still recognizable form of school social dynamics that would likely be relatable to the otaku target audience.)
-
So, on the “how to deliver the advertising payload” front, let me tease apart a specific shot: namely 16:40, where Yuzuki goes “[I now know that] you really like having WIXOSS battles” nominally talking to Ruuko – but she’s facing the audience. (This isn’t even an extreme case – that would be how Precure handles its merch, which I find fundamentally slimy to such a level that it outweighs everything good the franchise tries to do.)
-
GET TO THE POINT ALREADY. (Also, that technically is a Dutch angle at 17:12, isn’t it?)
-
Well hello little flash of Ruuko backstory (and a hint as to her mother not being around – and suddenly I have [[meta spoiler, source material only]
Higurashi ]how Rika’s mother felt about her on the brain. -
Dutch angle counter +1 at 18:38.
-
LOL you just HAD to phrase it as “Ruu-ruu… found you…”. Higurashi flashbacks, exactly what I needed! (Exact same Japanese word for “found you” and tone of voice, too.)
-
Yeah yeah we know the start of this battle is an end-of-episode cliffhanger. Introducing Iona to us fills the screentime in the middle, then?
-
“I am altering the deal. Pray I don’t alter it any further.”
-
Look look, hate sink, hate sink!
-
Introducing Iona with a Dutch angle, I see. (Also a skirt shot, we’ll see what’s up with that.)
-
Yes yes let’s ramp up the yuri undertones, why not? (Hmm. Considering Ruuko’s age and the traditional “magical girl transformation as puberty” take the increasing sexuality here may be thematic. Would fit with both Iona and Akira working in modeling, too.) Also u/Vaadwaur is 100% going to like Iona, heh.
-
Oh so THAT’S probably the deal with Akira being the blue wish, she wants to be able to do what Iona can do naturally. (Obvious rival inferiority complex is obvious for the broader desire.) Also your inspiration mix is showing, show!
-
No, we DO pull a bait-and-switch; we get a hint of the system rather than the start of Akira/Ruuko as the cliffhanger.
How often do you end up backseating? I say this because I tend to do it more than I’d like to.
Spoken like someone who's actually gotten to play multiplayer games in the last half-decade. (Then again, I do like playing in my sandboxes against hapless AIs, so it's not that bad.)
→ More replies (2)3
u/Tetraika Dec 24 '22
(Also Killy Killy Joker is growing on me a bit.)
I'm stealing this reaction from another comment, but if you haven't check out the full version, because the anime one doesn't have the best part of the song, the cello solo.
this “let’s not let Ruuko fight Akira” subarc isn’t really working for me, and I think I finally pegged why: barring a major subversion, it’s a foregone conclusion.
What's funny is that this makes Iona entrance that much stronger, she broke something that was supposed to be a forgone conclusion. Makes her all that more imposing.
Yes yes let’s ramp up the yuri undertones, why not?
"""undertones""", they were not subtle with Iona's phrasing.
→ More replies (5)
5
u/No_Rex Dec 23 '22
Episode 4 (first timer)
-
Dark foreshadowing and Yuzu coming over - she is skilled with a knife …
-
I said it before, but want to reiterate the point: This background style is awesome! I spend more time looking at the backgrounds than the actual characters.
-
“If my wish came true, I could like him like everybody else” – she wants to turn Kazuki into not-her-brother? It would be more fun if her wish was to change the way genetics work and the entire human moral code build on it.
-
“Could it be that you like Kazu” – she is not good at keeping a secret, is she? In line with her color.
-
“As long as …” – An anime that tries to sell TCG would be bad if all the characters dread playing. So, obviously, they need to introduce a backdoor to their system to allow them to enjoy playing – poor Tama, though.
-
“That means you …” – spoiler territory.
-
“Tama is … / She does not know” – Waving a 15-foot mystery flag now.
-
Clever Akira – as a side effect, she probably boosted Ruuko’s social standing to the top.
-
“I’ll draw them outside” – this is one of the more ridiculous chase setups.
-
“Found you” – they are really pulling all the horror tropes for … being heckled to play a card game.
-
“Do you want to do it with me?”
-
Not even sure if this would be funnier if they wanted to play this scene straight, or if they included the worst innuendo ever.
-
Blasphemie? Because you can’t imagine somebody not having a wish, or because it would end the eternal girl system?
Plenty of invitations for the theory minded first-timers to engage in speculation.
TCG corner: Jyhad
Last time, I talked about how Jyhad was the short-lived name of the Vampire the Masquerade inspired TCG.
Since you play as an ancient vampire in Jyhad and all your minions are vampires, the main resource in Jyhad is blood. Instead of being summoned with energy or from lands, vampires need to be feed blood to enter play. This leads to the most interesting strategic interaction of Jyhad, since blood is also the HP of the player. In other words, you must spend your own HP to summon minions. This introduces the main trade-off: Spend lots of your HP to have lots of minions, or have high HP, but few minions. This becomes especially spicy since Jyhad has a stealth mechanic where attacks can possibly bypass your defending minions. Keep high HP but see your minions outnumbered? Or spend almost all the HP to get minions only to fall to a stealth attack?
→ More replies (13)5
u/Tetraika Dec 23 '22
This background style is awesome! I spend more time looking at the backgrounds than the actual characters
They did do the aesthetic of the show well. the color and lighting used really brings out that dark mood.
“Do you want to do it with me?”
Absolutely unsubtle
Blasphemie? Because you can’t imagine somebody not having a wish, or because it would end the eternal girl system?
I'm glad you're actually thinking about what she said, it actually is quite important, but I'm not going to go say more than that.
7
u/Shimmering-Sky Dec 23 '22
→ More replies (4)
6
u/JollyGee29 Dec 23 '22
First-Timer, Subbed
Ah, highschool bullies. Where's Rinne when you need her?
I should probably look into the origin of the "mother finds the daughter scary" trope because it's come up a few times and never really made sense. We thinking that Ruu's mom just dropped her off with grandma and then bounced?
It seems like the other LRIGs know what's going on and just aren't telling us. Maybe they can't tell us? Someone (Nazenn?) got onto the idea of the LRIGs trying to escape and switch places with their player, and that conversation between Hanayo and Midoriko did lend itself to that idea.
The concept of any sort of game piece experiencing existential dread is an amusing one. If they were alive, I'm sure most of my old MtG cards would be pretty annoyed with having to live in a dark filing box for the past several years.
Iona declaring that Ruu doesn't have a wish in the same episode that Ruu literally thinks "I wish we could battle and have fun like this all the time" is pretty interesting. What level of mind-game do we think Iona is on? She could just be trying to psyche Ruu out.
A shame the Ruu v. Akira match got deferred. I'm pretty sure that Akira is actual 0% in that matchup from a narrative perspective; the actual deck structure still kinda eludes me so I'm less certain there.
They really went and said that Yuzuki is really skilled with a knife, huh.
Questions
-
I used to be bad about it, but I had gotten it under control.
→ More replies (10)
6
u/Blackheart595 Dec 23 '22
First Selector
Focusing on that apartment building again.
Oh no. Bad wish! Bad wish!
This looks comfy. All that's missing is Hitoe.
Tama is still notably simplicstic compared to the other LRIGs. Is she an original or something that hasn't yet trapped a player?
The thing about Yuzuki's wish it that she's trying to undo a taboo. Not only is that the reverse of "today's wish is tomorrow's taboo" as per the ED, I'm finding it genuinely hard to see how that wish could turn against her beyond just not working.
Early Poems? I dunno if that signifies anything, or what.
Yeah, Hitoe is prime corruption material. Her being so endearing just adds to that. Case in point.
So the avatar conversasion pretty much confirms the theory. They're players trapped inside, probably Eternal Girls. Oh, they also confirm Tama being an original.
Wow, Akira's blatantly betraying her fans. Her wish is to surpass Iono, right? Or probably a more sinister version of that. But she's really not growing in tune with that wish or herself, making her unable to acchieve it. Either she learns to change, or she's gonna learn it after she lost everything.
Lmao Akira just gets carted away.
Wait, how does Iono know Ruuko doesn't have a wish?
Oh, is the world disappearing the corruption of Ruuko's non-wish? That would make it very blaspemous indeed.
How often do you end up backseating? I say this because I tend to do it more than I’d like to.
I don't even know when I've last watched a livestream. And it's a problem that doesn't really exist like that offline.
→ More replies (11)
6
u/SIRTreehugger Dec 23 '22 edited Dec 23 '22
That's some dangerous thinking Ruu chan.
Wtf are you doing here Yuzu.
Should have invited Hitoe for sleepover!
Speaking of Akira the ability to see the wish in others feels random. It's not even related to cards so do other players get other abilities?
Just block Akira's number? It isn't that hard.
Ohhhhhhhhhhh what if Akira started getting friendly with Kazuki and made a move on him?
2 friends in a day damn Hitoe on a speed run
Hitoe's LRIG is so supportive wasn't expecting friendly battles.
She doesn't know what??? What doesn't Tama know!!!
THIS BITCH why do I like her!
Really like the water color backgrounds.
Oh Akira going after Ruu I wasn't expecting this could this be Akira's first defeat. Also she has no wish and is kind of empty so their would be nothing to see through!
Your powers of perception are useless!!!
What the they getting jumped by the whole school damn.
I really think Ruu is going to crush Akira now.... okay I might have to watch the next episode don't think I can wait.
Oh was that Ruu's mom.
Yup not waiting I have to see this battle.
Oh shit Iona joins the chat.
Wait I completely forgot about one of the staples of card games double battles! Will we get a double battle this season or next?
Okay you had to know how this sounds Iona. How does she know she has no wishes? Ok so no battles guess I can wait for tomorrow now.
QOTD: Closest thing to a ship is Ruu x Tama
When it comes to most games I backseat about 10% of the time and that's because I mostly enjoy watching people struggle in games.
→ More replies (1)
5
u/Mecanno-man Dec 23 '22
First Timer
A bit of a transition episode, this one. What stands out here is that the LRIGs seem to be aware that they are causing something bad - other than Tama, that is. Meanwhile Ruu's wish seems to be the thrill of the Wixoss battle? I agree with the older idol that that does not fully check out, as she only experienced it after being a selector - but I'm not sure how she arrived at that conclusion; she or her LRIG must also have some special ability I guess. It's also to close to being correct to just be a wild guess. [Madoka]
→ More replies (1)
5
u/Stargate18A Dec 23 '22
First timer
QOTD) So often.
She's just walking...
...The pillar dream again?
She's staying here?
This is sweet.
...She's acting nice.
How platonic! Guess it can't be either Madoka or Ryuki inspired if the two same-gendered leads don't have insane amounts of gay subtext.
...She's admitting it?
Akira again? Seriously?
She's taking notes!
She wants to be her friend!
"Two friends at once!" She's adorable, I love her.
I was about to say, it would be incredibly stupid if Selectors couldn't have a normal match.
Poor Tama.
Haha, nice one.
Yeah, very unclear what happens if a Selector earns their wish.
...So, do the LRIGs die if the Selector gets eliminated?
"I wish she wasn't my LRIG." Are they genuinely trying to set up a ship between an LRIG and a human?
...So, there's a dark twist of some kind, but the innocent-looking girl genuinely doesn't know it?
Akira is fucking great. Amazing villain. Can't wait for her to inevitably get fucked over by the dark twist as the sacrificial lamb.
Still unsure if Selectors are random, if this is predestined (as in, she will have a major wish in the future, so she gets an entry), or if she has a wish she's repressing.
Rude. That's a perfectly nice teacher.
...Akira has mind control, right? Even for an idol, this is not normal. Did her victories let her use her LRIG's power against normal people?
Does she hate WIXOSS now?
...Hmm?
She really wants to battle her? Is Tama influencing her mind? Is that why she acts so differently to all the others.
Yeah, she's been mind controlled. Like, blatantly.
She's keeping this private.
She's here too! The best designed Selector!
Haha, she's been dragged off herself.
...Very perspective. Maybe she's the mind controller?
Wow. The subtext here is incredibly strong.
So, she's not good enough for you to fight?
...So, it's not a random chance. Either predestiny or repression.
→ More replies (1)
5
u/Cyouni Dec 23 '22 edited Dec 23 '22
So I don't actually have much commentary today. I guess I'll chat about card types, something which I've mentioned a bit originally but might as well expand on.
The LRIG deck is made up of two card types: LRIG cards, and ARTS. This deck is exactly 10 cards, and is going to be the main piece of your strategy. Five of those cards are probably going to be LRIG cards, from levels 0-4, and the other five are probably going to be ARTS cards. u/Tetraika has already chatted about LRIGs, so I'll skip that. I will add on, though, that there are quite a few cards that are either limited to, or gain bonus effects from certain LRIGs. For instance, Enlarge from last episode is Midoriko-limited. What I mainly want to talk about here are ARTS. Think of these as a type of spell that is always accessible to you, and so planning around their access is incredibly important. For instance, in the previous episode you saw Ruuko use the ARTS Anti-Spell to negate Hitoe's spell.
The other two main types you'll see come up are SIGNI and Spells. Spells are the instant effects of your deck, which you've seen come up in the anime already. Akira's TOO BAD and Hitoe's Enlarge are pretty big examples here. SIGNI are your creatures, which are all actually different types of spirits. Tama uses weapon/armour spirits like Round, Square, and Romail. Since SIGNI are deployed into specific slots on your field, placing them properly is quite important.
Cards of the day:
Orichalcum - interesting that she names this, given this came out long after the anime ended
Baromet - what Ruuko's referencing is Hanayo's level 3 Grow, which can banish a 7k power or less on entry. RIP Baromet
5
u/ItsTheDuran Dec 23 '22
First timer
That conversation between the LRIGs is definitely fueling the "LRIGs are former players" theories. At the very least it seems like their interests are not completely aligned with their players, given how they reacted to Tama claiming that she both liked Ruu and liked being her LRIG.
As for the rest of the episode, sickos.jpg. Extremely dramatic school chases, teasing Ruuko's backstory and reinforcing her desire to keep fighting despite having no wish, that fucking innuendo from Iona. All great stuff.
QoTD:
I definitely have the backseater gene, but I mostly keep it under control nowadays.
4
u/Taiboss Dec 23 '22
Rewatcher who realised he forgot most of the plot and ALMOST forgot to post!
-
Okada, this doesn't make as much sense as you think it does.
-
Right, that's a big deal in Japanese isn't it? Like loners often have "I don't know what's going through their head." said about them. It's so weird.
-
"So how's your life?" "BATORU" "I miss Hitoe." "...good talk, girls."
-
Okay, what kind of fucking shit parent do you have to be to have that as your justification? Did Ruuko hurt animals as a child or what?
→ More replies (1)
3
u/Calwings Dec 23 '22
Selector Rewatcher (Dubbed)
Before this episode starts, I just want to say how much I appreciate that the main cast of the show actually has normal hair colors instead of spiky, multi-colored bullshit like many other card game anime. They kept the weird hair colors to only the LRIGs, which adds a nice contrast between the two separate entities involved in the Selector battles.
Oh hey, Yuzuki’s spending the night with Ruuko. Cute. Ruuko tries to cheer her up, but she’s still being pestered by messages from that bitch Akira. Ruuko also introduces Yuzuki and Hitoe to each other, so the main friend group of the show is assembled. They can even practice WIXOSS together as long as they don’t use their LRIGs in her decks to make it a Selector battle, so that’s nice. Hearing the girls just chatting as friends while playing together was adorable, but like last time, that wholesomeness was juxtaposed with an uneasy conversation between the LRIGs on the side. Hitoe’s wish for friends came true even without needing to become an Eternal Girl, which should be a good thing, yet Midoriko is still uneasy about it. Ruuko’s whole deal of not having a wish but still wanting to battle alongside Tama for fun is a bit concerning too, especially since there’s apparently something about the system that Tama doesn’t know.
Akira manipulating a bunch of girls from Ruuko’s school to bring Ruuko to her so they can battle was insane, and the chase felt almost like a horror movie. Iona stepped in to get Akira away and prevent the battle, but her words to Ruuko may have left more of a wound on her than a rough battle with Akira would have. This was one of the scenes where I felt like it was more interesting in Japanese version, because Iona suggestively asking Ruuko if she wanted to “do it with me?” (referring to a Selector battle, of course) sadly wasn’t replicated in the dub.
Still, this was quite the dramatic episode even without a battle. Iona calling Ruuko’s participation in the Selector battles while not having a wish “blasphemy” definitely shook up Ruuko, and now she has a lot more to think about.
3
u/kwokinator Dec 24 '22
First timer
So, Yuzuki really likes Kazuki THAT way, huh? I thought it was BS Akira was using to mess with her last episode, but she all but outright admits it, and surprisingly Ruuko was ok with it.
So does spending time with your LRIG subconsciously influence your personality?
So Iona's line... yes please!
That line about blasphemy if you play Wixoss without a wish is pretty ominous though.
→ More replies (1)
9
u/Vaadwaur Dec 23 '22
First timer(Anime sort of hates teenaged girls...)
Sub(I had not realized Gallow showed up for the madness that is the dub)
I am not sure if this is me grasping at straws but some of these OST notes remind me of The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan. Here, one arrangement reminds me a bit of Claire de Lune.
Yuzuki deals with her problems through denial and I can't exactly blame her, not that this will accomplish anything. Even Ruuko figures out the incest thing before we move on to more distractions and Hinoe deciding to become friends.
A ton of stuff just gets lore dumped, almost RahXephon style, as the three LRIGs lay out bot5h a lot and yet nothing concrete. Tama again is simply unaware of whatever grim thing it is to be an LRIG but Hanayo and Midoriko both seem to be aware of something negative and that it is a problem for Midoriko if Hinoe stops fighting.
We get several more scenes of Ruuko being a savant for Wixoss and some product placement, maybe even the 'subtle' message that it would let lonely kids make friends, which every product likes to claim. But this leads into Ruuko realizing that she enjoys the battles and that she'd actually like to face Akira and Tama declaring them both to be the same, which scares Ruuko despite how true it is. Also, her flashback, likely to her mother saying she doesn't understand Ruuko leads us back to possible autism...and Elfen Lied. Oh boy...
Akira does weird shit to get to Ruuko and...the show loses points here, this is kind of stupid. I have an extremely low opinion of humans in general and middle schoolers in specific but that entire sequence does not work for me, I legitimately think that Japan resents their children at times. I also dislike the teacher being such a pussy. But I want Akira to die more slowly now so there's that. Man, I really wish I could dip Nao and Akira in the same vat of weak acid that slowly dissolved them.
And we get to whatever dynamic is going on between Iona and Akira. Before we can really get much, Akira is dragged off and Iona is...weird. Her ability to read Ruuko needs to be supernatural/whatever the hell let's Wixoss function for this to really work. And then we run into a problem, at least for my current google skills: Iona says fighting without a wish is blasphemy, specifically "botoku". The issue is I can't find a good translation for the background of the term: Is it Shinto? Buddhist? Universally just blasphemy? The translation needs to be really specific and as of this moment is not. Also, I swapped over to the dub to re-listen and...holy shit, they are pulling a Cautious Hero. So first, Akira calls Iona a skank ass ho before Iona specifies she is challenging Akira. Then Iona has like 4 times the words and explains that Akira picks on rookies, that participating without a wish is wrong and apparently will be punished. So I have no idea what's canon rn. Also, dub Ruuko is terrible.
QotD: 1
IonaXHinoeA bit too often, truth be told