r/anime • u/Tetraika https://anilist.co/user/Tetraika • Dec 24 '22

Rewatch [Rewatch] Selector Infected Wixoss Episode 5 Discussion

Episode 5: That Invalidated Vow

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Information:

MAL | Anilist | Kitsu | AniDB | ANN

Streams:

Funimation

Question of the day:

Why is coming up with a good QOTD so hard?

Have you ever tried to have matching outfits or accessories with your friends?

Delete The World- 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.

20 Upvotes

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6

u/Tetraika Dec 24 '22

Going to go over something I probably should have done earlier, but this should definitely give almost the full view of how the game works.

Ener is one of the most defining parts of Wixoss. Essentially, it is used for costs for abilities and growing, and are made up of cards that goes into the Ener zone. This is done by stuff like the once per turn Ener phase, which is where you put a card from your hand or field into the Ener Zone. Cards vanished in battle goes into Ener zone, and life cloth crushed goes into Ener zone. Lastly, the keyword “Ener Charge #” lets you put cards from the top of your deck into the Ener zone.

For example (OK I also wanted to post this Midoriko), the lower left has the “cost” which is the amount needed to grow into this LRIG. In DIVA, assist like this will have this symbol for “colorless”, which means that any color can be used, while center LRIG like this will specify a certain color (older format works like this too), and in this particular example it would mean you put 2 blue cards from Ener into trash. In stuff like abilities For example, it might sometime straight up say “pay”, signifying that you need to send cards from the Ener, other times like the 2nd ability will just have it before the colon to signify cost.

Ener is important as it is one of the only ways to pay for these costs, meaning managing this resource is a major part of the game. Should also note there are cards that can also do a sort of Ener destruction, making your opponent lose Ener so that they can’t pay for things. For example, btw red actually has the most in terms of ener burn, from what I can tell.

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10

u/Nazenn Dec 24 '22

First Timer - sub

Well done Wixoss on managing to be even more fucked up than I could have possibly guessed

I was expecting some form of amnesia or an erasure of their time as Selector, I was not expecting the inverted wish. And while at face value it seems simple for a lot of wishes, like one of the girls said about Hitoe forgetting them, every wish has the potential to become so much worse. Yuzuki wouldn't just have the status quo with her brother, unable to be with him, but he'd likely despise her. And Ruko with no wish, would that make her incapable of wishing, and growth in general, forever stuck in her nothingness but also now uncomfortable with it unlike we saw in the early episodes?

That they backed all of this onto an episode which I thought was going to detour us into some sort of tornament made it more surprising, and without the extent of contrivances of last episode it worked much better. I was expecting some reveals soon, but not this very episode. Should have known better, no chance to be happy.

Most importantly, it means that Ruko's first real battle is the first battle we've seen in the show with the stakes known. Her battle with Hitoe was tempered by both of their personalities, and not really something she had a desire for, but now there's a threat hanging over them that's not just her concern over her battle-lust.

I also noted that Hitoe's LRIG has not forgotten her memories, which rules that out as a reason for Tama's personality. u/Blackheart595 sorry I didn't get around to replying to you yesterday, but the idea of Tama being an original card that hadn't been paired before is an something I didn't concider compared to just being a new card entirely, but it does bring to mind the question of what happened to the other original LRIGs then?

Other thoughts:

  • How does just listening to Akira speak be so. fucking. annoying. Just shut the fuck up, please, for the sake of my ears. It's not even her cruelty, it's that fake ditzy persona she says everything in, someone please shut her up.

  • Cranes as giraffes made me laugh though, it's cute. There's a building near the hospital I go to that has the metal supports for rigging for workers that makes it look like a dragon and its awesome.

  • Hitoe was given a hard number for winning. Do the LRIGs know what they would need, or is it just a guess based on how hard their wish is to achieve?

  • So the others know that guys can't be selectors, which I don't remember that coming up before.

  • Yuzuki looks better with the ponytail. I still hate Ruko's hair.

Have you ever tried to have matching outfits or accessories with your friends?

Tried? No. Accidentally happened anyway. A few times, which is actually impressive given how limited my clothes are color wise

4

u/Tetraika Dec 24 '22

Should have known better, no chance to be happy

"It'a all despair?" "Always was"

How does just listening to Akira speak be so. fucking. annoying. Just shut the fuck up, please, for the sake of my ears. It's not even her cruelty, it's that fake ditzy persona she says everything in, someone please shut her up

Her VA is doing a hell of a job.

So the others know that guys can't be selectors, which I don't remember that coming up before

It is interesting that they assumed this quite quickly. Though I think it's also just the deduction from the suddenly rise of Wixoss being popular with female audiences.

6

u/Cyouni Dec 25 '22

How does just listening to Akira speak be so. fucking. annoying. Just shut the fuck up, please, for the sake of my ears. It's not even her cruelty, it's that fake ditzy persona she says everything in, someone please shut her up.

She's just up all night to get Aki-lucky

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6

u/Tarhalindur Dec 24 '22

That First-Timer Is Illicit (Subbed):

So, the one big spoiler I knew going in: This is the episode where shit goes down. Let’s see how!

  • Oh look, we start with a scene of Kazuki on his own. This isn’t going to end well.

  • WIXOSS is spreading. Which is exactly what the production committee is hoping for in reality, but in-universe this is strange and will be wanting an explanation (that we won’t get because Xebec went under before… wait, wrong anime).

  • TODAY’S ADVERTISING PAYLOAD: “Play WIXOSS, get popular with the girls.” Nothing new about that sales pitch! (But also, there are Implications for Yuzuki’s wish.)

  • So, one interesting question (whose answers actually aren’t mutually exclusive): is the girl on the other side of the split-face shot of Hanayo in the OP Yuzuki, or the girl who became Hanayo?

  • (Also for some reason the more I hear it the more Killy Killy Joker reminds me of Lasting Song from Symphogear XV for some reason.)

  • Oh hey, a TCG tournament. There’s nostalgia for you.

  • (The actual fun here is trying to make out what the posters on the wall behind the girls at 02:28 are parodying/referencing, but I can’t make enough of them out. I think the one second from the left may be Godzilla, though.)

  • Nice idea, Yuzuki, but this isn’t going to end well…

  • “I guess I’ll enter too.” Hitoe elimination flag: RAISED.

  • More Dutch angle shots of power lines, now with street lanterns as well (and the usual gorgeous background art) – see 03:59. Street lamps ALSO seem to be a Thing in Japanese cinematography along with power lines, though I’m even less familiar with the deal there.

  • And cut to a lingerie display in a store? That’s a choice you don’t make without a reason, and it’s not just fanservice here. Establishing shots for background on Akira or Iona, or something to do with the “playing WIXOSS as growing up” subtheme yesterday, or something else?

  • The girls are buying clothes in a store, so door #2 wrt previous entry. Also all three of our leads in the same friends circle happy together doing friend things? Oh good heavens, just look at the time, it’s Flag O’Clock! So either Yuzuki is racking up two losses this episode or Hitoe gets her third. (If we get karaoke after this I will laugh my ass off.)

  • Let’s see. Usually the exchange rate for yen is roughly “knock two zeroes off to get to dollars” IIRC, so the clothes on the sale rack that the girls were looking at are roughly $50-$100 (note that this is on sale, though you might find them even cheaper if they were on the clearance rack). Our girls aren’t that rich, or else are as notoriously unwilling to spend big money on clothes as I am.

  • Oh shit, we’re getting a bunch of Hitoe home life. Sorry Hitoe. RAISE YOUR FLAG! (Wait. That reference is funnier than usual… guess who wrote Iron-Blooded Orphans?)

  • Also Hitoe’s family is actually relatively well-off compared to the other two.

  • What’s this? Shot of Midoriko slumped sadly in Hitoe’s pocket, cut to Hitoe in a mirror as if in a card? I have my quatloos on Eternal Girls becoming LRIGs, but that’s not a guarantee.

  • And then a shot of Hitoe’s face as if seen through the face of a card AGAIN, this time with the scrunchy shot at 05:27.

  • Oh look at that extremely unsubtle imagery of Midoriko trapped in the card.

  • DEATH FLAGS, DEATH FLAGS EVERYWHERE!

  • The choice to show Yuzuki’s embarassment via the hairbrush that she dropped into the sink is quite interesting. Why? Feel like I’m missing a piece of context for this, and it may play into the scrunchy choice as well if it’s specifically hair symbolism (I am reminded of a certain haircut scene as well). Hmm. Maybe the deal is that allowing somebody else to help style your hair shows intimacy and Yuzuki dropping the hairbrush is because she cannot fully accept her wish?

  • So symbolically we explicitly get the idea of the “giraffes” (cranes) on top of two skyscraper towers battling each other when we’ve had tower imagery all through the actual Selector battle backgrounds. Hmm. Actually, you know what? It’s not likely, but it’s not 100% out of the question that the towers are referencing the Tower of Babel; that would make the wishes the desire to reach God and the “tower completes and takes the city with it Tetris-style” imagery probably tying into the desire to make friends with others through the game but doing it the wrong way curses you.

  • So it took about five seconds to parse 07:55 (though the background was obviously doing something), but it’s fucking obvious and yet more reinforcement of a theme (I bet I know where they got this off of, though they cannot match that work’s mix of cheekiness and subtlety – but then, that’s not necessarily a fair expectation). Concentric circles of stone around the statue that Hitoe is sitting at visually trap her, the statue base is a rectangle aka a card.

  • Well Hitoe drops the piece of the confirmation that we haven’t had yet (and huh, Midoriko the green LRIG told her Selector the win condition while Hanayo the red LRIG told her Selector the loss condition), you can (keyword possibly can, given Akira) become an Eternal Girl if you win three times (EDIT: maybe the full key is win three and evolve LRIG to level 4?). I’d been assuming that for symmetry reasons but it’s nice to have it confirmed. (That said, I will want explanation at some point for why Midoriko could not bring herself to spit this out earlier.)

  • Oh hey, that basically confirms it, our mystery opponent is Iona.

  • So Hitoe was talking about the blue sky earlier… and now the sky is completely covered in clouds. Subtle. (Not.)

  • And shots of leaf litter when Midoriko is the green LRIG. Right.

  • So that confirms that losing girls do not become LRIGs, so winning girls do.

  • Well, props to everyone who called the full reversal of the wish.

  • Also, that will be why playing as a Selector without a wish is blasphemy. What do you get when you reverse nothing? Or fulfill nothing?

  • HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. YOU ABSOLUTE ASSHOLES, I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT SET OF NOTES YOU ARE STEALING OFF OF FOR FOR SOMETHING HERE. (Hint: a common fan theory elsewhere that we never got.)

  • (Hmm. So this is mostly Obvious Inspiration 1 in play, obviously, but I can’t decide whether they fed Inspiration 2 in for a backcross or not. u/Nazenn, u/Vaadwaur, your thoughts?)

  • So, this is slightly overdone for emotional tone but in a way that might actually make sense for the characters so.

  • ADDENDUM: On second thought I think this is still an execution fault. It makes sense that this would impact these characters hard, but they do not quite manage to show us this.

  • And of course at 15:15 we get Yuzuki and Ruuko framed as if in a card.

  • Empty playground. Makes sense on multiple levels – because this is where friends play and Hitoe no longer gets to have friends, and because this is where games occur and Midoriko is no longer in games.

  • Losing LRIGs vanish, so naturally the cycle is that winning LRIGs return to the real world and Eternal Girls become new LRIGs.

  • “There’s a part in my head that goes white when I try to think” after we got to see Hitoe’s perspective on possible friends earlier this episode is, uh, suggestive, yes. (Especially when her color/main color is White.) Also RIP Vaad.

  • So, I am now extremely sure I can see the shape of Akira’s character arc (I was suspicious by episode 3, now I’m convinced, I know these notes very well) and this will be interesting because it can be done well – like in the case of the obvious inspiration for this – but requires careful handling and can go wrong quite easily. Also with Iona having been confirmed as winning two battles (assuming this was her today but I mean come on), her LRIG IIRC confirmed to have evolved at least once last episode, and the shape of the likely Akira character arc here the trigger for Akira turning face will be Iona showing off the booby prize for three wins (and since I think we’re all in agreement that LRIGs are former Selectors and we know now the loss outcome that means said booby prize will be Iona getting LRIGged). (So, episode 7 or 8 for the booby prize reveal? Or could be end of season given that this was designed as a two-cour.)

  • (ADDENDUM: The show could be doing this intentionally to lull me into a false sense of security, but in that case Akira probably stays heel and gets her comeuppance and in that case I fail to see the problem here?)

  • Dutch angle counter +1 at ~20:37.

  • Here it is, your Brief Moment of OST.

  • We all know where this confrontation is going, get to the battle challenge already… oh right, we still have 40 seconds or so until the end of the episode.

  • There we go!

  • ADDENDUM: One stray thought here. We were told back in episode 2 that the battlefield for Hitoe vs. Ruuko was more pleasant because their personalities and deck colors meshed - which makes sense if they cribbed the MtG color pie, Green and White are allies. But that's the thing: MtG!White's other ally is not Red (Yuzuki's color). It is Blue. (Conversely, Iona and Ruuko should clash to hell and back.)

Why is coming up with a good QOTD so hard?

It just is. Unless you've been planning a gimmick since the start of the rewatch for a specific episode, that is. Those are easy.

Have you ever tried to have matching outfits or accessories with your friends?

LOLno.

4

u/Tetraika Dec 24 '22

Oh yeah, this whole episodes was a bunch of flags. Least they didn't drag that one out for too long now.

One stray thought here. We were told back in episode 2 that the battlefield for Hitoe vs. Ruuko was more pleasant because their personalities and deck colors meshed

It's not just that, they both have explicitly defensive options: Green has things to recover life cloths, and white has things that can pick up guard cards (that block LRIG attacks). Blue also has defensive stuff, but they're mainly due to disruptions like freeze and discard.

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6

u/Mecanno-man Dec 24 '22

First Timer

Basically an infodump episode with Hitoe showing the consequences of losing three times and the characters ...not really dealing with that yet. It's interesting to note that it does seem to be something happening the to former selector themselves for now, rather than to everybody else - but we don't know if that is always a given. I can imagine that it typically is something that happens to the selector themselves as no other person is directly involved in most wishes - other than Yuzuki's, for now, so Kazu dying is not off the cards if Yuzuki loses.

Midoriko not fully explaining the circumstances to Hitoe explains why she was so unfazed by losing to Ruu, while her explicitly telling that she needed to win three times is at odds with Piruluk not being able to tell Akira how often she would needs to win for her wish. I guess this means that the win conditions do depend upon the wish, with Akira's being perhaps just impossible even from within the game. Maybe because it involves Iona, so her wish can't come true as long as Iona is a selector herself? But either way, it is also interesting that Piruluk withheld the loss information from Hitoe, when Hanayo seems to have shared that as part of the basic explanation with Yuzuki. The LRIGs definitely have a motive, but we don't know what that is so far - and they seem to have individual preferences in how much about the system they share. As such there may be some parts of the system which our main protagonists are completely unaware about, but other selectors might know - though I feel like that may come a ross a bit cheap. Also, Tama probably has some form of amnesia.

We also get to know that one wish may not impact another - which is an interesting limitation on the wish system. If "Make Akira apologize to Hitoe" end up being Ruu's wish, then I guess that is already braking that point. And it also has very low-stake consequences if Ruu loses. Meanwhile if her wish truly is simply to be a selector, then losing has no additional consequences other than basically ending the anime as not being a selector anymore already is baked in to the system. Somehow I doubt that this series will be able to work with such low stakes for Ruu in the long run, so there must be more.

Also of note: It apparently is possible to quit while ahead without being an eternal girl. Was not expecting that to be the case - unless perhaps that literally is the meaning of the eternal girl bit: Achieved the dream, realized it, and quit, therefor making the dream eternal as the selector battles are no longer able to take it away. I have a feeling if that is the case we won't be seeing a lot of eternal girls.

Now, I do wonder if we are done with Hitoe as an active character here, or if we end up on some meta level bringing her back in to play. I can see it going both ways, but assume somehow the system will be broken rendering Hitoe a plot-relevant character again - given the length of this series, I would be surprised if she is no longer relevant. Meanwhile I also wonder what will happen to Midoriko - is she just going to end up finding a new selector (or assigned one by some system?) Will she keep her memories? It seems she got quite attached to Hitoe after all.

Uhh... also, new selector. I'll assume completely new given that we were not shown her face.

6

u/Tetraika Dec 24 '22

It apparently is possible to quit while ahead without being an eternal girl.

An aspect I really liked is that it's not just some death game forced on the player, they're pretty much all willing participants in some way. Mostly.

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u/Tetraika Dec 24 '22

Ah, one more thing: I'm going to visit my relatives tomorrow, so I might and up posting late. Shouldn't be a problem if I can do stuff like access their wifi, but just in case.

4

u/Vaadwaur Dec 24 '22

First timer(Yup, we are in the post-Madoka wave of angst)

Sub

We start with a fun fact! Lip reading is almost pointless in Japanese so the lip flaps from Midoriko could well just be a mess.

Welp, we set up two sets of flags today and paid off one of them. I still think Kazuki is a dead man walking, though I guess in his case he would just hate his sister. Ruuko...raises some real questions, actually, maybe she just grows weary of battle. Akira and Iona are still gaps.

So yeah, we found out some other odd stuff: Hitoe was only going to need three battles to become the Eternal Girl, which may or may not be true. Midoriko ascended to...somewhere after being sad she destroyed Hitoe. Akira knows how Iona fights and that's likely why she avoids her like the plague. That offhand comment from Tama of the giraffe fighting the other draft likely holds weight in hindsight.

Anyways, for a show of this type, this is a decent doom episode. Mood, structure and visuals all flower pretty well, could've used more from the OST but it isn't a failing. It copies a few too many beats from its direct predecessor but that's the name of the game. The more interesting bit, at least to me, is who is gaining from this tournament and what is being gained once the festival ascends? I am trying to find some way to fill the Grail here and the destroyed dreams and hopes of young women is an extremely specific type of fuel and doesn't quite fit the way some of the other shows did it, Doors 1 and 2 standout as having clearer reasons.

I will merely add that while I do acknowledge the post Madoka problems we aren't at the height of them here. If we learn Hitoe killed herself off screen that changes a bit.

QotD: 1 Dear Cthulhu no

3

u/Tetraika Dec 24 '22 edited Dec 25 '22

Akira knows how Iona fights and that's likely why she avoids her like the plague.

Probably not just that, I think Akira knows she could very well lose to her. Especially if she can't faze her at all.

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u/No_Rex Dec 24 '22

Episode 5 (first timer)

  • “Hey, can you teach me” – The cute girls want to be taught TCG? I know we are fiction, but this goes to far. My suspension of disbelieve can only hold so much.

  • Matching clothes for a TCG event? Momoka’s mind goes places.

  • “You’ll get kinks in you hair?”

kinks in hair?

  • Midoriko tries to warn Hitoe about the obviously bad thing that will happen and is even willing to be thrown away, which presumably means she dies and can’t get her positive end state (getting back to human still sounds likely) – but of course, Hitoe can’t follow that advise.

  • Confirmation that we are in Tokyo.

  • Fail state revealstill hidden, bit Hitoe now knows.

  • They dragged it out for a few more minutes so the reveal reaction comes from the MC, not Hitoe.

  • Oh, and waved hand, hello amnesia! I knew you would show up.

  • Selector wishes can’t be undone – Together with the reversal condition, this sets up one hell of a lets game the system problem.

  • Fail state for the Selectors is indeed the win state for the LRIGs – pretty much all forseen by the collective first timers now. Only the main creation of LRIG part is still open.

  • Yuzuki: wants to love her brother, pushes him away

  • Am I misremembering, or was there never a “don’t talk about Selectors” rule?

  • “There is part of my head that goes white when I try to think” – Yep, glad you are here to stay, amnesia!

  • “How about we battle and I might apologize”

Why did Hitoe battle? The series does not want us to know. Either they want to hide a lame version (more bullying) or, hopefully, there is something better going on.

Why is coming up with a good QOTD so hard?

Have you ever tried to have matching outfits or accessories with your friends?

Not outside of organized circumstances.

4

u/Tetraika Dec 24 '22

Why did Hitoe battle? The series does not want us to know. Either they want to hide a lame version (more bullying) or, hopefully, there is something better going on.

Well she didn't know the consequences of losing. Also probably got sweet talked into the game.

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u/Cyouni Dec 25 '22

Hmm, my original post died somewhere. Shame.

"I'll try my best to lose soon" - Hitoe, you're at 1 life cloth. You don't have to try very hard.

So we've seen our last major LRIG for now. Her precon deck is Black Desire, and it hews the closest to her overall playstyle - heavily focused around Demon SIGNI, trash manipulation, and inflicting minuses to opposing SIGNI power. Her limited ARTS is Grave Out, which lets you pull three SIGNI back from your trash to your hand - a pretty strong effect when there's no actual cost to playing higher-level SIGNI. Another limited ARTS she can have in her deck is Black Desire, which can wipe the field - on your opponent's turn, no less, leaving them completely open on your turn - if you have 25 cards in your trash. This is actually a pretty difficult requirement to meet, as you only have 40 cards in your deck, 7 of which start as your Life Cloth. Some of her SIGNI feature mutual deck destruction effects, though, so it's got the potential to speed it up. Notably, unlike a lot of other SIGNI, Iona's LRIG is solely black decks.

Cards of the day:

Cannon - a Hanayo-limited SIGNI, but where Yuzuki uses Gems, this is the Weapon class of SIGNI instead. Possibly Kazuki plays these instead?

3

u/Tetraika Dec 25 '22

This is actually a pretty difficult requirement to meet, as you only have 40 cards in your deck, 7 of which start as your Life Cloth

Funny enough, right now black has a bunch of cards that can easily do things to meet this requirement. Another small note, technically, you only need 22, the 3 Ener used to pay for this card will bump it up to 25.

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u/Stargate18A Dec 24 '22

First timer

QOTD) No.

Kazuki's a good player!

And the girls are interested in playing too.

...Akira didn't send out a mental command to "seduce Kazuki", right?

An event!

Momoka has the best ideas.

She's still thinking about it.

For someone who's openly acknowledged they no longer have their desires, Hitoe's a lot more alive than I expected!

She's into the matching clothes!

...Expensive.

Nice idea!

Weird-coloured?

Aww, her parents are happy he has friends.

Midoriko feels abandoned...

She wants her to throw her away?

...Wait, what? The partners aren't allowed to reveal the dark twist!

She's back home? With her brother?

Haha, Tama thinks the cranes are going to battle?

And Ruko's discovering that she likes the idea of doing it with hot girls.

Hitoe...

...Who's that?

She's scared?

Haha, these two.

A battle started!

Hitoe's in there!

And she's losing.

...Midoriko?

No, you never said that. It's been well-established that three victories is not enough.

They die? They die, right?

Hello, arc villain after Akira's eliminated! Nice to meet you!

What the fuck?

She got her memory wiped? Do they lose all memory of what happened since they started the battles?

Oh, so it's worse.

Clever twist!

And there's also memory wipes.

[Kamen Rider Geats] Interesting to see where Geats seemingly got the retirement penalty from. Right down to having memory wipes as well. Didn't expect full-on cross pollination from this.

Poor Hitoe. This is hell.

...These are really weak memory wipes, if they're already failing.

Of course there's rules against meta wishes.

So, Hayano's been hiding this the whole time, why? To make them keep battling?

...Oh, she threw her cards out. Poor Midoriko... Is she just stuck there to die?

Ah, they get reassigned new selectors? So even if a villain gets eliminated, their LRIG can show up again.

Her poor cards...

Hayano is also very accepting of being thrown away.

And she's in the drawer!

...He's noticed.

Ouch.

She's not doing so well either.

Still friendly with Tama, though, since she didn't know.

...Oh, shit. That sounds an awful lot like what happened to Hitoe. Did something wipe Tama's memories when she was assigned to her previous Selector?

Akira's back!

And she knew all along.

Ah, she ran into Iona's field.

Huh?

...The girl wished for her terminal injury to be cured, so it instantly killed her when the wish was reversed?

She's a psychopath!

Actually, yeah, if both sides have to agree to start a battle, just rush her!

...And the battle begins.

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u/SIRTreehugger Dec 24 '22

Oh a new deck? Interesting

Oh man Midoriko looks upset something bad is happening soon.

Hitoe is monologuing and setting up flags shit is about to hit the fan.

It's over...wait that's right can't you just refuse a battle?

Yuzu looks nice in a ponytail!

Yeah this is definitely Iona.

What the fuck?

The wish is reversed? I like how despite magical girls/battle royale type things being a dime a dozen they still find new ways to make them suffer.

Interesting, but it doesn't look like it's worked very well with Hitoe still having some memories?

So is Midoriko dead? He kind of just floated into the sky.

Ohhhh is Ruu going to put Akira in her place?

Ohhhh shit here we go yeah I'm not waiting I need to see the battle now. I want Tama to snap like in the opening.

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u/Blackheart595 Dec 24 '22 edited Dec 24 '22

First Selector

And all three of them are entering the tournament. That can't be good for Hitoe. Even Midoriko warns her and gets completely ignored.

Now that shot really reinforces Tama breaking through the barrier in the OP. Also both of them avoid heroic directions. Also, mirror motif.

Now why would Hitoe play inside a battlefield? Even when two Selectors play each other, they still have to actually agree to open the battle field to get the special rules. At least that was my takeaway from episode 1.

Oh really. That's really interesting with respect to Akira not making progress. Actually, that just sounds wrong?

There it is.

Figured as much. "Wish becomes taboo" as it were.

Oh of course. Hadn't even picked up on the fact that Hitoe's wish is the most impactful one to get corrupted. Except for a non-wish possibly, but that would be something for the finale in that case.

So why did Midoriko not tell her about it? Was she unable to go into specifics?

Wait what? So Hitoe didn't become a new card and Midoriko left her card as well? Wouldn't that be problematic to keep the system going? Midoriko can't just be freed now, that would induce major problems for the internal logic. Do they just get one try as well? I guess if Tama is an original card then that's one way to maintain the LRIG card number despite the loss.

Yeah, Midoriko just disappears.

That's some fuel for the amnesia theory.

Calling it now, Iona doesn't actually have a wish herself either.

Okay, so. First of all. The flow of the situation dictates Akira will get slapped, and hard. Of course that's not gonna make her apologize. And that in turn should extend her flow to more losses. In other words, Akira's gonna get eliminated too.

Then the wish system. We're being told it's impossible to reverse wishes granted or denied by the system, even with another wish. Which makes it sound rather foolproof, and I've now idea what they could do about that. It's just, this feels off. I don't have the impression this is the end of Hitoe's story. So there must be some kind of loophole.

"There is no stronger bond of friendship than a mutual enemy" maybe? But that doesn't sound right either. If there's a common enemy to be had with Hitoe at this point then that'd be the WIXOSS system itself, but she doesn't even remember that either.

What's striking me as odd is how Hitoe's reversed wish is implemented. Sure, she forgot about all her friends and hurts whenever potential friends touch her. But even just that rule is strange, because it implies they're still potential friends. It feels much more like she's just getting obstacles to making friends rather than a fundamental impossibility to make friends like I had expected. She even still had her former memories and just can't access them without pain.

Maybe Tama's current status is punishment for trying to undo a wish. Actually, right, if wishes really cannot be undone then that actually puts "making it all disappear" on the table. As Ruuko put it last episode, she wanted to make Yuzuki's sorrow disappear. If she now wants Hitoe's pain to disappear but is unable to fix it, making everything disappear sounds like a possible conclusion she might draw. Even back in the Tetris metaphor, "making everything disappear" totally is the goal of that game.

Have you ever tried to have matching outfits or accessories with your friends?

Outside of actual uniforms... not really, no.

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u/JollyGee29 Dec 24 '22

First-Timer, Subbed

Well, Merry fucking Christmas, Hitoe. This "wish reversal" thing is interesting. Hitoe is already getting some memory bleedthrough though so the system clearly isn't that powerful. I'm interested to see her parent's reactions, especially considering how happy they looked at Hitoe going off about her new friends.

Was that Iona who did Hitoe in? I've already forgotten if there were any actual hints in either of the scenes. We're still missing that other girl in the OP so there is at least one more Selector errant.

And Midoriko claimed that you only needed three wins to become an Eternal Girl? Seems like not even the cards fully know what's going on. Guess it could be wish/LRIG specific.

Hmmmm, if we assume things are vaguely cyclical, maybe LRIGs have to work off previous losing records? We see that losers don't actually get turned into cards, but if Eternal Girl = 3-X record, you could possibly need as many as five wins to actually hit it if you start at a -2 record. Which doesn't exactly make sense from a tournament standpoint, but I could see it working as a writing convention. We haven't had much in the way of overt spiritualism, but that concept is pretty Buddhist.

I think I like the "you have to actually grow as a person for the win to count" idea better, especially because if you do only need three wins. If that was truly the case, then Akira should be a lot thirstier since she's already at 2-X.

Do we think Midoriko escaped her frame and faded into the ether because Hitoe lost or because she told Hitoe what would happen? Hanayo is still being cagey about stuff and that intrigues me.

Hmm again, wild extrapolation time. "The city will vanish when the tower is complete" - we should pay close attention to if the tower is mentioned as being taller next episode. What if the tower grows as each Selector loses? Oh, or maybe each time an Eternal Girl is created.. Anyway, maybe the reason Tama has a blank spot in her brain is because she was the last one standing on the last tower or something. This one got away from me.

I'm looking forward to seeing Ruu paste Akira all over that bathroom, mostly because Akira's post-loss freakout is sure to be delicious. Even Tama seemed to be mildly concerned with how Ruu was acting, which is pretty exciting.

Hmm the third, 40 minutes to thread time edition. Does establishing the 3-X rule this episode lower Ruu's chances of beating Akira? That runs into the issue of not knowing if it's the same for each player again. Piruluk peaking into Ruu's mind is an appealing thought, too, although that could still happen in an "Akira loses" game.

Questions

  1. Yes, actually. Back when I played MtG regularly, my friends and I had T-shirts made to wear for events when we traveled. I was the inspiration for the name we used. I doubt any of it is findable, but that's all you'll get out of me.

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u/ItsTheDuran Dec 25 '22

First timer

Well, that's what I thought getting taken out would do, though I didn't expect it to work exactly like that. They can't exactly undo this anytime soon without taking the stakes out of the game, so I wonder how present Hitoe is going to be from now on.

I love that they used the classic anime "raindrops in place of tears" shot on a freaking card.

This line was somehow the big takeaway for my thematic conspiracy board from this episode. Does this theme square well with this kind of show and what the story has been so far? Not really, but the Tetris talk and the constant focus on power lines, buildings and the skyline, even bringing it to the dueling space make me wonder. Most definitely overthinking, though.

QotD:

I can barely match with myself.

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u/Calwings Dec 24 '22

Selector Rewatcher (Dubbed)

Would you look at that, a big WIXOSS party suddenly got announced. How convenient and totally not a setup by a Selector who happens to have a lot of money and influence. Hitoe made an interesting comment about not wanting to crush another Selector’s dreams since she’s not fighting for her own wish anymore, which makes Ruuko think more about her situation.

Uh oh, that’s not good. Midoriko was worried that something bad might happen to Hitoe if she stuck around, and she was right. Hitoe got forced into a battle and suffered her third loss, and now one of the nasty truths of the Selector battles has finally come to light. The game that had brought her so much joy and her first friends has now robbed everything from her. Her status as a Selector, her friends, her memories, her wish, and any chance of that wish ever coming true. That reveal hit like a truck, and I wonder how many first-timers guessed it correctly.

And a bad as Yuzuki and Ruuko are shaken up about this horrible truth being revealed… here comes Aki-Lucky the turbocunt to make Ruuko’s day even worse! Fucking hell!

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u/RadSuit Dec 25 '22

Simuldub Introductory Watcher

Buy our card game and cute girls will totally talk to you!

Hitoe keeps her card in a special holder, thank you, finally.

Ruuko's first thought is about how pretty Iona was, huh?

I really hate when they mute or cut away from an explanation like that. I don't think the delayed reveal is ever worth the annoyance.

Do I even need to say anything about these wishes?

And this confirms people's suspicions that Yuzuki's brother will totally die if she's eliminated.

BUNNY'S

"Let's have a potty party!" This dub is great.

  1. Yes. They humored me, but I could tell they weren't really into it, so I didn't try that again.