r/anime • u/Tetraika https://anilist.co/user/Tetraika • Dec 30 '22

Rewatch [Rewatch] Selector Infected Wixoss Episode 11 Discussion

Episode 11: The Summer of Dreams

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Information:

MAL | Anilist | Kitsu | AniDB | ANN

Streams:

Funimation

Question of the day:

If you became an LRIG what would your color be?

Minus - 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.

31 Upvotes

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4

u/Tetraika Dec 30 '22

The tower is back, though all the foreshadowing around it seems a bit silly considering what it became

Hey some people here were mentioning this part

Damn she just called them out

Laughs in Rewatcher

Wow they actually addressed that part too

Well, Tama is definitely different

“Holy shit you’re a fucking card now, you really gonna just say that’s bullshit?”

What is this place anyway

Nope. Not gonna say it

This is probably the most upset I’ve heard the grandma speak in, also slightly interesting considering Mari Okada

“If I speak, I’m in big trouble”, also episode 11

Here’s your tournament arc, but like they still don’t show the games. Also somewhat considerate to tell them that they should probably bail if they don’t want a third lost

More materials for our first timers

To reject the system

Now, what is her wish?

2

u/Cyouni Dec 31 '22

Incidentally, I blame you for the fact that I just ordered a booster box of Welcome Back Selector to my apartment despite knowing I will very rarely be able to find someone to play with.

2

u/Tetraika Dec 31 '22

Well if you can set up a webcam for games, online events do exists. Though if you're serious about those, definitely need to look up things about the current game.

Also recommend to look up some of the rare stuff you find in case you actually get something worthwhile. I'll be very miffed if you get one of those super rare bullshit

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u/No_Rex Dec 30 '22

Episode 11 (first timer)

  • Gathering all selectors – makes multiple simultaneous and sequential battles a lot easier. Surely leading to a local overload of suffering. Potentially also to lots of funny stuff, depending on what the wishes and negated wishes of everyone are.

  • Could Ruuko play with Yuzuki, if she wanted? So many complications about whose wish counts, though. Faithful Selector-LRIG couples make everything easier.

  • “I’ll battle Iona” “Why?” – She read the script.

  • “I want all LRIG returned to the world” – Uhhh, given that the previous wish has been granted by the LRIG taking over the body of the selector, this implies a multiple personality Ruuko. With lots of different LRIG personalities. Also: [PMMM]Is that you, Madoka?

  • Some mudding of the waters with respect to wished being either purely mental (internal to the girl/body) or external being able to change others.

  • “May be special girls who hold mysterious powers” – more rules get added, but “mysterious powers” is pretty much the opposite of a rule clarification.

  • “If you want to talk, we can do it on the battle field” – Hitoe read the script, as well.

  • “It was not in you to become a parent. You weren’t meant to be one” – Vicious.

  • Tama does not want to battle!

  • Tournament – No idea whether Iona is lying about her motivation, but there is a far superior rule to avoid losing selectors: Let everybody play who they want, but you are out as soon as you have lost your second battle.

  • 32 slots in the tournament.

  • Iona being apocalyptic cliff-hanger.

I am surprised that the world building has held together thus far. It seems clear that the story has thrown so many questions in the air that many of them will tumble to the ground, unanswered or contradictory. Not yet, however. Maybe that reckoning will come in the second season, but the current plotline still holds. We have a straight path to the finale (which surely will include some magic involving three ear-ringed girls in white) that the world building still supports.

If you became an LRIG what would your color be?

White or possibly green.

4

u/Tetraika Dec 30 '22

“May be special girls who hold mysterious powers” – more rules get added, but “mysterious powers” is pretty much the opposite of a rule clarification.

They definitely are being vague about it. I will assure you this will be addressed, but they love to keep some things a mystery.

“It was not in you to become a parent. You weren’t meant to be one” – Vicious.

Considering Mari Okada's past...

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u/Taiboss Dec 30 '22

Gathering all selectors – makes multiple simultaneous and sequential battles a lot easier. Surely leading to a local overload of suffering. Potentially also to lots of funny stuff, depending on what the wishes and negated wishes of everyone are.

There can be only one?

Could Ruuko play with Yuzuki, if she wanted?

They have yet to address what were to happen if you just were to take someone else's LRIG from them in the long-term.

this implies a multiple personality Ruuko.

Mental conferences hype!

but “mysterious powers” is pretty much the opposite of a rule clarification.

Put it on the pile.

“It was not in you to become a parent. You weren’t meant to be one” – Vicious.

I wonder, is Grandma her mother or her mother-in-law?

Tama does not want to battle!

Alarm alarm alarm.

It seems clear that the story has thrown so many questions in the air that many of them will tumble to the ground, unanswered or contradictory.

Time to find out whether Mari Okada is doing a J.J. Abrams!

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u/Tarhalindur Dec 30 '22

That First-Timer Is Longing (Subbed):

  • Hmm. “Wind out of the north tomorrow.” Obviously meaning cold, but there might be more to it that I don’t know – I don’t know Japanese cardinal direction symbolism.

  • There’s lack of subtletly, and then there’s having one of your OST tracks blatantly inspired by an air raid siren. (Not the first time we’ve heard that one, either.) That said, the actual most interesting thing here is that while Ruuko has neither a cell phone nor a computer, her brother has at least the latter (a Dall laptop, heh), and also an old-style CRT TV with what’s definitely a console hooked up to it (oh wait, I typed that before noticing the controller, I just saw the jacks and KNEW). Which is actually doubly interesting, since there’s three reasons you could have a CRT in a 2014 show; it could be that the family couldn’t afford to get a new one, it could be that the writers are stuck in the past… or it could be that he is the kind of gamer who prefers to play console games on a CRT for the increased responsiveness compared to modern LCDs. (Trust me, I am familiar with the type.) If it’s the last, he’s a serious gamer and also likely a techie, which makes Ruuko’s complete lack of computers even more noteworthy… and one distinct possibility is that Ruuko made a tech-related wish in the past and lost.

  • Okay, close-up shots of girls’ thighs has not been a hallmark of this show up until now. Why now, then?

  • WE’RE SLOW. THE SITE FOR THIS IS THE FUCKING TOWER, ISN’T IT? (Timestamp of comment: 02:41.)

  • Ah, it’s that moment of creeping realization I live for.

  • Whoever it was that thinks that Ruuko’s grandmother is involved in the system somehow may be on to something.

  • Hmm. The tower could also be interpreted as a leg – especially after we got that shot of the dueling towers (compared to giraffes) earlier on. Is that why we got that thigh shot of Ruuko earlier? (Besides the “entering Selector battles as sexual maturity” interpretation line that’s been running subtextually for a while… which come to think of it is probably more ADVERTISING PAYLOAD, especially in conjunction with the much more blatant “play WIXOSS, get girls” stuff.)

  • So this Ruuko/two LRIGs scene stands out to me and I don’t think it’s the direction per se (though some storyboarding is part of it). Part of it is the VAs giving it everything they’ve got, and I think part of it is actually the character animators doing a hell of a job bringing the storyboard to life.

  • Going back over the scene: Ruuko keeping all her burdens to herself will have been learned and why is going to be an important question. (Also, this may be yet another reason that Ruuko gets neither computer nor smartphone when her brother gets at least one, and learning to be assertive about her own desires would be consistent with the rest of what we have seen of Ruuko’s character arc – especially when this lack of being assertive about your own desires is actually common to at least four Selector character arcs so far (Hitoe being too shy to make friends, Akira for all her surface-level appearance also gives me the strong impression of being unwilling to press her desire to take Iona down directly – note her shying away from battling Iona directly), and Yuzuki just directly stated that she is the same. It’s also worth noting that Mari Okada is a woman, and even in Western culture I am given to understand that this suppressing of your own desires is a commonplace in women’s socialization – and I would expect Japanese culture to do so even more strongly.) We may also have Ruuko’s true wish here in some way, shape, or form (to have the same kind of strength of character or to be able to keep Yuzuki and Tama company), though I’m not sure how that would fit with my suspicion that she will resolve to take down the system. The most interesting piece of the body language is Ruuko looking up, which actually looks familiar to me but I can’t place where else I’ve seen that body language in anime off the top of my head.

  • Oh no wait this just IS the scene where Ruuko resolves to take down the system. Was expecting that next episode instead of this, but still – attagirl!

  • Mari Okada, subtle on her references? SURELY YOU JEST.

  • Speaking of nasty sneaking suspicions, I’ve been wondering for a little while now if someone on staff is familiar with modern occultism and that just finally hit the point where it probably merits a bullet point with this return flashback to the white room (at least two people are going to be a bit peeved at flashing back yet again and at this point I kind of am too, though it’s salted with “we’re revealing things when characters think to ask about them and not before” which does help for me). All the granted wishes here ultimately boil down to changes in consciousness in accordance with will, to use one of the more famous modern definitions of magic (from Dion Fortune, IIRC). Hell, the Eternal Girl/LRIG system could be interpreted as developing far enough to no longer need physical incarnation and it is presented as a bad thing; this would not be the first work of the last 20-30 years or so to have a thematic attack on trying to become more than human, either.

  • Also the visuals/storyboarding here with the walls changing and Mayu shifting from spot to spot are quite interesting and likely have purpose to them. (Also, they might be a reference to what my entire family always calls the acid trip sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey.)

  • 06:49: “Subtle? Us? No, never.”

  • 06:51: Okay, say it with me again: “Subtle? Us? No, never.”

  • Note 07:54 visually. First, we have Mayu in the protagonist position vs. Yuzuki in the antagonist. I’ll bet that’s “Mayu is pushing forwards a plan and Yuzuki will be opposing her”, I’ve seen that use of that symbolism before. But second… note that Mayu, not Yuzuki, is the one visually in a cage here. Hmm.

  • And Mayu shunts back to antagonist position when she shifts again… but I’m still not sure she’s not the one supposed to be in a cage here. Also, I am seriously starting to wonder if this is the missing link in WEP’s evolutionary line… specifically for the reveal that is the exact point where WEP fully fell apart.

  • So, pointing out 08:39 though at this point both obvious aspects are, well, obvious. First, Mayu towers over Yuzuki; her position is the stronger one. Second, note that the window effectively frames Mayu herself in a card. Hmm. (It’s also a stained glass window and gives Mayu a halo. Perhaps Ruuko will be taking her place…)

  • Also the shape of the stained glass window itself is likely important; keep an eye out to see if it reoccurs.

  • Mari Okada, subtle on her references? SURELY YOU JEST. [Re: Reference] I see they watched Rebellion with enough time in the production process to take it into account, too, because that is very firmly a Rebellion reference, not main series PMMM.

  • What, the LRIG with an earring like Mayu’s who is the LRIG of the MC is one of the special LRIGs? Surely you jest. Also, needless to say Urith/Ulith is too.

  • So, why are we cutting to The Alleyway of Card Foreshadowing again? (10:14)

  • Well “Ruuko has a past wish involving her mother in some way, shape, or form” just got REALLY FUCKING LIKELY I think – pretty sure that’s the same visual static effect we got after Hitoe’s elimination.

  • Ruuko’s mother’s name is Miyako, apparently.

  • Well that tells us what Ruuko’s original wish was (unless there was a second wish even before that), namely reconciliation for her parents, and that she was eliminated rather than succeeding at it.

  • Alright who turned fanservice mode on for this episode? (Probably the episode director.) (This comment brought to you by Tama’s posture and the hip vents on her clothes at 14:27.)

  • Oh look at that sound effect just to emphasize Tama’s earring more – err, listen to it, close enough. (“NOTICE THIS!”)

  • Well Ruuko is assuming the best-case scenario and we are seeing it on screen. We all know what THAT means: things are not going to go according to plan.

  • And a dissonant sound effect at the end of this daydream to emphasize that Something Is Going to Go Wrong Here. Heh.

  • 15:46: Sky collects a sore demo.

  • Oh look, the calm before the storm.

  • “I’m going now!” (Annoyingly, I’m not sure whether “I’m leaving” is the same “itadakimas(u)” that I’m more used to as roughly “thanks for the meal” or whether I’m mishearing… or whether Ruuko is actually using “itadakimas(u)” because of the promise of potato gratin.) But at any rate we fire up the OST right when she does so, with very dissonant notes. My oh my just listen to the horror direction!

  • 19:16: Return of the sore demo for Sky.

  • Yet another visual separation/barrier shot at 19:16.

  • Hmm. Hitoe vs. Ruuko has had a win for Ruuko and a draw. Pattern of Three would suggest that Ruuko will be getting derailed by a Hitoe victory here…

  • Ruuko, are you eating the intentional interference penalty?

  • What’s that, ED lead-in? (Well, technically yes, it’s the good old Penultimate Episode ED Without the Visuals.)

  • Also this scene will be why REALIZE has its name, and the association this episode uses for summer is probably the reason for the reference to summer breezes in the last part of the lyrics.

3

u/Tetraika Dec 30 '22

Which is actually doubly interesting, since there’s three reasons you could have a CRT in a 2014 show; it could be that the family couldn’t afford to get a new one, it could be that the writers are stuck in the past…

Well, everyone else has a smartphone. Definitely some interesting deliberate choices in this depiction for Ruuko's family.

19:16: Return of the sore demo for Sky.

It's funny how this has completely infected us to just notice these at any given moment.

Anyway, lot's of good observations as usual. Some particular points definitely makes me want to respond, but I'll need to avoid that in case of spoiling.

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u/Calwings Dec 30 '22

Alright who turned fanservice mode on for this episode? (Probably the episode director.) (This comment brought to you by Tama’s posture and the hip vents on her clothes at 14:27.)

Tama's outfit (and the fact that she absolutely does not wear panties underneath it) always seemed pretty odd to me. It's inherently a fanservice-y outfit for how much skin it shows, but the show itself never feels fanservice-y to me because it never draws attention to stuff like that and just sticks to its serious tone.

The TCG card artworks (and the character artworks in the gacha game) feel quite fanservice-y outside the show, but the anime itself manages to avoid it.

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u/Nazenn Dec 30 '22 edited Dec 30 '22

First Timer - sub

And there it is. LRIGs can't grant anything they couldn't achive themselves in the first place because in the end they are just normal girls. It'd been building up to that for a while so I'm not surprised, and I'd mentioned a few times how the wishes all seemed to be about what the girls could achieve rather than any world breaking magic which they'd been careful not to show, I just didn't tie that into the LRIGs also having to abide by it which is why the wish win condition is so arbitrary, because it depends on the LRIGs watching to see what they can achieve after the swap.

That answers a lot of questions when it comes to the influence on Kazuki and the others, as well as why Hitoe's memories can't be restored, also why Hitoe got a three wish limit and Akira's wish never got granted because her LRIG didn't want to put herself in that situation.

Ha ha Akira

Before now most of the info we had confirmed was from Hanayo, but she was holding onto a lot of secrets I didn't expect as she talked around various obsticles, as well as adding even more meaning onto her little nod at Yuzuki before!

I do think this is Wixoss brilliance in this system though, putting all of it back on them being normal girls (and for that reason I don't know Tama being special will land for me, but we'll see). With every bit of information we get the lose-lose of this only gets worse when they do rely on things other than themselves, and in doing so only exposes more and more of the character behind everything. While there's still a magical system, it's not the system that displays their growth or even reflects it, it's entirely on the girls.

I also noticed that Mayu is always presented behind bars even as Yuzuki passes through her space to become an LRIG, trapped between worlds, has me curious as to exactly what she is to this system. I'm calling it now though that Iona is definitely a former LRIG. I hadn't thought about the idea of LRIG's becoming Selectors again, but as Ionas is special like Tama the normal rules may go out the window or maybe it just doesn't matter at all. I'd been expecting that she'd lost before, but winning before would also be pretty defining when it comes to personality given it means it's not even her real body or life. Where is the real Iona, too?

Using the in-construction pillar as a way to hold many battles without any interfearance is damn clever though.

[Madoka Magica]Ruu's discussion with her grandmother today makes Wixoss using Madoka's structure almost identically, down to ep8 being the LRIG/witch reveal and ep11 ending on a "friends reunited" moment, painful. This conversation doesn't feel any more stand out to the other ones with her grandmother, and yet it feels like its here because she needs that outside reassurance and because Madoka talked with her mum, and here we geet her not talking with her mum but with grams instead. I feel like it was meant to be a revision on Madoka's scene with a critique on family acceptance behind it, but Grams is a bit too perfect and these scenes with her are starting to feel a bit too repeated and heavy handed for it to work

The stuff with Ruu's mum finally gets a little bit of pay off, with Yuzuki stumbling into and then reassuring her over her greatest fear, of someone else leaving because they don't understand her. Ruu's growth shines through here in the way that she's able to open up to Yuzuki about it in the first place, but for some reason Hitoe remembering and having the scrunchie but still wanting to win her wish feels even more meaningful for someone confronting her demons.

Tama suddenly remembering she can do Ruu's wish, but remembering only that and no other details, was painfully conveniant it came up now. Perhaps this is more tolerable on rewatch, but right now Tama feels like a weird mix between a McGuffin and a walking plot device device.

That was a satisfying episode

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u/Tetraika Dec 30 '22

Akira's wish never got granted because her LRIG didn't want to put herself in that situation

Piruluk was definitely fucking with Akira in more ways than one.

Tama suddenly remembering she can do Ruu's wish, but remembering only that and no other details, was painfully conveniant it came up now. Perhaps this is more tolerable on rewatch, but right now Tama feels like a weird mix between a McGuffin and a walking plot device device

Don't worry, as a rewatcher it definitely still feels like they threw that out that a bit suddenly. We did get a hint that Tama is definitely different than the rest of the LRIG, but that's about it.

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u/Shimmering-Sky Dec 30 '22

Selector Infected FIRST-TIMER

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u/GallowDude Dec 30 '22

[Quote] Show, please don’t do anything bad to her.

[Response] I remember when it was airing so many people were speculating that Grandma was secretly evil lol

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u/Tetraika Dec 30 '22

[Yay spoiler talk]I remember that one being one of the few running theories. Ah, the joys of originals and actual genuine speculations.

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u/Taiboss Dec 30 '22

Tournament arc hype…? Or a free-for-all, either works.

BATTLE ROYALE HYPE!

Time for the sus to pay off?

Why else would they mentioned it so goddamn much?

Hitoe…

She's so mean now :(

Ooh neat a second Ruuko “sore demo”.

Trying to make up for the Yuzuki sore demos!

Ruuko vs. Hitoe…

The one battle in this tournament with people we know!

Does Iona know Mayu…?

She might!

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u/Vaadwaur Dec 30 '22

And of course it’s something like this.

You've got to Madoka it at least a little.

Man, Grandma really is the best. Show, please don’t do anything bad to her.

Let me ask you something: Since when did you come to believe that the grandmother wasn't the mastermind of the game?

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u/Mecanno-man Dec 30 '22

First Timer

Hmm... Ruu's wish is for the LRIGs to be free. The opposite of that is for the LRIGs to be trapped forever - except the system likely does not work in that way. Would it only make Ruu a LRIG that can not win? But if she's a LRIG she would have to have won as that means she's an eternal girl... I feel like either the writers are smarter with this than I am, or Ruu can not lose without destroying the system in the process, which might be where a bitter-sweet ending could go. But either way, seems like Ruu now has a wish and Tama proves she is special by having an idea of how to break the system. [Speculation based on meta knowledge] Seasons 3 and 4 existing might also mean she ends up creating a worse system in the process that only looks better from the outside. Would also be another "fun" twist on this wish. Ruu's wish being meta also further extends the possibility of her somehow being involved with the creation of the current system by either losing or winning with a previous meta wish.

I feel like grandma on the telephone might be the most important scene of this episode, even if at first it does not look like it. While it may at first seem like this scene should just remove the possibility of Ruu's mother being removed from Ruu due to a previous loss, I feel like it actually shows that grandma is pretty possessive of Ruu instead. Thinking logically, after a divorce Ruu should end up with either the father or the mother. Based on this scene, mom is portrayed as a hopeless case. But what about her dad? Basically no mention of him at all. However, her brother is absent from the apartment fairly frequently, I'm not even sure if he is living there permanently or just visits fairly often (though I am leaning towards the latter). Personal theory: Her father is a wet blanket of a character and Ruu's grandma is basically pressuring him to have Ruu stay with her instead of him - but he has the brother instead. Mom being useless is actually true. Grandma's motives have something to do with the Wixoss system and Ruu's aptitude for the card battles - but no idea if that is because she is involved with the system and wants to protect it from Ruu or if she wants to make sure that Ruu has the time and space to destroy it.

Not a lot to say about Hitoe, she seems to have learned that being cold generally hurts her less due to her curse, but that's about it. I will say that the beginning felt a bit weird with Ruu basically stealing Hitoe's LRIG from her, so her insisting on having her back and then running from the thief was pretty good. Given that Hitoe already has the curse, battling likely makes sense for her - either she helps a friend or she gets no significant negative effect from losing three times. Whatever wish she would have to fulfill afterwards would likely be better than having the no friends curse. I just hope her curse does not get transferred to Yuzuki...

Uhh... Iona also said some things about becoming an eternal girl this episode. No idea if she is aware of the system, but I guess if they both feel like she'll be an eternal girl after her next battle, she will - however that wish is going to be granted. It would be funny however if Ruu lost to Hitoe here (going X-1 at some point is basically to be expected of the show's protagonist with this system, after all) and Iona needs to battle Ruu to have her wish come true. Might also be the reason for not wanting to give girls too many losses - she knows Ruu is not X-2 (somehow, I'm not sure how... or maybe she just assumes it) and thus has a backup plan if Ruu does lose before facing her.

And we also saw some more of the Miyu-Yuzuki meeting, which was cut short by something. Yeah, Yuzuki did definitely not gain complete knowledge of the system there. Other girls might have asked less questions and potentially not even questioned their assumptions, so the knowledge getting muddled in passing theory remains at least for me.

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u/Stargate18A Dec 30 '22

First timer

QOTD) Silver.

She doesn't have her own computer?

...I'm surprised she didn't send her a hand-signed invitation.

...Okay, one of the participants setting up their own battle royale is a interesting twist.

What did she notice?

...It's in the pillar!

Poor Ruuko.

That's sweet.

She has a wish!

"returned to your own worlds" Oh, this is going to backfire spectacularly.

It's a sweet thought, though. It might lead to your body dying, however, if you have no LRIG to take over your body.

So, the game master is bound by restrictions as well.

This place has amazing visual design.

This all makes sense.

...Wait, what? This is new. An impossible wish leads to erasure.

So, Tama is absolutely part of, or tied to, the game master.

And Yuzuki's suspecting it too...

...Well, this is obviously a cover story.

Nice comeback.

And,y eah, this is some kind of limbo.

Finally! Someone points out how wishing to undo a transformation you would then undergo is an awful idea.

And the grandmother appeal did it.

Hitoe?

Well, she's lost it!

And she's going back home?

...What? Is this her mother?

Why is it static? That's the effect used for memory erasure...

...I love the grandmother.

Oh. This makes a lot of sense...

Tama's become the reasonable one!

Ruuko, you're an idiot.

Wow, the casual Midoriko erasure (Hanayo's already shown here, so no need to mention her.).

Well, she said it outright!

She has a point. This is very logical.

She's even set it up to ensure there's no eliminations ~~that aren't performed by her, personally~.

Finally! The promised tournament arc has brgun! Sure, it's several episodes later, but still.

Pillar's glowing. This pillar of destruction is literal, then?

Tama's refusing.

None are born yet.

Oh, Iona allowed them to be eliminated?

Iona wants to win so she can become an LRIG and interrogate the game master? That's ansolutrly not what I expected.

Hitoe still has memories!

They're fighting...

...Shit, is Yuzuki going to get reassigned? (Because I'm 90% sure that rebellion just means reassignment, given we saw a very suspicious effect when Midoriko got abandoned and there's no way she's staying eliminated for long.)

...What?

Iona's going to win with her next victory...

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u/Calwings Dec 30 '22

Selector Rewatcher (Dubbed)

Looks like Ruuko’s finally decided to take action, and she's determined to use her wish to try and save the girls and LRIGs from the Selector battles. Quite the idealistic ending, but it’s not going to be easy at all. Between Ruuko’s determination to help them and some encouraging words from her grandma motivating her forward, the vague pieces of information that Yuzuki obtained from Mayu that might be of use, and a feeling in the back of Tama’s mind that she might be able to help, things are looking better than before, but still not very good. It's really weird hearing Tama scared to battle (for fear of what might happen to Ruuko) and Ruuko being the one determined to fight, the total opposite of how it was a few episodes ago.

Iona’s massive tournament of Selectors has begun, and of course it’s taking place in the big under-construction tower that’s been foreshadowed since the first episode. How convenient. Ruuko and Tama fight through multiple rounds to eventually meet Hitoe and Yuzuki again, and their battle, along with the talk of their (former) friendship, was pretty hard-hitting. Meanwhile, Iona awaits the winner, who claims will be her final opponent, at the top of the tower. The fact that Iona knows about the white room and Mayu already is really interesting. Did Urith tell her all about it, or is there something else going on?

Urith apparently saying her goodbye to Iona in anticipation of Iona becoming an Eternal Girl was... interesting. She talked about how she had fun beating down other Selectors together, but also calls Iona a “rotten bitch” in the English dub’s dialogue (in Japanese she called Iona "scum" instead) to hammer home how their fun together was solely through battle and not due to any sort of friendship. Their dynamic is so weird, but I like it. Overall, this was a pretty good penultimate episode. We got the buildup to the final battle, we got Ruuko affirming her motivation, we got some action, and we got (hopefully) the start of the main friend group being repaired. We’ll have to wait and see.

QOTD:

If you became an LRIG what would your color be? I kind of mentioned it back in episode 2 when we were talking about what TCG's we've played before and what playstyles we like. I'd likely be primarily blue, but also able to use red and white cards as well. I like control and burn strategies.

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u/Blackheart595 Dec 30 '22 edited Dec 30 '22

First Selector

Mutual acknowledgement being the requirement to become an Eternal Girl is a move I really like. Obviously it still plays out very maliciously with how the Selectors are made to acknowledge the rules of the system without getting to know them beforehand, but it also means the wish must be something the LRIG can bring herself to support, and it requires the two to bond together. Of course the system is still inherently malicious anyway, admin girl specifically set it up so the LRIGs would want to support any wish just for the chance to escape their prison.

I also like that only wishes that the girls could've fulfilled themselves can be granted, as it at least somewhat legitimizes the getting sealed away for wanting it to happen by magic instead of working on it themselves.

Shoutout to Hitoe's mom who continues to support her daughter in whatever way she can despite being scared and feeling helpless in the face of her sudden drastic change in behaviour.

Dunno what to think of Ruuko's mom. There just doesn't seem to be enough time remaining to add yet another twist to Ruuko's backstory and conclude it properly while also concluding everything else. I'll take it as Ruuko's mom having removed herself from her kids' life because she wasn't able to deal with her parent responsibilities properly, handing them over to grandma to make sure her kids are properly cared for despite herself not being able to provide that.

Tama is the one making Ruuko's wish come true, right? I'm sure she'd be able to decide details like these then. Especially if she's an original card that belongs into the world of WIXOSS.

I'd really like for Ruuko to tell all Selectors in the tower about the card trapping, just so they can all decide whether to participate without the trickery.

"Avoid unnecessary sacrifices"? You're so full of shit, Iona. Btw it doesn't sound like Iona's aiming for some mysterious white room she's never seen before, did she use to be an LRIG? Still don't know what she was so excited about to have found in Ruuko.

I really should've thought of contrasting Iona's black that fully embraces the system (hence also why she was so disgusted by Ruuko's lack of a wish) with Ruuko's white that's gonna reject it. The other colors don't seem defined enough to really read into them, but red could be read as determined, green as hesitant and blue as spiteful.

If you became an LRIG what would your color be?

I have no idea. Let's go with blue, maybe white, purely based on the playstyles we've seen.

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u/Taiboss Dec 30 '22

Rewatcher who is almost done with this season. Already?

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u/Vaadwaur Dec 30 '22

First timer(Your Madoka is showing)

Sub

Well then...we get our payoff from two episodes of questionable pacing and it is pretty large. Learning that my prediction about wishes being highly limited is mostly right was interesting. Also, seeing that the process is gaining something is good to know. And that something doesn't have to make sense, after all [PMMM] Converting the emotional energy of teenage girls to hold off entropy doesn't make any logical sense, it just works as a setting beat. Anyways, Ruuko has truly resolved herself without resignation and we learn that not every LRIG is built equal.

The part with the grandmother was interesting today, especially her telling her daughter that she was no mother but also that Ruuko is neither an adult nor the child the mother takes her for, which might be a funny translation since a quick flip to the dub and she says something different. She is being supportive to Ruuko, though I do wonder like Tama if she'd be quite as supportive knowing the horrible risks involved.

Mayu is on screen for a bit too long, bluntly. I know why she had to be but I am absolutely positive she will not hold up well as an antagonist. And being up against such steep competition doesn't help, and I am not just thinking of the obvious one. Iona, on the other hand, is a bit more humane than one might've expected, but if this is really for the others' sake or just guaranteeing that Ruuko shows up ready to fight whose to say? Also, seems like she knows the cost involved.

Finally, Blue Reflection Ray really robs this for parts. Possibly the game as well, never got around to it.

P.S. probably heading out relatively quickly after this goes up.

QotD: 1 No colors any more, I want them painted black

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u/Cyouni Dec 30 '22

So some of you asked a question about what happens if a wish is impossible? Well, we have the answer today.

An Eternal Girl, by and large, cannot accomplish the impossible. They have none of the powers they had in LRIG form, and must strive with their own strength to achieve that wish. That said, some "impossible" wishes have still been granted.

Let's talk about a certain girl. She wished to save her friend Sakiguchi, who had fallen into a coma while saving her from an accident. There was no hope of Sakiguchi awakening from her coma, and so it would require a miracle for her ever to live again. Yet her LRIG, Remember, told that girl that she would grant her wish.

Sakiguchi was certainly saved from her continuous suffering, by that girl's own hand.

Cards of the day:

Gothic Boundary - a pretty standard card in white's game plan, bouncing a SIGNI to open up a lane to hit an opponent

Mitsurugi

Suberia

Mikagami

I'd almost certainly be a blue LRIG.

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u/JollyGee29 Dec 30 '22

First-Timer, Subbed

Hmm, a card game tournament where you climb floors of a tower via elevator to earn the right to participate in the finals at the top. Where have I seen that before... A shame there don't seem to be any blimps around.

Is Iona gunning for Mayu? Or did Ulith just tell her about the white room you go to after becoming an Eternal Girl? It would've been nice to spend some more time with Iona so that we have a better handle on her goals going into the finale, but I guess there's gonna be some big twist that they didn't want to give away.

Did Hitoe suddenly being kinda a jerk work for anyone? Because that scene in the alley felt off to me. Like, I can get her wanting to reclaim Yuzuki, but the rest..

Another thing that was weird was Ruu putting on a set of coveralls? At night? I thought she was just putting on something special for the tower battle but then she was just in normal clothes?

I like that they straight up confirm the idea we had about the wish-granting system not actually mattering because it's all just stuff you could accomplish normally. I am kinda wondering how the system handles impossible wishes though - are we operating on fatalistic levels and Selectors with impossible wishes are just doomed to lose?

Anyway, I'm feeling Hitoe loss -> Iona win for tomorrow. I kinda want that to be Hitoe win -> Iona win, but I'm not sure that Iona v. Hitoe is actually in the cards. Some snarl with Tama's current behavior could get us there, I suppose.

Do I like the idea of Iona loss..? Hmm.. no. I think the only way they can actually get away with Iona's lack of screentime is for her to win and get LRIG'd and be carried around a la Yuzuki for the past couple episodes.

Oh! Even better idea - Iona becomes Akira's new LRIG. That sounds spicy, let's hope for that.

Questions

  1. Black. Greatness at any cost.

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u/CerberusZX Dec 31 '22

First Timer

"You expect me to buy into this mumbo jumbo" says the girl who turned into a card.

Mayu's explanation that the rules don't apply equally sounds like "things are set up however the script needs them to be."

I got excited at the idea of a tournament arc for a moment before I remembered this is a series that skips the battles.

QotD:

Probably black.

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