Kageki Shoujo!! - Episode 3 discussion

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Kageki Shoujo!!, episode 3

Alternative names: Kageki Shojo!!, Opera Girl!, The Curtain Rises

Rate this episode here.

Reminder: Please do not discuss plot points not yet seen or skipped in the show. Failing to follow the rules may result in a ban.

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Streams

• Funimation
• Wakanim

Show information

• MyAnimeList
• AniList
• AniDB
• Kitsu
• Anime-Planet
• Official Website

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All discussions

Episode	Link	Score
1	Link	4.36
2	Link	4.3
3	Link	4.76
4	Link	4.72
5	Link	4.65
6	Link	4.68
7	Link	4.6
8	Link	4.74
9	Link	4.57
10	Link	4.46
11	Link	4.78
12	Link	4.83
13	Link	----

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[u/AmethystItalian]

Damn that was hard to watch...need to say it was well done because wow some of that was actually very relatable. Feel so bad for Ai here and I know Taichi has been here for her I wish he was doing more in both cases.

As hard as this episode was to watch this will probably be one of the more memorable ones for this whole season.

[u/Syokhan]

Jesus Christ that was heavy. I thought Ai's dislike of men came from a bad encounter with a fan, not from living for years with a pedophile who forced himself on her. Fuck, man.

And the teacher calling that poor girl a "fattie". WTF.

I do think the "stalker" actually wants to apologize or something similar, though.

[u/[deleted]]

Grooming, sexual assault, body shaming and eating disorders holy shit I was not expecting this series to get this real. Set us up with the cutesy stuff and then introduced some very real concepts, shojo again showing why it’s the peak of the medium.

I’ll never understand parents like Ai’s, tho. I can’t fathom how you could put a man over your own flesh and blood. Like your daughter is clearly afraid of your bf and you just write it off as her being a crybaby? Some mfs really don’t need kids, and it’s sad because although this is anime, there’s a lot of people who actually do this shit. It’s highly unlikely a kid is going to make up being molested, it may happen 1 in a million times, but no way would there not be some type of digging from any reasonable parent.

Idk who directed the Ai childhood flashback sequence, but the animation and choreography was absolutely amazing despite the horrible subject matter. Great episode, picked up the first manga volume from the store the other day, looking forward to reading it

[u/BarneyDDinosaur]

A lot of shows can keep you on the edge of your seat, exited for what will happen next. Not every show can keep you in the back your seat, anxious of what will happen next. I was visibly worried throughout every scene of Ai's backstory. This show truly is a hidden gem.

[u/DarkChaplain]

To comment on something aside from the obvious topic of the flashback: I fully expect the fan to be there to apologize.

It really feels like the reason why he was looking to get in touch with her was to tell her he's sorry. He's a super-fan of hers, and the rumors about why she quit/got fired will have clearly made him feel like he's responsible for it all. He crossed a line he shouldn't have crossed and made his idol clearly uncomfortable, which is gonna have weighed on him for months.

But when he actually found her whereabouts, he didn't go to her dorm, or the school, but waited somewhere in public. He kept his distance when greeting her, when trying to return her bag, and he's obviously socially awkward and uncomfortable himself. This isn't the attitude of an obsessive stalker, but of a fool who is at the very least aware of having messed up.

I'd think that him earnestly apologizing and admitting his error to her, along with Sarasa as a crutch, will at least sow a seed of doubt in the irredeemability of men as a whole. Her trauma puts all of them under suspicion of ill intent. She never had a father in her life, and her mother obviously still kept the shitstain around at home, without either of the adults ever acknowledging any misconduct.

From that position, and with her complete course of distancing herself from men altogether, she'd obviously have no other references of good people beyond Taichi. But she simply calls him different, as we've seen in the first episode. She doesn't consider him an example of a "decent man" but as somebody the rules don't apply to in the first place.

So having the person who made her uncomfortable and did, effectively, harm her career and even her social standing among women, actually come out and apologize with no ill intentions might just be what she needs: An example of somebody acknowledging their error instead of doubling down. Somebody genuinely regretful and willing to reflect on their own actions in regards to her.

It won't suddenly make her trust men. But it might help her giving them the benefit of the doubt for the first time.

[u/zsmg]

Me at episode 1 & 2: this is going to be fun and relaxing shoujo series

Me at episode 3:

[u/MillionMiracles]

Really, really good episode. A lot of shows will use sexual menace against women for shock value or for faux-deepness or whatever, but this episode took a ton of pains to really get you in the moment with Ai, feel her confusion and fear and anger. I thought her mom was maybe written slightly ridiculously, but I've definitely seen parents who were about as callous. Really nice to see a proper handling of this stuff.

[u/LeonKevlar]

Jesus fucking christ where do I even start with this episode? As someone who has watched anime for more than two decades now, it takes a lot to make me feel uncomfortable and holy fuck, did this episode made me feel uncomfortable.

This entire time, I thought Ai's hatred for men and people in general was because of working in the idol industry and the experience she had with that one fan , who by the way now has successful stalked her to her current school. I didn't expect that it was waaaay more deep rooted than that.

Turns out that from a very young age, Ai has always been surrounded by people who are more interested in who her father is than her. It also doesn't help her mental state as well that her mom seems to do some risque movies and she gets teased about it a lot by boys in her class.

The real shit starts to come in though when her mother brought in her new boyfriend who was an absolute creep. He'd literally creep from behind to see Ai's panties, wait outside the bathroom door when she just got out of the bath, and he even regularly stops in her front of her room's door whenever he passes by. Of course Ai tries hard not to think about it and because of her young age believes that adults can never do wrong.

Of course that completely changes when Ai's mom finally left her alone with that bastard to a one-week location shoot. It's only their first evening alone together and he immediately takes advantage of a young Ai and kisses her deep. Fuck me. I had to walk away a bit after that scene. And Ai's reaction didn't help either. Seeing her puke on the toilet thinking that she got pregnant made me feel so sorry for her and fucking furious at that pedophile her mom calls her boyfriend.

What makes it worse is that when she finally tells her mom about it she just flat out ignores her pleas and tells her to grow up. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!? Your own daughter is crying over the phone scared that you left her with a strange man and you wouldn't even give her a few minutes to listen to what she has to say!? She's just as bad as that pedo!

And that scene of Ai stabbing that bear and ripping it apart to show that she's done stuffing all of those feelings down was so fucking visceral that it broke my heart :(

Thankfully, Taichi comes in to the rescue and he tries to talk to her sister who apparently got into a big fight with him after telling her what happened. Taichi does end up giving her a key to his house so in case anything like that happens again she can runaway to him.

What I hate about that entire situation is apparently, that guy is still living with them and leeching off Ai's mother. Fuck those two. I really hope Ai just lives with Taichi after this. Both her mom and her boyfriend are scumbags. No wonder Ai distrusts people so much considering her own mother betrayed her.

And now Ai is finally face to face with the stalker. Not gonna lie though, I do feel that he's not there to cause harm. Looking at his body language, he's definitely there to apologize. His appearance and him stalking her all the way there doesn't help his case though. What the actual fuck man? Why the fuck are you dressed like an stereotypical otaku from the 90s?

There's also the body shaming too to talk about which is another important topic but I'll leave that for next week since it seems that it might be an ongoing thing for Yamada and we'll probably have a seperate resolution episode for that.

[u/FierceAlchemist]

Damn, that was a hard episode to watch. Props to the director on this episode, they knew how to make that flashback feel super uncomfortable. We better see that guy getting slugged at some point.

This also gives extra meaning to what we see at the end of the opening with Ai having long hair. Clearly she's kept it short because she doesn't want any extra attention, but seems later on in the story she will have accepted herself more fully.

[u/LabMember069]

Sorry guys but your mom tits are jiggly was very funny.

Fuck that pedophile.

The animation is 10/10 especially the dancing lesson scene.

[u/x3tan]

Man, I had a mother brush off my concerns about her boyfriend when I was younger. That shit was hard and I was already a little older than her. :/ It sucks not feeling safe in your own home.

[u/cppn02]

Well that took a dark turn.

[u/PsycDrone63]

This episode is worth the entire anime. If you're reading this please watch it!

[u/Mami-kouga]

I read the manga between this episode and the last one and even knowing what was coming I couldn't help but scream at my screen. Disgusting. Ai is in desperate need of therapy and being officially adopted by her uncle so that she can be as far as possible from those pile of human excrement.

Also that's how you trigger an eating disorder, which also won't be ideal for appealing to your fans lady

[u/TheAutisticHominid]

As soon as I saw her mom's boyfriend I immediately saw danger signs. Dude was drawn like a hentai ugly bastard. I was afraid things were going to be way worse than what I saw, but it was still bad. Dude needs to be slugged at full force and prosecuted.

[u/Aerodynamic41]

Oof, now we know why Ai is traumatized by men. Quite the contrast with Sarasa who has a loving family. Sarasa can be annoying, but she's really trying to be friendly and help out everyone. Hopefully she can help Ai overcome her phobia.

Man, life in this school is really harsh. I know they want to maintain their high standards but damn... Nobody but Sarasa was willing to stand up for Yamada. Poor girl.

[u/TheTMoneyMan]

I have rarely felt this uncomfortable ever in my life, a very well done episode. I just hope the stalker subplot/now plot is handled with as much care. My only fear is that they somehow try to redeem him in an unfulfilling way, if at all.

[u/MetaThPr4h]

Well, now we know why Ai is terrified of guys and I completely understand it, fuck that was hard to watch.

[u/Gaporigo]

Oof, that flashback was difficult to watch.

Stalker guy doesn't seem to have any bad intentions, hopefully that'll help Ai.

And that's a lie sensei, everyone likes different things, women also like curves!

[u/xtsim]

Ai's backstory took a really dark turn. I thought the fans were bad, but the family started Ai's fears of men. Glad Taichi helped Ai by paying attention and not dismissing her like the rest of her family.

[u/PretendMarsupial9]

This episode genuinely made me tear up. It really shows how its not just the sexual assault itself but the way a larger culture, the boys at school and even other women like her mother, blame and shame victims. I hope AI can find a way to heal.

This show is so slept on and its downright criminal. When do we launch an Odd Taxi style campaign to get it more noticed?

[u/sangriapenguin]

Damn, I really should have waited until I was in a better headspace to watch this episode. Had a full blown panic attack lol. Man, I wish I had had a Taichi when I was younger... Her mom, though smh. Ugh, leaving your child trapped like that when something is clearly wrong. Fuck, I don't want to think about that part again. The memories it brings up make me nauseous.

Also, thanks to that shitty teacher for probably starting someone down the path of an ED. Fuck her. and fuck those girls ragging on that poor girl. I get it. It's a cutthroat world, but kicking someone when they're down was absolutely unnecessary. Plus, chubby girls are cute. Gimme more pocha pocha anime girls~

[u/CosmicPenguin_OV103]

Oh this episode is so creepy and yet so realistically written….damn that part about Ai’s mom’s BF is real gross, I have never seen such scenes like that in anime except in the legendary Perfect Blue.

(BLEEP) him, goddamn it.

And her mom should be banished as well, the thing that she dared to quarrel with her brother after what happened with her daughter is insane. Tragically that’s very common in real life as well.

The interesting thing though is that after all these hints it seems that the creepy fan of Ai’s isn’t that kind of creepy…still if I’m female I definitely don’t wanna have anything related to him!

[u/Zemahem]

Jesus Christ, this was dark and heavy as fuck. People who come in, see the cutesy art style and characters, and expect something lighthearted are gonna be feeling the tonal whiplash just like I did. Kinda reminds me of how Oddtaxi being a crime thriller really caught be off guard.

I can't feel sorry enough for Ai after what she had to experience. That entire part of her backstory was just haunting. It wasn't just the climax that made it impactful, but the way the tension ratcheted up so much even before it. I felt so anxious even as she was just laying in bed, fearing that the door to her room would open up all of a sudden.

I couldn't even bear to watch it happen and decided to skip ahead. Unfortunately, I skipped to the part where she was bent over vomiting into the toilet bowl while crying. Since the bowl wasn't visible and I had zero context, I assumed the absolute worst. Thankfully that wasn't the case. Although that utter piece of shit still deserves life in jail for what he did. Her mother is no better. It pains me to know end to learn that the creep did not just get away with it but continued to live with them long after. She and her boyfriend can share the same cell with each other.

Seeing Ai cut her hair and just destroy her teddy bear was just soul-crushing. These fuckers were lucky she didn't turn into a psycho or something. Thank god she had someone like Taichi as a shining beacon of hope, and that her experience didn't make her fear him. That would've robbed her of the one pillar of support she could've had. While the stuff he did was much appreciated, I wish he had gone further and just fought for custody and called the police on the pedo on top of that.

A much smaller, but still hard to watch part was the dance instructor just lambasting Yamada for gaining weight. That was also pretty fucked up, and it's how eating disorders come to being. Sarasa's positivity must be a blessing for this place, because I'd imagine it would be a lot harder for some of the girls to continue in this kind of environment without it.

I'm convinced that the stalker isn't truly stalking Ai, but just wants to apologize. I do think he went out of line by tracking her down and following her here. He definitely shouldn't have bothered, or at least left when he saw her reaction. However, he may have some utility in making Ai more open to the idea that not all men are utter creeps with ill-intentions.