This episode was surprisingly solid? It really didn't do anything egregious and it expanded on some things in ways I didn't expect. What I took away most from this is how for once the show's break neck pacing is actually working in its favour for once as the constant jumps between different groups during the zombie outbreak, the musical scores used and the people involved instills a sense of tension to the viewer. Watching this you can't help but think "jesus christ get out of there!" when you see Aichi, Naoki and Shingo follow Kyou to a card shop filled with zombies while Kamui is running around the city trying to warn him. I'll give credit to the anime where it's due as they're doing a good job of making this arc feel like a typical zombie apocalypse while using some of the associated tropes effectively.
The episode begins with everyone in Card Capital catching each other up on what's happening while Tetsu and Asaka warn Misaki that Kourin may be a threat given her association with Takuto. Misaki calls the Club over but Kamui decides to go meet them on the way out of concern for Aichi given all that's happened. We also get a funny scene of Misaki agreeing to room with Asaka while Tetsu and Ren impose themselves on Kai who does not take it well at all. We get actual anime faces and a Big No scream which is an actual first for the character in all of his appearances in the franchise. Up until this point the most comical thing Kai did was eyebrow twitch when Chrono called him and Ibuki old people.
Kai staunchly refuses the idea of being given an actual personality.
After this the episode shifts to Aichi, Naoki and Shingo on their way to Capital when they're accosted by Kyou who takes them to one of the shops that our blue haired hero took down during the AL4 Arc. Once we get into the shop Aichi immediately notices something is wrong while we get one of the best reactions to someone explaining PSY-Qualia from Naoki and Shingo. Rekka is also present and explains she gave everyone the power as Professor O steps up to challenge Aichi and we once again get a montage of him tearing through fighters. From this we get some interesting tidbits however;
-Aichi is able to face and defeat the PSY-Qualia Zombies in the shop without needing to use his own PSY-Qualia (probably a parallel to him not needing it when he floored them all in the first place)
-Aichi notices that the PSY-Qualia his opponent has is not natural as the fighter's units aren't fighting for them like his do and after he defeats them the power vanishes.
It's a bullshit plot device. Ez.
While this is going on Shingo challenges Rekka to a Cardfight so we get Neo Nectar vs Nubatama (Magatsu) while Naoki steps out of the shop to follow Kourin who had been tailing the group. Turns out she's still not quite fully a zombie yet as she'd been fighting the influence of the condition (earlier in the episode Asaka explained that a zombie is compelled to fight people who aren't infected) all this time and had been avoiding the club in order to keep everyone safe. Upon seeing Aichi go with Kyou however I think her desire to keep him out of harms way overruled all of that which makes me wonder what would have happened if Aichi fought Kyou right away. Would Kourin have stepped in and had a confrontation with Rekka leading to a fight between zombies? Would Takuto have exerted more of his will and erased her will to make her a true zombie? I think I would have liked to have seen that outcome over Aichi beating a bunch of mooks repeatedly even if doing that had a purpose.
Putting the Force Marker on VC? You fiend!
The fight between Rekka and Shingo plays out pretty accurate to how a real matchup between the two would be as Rekka gets a full early game rush to obtain a damage lead and because her opponent isn't using the Kujikiricongo cards she does't have to worry about her hand being ripped apart by the dumb bird. Shingo is able to somewhat close the gap but between Rekka having magic plot hax powers, a better clan and winning the dieroll he gets completely shitstomped on her 2nd Cecilia turn. We don't see Shingo get turned into a Zombie immediately but I'm assuming he will be one by next episode. Aichi is done dealing with which Kyou is all to happy to hear as now he gets his shot when Ibuki steps into the store and everyone but Aichi cringes from strange sound made by his presence. Rekka freaks out at the sight of him while Kyou's PSY-Qualia warns him that Ibuki's power is legitimate compared to his own. Interesting how Ibuki's PSY-Qualia causes visible pain to the zombies now compared to his last appearance and that Aichi's presence doesn't have a similar effect. Probably has to do with Ibuki's connection with Deletors but we'll find that out next week as the episode ends with him declaring that he'll destroy Vanguard and delete everyone in the room.
God I hope that doesn't become his catch phrase now.
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