Classroom Crisis

[shinta|hikari]

1751

The A-Tech class, a group of genius working students led by a prodigy teacher and funded by the Kirishina Corporation, is working on developing a new space engine, happily enjoying a superfluous budget established by the accomplishments of their legendary forerunner. However, the ambitious and vengeful teen Nagisa, a wunderkind himself and a corporate mastermind of Kirishina Corporation, crosses paths with this happy-go-lucky group as part of his own schemes, creating a chemical reaction that would change not only the future of A-tech, but also the politics of their world.

---shinta|hikari

And did I mention there are a lot of cute girls? There's also excellent character development. This is my dark horse vote for the season. I've enjoyed every single episode so far. Anyone else watching this?

[David75]

I'm watching it too. In fact I watched ep1, totally forgot about it and watched ep 2-8 in one go last week. It's a pretty good watch and I like Angelina's voice...

[Kraco]

I wasn't sure I'd keep watching after the first ep, as I was expecting something closer to Aria, perhaps. The episode didn't convince me so mightily also otherwise. However, I did appreciate Nagisa's characters from the get-go, so I kept watching. Afterwards, some of the other characters grew on me as well, even if they have mostly remained quite thin, such as Iris, who has seen remarkably little development in 9 episodes.

However, I have to say the depth of the story itself is captivating. Totally different from what I imagined after the first episode. All those old politicians, backroom deals, budget manipulations, trade unions... You don't see that stuff every day in anime. It seems at a first glance that stuff should have nothing to do with the cute girls struggling to build a space ship, but of course in reality is has everything to do with it, but in normal anime it would never play a role.

Yeah, I'm very satisfied with this show so far. I do hope Mizuki and Nagisa end up together before the end. It has seemed like she wants to save him from the beginning.

[shinta|hikari]

I prefer the troll end Nagisa X Iris.

That would make this golden.

[MasterOfMoogles]

The setting is just so ridiculous that I have a hard time buying into this show.
The one older brother being such a cardboard cutout villain is also annoying.

So far, I'd probably give it a C.

[Kraco]

The one older brother being such a cardboard cutout villain is also annoying.

It's basically a family business, with a huge burden from the past since it can be hard for later generations to always measure up, yet they are still pushed by the family to accept significant roles in leadership. Not to mention the later generations might generally have it harder due to harsher competition and such, which wasn't present when the company was founded. I reckon Yuuji is a rather classic case of a man who had no choice but to become a great executive due to this birth, even though he had little talent for it, possibly not interest either. It's all the worse because Nagisa was there and had talent wise everything Yuuji lacked. Yuuji was forced to rely on Nagisa's skills day in and day out, which only made him feel that much a lesser man. It's a highly realistic situation, which turns someone into a villain. The few times we did see him actually do something, like dealing with the politicians, revealed how low calibre he was on his own.

[shinta|hikari]

Maybe the older brother isn't. What if he was actually a brocon who did all this to make Nagisa grow?

I think I prefer the cardboard cutout.

[Kraco]

The oldest brother looked like he knew what he was doing and was enjoying his work. If he did, or allowed all of this to happen, just to make Nagisa grow, then he's a failure as well. Nagisa grew up to be an avenger, not a brilliant executive, even if he might look like the latter for those who don't know what's going on (most people).

[Munsu]

Watched the first episode, and saw why you guys are enjoying this. Not sure if I'm in the mood for this series though. Will try an episode or two more later to see if I get a better grasp of it to continue or not. First episode was fairly entertaining though.

[shinta|hikari]

The first episode doesn't show the politics involved in the story, which is what I really enjoy.

Aside from the cute robotic girl.

[Munsu]

The first episode doesn't show the politics involved in the story, which is what I really enjoy.

Aside from the cute robotic girl.

OK, fair enough. I'll try a few more episodes to see if I keep going at this time or leave it for later.

[Kraco]

Episode 10 - HS



- - - - - - -



This was quite a good example of a situation where a greenhorn with a few victories under his belt gets ahead of himself and thinks he's totally awesome. Until the reality hits. I was already thinking that despite the unfortunate deadline of A-Tec's imminent disbanding, Nagisa was being stupid to go forth so soon, in other words right after he got into the board of directors. It's quite obvious the old beards there wouldn't side with him, a young guy who only just appeared there, unless there wasn't any risk whatsoever. They all probably also had strong ties, willing or not, with Kazuhisa, yet none of them really were corrected to Nagisa. It seemed very much like he was counting on Kazuhisa doing nothing at all when he was pushing his own plan forward. Despite the fact he did suspect Kazuhisa, not the idiot Yuuji, was behind everything. That doesn't make Nagisa stupid, it only means he sorely lacks experience, even if he has the brains. Which gets me back to the first point, the unwise rushing of his plans before his position was anything to speak of.

I guess Iris has flown her last flight. Nobody that unstable should be let anywhere near a cockpit.

[Munsu]

Well, now I'm caught up to episode 10 and I'm quite enjoying this one.

@Kraco I don't think this was much of him getting ahead of himself, but a miscalculation based on a betrayal. So not much he can do on that particular regard whether he had waited or not, and considering that A-Tec's dissolution was imminent, there was little choice in the matter if he has legit interest in saving it (which it seems he has). Of course, there was the other goal of it itself being a blow to the CEO, but in the end that motivation is irrelevant in the scheme of things since he seemed like he wanted to save it regardless.

IF and only IF he had no real interest in saving A-Tec, and it was all purely him trying to punch the CEO with this move, then I could agree with it, but considering the rest of the circumstances that point is a bit moot even if it ended blowing back at him.

Part of it also is that he put his trust on a seemingly big time player in the board, someone who apparently had a big hand in getting him to his position today, and then seemed to betray him. So he was acting with information from a quality and trustworthy source which ended up being nothing but. If the information is bad, then there's not much you can do about it one way or another.

On the other hand, maybe if he wasn't so gung-ho on trying to pass blame, and made this simply about saving A-Tec and nothing more, then he would've been much better of. I guess that was his biggest failure, going after blood in such a direct manner instead of leaving things play themselves out after the fact.

And of course, there's the whole Iris thing to consider and how it factor into his decision to try to save A-Tec.

[Kraco]

He should have never trusted any of the board members, just like Angelina remarked. Like you said, one big problem was that he was tying together the sensible goal of saving A-Tec and the pure vengeance and ambition of getting rid of Kazuhisa. I don't really see how Kazuhisa could ever be so incompetent after all this time that a dude who had only moments before entered the board could hurt him. There's simply no way. Even A-Tec alone would be troublesome if Nagisa is correct and Kazuhisa as well wants to get rid of it, so that it wasn't only Yuuji needing the money for corruption. It might not have mattered either way. At the very least he now knows he has absolutely no allies among the board members. But that's probably true for all of them. They'll sacrifice anybody to advance. A-Tec aside, Nagisa would have needed probably years to be able to make shady enough deals, gain favours, or dirty info for blackmail in order to control the board. He was now too naive in his haste with the A-Tec's dismissal looming so close. Of course it won't come to that but Iris will be a part of some scandal or whatever, and the story will end.

[Munsu]

He should have never trusted any of the board members, just like Angelina remarked. Like you said, one big problem was that he was tying together the sensible goal of saving A-Tec and the pure vengeance and ambition of getting rid of Kazuhisa. I don't really see how Kazuhisa could ever be so incompetent after all this time that a dude who had only moments before entered the board could hurt him. There's simply no way. Even A-Tec alone would be troublesome if Nagisa is correct and Kazuhisa as well wants to get rid of it, so that it wasn't only Yuuji needing the money for corruption. It might not have mattered either way. At the very least he now knows he has absolutely no allies among the board members. But that's probably true for all of them. They'll sacrifice anybody to advance. A-Tec aside, Nagisa would have needed probably years to be able to make shady enough deals, gain favours, or dirty info for blackmail in order to control the board. He was now too naive in his haste with the A-Tec's dismissal looming so close. Of course it won't come to that but Iris will be a part of some scandal or whatever, and the story will end.

I agree about not trusting any of the board members, but I got the impression that the apparent divide in factions and the pressumption of some neutrals who he might convince with some logical and sensible thinking was based mainly upon information given from a board member who seemingly had been helping Nagisa for quite some time now, so I can't fault him for this in particular. It wasn't a new relationship that I saw, unless I misjudged their relationship.

In any case, I think that was going to be the result whether he was getting ahead of himself or not because the issue was A-Tec and he had other motivations, plus timing, and all that, made it a self-fulfilling failure no matter what he did.

So with that said, I'm of the opinion that his biggest personal problem was the confidence he had going ahead and attacking the CEO so boastfully prior to the vote. He should've merely tried to stop the dissolution without trying to cut the CEO's head in the meantime. He took the bait.

I'm curious though, do you think Kazuhisa is well aware of Iris? And that's the real motivation behind him wanting A-Tec gone?

[Kraco]

The board members look like they have been there for a while. The man who seemingly was helping Nagisa looked like a veteran in that business, being the vice president to boot. I find it exceptionally hard to believe that if they really were stout and smart enough to be of any use against Kazuhisa out of their own volition, not only as tools Nagisa would need to prepare slowly and carefully (like Kazuhisa probably has), they wouldn't have needed to wait for Nagisa all these years. They were just paper tigers. I doubt it would have made any difference whatsoever if Nagisa had worded his message differently and only talked about A-Tec. Kazuhisa must have seen through him a long time in advance.

Hard to say about Kazuhisa and Iris. Wasn't it the Kiryuus who slew the Shinamiyas? You'd think Kazuhisa would have got rid of Iris for good if he knew. Apparently Iris is living as an orphan and is a pilot, so it would have been easy enough to arrange an accident and have nobody important miss her. On the other hand Kazuhisa looks even more than Nagisa like a man who imagines he's in control of everything, so I suppose he could be keeping Iris alive out of arrogance. However, it seems quite unlikely he would try to elimate her by removing A-Tec. Sure, it might push Iris farther away from the company, but it would also mean he might not be able to keep an eye on her.

A shoujo show theory: Maybe he wants to marry Iris and is keeping her live and close because of that? Now that she's getting old enough, it would be the time to get rid of A-Tec. Haha.

[Munsu]

Episode 11:
http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=732502





This episode was a roller-coaster. Some good reveals, some emotional stuff, and some dramatic twists. Two more episodes!

I didn't care for how Iris was handled in this episode though. We'll see how that develops.

[shinta|hikari]

This episode made up for the slowness of the series so far and more.

Excellent stuff.

This show just soared like a rocket upward my personal rating list.

I'm hoping for a IrisXNagisaXSeraImouto harem end. If they pull that off, this show gets an awesome eval from me.

[Kraco]

Man, that last scene. I never expected anything like that, but thinking about it, it makes 100% sense. Yuuji was exactly the kind of incompentent fool who would do something like this due to being totally incapable of pulling off anything reasonable. Because of Nagisa he lost everything that had been handed to him on a silver platter, so choosing this kind of lowest of the low revenge was right down to his alley. I'd expect Nagisa to survive this, naturally, so Yuuji possibly did him a service by sullying the Kiryuu name with a vile crime. Even if Nagisa decided to drop revenge from now on, he would still need weapons against Kazuhisa to save A-Tec and possibly ruin the weapon manufacturing plans. Not sure yet how this could serve him, but Nagisa is a smart dude.


I'm hoping for a IrisXNagisaXSeraImouto harem end. If they pull that off, this show gets an awesome eval from me.

Dunno. Either Iris or Mizuki would need to become bi for that to happen. I guess it's remotely plausible for Iris now that she remembered (stand-in-)Nagisa is basically carrying her burden. Mizuki, however, never showed any such interest in Iris. They are just best friends as far as Mizuki is concerned.

[shinta|hikari]

Well, they can alternate per day.

Did they ever mention what Nagisav2's name was?

[Kraco]

Well, they can alternate per day.

Alternate? Who? Iris loves Mizuki. Mizuki and Nagisa love each other. There's been no indication Nagisa would love Iris even though he sacrificed himself for her sake all the way back when he was a little kid. A normal person might be even resentful, but I reckon since Nagisa dedicated himself for the revenge against the Kiryuu family, he would hold Iris as a kind of impersonal justification and raison d'etre, and after all these years not feel much else. His existence was kind of flimsy, at least until he realised he loves Mizuki and might also live for himself, not only for vengeance. Like I said before, I suppose it's possible Iris would now suddenly feel something for Nagisa, but I'm not sure you could honestly call it love instead of gratitude, pity, or who knows what.

[David75]

For Nagisa, should he pursue his vengeance agenda, Iris is worth a lot, being the last Shinomiya living.

[Kraco]

For Nagisa, should he pursue his vengeance agenda, Iris is worth a lot, being the last Shinomiya living.

Sure, she's the original reason for seeking vengeance. So, he can't very well put her in any danger. I think he was relieved Kazuhisa seemed to believe Iris (the real Nagisa) is dead. Of course it could also be Kazuhisa playing it smart, as there'd be little profit in scaring Nagisa by revealing he knows who Iris is. In any case, he doesn't seem to be rotten enough to make a tool out of the person he has been living to protect so far. That could easily happen to a person living for revenge, but I doubt Mizuki would fall for such a person.

Iris could of course reveal herself all on her own, especially now if she thinks she's all alone with Mizuki coupling with Nagisa.

[shinta|hikari]

There's been no indication Nagisa would love Iris even though he sacrificed himself for her sake all the way back when he was a little kid. ...... Like I said before, I suppose it's possible Iris would now suddenly feel something for Nagisa, but I'm not sure you could honestly call it love instead of gratitude, pity, or who knows what.

From the flashback and his behavior in the first few episodes, Nagisa still cares for Iris, even if that is not exactly romantic love. And Iris is hot. Nagisa won't refuse.

Iris's lines in this episode heavily implied that she has feelings for Nagisa (i.e. the whole "why now?" bit). They were really close as kids.

[Munsu]

Unless I missed some detail, it would've been nice to see why Iris became so attached to Mizuki in the first place.

[shinta|hikari]

Yuriness, nuff said.

If it turns out Iris is a trap I'm dropping this show.

[Kraco]

Unless I missed some detail, it would've been nice to see why Iris became so attached to Mizuki in the first place.

She has no family, no relatives, and no memories of her past. Under such circumstances it makes sense she would stick to whoever was friendly to her during the hardest years. I bet both the Seras were exceedingly friendly since they are disgustingly good people. I'm not sure it's necessary to know how they met, unless there's some relevance there concerning the current situation. They could have just met by chance, being of the same age.

[Munsu]

She has no family, no relatives, and no memories of her past. Under such circumstances it makes sense she would stick to whoever was friendly to her during the hardest years. I bet both the Seras were exceedingly friendly since they are disgustingly good people. I'm not sure it's necessary to know how they met, unless there's some relevance there concerning the current situation. They could have just met by chance, being of the same age.

Considering the new revelations, and with her new emotions being tested, I think it's valuable to understand how deep of an attachment she had to Mizuki in the first place. Their relationship has been so far one of servitude in many ways rather than plain being good friends, and I think that's an important distinction to make. Could be a trope, but if the relationship might get tested now in any way, I figure it would be nice to know how deep their roots actually are with them potentially being a bit more substantive than a character simply being friendly.

Not that it is really all that important, but I think it could add something to the dilemma. Not that I think there was more than that, but considering that strong attachment and loyalty she had shown in the past, I think it opens up the possibility for there being something a bit more going on... like say she being ridiculed for her personality and Mizuki stepping in, etc. as lacking in originality as that might be.

[Munsu]

And here's episode 12:
http://nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=734948

One more after this one...

[shinta|hikari]

And stupid random mercy makes its appearance yet again. Bad writing or simply uninspired?

That, and the timing of events was all over the place.

[Kraco]

Yeah, I thought this ep was quite weak. In any case a big disappointment after the rather crafty political and business plots of the past eps. Random mercy backfiring was incredibly stupid. Nagisa being all business and never yielding to Yuuji was the best part. Iris not getting a break before she gets her shit together is another good single detail. Although it's safe to assume Iris will be the one flying to save Nagisa.

[Munsu]

Yeah, I thought this ep was quite weak. In any case a big disappointment after the rather crafty political and business plots of the past eps. Random mercy backfiring was incredibly stupid. Nagisa being all business and never yielding to Yuuji was the best part. Iris not getting a break before she gets her shit together is another good single detail. Although it's safe to assume Iris will be the one flying to save Nagisa.

Man, I had seriously forgotten that episode 11 ended in that backstabbing cliffhanger, so a pleasant surprise when I began episode 12.

Agree with most of what you say, though I thought it was good from an entertainment standpoint... but yeah, those details deterred the enjoyment a bit.

I will add though, with one more episode to go, I'm lamenting that we didn't manage to get into a reveal and consequences portion with Iris. At this point I just hope she remains quiet and keeps going business as usual because there's really no time to treat that story point with any level of adequacy.

But yeah, time for Iris to overcome her yips and save Nagisa in spectacular fashion. Or die trying of course.

[MasterOfMoogles]

Didn't the exact same thing happen when the ninja-girl was taking out the people on the plane? I can't believe they did that "defeated enemy attacks you, surprise!" again.

[Munsu]

Didn't the exact same thing happen when the ninja-girl was taking out the people on the plane? I can't believe they did that "defeated enemy attacks you, surprise!" again.

Had completely forgotten about that... that's a complete fail.

[shinta|hikari]

I just want moar Nagisa.

The girl, not the guy.

[MasterOfMoogles]

Why? All she's done the whole show is crash their spaceships and generally be useless.

[shinta|hikari]

Isn't that great!?

Kidding aside, I like broken characters, and she is as broken as they get in this show. And she has dat expressionless face.

[Kraco]

She has got so little, or so meaningless, development and she's not the love interest of the MC dude that I don't really care about her, even though normally I like the character type (just like I instantly rooted for Flamie in Rokka).

[shinta|hikari]

But Flamie has underboob. And silver hair. Rei hair could never compare. That's an unfair comparison.

[Kraco]

Episode 13 Final - HS



- -- - - --




I listened to it a few times, but my understanding of even the basics of Japanese isn't good enough to learn how fast the X-3 was supposed to be. The subtitles say 42 km/h. My bicycle's speedometer has a faster recorded max speed than that...

Looks like Iris (real Nagisa) really loves fake Nagisa after all. I thought she had just sort of an existential crisis when she suddenly remembered who she is and isn't, and who (fake) Nagisa is. Like not knowing what she should do next and how she should live from now on, or if she should feel sorry for (fake) Nagisa or not, whether she should thank him or not. But in the end it looks like (fake) Nagisa captured her heart already when she was nothing but a little squirt. Now that she remembered it, it seemed to overwrite her lesbian love for Mizuki.

Poor (fake) Nagisa doesn't anymore know what to do, being chased by the girl he recently fell in love with and the girl whom he swore to protect even at the cost of his own life. Makes sense he escaped the hospital and started drinking (I won't believe for a second it was only carbonated water). That's the manly solution to problems!

[shinta|hikari]

It was shochu.

I LOVE this ending. It was perfect. It's been a while since I've seen such an excellently executed exit (alliteration intended). Everything that has happened so far culminated into the conclusion. The harem end was the best part. The two girls love each other anyway and are evidently willing to share. Top dogs deserve that kinda perk.

I love Iris's jealous face. That alone made this show worth it.

The only thing that could have made this final episode better was an announcement of a second season. Kazuhisa did stop the father from interfering, after all. Taking over the world with those two girls by your side and an engineering genius behind you is gonna be awesome. Oh, let's not forget megane shinobi under the desk doing you know what.

[Munsu]

Just watched episode 13, and in all it was a fun way to end it. No real big twists or anything like that, but just fun developments all around to finish the series in a fairly high note.

Seems like there are stories to tell beyond what occurred in this season, so maybe a return could be possible (though unlikely), but I say with how the series finished, particularly the last line, it was quite perfect and satisfying in many ways.

In all, glad I gave this series a shot. It was worth watching.

[shinta|hikari]

You're welcome.

[MasterOfMoogles]

Perhaps the biggest problem in the whole show to me, is that everything rides on the main character being some amazing genius that everybody wants.
However, I didn't feel like we ever saw this at all. We were just told "Oh, he's supposed to be super amazing", and we only ever see him fumbling around with politics like an idiot.

The whole plot line of Iris being Nagisa seemed to be completely irrelevant.
The cartoon cutout villain of an older brother was just too silly.

Even the romance scenes seemed far out of left field. Main guy's little sister talked to him a couple times and helped him with his homework. And now suddenly she's in love with him? What?

The arguments the CEO makes are just dumb. "We can't revisit our decision. Don't you know how companies work?"
Lol, what? That's the whole reason for not considering reinstating A-TEC? He could have easily gone with the flow, kept Kaito, kept A-TEC, and then he'd have his "amazing" engineer, who would never work on the weapons project he wanted anyways.

I just couldn't get behind any of the plot elements in this show.

[Buffalobiian]

I didn't like the harem end. I think Mizuki should have had him. She's the best thing in this series.

[shinta|hikari]

She did have him, along with a BFF for 3p.