[Fish Sandwich]

Hey everyone, guess what time it is!



Time for your regularly scheduled reminder that the game truly is forever.

And also time for me to talk a bit more about poor Sougo, because I feel some people aren't giving him a fair shake. Byg42 and Librarian already made some good points, so I'll simply assert that I think the show has its reasons for characterizing him the way it has. I'll hold off on going into detail for now because next week seems like it's going to do a good amount more to flesh out his character. It's funny that Zi-O feels so fast, because in a lot of ways it's actually moving quite sluggishly.

As for the episode itself, I enjoyed it about as much as the first two. This one felt a lot less crazy, which I suppose is only natural with so much of the exposition out of the way. The plot still felt fairly thin, and the way this show develops its cast continues to be... unusual, to say the least. One thing I mentioned about those first two episodes is that part of me felt there was more going on than it first looks like. I couldn't elaborate on that as much as I wanted to, but I have locked down one thing. Brief little exchanges, like Sougo bailing out a fellow student here, seem specifically written to reveal more about the characters on top of simply advancing the plot.

It's as though the show knows how cramped it is, and tries to consolidate all types of dialogue into one to save time. The problem being everything goes by so fast it can be hard to tell exactly what you're meant to divine from a given conversation. The gradual evolution of Sougo and Geiz's relationship, for example, is pretty straightforward, but Sougo brushing off lying? Is it further proof that our little overlord-in-training doesn't take as much responsibility for his actions as he ought to? Another sign of how casually he's willing to help people out? Both? Neither?

It's all pretty up in the air right now, and while I'm still supremely entertained by Zi-O, this is yet another new episode that hasn't done anything to assure me it won't fall apart and become complete nonsense somewhere down the line. I'd say I'm really relating to Geiz in that sense, but unlike him, I don't even have a hint where this is all going.