[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

There are also things that don't: every single scrap of over-the-top pathos with Misaki, with the possible exception of the bracelet bits.

I'm not sure if you mean scenes with Misaki herself, or the couple bits that really hammer in Tsurugi's feelings for Misaki, like the imaginary date (which at least made for a great misleading episode preview!), but either way, this reminds of one more thought I wanted to get out there about this one.

I think Misaki's constant frustration with the plot happening is critical to why I feel the episode works overall. It's pretty clear to me she's meant to be the audience surrogate, essentially giving a voice to all those aforementioned kids who were big Sasword fans (and all his other fans too) by asking all the questions they naturally would, such as "Wait what are you doing Tendou?", and "TENDOU SERIOUSLY WHAT THE F*** MAN". She's not exactly feeling great by the end, even after getting an explanation, and I think that's the viewer's cue that you aren't necessarily meant to be looking at this like it all worked out for the best, or even that Tendou made the only possible "right" choice. I feel like the episode is deliberately shooting for a certain degree of ambiguity, which is one of the things I like about it. Just my perspective, of course!

(I will say, though, thinking about it, it's kind of transparent how Kagami, established audience surrogate AND best friend to Tsurugi, needs to be kept at arm's length from the plot the way he is, as though Inoue stopped long enough to realize Gatack's presence would utterly break the climax, but not long enough to realize what that says about the admittedly somewhat forced and/or rushed nature of how the episode gets the narrative where it wants it.)