[cosmicrescend0]

Episode 18!

-Poor Sakuyo, being tricked by Tachibana... I do like nobody ever brought of a point of "Well, She's an AI, she could've calculated that the branch threw the symmentry (or something) off, ruining the image! Should've known better, the victory still counts." Like , AI ultimately are suspectible to being influenced/decieved by what they learn, and incidents from using AI where human decision-making could easily prevent the error. But at the same time, the same could be easily said about humans, can't it?

-Tachibana...At first I thought his freakout over Sakuyo's talent was the little over the top, but then I remembered: flower arrangement is this man's everything. His family has probably worked for generations developing their philsophy and skill in this subject, and no doubt it's a source of pride for the man. For Sakuyo to so easily match the Grand Master, who's essentially the culmination of his family and the schools' effort.....it's surely frightening. Which is why the story wrapping back to Sakuyo learning from the Tachibana school's teachings is so sastifying to me. Using AI can help us all reach new heights, but only if there's a foundation to bulid upon, given by humanity. Tachibana's craft is not irrevalant nor outdated, it's *essential* to the process that will help Sakuyo and everyone push the art forward.

-The fight in the parking lot....Yeah, cool fight and all, but the only reaction it really got out of me is Gai calling Fuwa a "stray dog", lol. I feel like the show *wants* me to feel troubled at Yua's position at ZAIA and the two fighting, but like.....I don't know, there's just not enough Emotion there for the whole "Oh no, Yua's working the bad guys!" plot to work for me? (Especially wild since Fuwa's arguably the second emotive person in the show.) Like, we've known Yua's been doing shady shit since (arguably) her debut as Valykrie, so there's no "beteryal" of the audience's trust. And Fuwa...just takes in all in stride? Yua up to no good? He's gonna turn her ass in, and isn't afraid to get rough to achieve this. They're comrades working on the battlefield during Yua's time at AIMS, but there's no real relationship there other than "dysfunctional coworkers", so there's not much to work with here?

-Mystery Person has descended, giving us a new spin on the MOTW! If Magia are born of AI's hatred of humankind, then surely man's hatred of AI can birth an equally terrifying monster. I like all the warped perspectives and whatnot they use to highlight their presence, it's really cool!


-The "eternally 24, actually 45" bit is sooooo damn good.