[Layton13]

Ok, opinion time.

This episode feels tailor made for me. I love seeing strong, female Riders in those shows, hell, I like writing them. The message focuses on accepting your mistakes and growing because of it, which is a message I adore and my writing often ends up being about and Sakura is a martial artist, which makes me relate more?

So, why did I hate it?

Low key, this was the episode Sakura and mama Igarashi started to become two of my least favorite characters in the show.

Let?s start with mama. I get what they are going for, but it just rubs me the wrong way. In general, a lot of ways she conducts herself read incredibly toxic to me and it feels she is at the heart of almost every emotion turmoil the family faces. So yeah, I do not like this woman.

As for Sakura?

She feels like early stage Ren from Saber, a character I quit like, but where Saber made it pretty clear Ren was immature and in need of growth, but with Sakura here, it feels the show is praising her worst aspects.

And it all comes down to how the moral and growth resolves. The show calls her overconfidence childish, so when she starts talking about how she now realizes that she was weak, it feels completely antithetical to that message when she adds right after: "But now that I realise my weakneses, I'm invincibile"

No, you are not invincible, you learned nothing at all!

You are back to square one with your problems and overconfidence with believing yourself strong!

This one line turns the meaning of the arc meaningless and undermines it entirely, because now she is praised for not growing in the slightest!

This character just grinds my gears to such an extent that not even Lovekov being super adorbs can fix it.

So, yeah, did NOT like this!

Incredible fight though! Cudos to the action team!