[DreamSword]

Episode 5: The Meaning of Mandrake

Star Driver is a very horny show, if you couldn't tell by now.

Not in the sense that you're constantly seeing TnA everywhere or anything like, but more so the utter suggestiveness of alot of aspects of it.

And I'm sure that in some ways, that makes sense. The show does deal with alot of hormone-addled teens, afterall. And thankfully, it's less done for fanservice and moreso for humor than anything else.

But with that in mind, this episode kinda sorta goes a little bit too far with it? With the very end of the episode essentially being the final nail in the coffin for any sort of poignant point that it might've been trying to make. It really makes me wonder if there was any sort of lesson in mind to begin with.

Pretty much the entire episode deals with the school nurse, who's lusting after alot of the boys at South Academy. Problematic angle aside, the episode at first seems to be trying to showcase how her desires are a manifestation of her wanting to return to her youth, and how her utter defeat at the hands of Takuto are a lesson in not thinking with your nether regions, so the speak.

Only for the very end of the episode to not only give her exactly what she wanted, but play it off as a sort of positive/humorous outcome. It really didn't sit right with me. Not to say the entire episode ending up a total wash because of it; I did get some chuckles out of the episode, afterall(loved the scene with the Drama Club discussing the love letter). But the end did kinda paint the whole experience in a bit of an uncomfortable light.

This was the first episode that I had absolutely no memory of during this rewatch, and I can for sure see why. Such a waste of some cool ideas. Like that precognition system straight out of Gundam Wing. What a letdown.