[DreamSword]

Episode 24: The East Maiden

Keito was always my favorite of the Maidens.

Her story technically isn't over yet, as, if memory serves, there's still a little bit more of her left in the final episode. But all the major bits have been covered.

And the way that story has been told has been in such a unique way when compared to literally every other character. All throughout Star Driver, she's been there, and we've been getting little bits of her tale the entire time.

So not only is it a gradual build up with an appropriately melodramatic payoff(heck, the whole episode is full of it), but now, on rewatch, it's been so great to see all of the foreshadowing and to be reminded of just how layered her personality actually is.

She too is a "lovesick girl" as she once called someone else. And her unrequited love is the catalyst for make her a foil to Takuto and Wako. Like Wako and Sugata, she desperately wants her freedom, and like Takuto, she felt outcast by the people she loved. But unlike the Trio, who all have eachother to bring out the best in them, Keito has no one. She's all alone.

It's made thinking about her actions all the more engaging for me on this rewatch, and if memory serves, it makes a bit of what happens next episode something I'm actually excited to re-examine all over again. As it made Keito a bit of a base breaking character for those who watched the show. Will she remain my favorite by end, or will the me that has nearly a decade and a half more life experience and insight do a total 180 on the tastes of my younger self? Either way: