[Fish Sandwich]

I think this two-parter was probably the first time back in the day that kinda made me step back and realize all over again how much I love this show? Not that there had been a single week so far that I hadn't been having a blast (not that there ever would be, either), but like, I adore the whole structural thing of having Kengo be the guy who basically starts the show and then also having him be the last to accept the basic premise. Even though there a few episodes left before the now traditional "season finale" that capped off 2011, this very much felt like the appropriately climactic ending of the show's first act.

It was a really touching story with a lot of great details. The use of the KRC flag is obviously great, for one, but I'll also shout out Miu giving that hug to Yuuki here too. Even though I simply cannot condone Die knocking Tomoko down from the top of his ranking, for what it's worth, I was also frequently more impressed by the material Miu in particular gets than I remembered on a rewatch, and that little moment is one that's stuck with me since.

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

I like that scene as well, although, it's not like Tomoko uses makeup as something to hide behind, as she is a goth after all.

Yeah, it's sort of tough for me to describe without making it sound more contradictory than it is, but I'll give it another shot. Tomoko's makeup is definitely a part of how she expresses her true self, but it's precisely because of that I think there's an aspect to it where it's also her armor, in a way? It's something that makes her more comfortable confronting the world -- a small way she can sort of put things on her own terms -- and that's what makes her still feel exposed without it, even though she's still the same person either way.

To give Gentarou more credit than Switchblade and Die did, I also think that's part of the point of his little speech about the Moon and the Earth? Because obviously lots of things change on this planet all the time, but the planet is always still the Earth, regardless of the details.