Episode 30
My Own Review
THOU SHALT NOT HEED THE RAVING BLAST
Strong and Lovely
Or... Another Shakespearean review!
Thou Shalt Not Heed the Raving Blast
Dramatis personae
- Akira Kenjo, a strong, earnest warrior.
- Yukari Kotozume, a wistful heiress.
- Elysio, a feminine villain.
- Miku Kenjo, a faint-hearted child, younger sister to Akira
- Tomi Kenjo, grandmother to Akira.
- Ciel Kirahoshi, an experienced pâtissière prodigy.
- Ichigozaka Koukou staff, high-schoolers, younger siblings, parents, three secondary-school KiraPâti employers.
Soon, the King of Hearts gets a call on the new upgraded Akiraphone.
AKIRA: Roger. I'll be right there.
Lovable introvert Himari as Humpty Dumpty.
Aoi as... the Cowardly Lion? Wrong story?
No, there is a an English Lion in Wonderland.
Fending off the Scottish Unicorn, no less.
These two are yet to appear in the Tim Burton film series.
Ciel as the... yes, the griffon is also Ser Not Appearing in the Disney Film and
(for the moment) Ser Not Appearing in the Tim Burton Films.
Pekorin as the Mad Hatter
Tomi Kenjo dons a pair of dormouse ears.
And Miku is the most adorable Alice ever!! <3 <3 <3
Granted, the real Alice was a brunette and the one in storybooks is a blonde...
so a ginger Alice, especially a kawaii one, has always been on our wishlist!!
Akira is tending to lots of her royal duties, including reuniting little lost Saki with her mum here, and offering the little girl some chocolate Akira made herself, while Elysio looks on and plots something sinister...
What would a Wonderland-themed festival be without an unbirthday party?
The most popular tradition at the Ichigozaka High cultural festival is the one where a person gives cookies they made themselves to the person they care about most.
YUKARI (commanding): To the Eat Me Cookie Workshop!
Miku ends up overexerting herself, so Tomi takes her outside for a break. Akira happens to see them, and she immediately regrets not being at Miku’s side.
After witnessing that, Elysio steals the kirakiraru of everyone gathered nearby, and traps Akira in some kind of force field.
Strength... and... Selfless Love!
Let's la mazemaze!
Cure Chocolat,
ready to serve!
Inside the barrier, Akira transforms into Cure Chocolat. And she's now on the defendant's seat...
Elysio accuses Akira of putting the needs of others first, and as such neglecting her younger sister. He presents the evidence and then immediately declares Akira to be guilty.
ELYSIO: Defendant! Akira Kenjo!
CHOCOLAT: What??!!
But then comes Akira's choice of darkness...
the logical puzzle that hooked me.
ELYSIO (nailing with the gavel): Silence! The court is in session.
ELYSIO: I have reached a verdict... (Dramatic pause.) The defendant, Akira Kenjo, is guilty as charged!
As for the sentence, I shall offer you
an easy, simple choice in penalty.
ELYSIO: I will allow you to save only one
of these parties: your sister or the crowd?
ELYSIO: This device will not stop till every ounce
of kirakiraru is drawn away.
In one end of the scales, frail little Miku. In the other, everyone else at Ichigozaka High.
Sacrifice the one to save the many, or vice versa.
Isn't it a sadistic choice?
ELYSIO: Every time you seek to protect something
comes with a risk of losing something dear.
(Coincidentally, Akira is a Libra: her birthday is right now at the equinox! Is Elysio somehow using zodiacal symbolism? Aoi, a Virgo, was broken by her own self-criticism... Yukari, a Gemini, was trapped in a mirror and asked to confront her duality... and now Akira is weighed on the scales!)
Elysio tells Chocolat to choose to save either her sister, or all the other people. Meanwhile, their kirakiraru is being steadily drained. Chocolat makes her choice.
ELYSIO: By all means... Save the precious ailing child,
and, doing so, leave everyone to fall...
CHOCOLAT: I absolutely refuse, thus, to let
anyone else for you be sacrificed!
CHOCOLAT: I absolutely refuse, thus, to let
anyone else for you be sacrificed!
Chocolat is able to save everyone by overloading the scales with her own kirakiraru on both sides. In the process, her crystal transforms.
Everyone regains their kirakiraru and awakens...
...yet the shero is herself on her knees, drenched with perspiration, gasping for breath.
ELYSIO (in shock): What now??!! Exhausted??!!
Right, he thinks. This is the chance to strike her down...
(Elysio, you coward...)
But the evil cards are stopped by even more light kirakiraru...
...from everyone else in Wonderland costumes at the festival...
...even from little Miku herself!
Elysio attempts to attack her, but Chocolat is protected by everyone else’s kirakiraru.
Right then... the cavalry... the Rohirrim... Macaron and the junior Cures storm through the force field!
MACARON: You did a lot as you want...
Now it's all over to Parfait...
...to use her Kirakuru Rainbow!
Elysio smirks at Akira Kenjo/Cure Chocolat. A worthy opponent indeed...
Both Yukari and Akira made cookies for everyone at the bunkasai.
AKIRA: Excuse me... I've made oodles...
YUKARI: Hoo-hoo-hoo! I've made oodles myself!
Although Yukari wants to receive Akira's cookie, she gives this chance to Miku.
Awwww what a heartwarming scene... Like... I want my Romeo and her sister to be happy...
The episode ends with Akira and Miku giving cookies to each other.
This was a fairly enjoyable episode. It was nice seeing Miku again, and those outfits that were wearing were neat – in their own unique ways.
Of course, it was Akira who was the focus of this episode. She's done all right, I suppose. Out of the character-focused episodes we’ve been getting recently, this one felt a little lacking compared to what we’ve seen recently.
That may be because Akira didn’t really have to learn to embrace any negative aspects of herself. She stayed true to wanting to protect as many people as she could, and didn’t have to go through any pain to realise that.
Of course, it was Akira who was the focus of this episode. She's done all right, I suppose. Out of the character-focused episodes we’ve been getting recently, this one felt a little lacking compared to what we’ve seen recently.
That may be because Akira didn’t really have to learn to embrace any negative aspects of herself. She stayed true to wanting to protect as many people as she could, and didn’t have to go through any pain to realise that.
MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION...
You know what makes an OTP an OTP. You know the Good Book says precious metals are tried in the furnace and understand the metaphor. But this version takes it up to eleven...
A costumer? A fairy-tale-themed costumer? That is also an Akira-centric episode?! SQUEEEEEE!!!
They definitely made my day with the Alice-themed bunkasai and Akira being put to the test when her little sister, child of the pure unclouded brow and dreamy eyes of wonder, goes down the rabbit hole.
We also got to see more of the Koukou (high school) since it hosts the Wonderland-themed bunkasai.
Akira and Yukari are the King and Queen of Hearts -- the former reminding me of William Windsor as a redcoat bridegroom (Akira Kenjo + period uniform = SQUEEEEEE!!!), and the latter so fitting her part like a glove that I expected her to command "Off with their heads" left and right.
We also got to see Tomi Kenjo, the friendly grandmother of Akira and Miku. She plays the dormouse (Mallymkyn for those who remember most details in the Tim Burton films). And she is a far different kettle of fish than the stern and regal Shino Kotozume. Tomi has far more of a cozy, hearty Red-Riding-Hood's-grandmother aura.
The most popular tradition at the Ichigozaka High cultural festival is the one where a person gives cookies they made themselves to the person they care about most.
Also... the dilemma Akira was given; to sacrifice her sister or sacrifice everyone else... it reoccurs in literature and on screen. To put an example from Westeros: Jaime Lannister, upon slitting the Mad King's throat, with the fates of everyone in the capital hanging in the balance thanks to Aerys's planted explosives... was faced with the same dilemma and sacrificed the one to save the many.
But the dilemma itself is as old as time. Like... in the most usually quoted form, there would be a train switch and forking tracks. On one side, little Miku would be tied, and the other side leads right towards the walls of the Koukou, which the train would crash against. By turning the switch one way or another, Akira can choose to save her sister tied to the tracks and doom everyone on the train and at Ichigozaka High in the ensuing crash, or vice versa.
Luckily, our dashing bifauxnen found what is most difficult in this kind of dilemmas: the third option that spares everyone.
--
Yukari giving Miku the honour of receiving Akira's cookies says a lot. The frozen ice queen has begun to defrost... and she wants her lover to be happy, not being selfish at all...
We also got to see a lot more of the high school grounds as well as the male and female summer uniforms: they look quite mature, dignified, fitting older teens indeed.
PS. The title of this review is an Alice allusion!IN THE NEXT EPISODE (31)
Satomi, after living dangerously, home returns...
maybe her child or husband something never told now learns...
Why these suits and these serious faces? Though I do not worry,
and to review next episode I'm not exactly in a hurry...
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