Only the briefest flicker of Yaya in this episode as the story preps us and Nagisa for the unveiling of Shizuma’s past love life and the traumatic events that turned her in a serial yuri playgirl (not quite emphasized enough in the anime IMHO) and delinquent elected school leader.
More moping from Yaya. I do hope Tsubomi does move in soon though I think the script writers might be saying that for until Yaya plays whatever part she may have in the Spica rivalry over their Etoile candidate.
this short?
Shizuma got traumatized by horsecock?
O_O
My word… … …
And now, for an entry focusing on Tamao. Standard disclaimers apply as usual. The following is merely speculation, and in the case of the Conspiracy Theory, fun speculation. Expect disappointments, heartaches, and such resulting from incorrect speculation at your own peril.
We begin the episode with Tamao as the narrator.
“The appetite of autumn.
The doziness of autumn.
The arts of autumn.
The studying of autumn.”
Replace ‘autumn’ with ‘Nagisa’, and you can feel the stalkerish vibes from those statements. ;) No big surprise here though, since anybody with an attention span will have realised Tamao’s obsession with Nagisa by now. The more interesting portion comes just after,
“The leaves are painted yellow and the red leaves are dancing in the sky. But Astraea’s autumn has something else that I’m much more looking forward to. Right, the Etoile election is coming.”
At this point of the episode, it still never occured to me that Tamao might be considering to run for Etoile, despite my convictions that she plans to dominate the school. Silly me! What easier way to displace Shizuma than to overthrow that old hag? It was not until Chiyo told Nagisa that most of the First-years were supporting Tamao for Etoile that I started evaluating that train of thought.
DAMNIT! How could I be so blind?
It was my mistake to associate Tamao with Chikaru’s ‘Shadow Queen’ persona too much. I should have realised that Tamao might actually make a bid for Etoile-status. Heck, I even stated myself that Tamao was Etoile-material in an earlier episode review. All that pandering to the other girls makes more sense now. By earning support from all three schools, Tamao can make a convincing bid for Etoile-hood.
But… what about Amane? I am not convinced that Amane will completely drop out of the Etoile race, and I am uncertain on how Tamao will compete against her. Of course, this is if Tamao runs for Etoile in the first place. That’s it, besides the consumation of her relationship with Nagisa, if Tamao gets selected to be the Etoile, you will find me rolling on the floor grinning with glee.
Additionally, if Tamao does indeed run for Etoile, who will she choose as her partner? Conventional thinking says that Nagisa will be her choice, and this is understandable, but the current dynamics of the series seems to indicate that Nagisa wants to run with Shizuma? The producers of SPanic gave Tamao&Nagisa shippers a bone by having students comment that it is highly unlikely that Shizuma will run again, since she is going to graduate next year. I also pray that Shizuma will not run again, since her doing so will most likely result in a grab of Nagisa as her partner, leaving Tamao high and dry.
So… who will be Tamao’s partner, if Tamao runs for Etoile?
..) Nagisa. What I want.
..) Chiyo. Furniture will be destroyed.
..) Miyuki. Unlikely, same situation as Shizuma.
..) Random Miator Student. Much grieving.
..) Shizuma. Tea will be spewed.
..) Non-Miator Student. Oooo! What a twist!
Theories, theories, theories… oh what ever shall happen next?
~~~~ ~~~~
Steering back to the episode, we witness the buzz that the upcoming Etoile election is causing in the three schools. Lilim seems nonchalant about the whole affair, since Chikaru is most probably not running. Also, as I like to think to myself, I find Lilim to be the school of cuddles and world peace.
*cue scenes of ‘Politics’ in Spica, Yaya scenes, etc…*
When we get to Tamao and Nagisa, Nagisa demostrates that she has the memory of a sponge by asking Tamao for an explanation on the Etoile election. Nagisa… Tamao already explained it to you like, more than 10 episodes ago. Fortunately, Tamao is much more forgiving than me, and instead of throttling Nagisa, re-explains everything to Nagisa.
Side-Note:
—- —-
The artstyle changes a bit in this scene.
*cue fast forward to a later scene*
The girls encounter Shizuma. Remember how Tamao was unhappy in Ep16? The cracking continues in this scene as Tamao stares vacantly at Nagisa and Shizuma. Tamao recovered fast enough, and in combination with Nagisa’s gnat-sized attention span, quickly resolved the situation by switching topics.
On an off-tangent, Tamao’s vacant stare inspired the following parody-thought,
It is evening in the dorms. Chiyo is in Tamao’s room. Tamao is writing at her desk. Both are waiting for Nagisa’s return.
Chiyo(C): “Nagisa-oneesama… is late.”
Tamao(T): “She’s probably still with Etoile-sama. Nagisa-chan was so happy when she went out.”
C: “Tamao-senpai?”
T: “Seeing Nagisa-chan so happy is a first for me too.”
C: “Tamao-senpai…”
T: “Ah, look at the time. Time to shower and go to bed. You should go back too, Chiyo-chan.”
Tamao exits the room. Chiyo goes to the desk and gasps. The papers are blank. The pen had no ink.
Right, right, back to slightly more serious discussion. After making Nagisa make a promise with her, Tamao went to the library. I only mention this scene because I want to ask something. Why is the library so dark? Don’t they want their students to, oh I don’t know, read in there?
*cue fast forward to a later scene*
I really have to wonder how Kaori( otherwise known as the Dead Etoile) interacted with the rest of the school. Her relationship with Shizuma is pretty straightforward, but why does she affect Tamao and Miyuki so much as well? Blood relations? I am very interested to know how Tamao and Kaori got to know each other.
Maybe Kaori was Tamao’s previous room-mate? After all, they never explained why Tamao’s room had a vacancy for Nagisa. It would neatly fit things together. Damn, I want to know more!
And that about wraps up my main train of thought. Onwards to Ep18!
~~~~ ~~~~
Random Thoughts on Ep17:
—- —- —- —-
..) Shizuma the Green-Eyed Monster flares up again as she angrily dismisses the thought of having Tamao join along. For fans hoping for a threesome, too bad.
..) Miyuki is a better user of metaphors than Kaname. Makes sense, since Miyuki is the President of the Literary Club. Kaname makes me want to kill babies with her metaphors. Miyuki made me nod along with her’s.
..) Is Shizuma’s driver female?
..) Tamao&Nagisa Ending Shot
Cheers.
clorets, short Yaya screentime = minimal screenshots and short blog post. I’ve even skipped a post on an episode when there wasn’t any Yaya.
Skane, in the manga it seems that Shizuma (up to Ch 7 anyway) runs for Etoile again mainly because it’s her way of chasing Nagisa. The odds of them winning are very slim because Nagisa is new and ignorant of the history/trivia of the school which apparently is important for the Who Wants To Etoile battle. As such, I’m thinking that if Tamao runs, it’ll be for the sake of getting under Nagisa’s skirt. And I think for Tamao, it’s Nagisa or bust. She won’t run if Nagisa isn’t her partner and she certainly wouldn’t run against her beloved roommate.
Haha ^_^
Zyl, you’re cruel. Are you seriously reducing StoPani to Yaya and only Yaya? If so, you’ll have to skip ep18 entirely! I mean, I really like her too, but…
Skane: The idea to make Kaori Tamao’s roommate is excellent - this could indeed be it. The connection to Miyuki is fairly straightforward IMHO: Shizuma and Miyuki were roommates, and I think we got clear vibes that Miyuki might have seen more in Shizuma than just a very good friend. Which would make Kaori-Miyuki rivals of some kind (which wouldn’t necessarily would have to be negative)
I’m afraid that Tamao is out of luck. She’ll be to Nagisa what Miyuki is for Shizuma… but no “romantic” partner.
To Zyl, if you only blog yaya that means you won’t be blogging E18. How am I gonna read skane’s idea on tamao thingy *sniffs*…. awwwww
Mentar, character worship can also be a form of time / resource management. :P