That was all sorts of preposterous and pretty disturbing on so many levels.  Yet I’m not un-entertained – it kind of falls under the bloody trainwreck you can’t look away from umbrella this week, but I am still looking.  I like it rather better when I can buy into what’s happening in a more straightforward manner, but I kind of had a feeling that the denouement of this whole Akane thing would be a minefield.  And as it turns out it’s just the beginning.

I’m going to go into “litany of issues” mode, so you’ll just have to bear with me – there’s no other way I can go at this.  Let’s start with the start, the concern I raised last week.  How Aqua found Akane was… kind of not too ridiculous, I guess?  MEM was the one behind it, and told him where to look, but the whole thing smells of plot convenience.  Whatever, it’s not a big deal in the larger scheme of things.

Let’s move on to Aqua tipping off the press that Akane tried to commit suicide.  Sounds funny to say it about a guy who just saved a life, but Aqua really is a dick.  First he manipulates Kana into a life-changing career move, then he uses Akane’s tragedy as an “ace” in his imaginary game of poker.  That’s the most private of all private secrets there –  having (debatably) good intentions doesn’t mitigate Aqua’s transgression in doing what he did.  The poker metaphor is a telling one, because he was shoving someone else’s stake into the pot.  He had no fucking right to do that.

Oh well – Aqua seeing everyone else as tools to use as he sees fit is pretty much who he is.  That leads me to another niggle I have, which is that pretty much every teenager in the cast talks like someone way older and sharper, and Aqua is the only one for whom that actually makes sense.  I like Kana just fine, but her wise to the world sage monologues are starting to wear thin.  MEM at least limits most of hers to her particular niche, though she too presents as someone twice her age in a pretty unrealistic way.

Onto the main event of the episode (the rebellion), and possibly the biggest issue I had with it.  This felt like a real sellout moment to me – Akasaka’s desperation to exculpate the whole business even if he knows in his heart it’s dead rotten.  All the kids banding together to take on the bad element and winning the way, the director being easily convinced by one guilt trip from Aqua (even if he was right) – that more even than what Aqua did to Akane made me roll my eyes.  There’s absolutely no way this ends up as neat and tidy as it did here, and I suspect Akasaka knows that.

So we have Akane waltzing back into the environment which caused her to attempt suicide, to much applause.  That’s a wish-fulfilment fantasy if ever I saw one.  But that final twist, wow – it’s ballsy, I’ll give it that.  I don’t much like the fixation on turning into “the kind of girl Aqua likes”, but her being an obsessive stalker type (even if she’s stalking a dead person) kind of tracks.  It was nice to see the arrogant Aqua caught off-guard – misreading the situation and seeing things spiral off beyond his control.  This is really where the compelling trainwreck thing kicks in, as this turn of plot is certainly a live wire with all kinds of potential for hugger-muggery.