This is all getting pretty silly at this point. But that’s far less a negative with OnK than it would be with a lot of shows. This one wears silly like a bespoke dress a lot of the time. Akasaka-sensei is trying to have it both ways here – but of course that’s the way it is with pretty much everything. He wants to be gritty and realistic when it suits him (and the plot), but throw in creepy crow lolis and frankly ridiculous revenge plots. The fact is we’re talking about about a premise built upon reincarnation so I suppose any fantasy elements he wants to insert are fair game…

I don’t buy Frill’s involvement in any way, shape or form for starters. No way an actress in her position does what she did here. But it sure was extraordinarily convenient for the plot. Akane I can almost buy stepping aside for Ruby, at a stretch. But if I were producing “The 15-Year Lie” I’d cast Ruby as Ai anyway, and push the hell out of that angle. The daughter of the slain idol playing the idol? I mean, come on – that’s gold, Jerry. Mind you, if I was slightly older and thought of myself as looking out for Ruby’s best interests, I certainly wouldn’t steer her in this direction – it’s obviously a terrible idea psychologically.

I also think it’s kind of funny that seemingly everyone in the world now knows the real point behind this movie. I mean, doesn’t that kind of undercut Aqua’s master plan already? In any event it’s plowing full steam ahead. Kana finally decides to leave B-Komachi, which I sense is going to be kind of an afterthought (the rebooted version) for most of the remainder of the story. She and Aqua are small-talking again, and Aqua declares that it’s OK if Kana voices a character who hates Ai because she’s “special”. It’s played off (not least by Aqua himself) as all part of the Machiavellian manipulations. But I still get that there’s something very real between these two.

For now, though, Kana remains in lesser panda status and Ruby very much commands center stage. Her inexperience as an actor seems almost irrelevant, since it’s not the performance itself that matters but that she’s the one giving it. But credit to her for trying, and she gets some help from Kana-sempai. Ruby wants to usurp Aqua’s role as the center of the revenge plot, and Akane remains committed to foiling it altogether (which sort of makes them archenemies now). Aqua gets a visit from Tsukuyomi and her murder of an entourage, letting slip that she’s told Aqua that Ai wasn’t reincarnated like he was – she’s just gone. Which means anything he does makes no difference whatsoever to her.

Tsukuyomi is kind of a utility knife at the moment – Akasaka deploys her whenever things need a push. And being all-knowing makes her a great cheat code. What’s interesting about her is what her endgame is here. If I squint, I can almost see a reality where she’s not evil but actually trying to stop Aqua pissing away his second life on meaningless revenge (though I have to squint pretty hard). There’s also the matter of this woman, Tendouji-san. She’s introduced to Kaburagi and Gotanda as “Tendouji-san from the advertising agency”. If we’ve met her before or are supposed to know who she is, I’m drawing a blank (edit: Nellie reminds me that it was Sarina’s last name – whoops). But the fact that the episode ended on a freeze of her smiling face indicates that Tendouji obviously has some major role to play.