LR Time

Synopsis

Lovro, the person who helped the Japanese government recruit Irina appears and tells Irina that she’s not good enough. So Koro intervenes and sets up a competition between Irina and Lovro, they’ll hold a match to see who can ‘kill’ Karasuma, with the foam weapons, to see who’s better. Irina gets quite psyched up for it. And as an incentive for Karasuma, Koro has agreed to stand still for an entire second if Karasuma escapes both.

Irina tries a seduction attempt first but it was way too obvious. Lovro tries a frontal assault but Karasuma holds him back with ease and actually injures him enough so that he gives up. Irina tries again with a seduction and trap tactic which somehow works and Karasuma decide to give up.

Koro is about to head to Hawaii to watch Sonic Ninja and Karma and Nagisa decide to tag along. Whilst in the air, Koro delivers a lecture on dilatancy.

After they return, we see another new character lined up to appear, one who seems like he’s able to follow Koro’s speed with his eyes.

Thoughts

Well, however you look at it, this episode was a little ‘to the side’, I’m glad we got some Irina character development as I’ve been calling for it for a while, but for all intents and purposes this episode was much more a filler than anything else. Though it’s also nice to see Karasuma pull out some moves. Speaking of which, although he doesn’t believe that Koro will keep his word to stand still for a full second, it’s still a bit early to completely disregard that. Even if there was the slightest chance he should’ve taken it and not gave up so easily against Irina. He could’ve won if he wanted to. After all, as they’ve mentioned and as we’ve seen, Irina’s definitely not suited to close combat and she still seems quite naive.

Some other things I would’ve liked to see included Ritsu taking a more proactive part in any assassination attempt. I mean okay there wasn’t an attempt here but it seems like straight after a very Ritsu focused episode we’ve already forgotten about her and put her to the side like all the other characters that have joined the show one after the other. So whenever the next ‘big’ attempt comes, I want all these characters to take a big part and show that this anime isn’t just forgetting the significance of how wild and wonderful all the character introductions have been. That’s the problem I find with a lot of anime actually. Introduce some crazy character in one episode, the next one they’re just ‘average’ at whatever it was they’re doing.

Although the second half story with Koro was also fairly uneventful, it did feel like they were pushing one thing towards us. The more that these kids are with Koro, the more it feels like they are less willing to commit to killing him. How do you kill your trusted teacher? Someone you’ve gotten used to knowing and who’s been a great mentor and inspiration? I dunno, I’d find it excruciatingly difficult and sad if I had to and I don’t think I’d be able to do it.

This was sadly one of the less memorable episodes so far, but what can you expect from a filler right? Still, yet another new character to join the ever-growing cast next episode, but this time someone from Koro’s past it seems? Could we be finally let in on his mysterious and intriguing history? I hope so.