Introducing the PlayingStates Portable!
Episode Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ (4/5)
What better way to bring friends together than with games? In this episode, the three members of the Rinjinbu strive to strengthen their bonds through the act of gaming - with a multiplayer RPG, followed by a visual novel. Though it is questionable whether their relationships were "improved" because of these gaming sessions (especially the one between Yozora and Sena), the comedy, strengthened by the priceless looks on Kodoka's face throughout, made this episode quite enjoyable. I also caught a few amusing references (see screenshot for one of them). As of now, I'm predicting Kodoka's harem count to increase by one every couple of episodes. By the end, I think he'll have his own harem, despite not even intending to create one in the first place. Looking forward to
Before club activities even begin, Sena and Yozora start making a big deal out of Kodoka calling them by their first names – a great way to start the afternoon for the poor guy. And when club activities do begin, Kodoka finds out that they’re going to be playing games in order to “bond.” But not just any game; it turns out to be Monster Hunter on the PlayingStates Portable (see screenshot above). With the weekend to prepare, the three come back Monday with their PSPs, ready to play. Kodoka ended up not ranking up at all, staying a Rank 1 noob. Yozora did slightly better, ranking up to Rank 3. Expectedly, Sena exceeds them all, successfully reaching Rank 6, the highest rank, despite playing only a “little.” However, that “little” bit of time turns out to be 53 hours, resulting in Yozora spotting the bags under her eyes and accusing her of spending her whole weekend on the game. Anyhow, the three begin co-op mode and, much to my delight and surprise, the point of view then shifts to that of the game, with the three being their own respective characters. Even in games, the never-ending conflict between Yozora and Sena still exists, with the two taking every opportunity they get to sabotage the other while making it look like a mistake. In the end, Kodoka is left alone to fight the monsters in the game while the two girls fight to the death. The three end up failing their quests as everyone ended up dying – Yozora and Sena because of each other and Kodoka because he was too weak to defend himself from the monsters. Because of their failure, Yozora announces that they will be giving up on games and voices her hate over the fact that almost all games today have a multiplayer feature. Rarely does this happen, but Sena also agrees. When school came to an end that day, Kodoka attempts to get friendly with some classmates after overhearing them talk about Monster Hunter. However, in their eyes, Kodoka was threatening them to give him everything they had. Due to this incident, the rumor that he extorts what he wants from his peers started spreading.
The next day, upon entering the club room, Yozora and Kodoka spot Sena in front of a TV and PlayingStates 3 (another copyright evasion) while reading a manual for a game. The game turns out to be “Kirameki School Life 7”, a bishoujo game/galge. After a quarrel over what the name of the character should be, it ends up being “Kashiwazaki Semoponume” – a unique name, indeed. So they start playing and when the first decision comes up, Yozora and Sena both agree (yes, they agreed on something again) on the same option – one that doesn’t seem the least bit logical to Kodoka and probably many others. Basically, they told a supposedly overly-friendly girl (the last name Fujibayashi rung a bell for me) to stay away after she introduced herself, accusing the innocent girl of being a bitch (Yozora actually says “bitch”). The next selection occurs in the library where the player’s character’s hands touch with a girl named Nagata Yukiko (Nagato Yuki, anyone?). This time, they make the “nicer” choice and end up achieving the status of “you are able to ask Nagata Yukiko on a date now.” A few random CGs later and we have Sena rolling on the floor due to an overdose of cuteness from Yukiko. Once again, point of view shifts to the game and, this time, Sena becomes Semoponume, Kodoka becomes some random female student and Yozora becomes some random teacher. At another selection point, the girls choose to “believe in Yukiko”, trusting that she will be able to clear up the misunderstanding that surrounded Semoponume’s rude actions towards Fujibayashi Akari. However, that does not end up being the case and a “bad end” is reached. This causes Sena to break down in tears and Yozora to announce that she will find and kill Fujibayashi Akari. All this happens while Kodoka stares at them, dumbfounded and speechless. The next day, Sena decides to lend the game to Kodoka after finishing all the routes after she got home the day before. Because she played through the whole game, her views on Akari completely changed. She goes as far as saying that the visual novel isn’t just a game but life itself. The school bell rings as a sighing Kodoka slowly walks to class with the VN in hand.
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