Part 4
Assassin’s Pride
Episode 4
It’s tournament time. A tournament of two chosen girls to compete against one another and see who will take the title of Luna, champion. The two girls are of course Melida Angel and Elli Angel, though there seems to be some tension among the other girls and even between Melida and Elli. Though the choosing of the two girls should be a fair selection, we discover that the two were chosen under a deceitful scheme. Neither girl wants to fight each other under this falsehood but there is little to rectify it now. Elli wants to lose on purpose and let Melida win to show that she is the better Angel and be accepted by the Angel house, but Melida does not want to win under another falsehood. Neither of them know what to do but both of them deeply care for one another.
Kufa on the other hand has his own turmoil to deal with. The order that he works for believes that he is compromised and is refusing to complete his assignment dues to an attachment to the target. I mean they are not wrong, but Kufa knows that if he is taken off of this task then someone else will step in and kill Melida.
An interesting turn of events in this episode. A lot of drama and turmoil that Melida and Kufa are going to have to face. I do find it exciting that now instead of both being dragged into the same problem, each of them have their own problems that they are essentially going to have to figure out on their own. We also see the bond that Elli has with Melida and what Melida means to Elli.
Unfortunately, the tournament does not seem like it is going to be very entertaining but instead its being used as a plot device to bring drama between two characters. And to be honest, I am not too sure the main plot is. There is the relationship between Kufa and Melida, the family drama between Melida and Elli, the order that Kufa works for that was hired to kill Melida in the beginning, and then a secret organization that seems to be interested in Melida and her power. The last one we saw in the last episode but nothing really led up to that or seems to be the main threat. Hopefully the story comes together and shows a more centralized plot.
Oh, if you are a dubbed fan, then you will happy to know that starting on November 14th the episode will begin being dubbed in English on Hidive.
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Val X Love
Episode 5
A school festival brings all of the Valkyrie’s together in one place so that they may be able to level up their abilities all at once, but that also means that Takuma is going to be in trouble by being around so many people. Normally in school festival episodes we see the main character going around throughout the festival getting closer to his/her romantic interests. Well it kind starts out like that in this episode, but not long after Inukai, the antagonist of the series masquerading as a student coincil member, begins his plan to devour the Valkyries.
Inukai manages to kidnap Takuma in the hopes that the akuma will take out the Valkyries. Though he is discovered by one of the Valkyries that went looking for Takuma, Inukai still mages to have the upper hand but for how long.
The one thing that is getting kinda annoying is Takuma. He is so cowardly and so afraid of others that it has become aggravating to watch his interactions with the other girls. There seems to be little to no sign of progress with his fear of people. Even the story seems kinda split at times between getting Takuma over his fear of people to help the Valkyries level up to defeat the akuma and the true masterminds behind the akuma attacks that the Valkyries must battle against.
But one thing is for sure, the lack of entertaining fight scenes and character development is made up by the fan-service involving the Valkyries fighting the akuma. Their clothes are being torn off revealing their underwear, and the hand-like appendages squirming their way all over their bodies. Kinda overdone and unlike the rest of the series. I mean, the fan-service in the other episodes were similar in a way but it involved Takuma getting into awkward situations with the girls.
Even though the show has an interesting theme, Norse mythology, it really never sets it self apart from the other fan-service shows and capitalize on that. If the show would show actual growth between Takuma and the other girls’ relationship, then just maybe the show could stay interesting. Unfortunately, Val X Love is seeming to be just like many other fan-service shows.
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Z/X Code Reunion
Episode 5
The girls are put into mock battles with the other teams in preparation for the battles against the enemies to come. For one member of the team, Matoi, she panics and loses control of her powers and ends up hurting her teammate Ena and subsequently losing the mock battle.
The episode focuses on Matoi’s development and her overcoming her past. Ena tries to console her, but to no avail. We learn that Matoi, for as young as she is, has a sad past and remained alone since her sister went missing or was killed. Perhaps her sister will make an appearance in future episodes but for now she is just a development device for Matoi.
I don’t want to spoiler Matoi’s development but I will say that though it was short, it was a nice centered character development that combined moving the story forward in a way that made since while building a character up from a place of loneliness to a place of trust among members of the team.
Who’s to say if this means the girls will finally be out of the Team E barracks and put in with the rest of the teams or if they will remain in team E, probably remain in Team E.
Though we haven’t been dealt too much info on the enemy of the series and the true intentions of the high ups, the character development of Team E seems to have an enjoyable story to it.
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Kadagawa Jet Girls
Episode 4.5
Okay, as the episode count reads this is not a full episode but is a recap highlight episode. Kinda early for a recap episode but it does seem to indicate that plenty more races are coming up next. Due to this being a recap episode, the review will be more of a overall review of the show so far.
So far the show is quite entertaining when it comes to the races and the trials that Namiki and Misa have to overcome to win or they lose. The base character setting for Namiki and Misa, the two main characters, are there but so far the story hasn’t dove deep into who they are or what drives them in this sport, other than being a pro jet racer. The other jet racers that Namiki and Misa meet racing have not had a development treatment at all. We get a brief telling of them throughout the race but not much after that. Hopefully throughout the series they appear again and we learn more about them.
The animation and visuals are quite stunning, and the fan-service shots are not too aggressive to draw focus away from the story but it does add another entertaining device to the show.
It looks like it is a hard and long journey for the girls to become great jet racers, but it is quite entertaining to watch.
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Thanks for reading.
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