Episode 11 – “Unfit for Further Combat”

After watching Yura’s terrible descent into hopelessness, she’s finally hit what seems to be rock bottom, reduced to finding solace in dingy arcades by herself. It’s really sad because all Yura ever wanted was a place where she could be accepted by others, and she thought the only way to attain that was to be the best at airsoft. Yet little did she know that that would have the opposite intended effect. Finding a homely group of friends was actually easier than she had thought, and that might be why she didn’t realize it sooner. By entering the C3-bu, she already had everything she wanted, and she didn’t have to do anymore than that. As cheesy as it sounds, she only needed to be herself and accept herself.

To complicate the fate of the C3-bu even further, Sonora reveals that she plans to return to America for school. Why can’t we all just stay together like one big happy family?! As a proper send-off, the club decides that it’s appropriate to have one final airsoft showdown. In typical fashion, it’s everyone against Sonora, but even then they’re no match for her. But, I think there might be one person who may be able to stop her…

That person actually pays a another visit to the shrine where Choujirou lives. This is actually the first time in a long while since Yura has had one of her famous fantasies. Of course, I’m not sure where the line between fantasy and reality is drawn for this girl, which is something that I wish the series went further into.

In her depression, Yura wishes that the rain could continue forever, and while Choujirou claims that he isn’t at her beck and call to do things, he actually does one final thing to help her. He does the opposite of what Yura wished and clears the sky of rain, telling her that she must accept herself and accept others. It’s simple and cliche advice, but I feel like a lot of people forget about it or refuse to do it. Once you realize that you are your own worst enemy, you’ve taken the first step towards living the life that you want to.

Oh yeah, it also turns out that Rin was trying to save Yura from falling into the dark side, which means I was wrong in equating Rin to Emperor Palpatine. Rin and Sonora are essentially to sides of the same coin, and neither really right or wrong in their methods. I’m really not certain which direction the series will take from here. Will Yura prevail over her master? Will Sonora actually move away to America? Next episode’s showdown will be the culmination of all of Yura’s character development.

B.W.