Score: C+

This episode left me feeling extreme sympathy for Tsubasa. I might have felt worse for him in this episode than the ones that covered his backstory and struggles with flight XD. Because Ageha was a lot to handle this week. Frankly it’s impressive he handled things as well as he did. The only minor blowup he had with her was honestly both controlled and a minor expression of frustration. Part of it might even be feeling for his future since they certainly threw some light ship teasing in that direction. And handling Ageha long-term would be quite a trial for someone like Tsubasa.

Way too much this week

This legitimately might have been the least I’ve liked Ageha so far in the show. It doesn’t feel good to be critical, but I don’t think that this was a great episode for her. There was an awkward mix of her being extremely forward, expecting a bit too much mind-reading from Tsubasa, and somewhat belittling him by constantly calling him boy instead of his actual name. Can’t really say it’s that common a thing for her since she has no problem calling Mashiro, Ellee, or Sora by their names. With Mashiro there’s a familiarity there, but that’s not the case with the other two. Mashiro somewhat downplayed the issue, but honestly the forwardness and strange expectations for Tsubasa to just know what she’s thinking didn’t get resolved at all.

The only salvation she had was handling the hostage situation well. It was a reckless means of getting out of that situation, but it was the best option that she had at that time. She’s good at problem solving. That helped with the riddles (of what riddles there were) and getting out of that jam. It was a reminder of what has been likeable about her for most of the show.

I think he handled it well

Considering Ageha isn’t going anywhere it isn’t a major problem to not resolve everything in this episode. It can function as the start of a character arc. But I’m just not sure the show knows that it didn’t resolve things. It kind of felt like the conversation at the top of the trail and in the car on the way back was supposed to cap off the character development of this episode, but I don’t think it did that. It was kind of like the status quo of the episode. Ageha figured out most things on her own and Tsubasa was left frazzled. The car scene was only different because he just passed out.

I’m not sure if him passing out was supposed to tie into the idea of him pushing himself too hard or not though. That also felt like something they were setting up in the episode earlier on with him carrying the bag. But at the same time, it doesn’t really feel like that paid off in a meaningful way. Maybe it is another thing that will get picked up in a later episode? This episode felt a bit more frazzled itself than the show has to this point.

Seriously need more of these two

One other thing eating at me is how there has been a serious lack of Sora and Mashiro moments as of late. Even with last week technically being focused on Mashiro, it really was just her and somewhat Tsubasa. Not that I’m against Tsubasa being in the show or setting up Ageha some more. But the show had a stronger drive to it early on when it was just about the dynamic between Sora and Mashiro. There was interesting character traits being explored such as Sora being afraid to have a friend fighting out there alongside her. It just feels like the show has mostly settled in at this point and it’s on the slow path to introducing and trying to balance a larger cast.

Thankfully the turn towards Kabaton being done has created a 1v1 opportunity for him and Sora. So, it will be a chance to pick up with her character arc again. I’m all for good characters and as many as the show feels it can handle. But Sora is the one that got me interested in watching this season and the more we get of her the better.

Just about out of chances

So I will admit this wasn’t my favourite episode. I do like Tsubasa and generally I’ve enjoyed Ageha. But the combination of the two didn’t quite work for me this week. Hopefully that’s not the case moving forward. Ageha is obviously going to spend more time with the other characters as we go along. It’d make the show a bit more difficult if that combination fails to work. That’s even truer if they are going to tease a ship between these two. It’d be hard to make it as satisfying as Sora and Mashiro have been anyways. But I do hope they can be a steady duo. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how that turns out.