Score: A-

This was a pretty good episode. It did get a bit uneasy at times when the sabotage set up against Alya started to factor into things. But it ended on a really good note with yet another sweet ED. Alya needed to truly get her campaign off the ground and this debate helped give her first impression to the student population. Until now she’s just been a person, they didn’t know that well with good grade and who is part of the student council. But now they can really keep her in mind for this election and understand her a bit more. It’s not enough yet to compete against Yuki, but it’s a starting point.

Will admit I enjoyed this

In some ways I don’t even have to spend time criticizing Taniyama. She basically lined up all the issues with her behavior in these two episodes on her own. But I’ll criticize her anyways! She lost to Yuki and Masachika, convinced herself it was fine because of how great they were, and then felt betrayed when they didn’t stick as a combo. It’s all on her. And she didn’t really accept her defeat. If she did then she wouldn’t be losing her head in this episode. She just tried to trick herself into believing it. There was no obligation for Yuki and Masachika to continue helping her lie to herself about being fine with her defeat. Losing sucks. It’s fine to hate that. But the way she tried to process it just left it a wound ready to re-open at any time.

But I’d say that Taniyama can be removed as an election threat at this point. Regardless of her shortcomings she basically imploded in that debate. She brought everyone together to argue something she wanted to fight over, but then just ran off before even the closing arguments. The students didn’t even get a chance to decide anything or put in a vote. They had their time utterly wasted. And I’d say the blame for that will go to the person that created that situation. Alya ran off after her, but in the end, it was Taniyama’s side that threw up the white flag and cut things short.

I’m watching her!

For Alya this debate actually was mostly a win. She did struggle at points and being able to handle the outsider rejection angle is going to be a trial she needs to overcome. But overall, I think she made a solid impression. It’s also the perfect kind of stumbling start that she can use to build up the narrative of her election campaign. She started out here and then people can compare the Alya at the end of the election to this. And she hardly wasted their time so she should avoid any annoyance from the student population over the debate that was cut short.

I’ll throw a grimace at Miyamae for the stunt she pulled there. One can say efforts behind the scenes are fine for an election. But having plants there to complain at the right time is the kind of dirty tactic that I can’t really praise. Make whatever efforts to change minds before the election since people are free to talk. But let the debate be a debate at the end of the day. I suppose Kuze just took the other side a bit too lightly and wasn’t ready for that kind of cheap move. And that’s probably why he chose to step in when he did. If Miyamae was going to interfere under the table, then he’ll intervene openly.

Working to be a good last boss!

I get Yuki wanting to play the last boss or overconfident villain. But there’s not much point with Ayano being the only one with her! She’s not going to get the kind of thing Yuki is trying to do and she’s too much of a poker face girl to give a great reaction to Yuki’s silliness either! Hilariously it leaves Yuki the dual task of being over the top before and after Ayano speaks up. I think this is the real reason she’s going to miss having her brother as a partner. He’s very much on her wavelength and could roll with her ridiculous punches. I could see him actually playing up the last boss side of it with her and have them laughing foolishly behind the scenes! Ayano is fun though in her own way. I’m glad she’s with Yuki.

Guilt is a factor

It’s funny that I thought Masachika’s big issue from that election was just crushing Taniyama. Seems like I misread that situation a bit. It’s not so much that anything he did made him feel regretful. But it’s more that it highlighted the negative way he viewed himself. Taniyama with all her flaws was driven in how she wanted to win that election. At the same time Masachika himself was just fueled by a sense of guilt. His past with Yuki and leaving her behind was apparently a primary reason he teamed up with her. They were a powerful pair, but he consistently beat himself up over his reasons for being there. Probably thoughts on the level of “what right do I have to be here when others wanted it for better reasons?” The kind of thing that came up when he talked to the President a couple episodes ago.

But that’s partly why it has been so uplifting for him to side with Alya here. There’s a lot of emotions at play in this case, but there’s no doubt that guilt isn’t why he’s helping her. And while Alya wanted his help it wasn’t like she really pushed him to team up with her. It was something he truly chose and wanted for himself. No longer afraid of the spotlight, but instead willing to step out into it if it means helping Alya like he did in this episode. At the very least she doesn’t have to feel any guilt about pulling him away from Yuki or working with her. It was something he wanted and she can be happy about that.

These two are fun

This show manages to fit in cute moments that keep me wanting more. It was great timing for Masachika to pull out the breast size intel that Yuki provided. It helped calm Alya down before and allowed for a cute reveal at the end of the episode. Yuki apparently has good eyes! Alya did say it was just barely correct, but that just means she’s likely at one of two extremes. She’s just barely in the E-Cup range, whether that means she’s almost in D or F is a mystery for another time! Something for Kuze to keep in mind!

Obviously, the cutest part though was Alya giving her reason for why she wanted Masachika. It really was brief in comparison to the ongoing explanation he gave! I’m not sure if they didn’t translate it in order to have us read the room or because Masachika didn’t catch what she said. But either way I refused that and let google translate handle it! “Because it’s you” is very fitting a response for Alya to give in this case. It captures everything while not going into detail about her feelings!

I appreciate Alya’s honesty

The way this episode ended left me in such a good mood! I’m glad they had some fun at the end and also slipped in a good conversation between the leads. For various reasons he’s not telling Alya about his family situation, but he did tell her about his feelings about all this. And I’m looking forward to seeing his character growth. Yuki is very all around powerful so she can really handle quite a bit herself. But Alya will need Kuze to step into that spotlight more in order to make them a more capable threat. It is going to be Alya’s campaign at the end of the day, but they’ll both be needed to win.