As Kurumi dipped her toes into her first forex trade after her father discouraged her, she got excited by the initial increases. However, it took a turn for the worse as her losses piles up. Is Kurumi doomed?

If you recall from last time, she got excited over her initial trade for the USD/Yen trade pair going up. She thought she was making a lot of money, more than her part-time job at a convince store. However, like when it went up, it went down before she realized it. Kurumi panics as she didn’t close her position while she was up. She got greedy, but when her father came back, she closed out and pretended like nothing happened. When she turned on the computer, the screen went back up as she closed out her position. Thankfully, she didn’t get caught.

Since that time, she gained a profit of 500,000 yen, thus giving her about 800,000 yen in her balance. You would think she would continue to play it safe even if the USD/Yen pair gets boring. Well, she made friends that gave some terrible financial advice. She became friends with Kogane Mochiko, who started trading stocks and now has gotten into foreign exchange trading to earn more money.

Of course, she steers Kurumi to leverage trading, which is borrowing money to invest hoping to gain a profit from a trade without putting up the money to do it. This is where people, especially young adults, got into trouble, using leverage hoping to make big money from a trade. Doing a trade on leverage means you borrow money hoping to magnify the gains as opposed to buying and selling the stock outright. However, it’s risky as if it drops and you realize the loss, it magnifies it. Thus, you lose even more money. Since most people are inexperienced, they end up racking up a lot of debt if a position drops and they get a margin call.

I kind of think of Mochiko like the infamous subreddit “WallStreetBets.” She suggests Kurumi put her position in AUD/JPY as it’s heading up and do it on margin. If that pair sound familiar, it’s the one that Kurumi’s mother traded often that eventually doomed her. She even offered a 3-million-dollar loan, but of course Kurumi doesn’t want to do that as she will end up owing her money. Of course, she bought 50 sets in AUD/JPY, thinking she could get rich quick. Mochiko knew that it’s probably a bad idea to get into that pair, but wanted to use Kurumi as a guinea pig.

At first, Kurumi executed multiple trades of AUD/JPY several times a day. She checked during break at work, and she seemed happy that she gained 154500 yen in profit. However, when she got home, she was really in the red. Kurumi could have just cut her losses and tried something else. Sadly, she has become just as bad as her mother, as she is gambling. Even Mochiko encourages her after seeing Kurumi have a frustrated look on her face. She knew full well Kurumi didn’t know what she was doing and was losing a lot of money. She then wonders if Kurumi gets hit by a forced liquidation. That means she will not only lose her money but also become barred from trading. She gets frustrated until she discovers her father’s 3.2-million-yen savings.

I have a terrible feeling about this. It seems as if Kurumi has learned nothing and fallen in the same trap as her mother to get rich quick, which led her to lose a lot of money and caused her death. What if her father finds out she uses that money?

Either way, she did it to save herself, hoping things would turn around. As predicted in the first episode, I have a feeling that it will not work out, and she will lose more than she bargained for, and her father will find out. Kurumi is really deep into the “diamond hands” thing, hoping that her position in AUD/JPY will go back up and go to the moon. However, it doesn’t look like it. Whatever happens next that leads to that moment, she might have to give up forex trading for good. What Kurumi is doing is obviously what you should not do if you want to invest money to build wealth. She is basically gambling and playing Russian roulette with her money. The question is: How will she deal with the consequences of it all?

(Also known as FX Fighter Kurumi-chan)

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As Sata Misaki and Nakano Yayoi prepare for college entrance exams, something catches Misaki’s eye. It involves going to a certain place and a railway. You know where this is heading, right?

We are taken back to before Misaki went to college. She watched a video about a limited-edition train on a train-track cake. When Yayoi said it’s time to get off, Misaki dropped her bag. Thankfully, there is a kind lady who seems shy and is willing to help pick her stuff. There is a poster advertising little Edo that catches Misaki’s eyes as Yayoi fixed her bag. Still, Misaki wants to go places, although she should focus on her studies. Still, she hasn’t figured out what college to go to yet, as Yayoi has to go. Misaki really wanted her reward cake, but she also had to get a study guide.

However, when she got out of the station, she saw a young lady putting up a poster advertising a railway. Misaki seems interested in it after she gave back the poster case. The lady asked Misaki is interested, as she found the image pretty. Apparently, the lady made it and invited Misaki to the event where she shared a presentation about the westernmost line. This gets Misaki excited as she hopes to go there in the future, as she bought some souvenirs. Of course, Misaki met the lady again who presented, as she explained, the mascot of Matsuura Railway that was also on her name tag. After Misaki praised the lady’s presentation, the lady got emotional.

Of course, after Misaki and Yayoi met up, Misaki made it obvious she didn’t buy a study guide nor the special cake, but a notebook hoping to try a little harder. She, of course, writes a wish list when she attends college. The interesting thing is that the young ladies she met during that day are the ones she will meet again.

When Misaki got into college, she attended the same college as Yayoi, which surprised her. The interesting thing is that Yayoi knew what courses to pick out, as Misaki doesn’t know what courses to pick. I find it funny how the lady scolds Ushio, as she doesn’t know what courses to pick. I find her very familiar. Is she the lady showing off the limited-edition train cake in the video Misaki watched? Yes, it’s her.

After lunch, Misaki wants to find a club to join, as Yayoi declines to do so. Funny how all the students from various clubs try to recruit her. Funny to see Misaki get overwhelmed. She went to a certain spot to hide. Eventually, those three ladies, Kodama, Ushio, and Usa, came to find a spot to set up their place to recruit new members. That is when Usa noticed Misaki as she set up a chair next to Misaki. Usa seems to like Misaki, as Kodama explains that her club, the Railway Travel Club or Tetsuryo club for short, focuses on riding trains to places. Ushio says the obvious that it’s a club for train enthusiasts. After all, they are big fans of public transportation, especially trains, the most efficient way to travel when gas prices are over $4 a gallon. Of course, Ushio calls Kodama out as she is the one that scares new members away by being too enthusiastic, overwhelming new members.

Of course, Misaki doesn’t know what Komada is saying, although she says it was awesome. Funny how Komada holds Misaki’s hands all the sudden as she gets excited and calls her a darling girl, before Ushio has to stop her. She gave her a train sign keychain as Ushio and Komada argued with each other about how the club was being run. When they finished arguing, Misaki was gone, as she hadn’t decided on a club to join. That is when Yayoi suggests the wish list as Misaki found the notebook.

Eventually, she read the wishlist, and there was one that stood out. Going on a trip as she goes to Hon-Kawagoe, which is at the end of the line. Basically, she explored a place she hadn’t been to before and had ice cream, and browsed various stores before heading back. When she got back, she dropped the train sign keychain, which reminded her of the three girls from that club and made her wonder what places they usually go to.

At last, Misaki pays a visit to the Tetsuyo club room. She saw the various things in the room, mostly train and train station related. After seeing that poster, Misaki shared her intention of joining the club after she went on a trip on her own by train. She thought it would be more fun to do it with a bunch of people. Kodama, especially Usa, seems happy to see Misaki joining. It definitely has the vibes of Zatsu Tabi, Yuru Camp, and Mono. I guess that has to do, given that my plans for this season didn’t quite work out with a certain magical girl show being streamed on an expensive streaming service that is subpar for $13 with hardly anyone covering it. That said, it’s not the end of the world. Also, I see some potential in Misaki and Usa. After all, she helped pick up the stuff that fell out of Misaki’s bag at the beginning of the episode.

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As they say, there is nothing wrong with building wealth through investing and saving money so you can retire or get rich. However, there are risky investments, as Kurumi finds out when she comes back to a messy apartment and her mother getting really upset.

We are taken five years back from the origin story before the 2008 financial crisis happened. When Kurumi came home after a normal day from school, all soaking wet from the rain, the apartment was a mess. When Kurumi opened the door, she saw the bedroom filled with garbage and alcohol cans, as her mother looked at her computer screen in total despair. She lost her life savings of 20 million yen from a failed foreign exchange (forex, for short) trade. She begs Kurumi not to tell her father, who is on a long-term business trip.

So, what is foreign exchange? Foreign exchange is basically trading currencies like the US Dollar, Euro, Japanese Yen, etc. Most people will only see this when you exchange your home currency for a foreign one. You usually do this when you travel overseas or buy something online that is in a different currency. The foreign exchange market trades are usually done between big banks and businesses that do business transactions with other foreign entities.

However, foreign exchange, like with meme stocks (think GameStop and AMC), cryptocurrencies, NFTs (non-fungible tokens, or links to jpegs), and betting, is speculative trades that has high rewards and a very high possibility of losing everything. Basically, one can see this as gambling, more so if you do margin trading, which involves borrowing money to execute trades. Margin trading, common in foreign exchange and speculative trading, is extremely risky. If the value goes down and you receive a margin call, you not only hit with a loss, but get into massive debt. This is not really investing. Investing is like taking a percentage of a paycheck into your 401k every two weeks, or dollar-cost averaging into a stock index like the S&P 500 (a stock index of the 500 biggest companies) or a carefully researched and diversified portfolio of stocks. Investing is good for building up wealth, if done responsibly and not investing more than you are willing to lose.

Well, with Kurumi in a panic over the possibility of her family getting split apart, she wanted to help her mom earn the money back. Of course, her mother discourages Kurumi from doing so, or even getting into Forex, as it’s something a child shouldn’t do. That is when her mother set out to work, and obviously, it’s difficult as she seemed out of it. Kurumi becomes worried that her mother is working herself too hard.

Of course, her friend saw Kurumi reading a forex exchange trading book, and she knew about it. Her friend discourages her, as she heard many people end their lives after losing money. Kurumi thought little of this until the day her father was about to come back. Kurumi got upset with her mother because her mother told her to write what she planned to say to her husband. Of course, when Kurumi came back, nobody was home. She saw an ominous message of apology. When she saw it, she panicked. Her father came to the door. He eventually answered the phone call and found out that his wife had taken her own life.

As expected, the first episode took a dark turn as Kurumi never thought it would happen to her mother. Then again, suicides, especially from losing enormous amounts of money. There was a case when someone took their life after seeing a large negative balance in their Robinhood account. This is the same case here as Kurumi’s father knew his daughter was thinking about possibly getting into foreign exchange trading. He tells her not to get into it, as she can live a happy life without it.

Five years later, Kurumi managed to graduate high school and attend university. She works at a part-time job as she earned enough money for her forex trading adventure. This time, she came prepared as she started her trades and see how it goes. She initially got excited as she earned more money than she got from work. She really hoped that her US Dollar/Yen trade will go to the moon.

However, it took a turn for the worse quite quickly as she panicked and racked up the losses. It seems as if she hasn’t learned the lessons her mother. Then again, she is probably not one of those “paper hands” type of traders who sell when they are ahead. Well, it seems as if she is not the only one as three other young women who are doing forex trades are having the same reactions of horror. Well, I guess this is the same reaction retail traders have when their favorite meme stock or crypto currency crashes as they did the trade on margin. I still wonder, why Kurumi put down all of her funds instead of investing just some of it so she won’t lose everything. I guess we’ll find out the aftermath from the miscalculation she made.

(Also known as FX Fighter Kurumi-chan)

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With the summer anime season ending a little later, of course I lost sight of the upcoming season. Well, it’s time to make a few picks as it seems to be slim this season.

Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku Restart (2nd season)

Air Date: October 5th

At last, our favorite dark magical girl battle royale is now back, but now in an RPG setting. Yes, with a mostly new cast, given that most of the roster got, well, got killed off, except for two. There will be yuri pairings for sure, but given the premise, well, we expect some pretty dark moments.

FX Senshi Kurumi-chan

Air Date: October 1^st

Well, a slice of life cute girls doing trading is probably the most interesting idea. While investing may be a good thing in building one’s wealth, for some, dollar-cost averaging trading in stock indexes or in a diversified stock portfolio in big companies. risky stock trading on meme stocks, foreign currencies, crypto, and betting is probably a sure way to lose money, or even gain money. Kurumi, of course, learns the hard way as she lives life on the edge, trading foreign currencies to earn back all the money she lost initially.

TETSURYO! Meet with Tetsudou Musume

Air Date: October 9^th

A slice of life show involving college-aged young women interested in trains and riding them. After all, trains are wonderful when gas is over $4 a gallon. After all, who can afford to drive in this economy? Still, it will be interesting to see what places they will visit.

With that, it’s a pretty light season, and I will be mostly spending my time preparing for the JLPT N3. After all, I came close to passing but fell short by three points (yes, I know). If there is a fourth show I’m interested in, I will just post about it, but I think I will take it easy for this season. The same was true for winter earlier this year.

With that, share what you plan to watch this season in the comments.

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As Mimi and Sheena make up with each other, Ari, on the other hand, still struggles over her loss of Seiran.

With Ari feeling down as she remembers during a rainy day, it’s clear that Ari hasn’t gotten over Seiran’s death. When Esther passes by, her bag was dropping pieces of candy. It’s not until Ari notices and I find it funny how Esther reacts and even mentions the 3 second rule. After all, the candy was on the floor for over three seconds, but wrapped, so does the rule even apply here? As Ari ticks up candies, I find it funny how Esther asks if Sheena and Mimi are going out, although she thought of it as a mother and daughter type of relationship.

However, when Ari sees Sheena and Mimi getting along very well, she becomes jealous. It’s not too surprising, given that she lost her lover. Esther notices as Ari grasped the piece of candy as if she were going to squeeze it. However, it’s clear that she went too far. Ari said it’s nothing as the school lost a lot of students from the war. She walks away.

The next day, Mimi and Sheena ran into Ari as they noticed how cloudy it was. When Ari saw Sheena and Mimi holding hands, she realized she hadn’t gotten over her loss. That is when the bell rings. Funny how class is going on while Mimi is talking loudly to Sheena. Suddenly Ari lost her concentration as she imagines Seiran taking notes during class. It’s obvious she misses her watching her while Seiran doesn’t notice while not paying attention. Funny how Mimi waved to Ari during class, which reminded Ari of her loss. She decides not to eat with Seiran and Sheena after class.

Ari knows that Mimi and Sheena are worried about her. Still, Ari has more reminiscing of Seiran when she came to close the window, as Ari is enjoying the open window with the rain. During the middle of the night, she couldn’t sleep, so she went to Seiran’s empty bed and lay on it. It seems nothing has changed as she doesn’t know how to get over it.

The next day, Ari was at the church as Esther ran in with her wet raincoat. She joins Ari. Esther wants to apologize, but Ari said it’s her fault. Ari mentions she shared her struggles of losing Seiran and that nothing she can do can help her overcome it. Ari asked how it’s like fighting alongside someone she loves to Esther. Apparently, Esther finds the feeling reassuring as Ari admits she never went out to battle with Seiran. She only smiled when Seiran was about to take the exam or get deployed, but she doesn’t regret it as it’s too late to get an answer.

Of course, Ari recalled the memory of Ari and Seiran being soaking wet, and Seiran put her wet school uniform on Ari as she thought Ari felt cold and made a big dash to the school while it’s raining. While the deployment bell eventually rang, Esther wasn’t called up, so they talked through the grounds, and even the gate that leads to the outside world, which is dangerous. Funny how they still got a cold after this. We learn Esther lost her first love and went through the same thing.

In the end, Ari eventually cried as she felt that her inability to get over losing her love made her feel pathetic and caused trouble with her friends as she avoided them. Esther understands that it’s tough accepting reality, but she believes Ari wants to look her best for the person she loves. Funny how Ari wants to do the same running thing as she did with Seiran. From the look of it, when Ari asks Mimi and Sheena if they had dinner, as she wants to have dinner with them, at least this is a sign that she is accepting reality.

Final Thoughts

Kimi ga Shinu made Koi wo Shitai is an interesting series, not just because of the yuri, but also the premise. With a bleak future of orphaned children being sent off to battle, they may die in battle in a war that never ends. While the series focuses more on the relationships instead of battles in the war, this leads to interesting development of Sheena’s relationship with Mimi. While Mimi is childish and good at fighting, it’s interesting to see her character develop as she befriends Sheena.

As expected, it’s a slow-developing pairing as Sheena develops feelings for Mimi. There are plenty of cute moments in that. Of course, this means that Sheena cares a lot more for Mimi, that she doesn’t want Mimi to get hurt. It worries her when she comes back in a bloodied and dismembered bag as she saw Mimi that she really comes out against Mimi fighting in battle, even getting into conflict over Mimi who thinks it’s best to carry the burden so others won’t get hurt.

Still, it’s interesting how Mimi grows close to Sheena and helps open her up while befriending Ari and Seiran. While Mimi was reckless so she could come back early to spend time with Sheena, she eventually cleaned up and hid the blood cover robe to make it seem that things were going well, when in reality, not so much. That is until Sheena found out and got into an argument. It’s all part of Mimi discovering the social aspects that she wasn’t able to experience when she was in isolation. That of course includes the sad aspects such as losing someone close from war.

That said, the characters are interesting. Sure, the yuri pairings are obvious with Sheena and Mimi, along with Ari and Seiran. That comes with a lot of lovely moments, including kissing scene or rather, to heal each other. Sure, the moments with Sheena and Mimi are nice, but so are Ari and Seiran. This is why Seiran’s eventual killed in action hits so hard, given all the red flags. It was interesting to see how it affected Mimi, who hadn’t had experience losing someone, while Ari struggled over getting over it, as she had been close with her for a long time.

Overall, Kimi ga Shinu made Koi wo Shitai, with its wonderful production and interesting take on yuri with some dark fantasy, makes it enjoyable to watch. Although it’s not likely we’ll get a second season, as we see with most yuri adaptations not getting any, it really shows the harsh realities of living as an orphan during an endless war. Not to mention, the idea of being immortal and being sent to fight every time is probably not something one should wish for.

(Also known as I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day)

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With Mei coming close to risking her life by removing the power limits, Koga had to step in to stop Mei from risking her life. What will Mei do now that she had to abort the mission?

From last time, Mei went all out asking the Kaii mutated thanks to Sho powering it up. He seems despite to make it work. However, with Mei out of the picture, they have another problem on their hands. Who should deal with the powered-up Kaii?

Well, Koga wanted to send reinforcements, but Shigemoto doesn’t think there is enough time. He is willing to have AST hook up to the Alice System to help Magilumiere finish off the powered-up Kaii. Surprisingly, Shigemoto convinced Koga to cooperate in finishing the Kaii and gaining access to the Alice System. The AST engineers are surprised that Magilumiere is sharing its intellectual property.

While all the members work to set up the circle, Mei is having some issues involving her emotions, thus her system malfunctions. Kana comes over to help her while Iroha, Akane, and Hitomi cover for Mei. When Kana protects Mei, Mei thinks Kana looks like Barley Spice.

Before that, you might wonder why Mei gave up on her favorite magical girl. Well, when she saw a toy commercial, she saw a commercial for a Barley Spice show at an amusement park. However, she overheard her parents’ financial issues. Mei hoped that her magic wand, which she made of cardboard, as she asked for a wish to improve their financial situation. Sadly, her father collapses and is sent to the hospital, and she gives up on believing in Barley Spice and has to work hard so she won’t be in this situation. This can explain why she became an expressionless workaholic.

However, Kana admits that Barley Spice is a fictional character, but one for whom they gain courage. When Kana reached her hand to Mei, Mei said that it’s still fiction, thus she can’t gain courage. Kana thinks otherwise, as she is willing to be her Barley Spice. With that, they held hands as Mei regained courage and linked to finish the magic circle. Yep, I smell yuri here as Kana and Mei are now a thing, besides the fact that Kana asked to go on a “date” with her.

In short, the double-mutated Kaii gets defeated, thus Magilumiere, with AST helping them, saves the day. I guess in a way, Shigemoto might have proved that the Alice System has its merits over just magic-maxxing. Sure, it’s a blow for the magic-maxxing faction, but it looks like they aren’t giving up yet. Also, it’s nice to see Mei tag along with Kana and her friends for dinner as well, showing that Kana has finally defrosted her. Also, it’s nice to see glimpses of Kana heading to her “date.” She sees a hair accessory that is Barley Spice, and buying it is a pleasant touch. Funny how Mei might wear the same one. They aren’t hiding the pairing at all.

Final Impressions

Compared to the first season, which had lighthearted moments and was character-focused, it’s clear that the second season is a lot more serious. After all, the Magic-Maxxing, also known as the supporters who want to deregulate magic use for massive profits. While there are some intriguing moments as a certain villain who wastes a lot of food while releasing some man-made Kaii that mutates.

That said, Akane and Iroha are pleasant additions to the cast. Of course, seeing Sakae with her Igini, which looks more like a Pokémon than a run-of-the-mill Kaii, is kind of interesting. Also, it was fascinating to learn more about Mei and why she became an emotionless workaholic who is willing to go to extremes that could risk her life. It was nice to see Kana willing to ask her out on a “date” and even defrost her.

When Kana and Mei hold hands and eventually buy/wear the same hair accessories, I never thought Kana and Mei would become a potential yuri pairing one wants or needs. While we didn’t get to see how the date goes, I can imagine if there is another season announced on the horizon. That said, the series itself remains interesting as the factions between the Alice System supporters and the Magic-Maxxing supporters heat up. While it will probably be awhile until we see more, the second season developments did not disappoint.

(Also known as Magilumiere Co. Ltd.)

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With the final round of the Circus Collection Showcase, the final round between Blue Rose and Himawari is underway. Of course, Maria gets busted by Nanami as she notices her and Nanami.

Before we find out Nanami’s reaction to seeing Maria, we are taken back to the past of 12 years. Maria was with Nanami as she was looking at the book of memories of her time being with Black Lotus. While Maria admits it was the circus that saved her life and her dream is to make her vision become a reality.

With that, Nanami is inspired to fly for her older sister. She wants to do it with Maria. However, things went south as Nanami becomes upset at Maria, as she wants to do her own thing without being under the control of the Sumeragi. After she is not doing it for the money, which can see why Nanami got upset. Of course, Maria talked with Nanami, as she says her dream is already accomplished, since Himawari is doing well without her. In short, she wants to see Nanami achieve hers as she took out that pocket watch with a photo of herself and Nanami.

With that comes the second half of both performances. We get to see Nanami perform the more perfected version of Lotus Blossom as Mizuka does her unique act. Sure, Ouka kind of messed up, but with some adjustments of the wing, Ouka saved it as Mizuka switches to do the flying as Ouka catches her in the last part of the act. The funny thing is, after Maria fell asleep at the end of the performance, we find out that the members of Himawari panicked.

After five days of performances, you might wonder who ultimately won. Well, it’s not too surprising that Nanami won given the amount of talent, name recognition and resources. Mizuka probably already knew they had a pretty uphill battle and ended up feeling down that it’s the end of Himawari. The girls seem to have a lot of fun despite losing. The surprising thing, Nanami decided not to go through with taking over Himawari as she recognized Mizuka’s ingenuity and her friends’ abilities.

As for Maria, well, not everything is lost, as someone could pull strings to delay the surgery. A certain circus performer, who gives one some idea who it might be. Nanami kept her side of the bargain by paying for her older sister’s surgery and flying her out there. She also helped Himawari a bit, but of course, even under Mizuka, they had some money problems, but certainly not dire compared to before. After all, their name is now out there, meaning they have more money-earning potential from their acts.

Of course, they received a letter from Maria. Apparently, Maria’s surgery was successful, and she actually survived. Like Chisato, almost faced imminent death from her failing artificial heart, but somehow survived with a miracle surgery for a new one.

Maria eventually got bored with hospital life and snuck out once in a while. It’s good she is making a recovery, but she snuck in one surprise: a wedding photo. This surprises everyone, as they saw who Maria married. It’s Black Lotus, or rather Mizuka’s father. This can explain everything with Mizuka being dropped off with Himawari and Maria having all those connections with Black Lotus.

After all, the idea is for Maria to get Mizuka used to her “new” family before making the announcement. It’s funny to see Mizuka’s eyes pop out as she curses out her family. Still, I think Maria probably engaged with Mizuka’s father, but didn’t tell the news to Mizuka until the right moment. Now Maria is her “new” mother now. It was nice to see glimpses of the epilogue as Kasumi officially joined Himawari and their next act.

Final Thoughts

“Grow Up” Show is surprisingly fun: cute girls doing circus. Believe it or not, it’s funny to see Mizuka being forced into doing circus. Mizuka is an amusing character because she is initially motivated by money, as she is seen not so motivated by doing circus. The funny thing is that some things caused her debt to increase. That was before she warmed up to the group and even rediscovered her love for Circus, probably thanks to Ouka, of course.

Sure, the premises are different, but Mizuka and Ouka kind of give me the feeling of Takina and Chisato. After all, it took the magic of Ouka, who seems to be the only one to defrost Mizuka and rekindle her love for Circus. Sure, Mizuka is on bad terms with her father because of his decision to close the Black Lotus Circus, but after learning more about Maria and the threat that Himawari can go away, she reconsiders. It was interesting to see Mizuka turn Himawari around and even get to the finals, despite not winning in the end.

That said, while there are lots of pleasant moments with Mizuka and Ouka, especially with that “date,” it’s nice to see there are other pairings as well. Most notably, Shizuku and Svietlana, Imari and Isuzu, and of course, Nanami and Mutsumi being the notable ones. Sure, it would be nice to see more of Shizuku and Svietlana, but it’s mostly good, although Nanami, even after she defrosted a bit, hasn’t gotten away from acting cold towards Mizuka especially.

Overall, with “Grow Up Show”, it was interesting to see the circus scene in post-war 1960s Japan. Surely, it’s about new vs. traditional circus as they have different philosophies. Of course, I kind of feel bad for Rin. She does kind of feel like the villain for wanting Maria to give up on Himawari because of her health and trying to sell it to Nanami. The interesting thing is Maria’s dream gone full circle, as Black Lotus inspired her to create a circus that carries those traditions and eventually passes it down to Mizuka. Is this show perfect? Well, it has some flaws, and I felt they could develop the rest of the cast more, and the mystery behind Black Lotus’s first wife remains a mystery. Still, the show has a lot of funny moments, especially involving Mizuka.

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After Sheena and Mimi argued over whose choice was right, they had a falling out. The question is, can Sheena make up with Mimi after this?

From last time, Sheena and Mimi had a spat over whose was right. Sheena got upset when Mimi came back in pieces in a bloodied fabric sack. After Sheena believes she needs to train to become useful, as she doesn’t enjoy seeing her sent out to war and taking the burden of everyone. Mimi, of course, doesn’t want Sheena to get involved and would rather have her wait for her. Either way, Sheena realizes she has to make up with her.

Meanwhile, Mimi visits Ari’s room as she still sees Seiran’s stuff on her bed. Ari mentions she intends to get rid of it on the next gratitude day. To Ari, it’s just stuff, and the memories she had with it will be with her. However, when Mimi mentions she got into an argument when Ari notices Mimi’s hair is a big mess. Ari mentions she gets into arguments with Seiran despite being more than just best friends. Despite having opposite personalities, they somehow make up with each other.

That is until Mimi gets called. That is after Sheena wondered what she should do and ran into Ester, who gave her a big bag of candy for Mimi saving them in the last battle. Sadly, Sheena couldn’t make up with Mimi before she got deployed. She got to see Fran and Omi, asking what she should do. They tell her not to worry, and that Sheena got into disagree Mimi is, well, youthful. It’s a sign that Mimi is a normal girl.

When she got into the nurse’s office, she saw a man who usually brought Mimi back. However, he is injured, and Sheena goes out to find Mimi. Sheena kisses her in order to heal her. That is when the enemy attacked, but thankfully Mimi gained consciousness and saved Sheena before it’s too late. That is when Sheena woke up. It was just a dream? It’s a pretty scary moment there, but I wonder why she was in bed at the nurse’s office. Then again, she might have dozed off since the time she talked to Fran and Omi waiting for Mimi to come back.

After Sheena woke up, she ran into Mimi holding rice balls and came up to Sheena. They all seem excited to reunite, before realizing that they were fighting. Mimi wants to make up, but doesn’t know what she said wrong. Sheena apologized to her, and she didn’t like how Mimi tricked her to appear unharmed. As a result, she didn’t consider her feelings.

Sheena still doesn’t like how things are, which gets Mimi upset as she thought she had made up with her, but no. While Mimi doesn’t plan to change things in terms of battles, Sheena is still going to practice her healing magic as she has to change. After all, she wants to help Mimi and Mimi to help her. She can only do it thanks to Mimi by her side. Mimi feels the same way as she is no longer alone after seeing Sheena. With that, Mimi wants Sheena to keep her promise of not leaving her all alone. At least it’s nice to see them finally make up.

The next day, it was a free day. They basically spent time sleeping together instead of doing anything. Funny how Sheena wants to read a book, but Mimi was grabbing her body and won’t let her get up. The funny thing is, they slept and ate cookies. For lunch, a lady came with a basket of fresh strawberries. You know what they do next? They make strawberry jam, of course, which has its cute moments with Sheena and Mimi. Afterwards, they had a bath when they realized their do-nothing day was a failure, but at least they had jam for their toast the next morning.

That said, Omi asked if Fran would keep letting things play out. After all, Mimi changed quite a bit as her self-awareness developed a lot quicker now compared to isolation. She knows Mimi will outlive everyone. She thinks the losses will torture her for all eternity. Of course, Fran doesn’t see it this way, as it already happens to the living. It’s a trade-off, given that Mimi will still be lonely without Sheena. That day will eventually come, but hopefully they will be ready when the time comes.

(Also known as I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day)

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With the match between Arisa and Mio underway in the final round, the two are not letting up. The question, who will end up victorious?

At the beginning of the episode, we see Mio playing video games. She enjoys various types of games and being able to play in different worlds. However, Mio finds out that controlling a character well is not enough. Funny how Mio ends up losing against Guile on an online match. She eventually thinks a game controller is not enough and upgraded to an arcade stick. She still loses and even against Guile players that she shamed on her stick, like Arisa did. Until she realizes what she did, she realizes that the players she faces is a person too.

As expected, the final round is fierce as Arisa and Mio as they duke it out. Arisa feels a new sensation as Mio has a nosebleed. Despite the nosebleed, she does her best against Arisa. That is why Arisa experiences a feeling that she hasn’t felt before. She is no longer frustrated, but with her fighting spirit activated. Neither are giving up. The funny thing is Arisa’s nose bled, too.

The funny thing is while Aya saw the match, she saw like Arisa and Mio holding hands, like Mio is like cheating on her. Or that Aya felt she couldn’t bring out this Mio in her matches and felt a sense of jealousy. Either way, Aya runs out of the hall, and Tamaki saw her.

In the end, Mio screwed up by stepping back, allowing Arisa to finish her with a simple hit. Well, there’s that, and it’s kind of sad that Mio couldn’t put the spoiled brat in her place. Then again, when Mio took her loss and came to congratulate Arisa, at least she didn’t boast about her win. She ended up grabbing Mio’s wrist and cried before seeing Mio collapse on the floor, probably from the nosebleed. It was a funny way to see her go out at a loss. It’s pretty anticlimactic as Arisa wanted to say she had fun, but Mio ended up collapsing before she could say it. The funny thing is that it took Mio 2 days to fully recover. Oh well, but at least Arisa defrosted a bit.

In the end, no one in the group made it past the first day. The second day went as expected. Arisa and Hana didn’t make it that far, either. Still, at least the girls got something out of the tournament. Still, I’m surprised that Mio got off easily and her mother didn’t even scold her. Then again, given that a good amount of the hall monitoring team plays video games in secret, it’s not too surprising. Not to mention, since it happened outside of school, it’s basically fair game.

After the vacation ended, Aya wanted to talk to Mio, but she had a hard time doing so. I find it funny how the girls think Aya is really in love with “Shirayuri,” given how obsessive Aya looks. It doesn’t help when Aya spies on her stealthily and then runs away. She eventually got her time as Tamaki and Yuu stepped out a bit. Funny when Aya entered the room, she acted more lady-like than usual, and Tamaki and Yuu wondered if Aya ate a mushroom or something.

It was interesting to see Tamaki and Yuu talk each other on the roof. Tamaki admitted she wanted to quit fighting games for a while, given all the losing. However, she changed her mind after seeing Mio’s match against Arisa. Of course, Yuu feels the same as she wants to get passionate and seriously obsessed like Aya and Mio. In the end, Tamaki and Yuu got their reassurances as they vowed to be together forever.

As for Aya, Mio wondered what Tamaki and Yuu were taking so long. Mio, of course, shared how she felt about her match on stage with the little brat. Of course, Aya’s jealousy shows as she wants Mio to look at her and her only, as she is Mio’s rival. Of course, Aya knows she has some catching up to do with Mio upping her game. Aya realizes that the only way she can say what she wants to is through a match with Mio.

Final Thoughts

As expected, Tai-Ari deshita. Ojousama wa Kakutou Game nante Shinai is a fun show seeing young ladies at a rich girls’ academy play fighting games in secret. Aya, who is basically an outsider, seeing that even rich young ladies sneak in video games and fighting is interesting. It was interesting to see Aya develop a rival relationship with Mio, as someone she wants to exceed. Also, it’s interesting how she even develops romantic feelings for her too as she gets closer to her.

While I don’t know about fighting games, as they can get very technical and take time to master, it’s interesting to learn some things about them. Also, the matches themselves are interesting, although it’s quite obvious it might be a promotion for the upcoming Street Fighter live-action film. Still, at least the characters are interesting, although Arisa, despite being a big brat, at least redeemed herself in the end. Also, that other pairing, Tamaki and Yuu, is interesting as Tamaki plays to get her older sister to notice her, and Yuu plays just for fun. That is until after the tournament that Yuu wants to take fighting games more seriously, like Mio does.

While the yuri is great, especially when Mio has the nickname of Shirayuri, it was nice to see Aya develop feelings for Mio. She even helped Mio with her studies and even visited Mio’s mother to convince her to allow her daughter to go on a group trip with her friends. While Aya shows signs of falling for Mio with the most aggressive handholding during the tournament, even after, she seems flustered in talking to Mio in public. That said, while it probably won’t happen like with most yuri anime adaptations, I’m hoping it becomes popular enough that maybe this will get a second season. After all, it got a J-drama three years back, and it took three years to get an anime, so maybe I am a little hopeful that it will happen eventually.

(Also known as Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games)

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As the Magic-Maxxing faction executes its plan to summon some man-made Kaii to prove their point, Magilumiere makes its move. The question is, can they stop the new artificial type of Kaii before it’s too late?

With the Kaii growing new small arms, the girls know what they are up against as they have seen this before. Besides adjusting their restraints, they resort to using elemental magic, namely electricity namely to defeat them. While Kana and her friends can clear most of them, the spread of the Kaii is pretty wide.

On the other hand, AST is about to deploy Mei as they plan to use the new magic device. The technicians warned her not to overdo it. Of course, she brushes it off as she finally heads to the scene and uses her new magic. As expected, the gigantic magic guns that came out from large screens took out the Kaii with brute force. Kana is in disbelief that Mei works with a magical girl company that is on the Magic-Maxxing faction.

It’s clear that the Magic-Maxxing faction is not happy that Magilumiere is dealing with most of the man-made Kaii. It makes it look like a wash with no clear advantage, for now. They believe over time, the Magic-Maxxing faction will come out ahead as more people see the benefits of deregulation. Masao is not giving up just yet, as he has another trick up his sleeve to salvage this so-called “demo.”

Soon, a blue light appeared, and a new Kaii appeared. While they look like the hand Kaiis from before, they have mutated even further. With that, Mei ignores the warning not to go over the 100% magic limit. However, going over that can become very dangerous. That is when Mei increases it by over 100% against their warnings. She even throws the communicator as she defies them, because she wants to see results.

As expected, Mei is a workaholic. It’s easy to see why. It’s because of the trauma of seeing her family’s sweet shop closing down. As a result, she abandoned things like her love for Barley Spice. When Kana saw Mei’s earpiece and her lab technicians attempt to contact her frantically as Mei increased her power limit, she intervened. She says that what Mei is doing is not something that Barley Spice will do, and of course, Mei says that she is not even real. From a flashback, the impact of her family’s sweet shop closing, she gave up fun to focus on her studies so she didn’t end up with the same fate as her parents.

While it’s understandable that she doesn’t want to end up like her parents, her workaholic tendencies are not healthy for her. Dying from overwork is a thing, and using that much magic above safe levels can be dangerous too. She basically has no work-life balance, and nobody should devote their entire life to a faceless corporation. Kana of course begs her to convince her otherwise, that the magical girl work she is doing is not fiction, but real life. Therefore, Kana tries to say that going overboard with magic power that she can handle can have grave consequences. Kana goes so far as to slapping her in the face as she cries. Still, how Kana interacts with Mei feels like a yuri couple bickering over something. After all, if Mei injures herself, how would Kana be able to go on her lunch “date” with Mei?

In the end, Kana’s intervention allowed enough time for Koga, who owns AST, to abort Mei’s mission for her own safety. Sure, he seems cold towards Shigemoto and is willing to help the Magic-Maxxing faction for his own gains. It’s clear he won’t risk his worker’s lives to achieve their objectives. The question now is, with Mei having to back down, she feels down. The question is, what happens next, or whether she will help Magilumiere through other means.

(Also known as Magilumiere Co. Ltd.)

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