I watched ep. 4 last night, and it annoyed me with another disjointed beginning that had me running back to the prior episode to see if I forgot something. In this case, rather than going from an action sequence to a non-action sequence, they did it the other way around. However, it was just a pre-OP segment from the middle of the episode.
More importantly, the episode didn’t go anywhere. Now the 3rd and 1st Student Councils are cooperating, albeit not on the best of terms. Tomo doesn’t seem to have learned anything of any import, nor asked. Takatsuki has obviously fallen for Tomo, though she’s too shy to do anything about it. Misao is jealous. There’s a disjointed plot about a lake monster that turns out to be a familiar gone wild. Familiars are born when someone makes a contract with a demon. Takatsuki claims to be a demon, and everyone’s warning him away from her; if he contracts with her, dire things will happen. As in, the 1st Student Council will kill both of them.
Anyway, two more students are introduced, and they’re part of the 2nd Student council. Everyone shown in the OP is now present, but it wasn’t until the previews that I realized why the first four episodes seemed so aimless: The fifth episode looks like its finally going to advance the plot, which means that the first four were aimless. They existed just to introduce all the characters, and set the parameters of the situation, but the writers weren’t good enough to advance the plot until they had all the pieces on the board and clearly labeled.
What we’ve been watching so far is nothing but nearly-unrelated story that they cobbled together just to do that and keep the audience’s attention with action sequences until they were ready. That’s the real reason Tomo isn’t trying to get more answers; the writers aren’t ready for him to.
I’m afraid that is going to be a pretty major black mark. Between the aimlessness of the first four episodes (well, 2-4) and the disjointed transition from 1 to 2, and the screwy beginning to 4, this series has dropped from “highly anticipated and interesting” to merely above average, and that’s on the strength and cuteness of the girls alone.
