Mikagura School Suite

Episode 7

Well, that was dull. Mikagura School Suite may trade in quirky characters and creative battles, but this episode is about as memorable as a gray sedan in a parking garage. It somehow takes half an hour of airtime to tell us that the mysterious new girl is mysterious and the guy from the astronomy club likes looking at the stars. Maybe next week it'll drop the shocking revelation that the grass is green.

Purple-haired newcomer Otone wins the final round of the rookie battle, taking an unexpected victory over the odds-on favorite Asuhi. He manages to be gracious in defeat, but she seemingly couldn't care less about winning. Eruna inevitably falls head over heels for Otone and manages to track her down after the victory ceremonies. The new girl shifts back and forth amongst a handful of attitudes during their conversation, none of which appears to be her actual personality. The episode's second half shifts gears as everyone plans a surprise party to cheer Asuhi up after his loss. When the rain forces the party indoors, Asuhi tells everyone why he enjoys looking at the stars. Assuming the audience is still awake at this point, there's a vaguely pleasant moment of warm fuzziness before the credits roll.

I was hoping that Otone would add a new and interesting dynamic to the series, but she's an absolute dud so far. We're clearly not supposed to like her manufactured hodgepodge of personalities, but there's no sense of intrigue behind it all. Instead, Otone ends up being annoying without being interesting. Eruna will likely end up helping her break out of her shell sooner or later, and I hope for the show's sake that it's sooner. Mikagura School Suite could do with a decent antagonist, but it doesn't need a poorly-written pain in the neck.

Asuhi's storyline is far more tolerable, but good grief is it slow. The episode drags along lazily as it stretches a minute or two of content into ten. This series has struggled with a lack of narrative momentum in the past, but there's no flashy action scene to help pass the time this week. The characters simply wander from one location to another, rehashing bits of humor that aren't as funny as they were the first time around. Asuhi doesn't grow or change in any meaningful way; he's not even all that upset about losing to begin with. It's almost as if the writers never took this episode's script beyond a basic outline and left the characters to figure things out for themselves.

There are a few signs of life here, and most of them come courtesy of the ever-inscrutable Seisa. A brief flashback suggests that she might see a bit of herself in Eruna and hints at the origin of her aversion to club battles. Later on, Seisa quietly uses her powers to stop the rain from breaking up the rooftop party. There's an interesting contrast between her distant attitude and benevolent actions that helps make Seisa one of the more compelling characters in this series. Diving further into her past may be the quickest way to breathe some life back into the narrative.

Mikagura School Suite is the kind of show that needs to keep its foot on the gas constantly, and yet it does the exact opposite this week. Dialing back the flash and energy could have given the writing a chance to step up, but it ended up throwing the weakest parts of the series into the spotlight. It's time to send another crate of energy drinks to the writers' room.

Rating: C+

Mikagura School Suite is currently streaming on Funimation.

Paul Jensen is a freelance writer and editor. You can follow more of his anime-related ramblings on Twitter.