Princess Connect! Re:Dive Season 2

Episode 4

Let's get this out of the way right at the start: This episode is magnificently animated. The battle scenes are crystal clear, brightly colored, and feature tons of dynamic camerawork. It's eye candy, pure and simple, which is why it's unfortunate that all this beautiful work isn't attached to an episode with a bit more substance.

This episode has a simple plot: After going out hunting for food, Yuuki, Pecorine, Kokkoro, and Karyl join up with another guild to hunt down a horde of shadows. The shadows then take over an old, giant golem and battle it out with our heroes. Yet, despite its barebones structure, the episode ends up coming off as rather confusing.

Part of this is due to the six new characters introduced this week. When it comes to the four Caon Guild girls, we're simply told they help out beast tribe members who are in trouble, and that Kasumi is a detective. Then we get the shadow who looks like Kasumi—who seems as new to this whole “existence” thing as Yuuki was. And lastly, we have Neneka who just kind of shows up and says she's inside the Golem. That's the sum total of characterization we get for these new additions. We know nothing about their individual histories or personalities. They're all blank slates, which robs the big battle of any sense of tension or emotional heft.

The other thing that makes the episode feel more confusing than the simple plot suggests is the fact that it brings up several big questions but offers no answers in return. How did the shadows get to the island? Why are the shadows after the golem? Why did one of the shadows become a clone of Kasumi? Why is it that some people—i.e., Neneka and the members of Labyrinth—remember Yuuki but everyone else does not?

But the biggest question is the one that the episode ends on: What is Kaiser's plan here? It seems that the ring she gave Karyl was set to teleport Pecorine when she was out of power and unable to fight back. After all, if Kaiser wanted Pecorine dead, she could have done it at any time with Christina at her disposal. There must be a reason she suddenly wants Pecorine captured alive. And while it makes for an okay cliffhanger, we aren't really given enough information to even speculate as to her motives at this point.

So, when it comes down to it, this episode is all setup and no substance. There's no meaningful character development and no themes explored. It's just pretty-looking fights and a whole lot of unanswered questions.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• Even as a fanservice episode to players of the game, this episode falls flat. The members of Caon collectively do little more than shout attack names, and Neneka does even less.

• If the ring was set to teleport when Pecorine was unable to fight back (as it seems in this episode), why didn't it activate when Pecorine was passed out from lack of food earlier in the episode?

• I wonder how Karyl will feel about the ring when she realizes it wasn't really a present from her sister as much as it was a trap for her friend.

• I don't see the reason for this whole ring trap and accompanying subterfuge. Maybe the point was not only to capture an exhausted Pecorine but also to separate her from Yuuki, making it impossible for his power to interfere? I really don't know.

• In this week's flashback, we see Yuuki fighting with both Labyrista and Christinia on his side. If they can't beat Kaiser even by working together, I guess I can understand why Kaiser's been so lackadaisical in dealing with Pecorine—she's literally no threat whatsoever.

Princess Connect! Re:Dive is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Richard is an anime and video game journalist with over a decade of experience living and working in Japan. For more of his writings, check out his Twitter and blog.