A PURRFECT CONFLICT

Kirakira Precure à la Mode
Episode 34 - My Own Review
A PURRFECT CONFLICT

Aah... astral projection! What's better to do for a completely exhausted villain with psychic powers than lapse at least part of the soul out of the body and find a new host, preferently a healthy one, to control from within? If said host is in a position of power or trust, it's even better, for who could call you a usurper?

The earliest example thereof I have found in an eighteenth-century French fairytale by Pétis de la Croix (a subplot in L'Histoire du Prince Calaf, from XIV Jour onwards), brought to the stage by Carlo Gozzi (with a usurper possessing the rightful king and practically no one being aware). A century later, this trope appeared in Topelius's Princess Lindagull (in this one, it's the host who is seriously injured, and the possession is carried out by the villain-possessing-the-host to whisk the titular damsel away).

My first intro was in "The Knitted Balloon" of The Dreamstone; it was especially shocking because Zordrak (the dark overlord) got inside Amberley (the female lead) while the latter slept... entering through the ears instead of the airways, making her eyes glow red. **Shudders** Fortunately, Zordrak was unable to wrest the stone from the Dreammaker as usual. But still the impact of the episode lingers still on a child about to enter her teens...

In the meantime, Threestars discusses with his underlings about the yousei having wrested their waterhole from them...


Of course Meowsencrantz and Guildenpurr, being equally thirsty, agree that something must be done.


Only to fall unconscious before the lovely new stranger's warmth and charms...












Meanwhile, Yukari – or rather, the cat inhabiting her body – rocks up at the KiraPâti. Akira is surprised by the moment of her waifu eating fish -meant as a gift for old Mrs. Kenjo- strait out of the tin with her own fingers (something so OOC for a Kotozume heiress)!





In the meantime, a boy yousei called Yababa meets up with the Elder and Pekorin to inform them about the turf war... or rather the spring war.




Apparently, a dark fog rolled in and both cats and yousei, breathing it in, claimed the spring and became hostile to one another (while also sporting Empty Eyes). The effect has worn off on Yababa, but the war is still going on.


CIEL: Let me solve this problem...


We also get to see the yousei side of the story from Ciel's... Kirarin's POV. So she decides to take matters into her own hands, or rather yousei paws. By making pet food. Yes, she can even make that.





Both parties meet at the contested waterhole.










"I DEMAND A TRIAL BY SINGLE COMBAT!"

Kirarin and Yukari clash – though Kirarin has no idea that the cat is Yukari








By the end, Kirarin surrenders to Yukari.


YUKARI: Since I have won, you must leave Mount Ichigo...
I claim this woodland by right.


KIRARIN: I won't let you do that!


YUKARI: Then I acknowledge my defeat. I will be the one to leave.


YUKARI (in Kirarin's ear): Otherwise, just shove me down this cliff.


KIRARIN: I would never do that. Let's eat sweets together...




The cats and yousei cooperate to save Yukari and Kirarin








YUKARI: Someone's definitely behind this conflict.








Cure Parfait steps in to protect Yukari












But they're all soon curb-stomped.


Even Cure Chocolat... 
(this appears to be another case of giving Worf the Flu)


Which gives Yukari the resolve (so bright to find out what to do within an instant!) to lunge against "Yukari" and switch bodies back.

Beauty and... excitement...
Let's la mazemaze!

Cure Macaron! Dekiagari!




CURE MACARON: "The original Yukari?" I will always be myself.




Parfait had no idea that Macaron was the cat this whole time




PARFAIT ÉTOILE!




MACARON JULIENNE!


Yes, that's thrashing some planaries!!


That's enough to make Chocolat and the others recover from their injuries, right in time for the Finishing Move!





Peace has returned at last, cats and fairies enjoying the celebration banquet at the KiraPâti.




They may have put dispelled his power, but Diaval himself is regaining his strength



Diaval's skin begins to crack... metamorphosis, anyone? It's just like a chrysalis breaking and the imago (the adult insect) coming out.


All Glaive can do is stand agape in awe.

MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION:
When Yukari Kotozume awoke, she realised that she had been turned into an appropriately-sized housecat. It turns out to have been a Freaky Friday Flip caused by butting heads with her crystal mascot. Fortunately, unlike other Freaky Friday Flip sufferers, she retained her sang-froid throughout the experience.
This fish-out-of-water scenario gives our resident ojou/oneesama yet another shot at character development, especially when it comes to diplomacy.
We also got to see more of Threestars, including that he is the local alpha male, and some interaction between him and Mewkari (fan-nickname for Yukari-in-a-cat's-body) that proves he recognises her as worthy enough to abdicate in her favour.
The strategist wins once more: After defeating Kirarin in the single combat she had challenged the yousei leader to, Mewkari commands both the cats and the yousei to leave Ichigozaka. One can see that her intention is to give both sides a common enemy to fight united against. Mewkari even throws herself down a cliff, for the stray cats and the yousei to co-operate to form a chain down the cliffside and rescue her -and a falling Kirarin as well.
On planaries: The direwolf Diaval is resting, recovering from the wounds of last battle, but he sends out astral projections in the form of the usual dark fog... and Diaval-headed planaries. F-ing planaries. That's a species you see once in a blue moon on screen. Even axolotls get more screentime than planaries!! But still planaries are adorable in their own humble way, with those arrow heads and the little beady black eyes on top... Also, they are hermaphrodites, and furthermore they can regenerate and each severed piece becomes a brand new complete planary with its little eyes and its little tailtip... If you even behead a planary then cut a vertical line along the "neck" in a T-shape of cuts, you get a two-headed planary!! How rad is that?
The hook with Diaval having recovered: Priceless. We also got to see that this dark fog does not only affect humans, but also other animals -cats and yousei-, and we got to see from up close the eyes of the victims for the first time: classic Mind-Control Eyes of the Empty Eyes variety. Which, to quote other examples from this series, Elysio also has given Aoi. Here, the fog obviously caused a conflict over the waterhole between the yousei and the stray cats... they could, being all equally thirsty and knowing that freshwater is a common good everyone has the right to, have asked for permission and/or shared the spring. But of course this dark fog had to make it look like the waterhole had an owner... And, to quote Rousseau, trouble began in this world when someone took a patch of ground (or, in this case, a pond) and claimed it for themself.
On the potential for shipping in this episode (beau-and-the-beast link mandatory for good reason): 
I was reminded of the identity theft or "fair bride and dark bride" cycle of false bride fairytales (Grimm's Brüderchen and Goose Maid, d'Aulnoy's Rosette and Doe in the Woods, etc.) with a Grand Theft Me scenario in which an impostor -usually a stepsister or handmaid- steals the identity of the heroine, who has to live as a servant, animal, or even ghost for as long as the usurper is posing as her.
Sur la Lune keeps many of such tales annotated for a good reason, mostly Grimmian tales.
In their Brüderchen annotations (stepsister impostor, ghost usurpée spotted by guards, reminiscences of Hamlet):

• (The stepsister) Hideous as night and had only one eye: Physical ugliness and deformity (although a politically incorrect term by today's standards) has long been considered a sign of internal ugliness, sometimes in fairy tales. Just as beauty represents inner goodness, physical ugliness is used to stereotype inner ugliness, especially in the literature of previous centuries.
• Lady in waiting: A lady in waiting is "a lady appointed to attend to a queen or princess" (WordNet). A lady in waiting was usually from the upper classes in a higher level of honorable servitude.
• The steam bath: Water in various forms often plays a part in the young sister's death. In other variants, she is drowned by being thrown into a lake or river with a millstone about her neck. In the versions in which she is killed, water is usually involved in her cause of death.
• Might be suffocated: Suffocation might occur from the fire's smoke in the sauna. Suffocation is usually the cause of death by fire in enclosed rooms. However, this would not be a gentle death, essentially steaming, boiling the sister to death in her own bathwater.
•  A false Queen: False identities are common plot devices in literature and fairy tales. Another well-known tale with an imposter queen is The Goose Maid, also annotated on this site.
• The false bride plot device "provides the dominant frame story of Basile's firecracker of a collection of fairy tales, Lo cunto de li cunti [also known as Il Pentamerone], in the seventeenth century. His group of female storytellers exchange many tales of substituted brides and false queens, and at the end actually unmask a similar wicked usurper prospering in their midst (Warner 1994, 127).
• The real Queen: Do not be confused here--the real Queen is dead, having been murdered by her stepsister. Here she appears as a ghost, haunting the halls and drawn to her most precious enchanted brother.
• She did not forget the little Roe:  The cycle of the tale is threatening to start again since this child, while in fawn form, is also cursed with a wicked stepmother. The ghost of the older sister is trying to show it love and protection in the only means left to her. The roe is just as important to the sister, for she has essentially parented it, too. She is attempting to fulfill her responsibilities as a foster parent and sister to her family, even beyond the grave.
• Sentries: A sentry is "a soldier placed on guard" (Webster's 1990). 
• Is my spouse well? Is my Roe well?/ I'll come back twice and then farewell: Note another pattern of three here. The ghostly queen only has three visits before she must assumably move onto another plain of existence. We know she must be rescued by the third night or she will disappear forever. 
• (upon resurrected by her husband) I am your dear wife!: Note that while wife has not apparently been as important a role to the sister as that of  sister, it is still important enough to bring her back from the dead. She recognizes and responds to this identity.
• She was restored to life, and was as fresh and well and rosy as ever: Many translations imply that true love or her innate goodness restore the sister to life.
• The daughter was led into the forest, where the wild beasts tore her to pieces: The stepmother's daughter is exiled--cast out into the wild forest--for her treasonous behaviour.
• Brother and sister lived happily ever after: As their tale, it is important that the brother and sister live happily ever after. They achieve this in the new family unit they have created, however. In some versions of the tale, the brother (disenchanted after the stepmother's demise by execution at the stake) is described as marrying a sister to the King-husband, thus expanding the happy family even more.

In their Goose Maid annotations (handmaid impostor, menial usurpée):

• A waiting-maid:  A lady in waiting was usually from the upper classes in a higher level of honorable servitude. A waiting-maid, on the other hand, would most likely be from the serving lower class. 
• I don't mean to be your servant any longer: The maid's actions are traitorous. Not only is she rebelling against her employer, but her sovereign, a crime punishable by death in these circumstances.
• The Princess was meek: Meekness, whatever the personal cost, was a highly prized quality in women in times past. While the princess may seem less sympathetic by today's standards thanks to her meekness/weakness, she would be a model of womanly virtue in some cultures. Other critics state that she is timid in confronting her maid thanks to her own immaturity. This is not a woman who is prepared to become a wife and queen.
• In losing the handkerchief with the drops of blood the Princess had become weak and powerless: The princess has apparently always depended on her mother's protection and guidance. Now that she has left it behind, she is no longer under anyone else's protection. 
• To take off her royal robes, and to put on her common ones: Being allowed to wear royal clothing is often a distinct honor. In times past, only royalty was allowed to wear certain items or colours by royal decree. No one was allowed to outdress or outshine members of the royal family in dress. The waiting-maid is lifting herself above her station. 
• Swear by heaven not to say a word about the matter: Promises, while important today, were more powerful in the past when honour was a great motivator. Also, before the time of literacy among the masses and written contracts, verbal promises were given greater weight. A promise was a contract and actionable by law if broken. Folklore emphasizes the importance of a promise by meting punishment upon those who do not keep their promises. In this story, the oath spares the princess' life. 
• False bride: The false bride plot device "provides the dominant frame story of Basile's firecracker of a collection of fairy tales, Lo cunto de li cunti [also known as Il Pentamerone], in the seventeenth century. His group of female storytellers exchange many tales of substituted brides and false queens, and at the end actually unmask a similar wicked usurper prospering in their midst (Warner 1994, 127).
• Dearest husband: It was appropriate for a betrothed couple to call each other husband and wife although the union was not supposed to be consummated until after a marriage ceremony had taken place. 
• Faithful Falada was doomed to die: Falada, the dear horse, is doomed to die from the princess' inability to assert herself or use her imagination. Her request to have Falada's stuffed head nailed above the gate shows little imagination. She uses her gold to keep the head nearby, not to spare the horse's life. Still, even this bribe and saving of Falada's head shows the most initiative she has had in the story so far. 
• Princess fair: While Falada is usually considered an animal helper in this tale, an opposite entity to the false bride, the horse does very little to help the girl besides provide her comfort and inadvertantly identify her as a princess before the hidden king. The horse does not actively connive to help the princess, like Puss in Boots would have done.
• swore not to by heaven: "Despite great hardship, the princess keeps her promise not to reveal to any human being what has happened to her; thus she proves her moral virtue, which finally brings about retribution and a happy ending. Here the dangers which the heroine must master are inner ones: not to give in to the temptation to reveal the secret" (Bettelheim 1975, 137).
• While I admire the Goose Maid's forbearance, I am not sure I agree that keeping the secret was her best choice. She was forced to make this promise under dishonest and possibly violent circumstances entirely against her will. Such a promise should not be kept, especially when it allows an imposter to flourish.
• Some modern interpretations of the tale, such as Shannon Hale's excellent novel, explain that the Goose Maid doesn't reveal her true identity because she fears no one will believe her. She awaits the best opportunity to reveal her identity with the least amount of blood shed available.
• Iron stove: The iron stove, as an inanimate object, is safe for the Goose Girl to tell her problems to without breaking her vow. If we are really generous, we can imagine she knows that the king will listen, but she will technically not be breaking her promise, so her moral virture will be intact.  Stoves and ovens are often consired to be symbolic of the womb and birth.
• Learned how good she was: One can imagine, as do many modern authors, a demanding, vicious maid giving headaches to the young king and the royal staff. Perhaps he is relieved to learn that this less demanding princess is his true bride instead of the shrewish harpy he has been living with.
• She did not recognize the Princess in her glittering garments: A suspension of belief is required for this frequent fairy tale plot device. The stepsisters in Cinderella do not recognize their sister in her splendor and now the former waiting-maid does not recognize the princess she is posing as despite having seen her in royal attire previously. 
• She deserves to be put stark naked into a barrel lined with sharp nails, which should be dragged by two white horses up and down the street till she is dead: This is an exceptionally cruel punishment and means of death, exemplifying the false bride's vicious nature. It also shows her limited range of imagination. While she can imagine such a horrendous punishment, she cannot imagine it being inflicted upon herself. She has no compassion and only wants to see her competition destroyed. She cannot even recognize her own story as the king recounts it to her. She is a bully, not a cunning villain. 
• You have passed sentence on yourself; and even so it shall be done to you: Full justice is served by having the maid choose her own punishment. According to Bettelheim, "the message is that evil intentions are the evil person's own undoing" (Bettelheim 1975, 141). 
• Both reigned over the kingdom in peace and happiness:Thus they are married and live happily ever after in true fairy tale fashion. Note also that they cannot live happily ever after until the villain has been destroyed and removed from their lives.

In their Jungfrau Maleena annotations (noble impostor, royal-turned-menial usurpée, presumed dead):

• His father had chosen another bride for him: It is important to note two things. One, the prince did not chose the bride; his father did. Second, the prince does not have the same reason to rebel as Maleen, he hasn’t seen her for seven years and he believes her to be dead. 

Zipes describes the second bride “She had a face as ugly as sin, and her heart was just as wicked” (Complete 623-624).

The second bride is never referred to as a princess. 

• I have sprained my foot: There is no sympathy for the second bride because she lies. “Laziness coupled with deceit was a combination that ran counter to the values inscribed on so many tales gathered in the collection” (Tatar 119).

It is possible that the second bride is a Dark Bride figure. Joan Gould believes that the “intruding Dark Bride is aggressive, dynamic, mercenary (often for necessary reason) on fire with jealousy, self centered, and self reliant” (194). Steven Swann points out that “the person who replaces the heroine seems to be something of a second self with whom the heroine is in conflict” (30). The second bride could be representative of pride and hubris that Maleen might have inherited from her father and which might have appeared later in the marriage. While Maleen is still the daughter of a king, she is no longer the daughter of a mighty king, or has the means of royalty (having lost her home and her father to war). Her prince is now richer than she. 

• I wish for no honour for which is not suitable: Zipes translates, “I don’t want an honour like this if I haven’t earned it” (Complete 624). It is only a physical threat that makes Maleen obey the second bride. The second bride is proposing something more than a simple deception. Maleen is not the bride’s proxy. Maleen is a secret substitute. Therefore, the marriage between the prince and the second bride would not be real marriage, and the children would not be illegitimate, throwing the royal bloodline into question and endangering the kingdom. 
• Put on the bride’s magnificent clothes: A changed clothes in fairy tales is often a change in state (Gould 420).
• She is like my Maid Maleen: The prince is not entirely clueless (like say the Prince in some versions of Cinderella). However, he discounts it because he believes Maleen to be dead.
• Then he took out a precious chain: Zipes translates “precious jewel necklace” (Complete 625) as well as “gold necklace” (Complete 627).

This occurs after the third exchange between the prince and Maid Maleen.  The prince does appear to know that something is not quite right.  Symbolically  a prince, “ . . . is a rejuvenated form of the paternal king . .  his great virtue is intuition” (Cirlot 264).
The chain is given before the couple set foot inside the church.  The chain itself can mean ownership or servitude (Biedermann 63).  However...  Prayer can represent by a golden chain (Biedermann 63).
In the Middle Ages, the husband presented the dower to his wife at the church door (Gies 31).  Vows and the ring were exchanged at the door and then the couple went into to hear mass (Gies 32-33) In addition, there was a nuptial cord that was used in marriage (Jeay, Marriage, 258), and this chain could be seen as a symbol of that.
The prince’s questioning of Maid Maleen is a form of Recognition which “. . .  marks a fundamental shift in the process of a story from increasing ignorance to knowledge” (Clute, Recog, 804).

• She did not speak a single word: The reasons why Maid Maleen does not speak are somewhat unclear. She might be humble; she is a princess but she can bring nothing to the marriage.

Steven Jones contends:

Another concern raised by this popular motif of the heroine’s not being recognized by her husband or husband-to-be is the issue of not having ones true worth appreciated. Inasmuch as the future and current husband seems not able to recognize the true heroine, he is not seeing her true self, her true value (30).

D. L. Ashliman notes of incest tales:

the heroine’s need to escape from her own past is further indicted by her steadfast refusal to reveal her identity to the king [the prince here] who discovers her . . . Psychotic behavior of this sort is perfect ably believable for someone who has just been sexually threatened by the man who should have been her closest and most powerful protector, her own father or guardian. 

• Must go out unto my maid: Zipes translates, “My maid, my maid, I must go and see/For its she who keeps my thoughts for me” (Complete 625).

This is the first of four tests that the second bride must do. The sequence could be based on bridals games where the groom had to identify his bride (Gould 203). According to Joan Gould, “Ethnologists account for these games by saying that in past ages a marriageable woman could be valuable property, and so her community might try to palm off a less desirable female, a child or crone perhaps, in exchange for the agreed upon bride-price” (203-204). This “palming off” might be what the second bride is trying to do. Such bridal games lasted until the 19th century, and the veil is a hold over from them (Gould 204). 

• I said nothing but: Maid Maleen is still being humble. The Grimms “. . . placed great emphasis on passivity, industry, and self-sacrifice for girls” (Zipes, Subversion, 60).
• Terrible passion: Each time she must go back to Maleen, the bride gets angrier and the threats are harsher. Maleen, on the other hand, does not lose her patience.
• She screamed so loudly for help: Maleen breaks her silence and asks for help when she is being attacked by someone who is acting outside the law.  Steven Jones notes “The fact that the king enforces the moral code suggests that part of the social imitation of women in these stories is to encourage them to rely on and be reassured about the ability of society to punish transgressions” (33).
• I am thy lawful wife: When discovering the prince or king’s discovery of his proper bride, Joan Gould notes, “Not until he picks her out among all the women of his kingdom will she have anything to do with him, because only then can she be sure that he acuteness of his vision of her is equal to the force of his desire” (200).

Maleen points out her sufferings for him; it is as if she was saying: I have nothing to bring to the marriage but my love and steadfastness, which are things that the second bride did not have.
Karen Rowe points out, “Because the heroine adopts conventional female virtues, that are patience, sacrifice, and dependency, and because she submits to patriarchal needs, she confusingly receives both the promise and guarantee of social and financial status though marriage” (217).  In addition, she “. . . re-enters a comfortable world of masculine protection shared earlier with her father” (Rowe 217).

• The second bride's fate: The false bride was rewarded for what she had done by having her head cut off.

The second bride, false bride, rival bride, or false bride generally represents the heroine's dark side, her Shadow. As such, she is most frequently a deviant, with a physical or mental fault, -whether the irascible Braut in Jungfrau Maleen or the one-eyed stepsister in Brüderchen; or d'Aulnoy's overly tall, red-headed, freckled, and/or always cross false brides; the cat possessing Yukari is not even human!-. Again, Yukari being a Gemini may explain the symbolism. Let's not forget that her previous limelight episode had her confronting her lonely, weary inner child, whom she hugged in an affectionate way -defending the right of her dark side to exist. In classic Dark Bride tales, the impostor is always executed (there are exceptions, Rosette pardoning her handmaid, but still it's a literary tale and a far cry from the Grimms: one of the false brides in the tales commented by Sur la Lune is "led into the forest, where the wild beasts tore her to pieces"; another is "put stark naked into a barrel lined with sharp nails, which should be dragged by two white horses up and down the street till she is dead"; the third one is "rewarded for what she had done by having her head cut off."). The young adult Yukari, however, presses her dark side/inner child close to her self, reflecting that light and darkness within a person are the two sides of the same coin, reconciling herself with her own negative side. (Likewise, the crystal cat who hosted her psyche in this episode is spared.)
This tends to reflect the ends of the Precure series, especially the odd ones which are dark and edgy. Noise, the Selfcenters, and a Dysdark (Close) are not vanquished forever but lapse into a lethargic state, giving as their "last words" the statements that there will always be so-called "evil," whether in the form of moral evil (warfare, fearmongering, want, greed, discrimination, violence) or negative emotions (rage, sorrow, fear, despair). Surely, Noir, the dark overlord of this continuity, will share the fate of his predecessors. A fate which mirrors a "humans-are-flawed" conception entailing that the dark side of reality never dies for good.

As for Akira's relationship in this Freaky Friday Flip scenario, she realises right from the start that, though her physique be Yukari Kotozume's, this young lady is not the real Yukari she knows and loves (when your usually dignified waifu/moirail devours all the preserved fish you had as a gift for your grandmother, and that without cutlery, isn't it suspicious?). This is the same anagnorisis that the fiancé or husband displays in these Dark Bride tales upon recognising his true bride and telling her from the usurper. And it could only have been possible because our OTP love and accept one another warts and all. Whiskers and all, even.




The episode begins by showing us that Diaval is resting in order to restore his power. After that, we see that Yukari’s crystal cat leads her to a place where they butt heads and fall unconscious... Freaky Friday Flip ensues.

She encounters Threestars and a couple of his henchcats (promptly subdued, the latter two, by Yukari's charm), all three dying of thirst and quite irate because the yousei (according to Threestars) drove them away from their watering hole.

It takes no effort for Yukari to overcome the henchcats, so Threestars abdicates in favour of her as leader of the pack, believing Yukari can settle the dispute between cats and yousei.

Meanwhile, Yukari – or rather, the cat inhabiting her body – rocks up at the KiraPâti. Akira is surprised by the moment of her waifu eating fish strait out of the tin with her own fingers (something so OOC for a Kotozume heiress)!

However, dark power goes to work once more and the cats and yousei end up fighting. Yukari finds a gang fight like that breaking out to be boring, so she proposes a duel between the leaders. "I DEMAND A TRIAL BY SINGLE COMBAT!"

Yukari claims victory, and tells both the yousei and the cats to leave Ichigozaka as she is the lone victor – the town is hers now. Nobody is OK with that, and Kirarin then fights back. Yukari purposely falls from a cliff, and Kirarin works out that she was making a scapegoat of herself. Apparently the yousei manage to forget that they can fly for a while, as they work together to form a chain with the cats to save Yukari and Kirarin. Once they are safely back on solid ground, Yukari disappears.

Parfait fights whilst protecting Yukari from some werewolf-headed planaries, and the other Cures soon arrive. They swiftly get themselves captured, but they are accompanied by ‘Yukari’ – the cat and the actual Yukari end up returning to normal.

Amusingly, Parfait was the only one out of the loop – the rest of PreCures, including Akira/Chocolat, were totally aware of Yukari’s body switch. With status quo restored, Parfait and Macaron incapacitate their foes and the whole team finishes them off with Pretty Cure Animal-Go-Round.

We end seeing that the cats and yousei are getting along once more.

I enjoyed this episode. It was certainly on the sillier side of things, but I am totally fine with silly. It was rather amusing seeing Yukari just get on with being a cat, simply because it was interesting.
We also have Diaval regaining his power in the background. I imagine he will be the penultimate obstacle for the PreCures to overcome, with Noir almost certainly filling the role of final boss.

IN NEXT EPISODE (35):
Next episode is an AOI-CENTRIC EPISODE!! (YEAAAAH!!!)
Sadly, it's also a Himari-centric episode (sigh...)
But again, seing the Prof and the rocker as foils to one another -like Hamlet and Laertes, Burr and Hamilton, you name it- is really interesting.
We also got to see Aoi in a gown again! Does that mean that the Tategami clan... oh, wait. Aoi invites Himari to a society event, which obviously makes the middle-class introvert at least a little tense.