I’m not crying, you're crying. Shichisei no Subaru has really kicked it up with the drama. Asahi is unable to log out and clearly her insistence on being alive is hurting Haruto. You can see that he is torn between being weirded out and wanting to help this sprite that looks like his best friend who died six years ago. Satsuki is having none of it and Asahi doesn’t understand why Satsuki is so frustrated with her. It’s kinda going back and forth before Subaru just tells them all to chill. They head into a dungeon where they meet Elicia.

Elicia does that weird, mysterious character thing where she melts into a wall. They follow her through and looky looky, that boss is here again. The one from six years ago, but something is different and now they have to take him down. All of their senses awaken and clearly this was meant to happen. The battle is over and Satsuki tells Asahi that since her sense awoke, her physical body must exist somewhere in reality.

So... this is now full-blown SAO with Anohana mixed in for good measure. As the characters grow closer as to why Asahi died in reality, this is going to create strife and mental anguish for the other party members. We are not sure where Shichisei is headed but one of two routes is clear: Either they will find Asahi’s body in real life trapped somewhere, or her character is just something the game’s AI cooked up and we are gunna get a BAD END. Which do you think it is?

Banana Fish has been a surprising and very serious anime so far, something I wouldn’t have expected as someone who did not read the manga nor the synopsis. This week’s episode got really read with talks of regret and sorrow. It’s especially sad to see Aslan in jail despite being innocent and not actually having had a trial (because he’s too risky to be held outside the prison). Then he runs into Max who turns out to be the one who have paralyzed Griffin. How overly complicated. Then Max goes and tries to strangle Aslan for some reason. Lots of psychological stuff going on, but it’ll be so good to see it unfold. This is the type of shoujo story that should be adapted, people! It’s like being in the 90s and early 2000s again. The undertones of boy x boy love really helps add to the psychological issues going on, and it’s all so wonderfully done! It makes everyone so much more complicated.

Then there’s Eijiro who is more or less an idiot and very frustrating to watch. He’s the boy who’s got the confused sexuality thing going for him slightly, but for someone who is supposedly smart, he just goes and tells everyone about Aslan and his errand, which is what Aslan told him not to do. Who does that? You are just asking for trouble. And this boy is supposedly someone who solved mysteries? What an idiot.

Looks like marrying someone you don’t love has to make you happy. Crazy, huh? Well, if you live on this island you must stick to the rules, and being the daughter of the man in charge won’t make things easier. Lucky for her, Karen has Setsuna, Sara and even her brother by her side, and the shame of a runaway bride shouldn’t last that long, right? With a stupid facade and a lot of guts, Setsuna interrupted the wedding and stole the girl away, only to run away on a motorcycle (sounds poetic, but they are not eloping) until they fell off the dock. After the comedic relief, Karen is now free to see how and where her mother is, leaving the island and all its impositions behind… and well, Setsuna just helps her because there’s nothing else to do anyways.

Ok, you can’t go around mocking any foreign place’s traditions and calling yourself a more evolved person, but looking at how they isolate people behind some old fairy tale isn’t easy. Even more, when Karen is really free, she isn’t even confident in herself to do what she wanted to do in the first place! Is this some kind of allegory or metaphor?

After this episode’s trip, our runaway bride has a whole new perspective on her place in the world. But even if we use it as a great trigger for ideas and philosophical thoughts, I hope this means something for the plot... or else this will be remembered as another weird enough date between the main character and some girl.