Got Metal Gear Rising and absolutely loving every second of it…until Armstrong’s Blade mode portion that wrecks my shit everytime. Feels bad man, a boss hasn’t given me this much trouble since Darklurker. Hell it ain’t even his regular attacks that get me, it’s that damn blade mode portion that takes 100 damage. And as I say that, I end up beating him after a good 2 hours.
Back on track though, time for the penultimate episode of Date A Live II episode where not too many things happen until they very end. We get Miku’s extremely short backstory on why she acts like she does and a small scene outside of the DEM building with Ellen and Origami who ends up being useless. Speaking of Ellen, there were so many good shots of her this episode.
The battle continues outside the DEM building while Shido makes the lonely climb upward, swinging a sword that eats away at his own life everytime he uses it. Shido gets nailed to the wall after he climbs another set of stairs but he gets unexpected help from Miku of all people. She assists him up the building while the hypnotized Yamai twins and Yoshino help clear out the Wizards outside. Miku still says that the only reason she’s here is to add Tohka to her harem of girls.
Mana continues her fight with Jessica and Ellen drops in to break the monotony. Origami shows up and gets paired against Ellen. Back inside, Miku gets information on one of the hypnotized Wizards (a girl of course) who reveals Tohka’s location on the 18th floor. After dealing with yet another waves of Wizards, Miku questions why Shido is insistent on saving Tohka. Kind of hard to empathize with with Shido since Miku’s outlooks are somewhat warped and is legitimately unable to see how precious Tohka is to Shido. Shido then asks the question why Miku is so hateful and thanks to Kurumi’s recollection ability, he at least knows that she was turned into a Spirit rather than being born as one.
Albeit short, Miku explains her history under the name Tsukino Yoimachi, a rising idol a few years back who became extremely popular. The popularity however was something Miku found secondary, her reason for being an idol was just to sing her heart out and be loved by her fans. Then she was approached by a producer who asked for sex and he obviously refused. Unrelated scandals were blamed on her and she quickly lost fans and popularity, eventually the stress led to her losing her voice. It was through this “Phantom” who gave Kotori her abilities that gave Miku her voice back.
Shido pulls off his massive charm speeches and make even Miku blush for a second before they banter on again, all the way up to the 18th floor. Origami’s fight with Ellen ends quickly but Ellen retreats when she recieves orders that Shido and Miku reach their destination. Shido and Miku enter the room and meet Westcott who is intrigued by Shido’s ability and lets Tohka move freely. The two are seperated by a glass wall but before Shido can cut through, Ellen stabs him through the chest. 
Shido falls and Miku is unable to do anything to Ellen or Westcott and basically joins Tohka in watching Shido die. Ellen is ordered to finish Shido off and in the moment of pure despair, something clicks in Tohka’s psyche.
Only one episode remains. I’ll be sad to see this go but the novels still have a few more volumes before we reach the end. There were hiccups in terms of audio synch here and there but I’m honestly not the one to expect nearly anything from a series like this, no matter how much I like it. Still even I have to give some word on some of the low quality faces. I’ll save my ultimate judgement when I eventually see the blu-ray qualities. Miku was supposed to be doing something against Westcott and Ellen but that didn’t seem to make it in. Oh well, the whole 10 episode thing made me realize that the final portion would be rushed but I can live with it.
Lair of the Idle 