Recap: After a trip around trauma lane, it’s back to politics as usual. Yuuki’s got a lot of catching up to do, but with the kind of platform any kid could get behind (AKA the screw responsible financing, I need to make candy platform), it looks like the presidency might be in his grasp after all.

Marlin’s Thoughts: Well, after the first week of at least somewhat normal dramatic pacing, Chocolate decides to slap us in the face with a heaping helping of DRAMA as scorned childhood friend Chisato has a creepy dream about her dead brother. I am seriously getting sick of these hit and run tactics, but I guess they do what they’re meant to. Her calling Yuuki Daiki is super weird knowing her romantic affection towards him, but I guess we’ll just have to interpret that as foreshadowing?

On the campaign trail, Yuuki has secured the sweetest spot for his grandstand. With stump speech and fliers in hand it really starts to feel like a real election. It’s nice to see things working out in our guys’ favor this time. I still have a problem with Yuuki’s anti-reform platform as he has no set goals as to assuage any problems that could arise from excessive funding for all the clubs. I guess the dude is still a high schooler, not really gonna expect him to have the greatest grasp of economics.

I still don’t get this financial aid thing. Since when was elitism such a well accepted thing? What kind of horrible people do they let into this school that this kinda shit happens? I guess you could say this is a consequence of the great degree of autonomy this school is given, and that since kids are kinda douchebags by default, douchebag ideals would come into popularity. Obviously this is just set up to make Yuuki the good guy and to offer some more sympathy for Aomi, not that she really needed it. However, Chisato is completely right. This isn’t the time to make unpopular stances, even if they sound totally obvious to normal people.

I really enjoyed this episode. We saw a big more of the seedy underground via the suspended Public Safety Commissioner’s threats and actions, which I welcome wholeheartedly. Not enough has really been shown about how corrupt and insidious this school actually is. I also find it interesting that it seems this show is gunning for one route, namely Satsuki’s. I had suspicion of it because of last week’s episode, but this one made it seem even more apparent. On the topic of things brought up last week, just as in weeks prior, what the fuck is up with Morishita? She’s like a plot ninja, just appearing delivering a couple lines in that cute shy voice, and then disappearing like so much smoke.

As for one final complaint, if what I’ve talked about before were drama whiplashes, and then drama concussions, this episode’s ending was like a drama brain trauma. Obviously for plot reasons it will probably end up fine, but you can’t just end your episode like that after a lighthearted and stupid indirect kiss scene. It’s just way too fucking jarring.