Recap: Moritani is accused of being the mysterious attacker after being found near the latest victim. Haruka and the ESP club want to help but the group is divided on what to do.

Jel’s Thoughts: I’m still kinda on the fence with this detective crime story arc. On the one hand it seems a little too over the top, even for a show that features people with mind reading powers. On the other hand, it’s created quite a web of relationship building opportunities for the cast. Let me see if I can get this straight: Haruka is ostensibly helping catch the criminal because she feels responsible for what happened to Moritani, but based on her sideways glances at Yuriko (and the fact that she can read minds) she’s really doing it to help her. This makes Manabe angry since he still believes this is about Moritani and Haruka blaming herself, putting their relationship to the test. Yuriko herself thinks she’s actually fooling Kotoura, and despite secretly wanting to be friends she’s still trying to convince herself using Haruka is the right thing to do. MEANWHILE, Chibi Keima knows everything and seeing both sides are equally right and wrong he’s just waiting to patch things up as necessary. Did I miss anything?

So despite my apprehension about the somewhat ridiculous nature of the plot, I really have to hand it to the writers for getting this much mileage out of it. I do feel like I’m starting to get a handle on their logic though. Assuming I’m correct about Haruka intentionally trying to help Yuriko with her issues, I’m guessing that will be revealed after the shock of the attack at the end of this episode. I’m also going to guess that A. Chibi Keima took the hit for Yuriko and B. the attacker is our seemingly absent minded detective friend. There’s certainly plenty of clues, like her negative feelings about Haruka’s power and the fact that she happened to know exactly where the attack was going to be. Maybe she had some kind of grudge against Yuriko’s mother? I guess we’ll have to see.

With only a couple episodes remaining, I really wish Kotoura-san was going another season. I just love spending time with these characters and the writers have proven they’re not only do they have the courage to try new approaches but the talent to make them work. There’s still so much potential here, I’m going to be sad to see it end.