Re: Agito up to 34

[akino_ame]

So I'm finally caught up on the Agito releases, and it's finally stopped physically hurting to watch. The plot threads are all coming together at last, and even the worst characters are becoming more interesting. The Weasel is proving that he can turn off the sliminess and focus on his job, as long as he's nowhere near Ozawa and Hikawa. Hikawa is being given a chance to shine at last. Ryo...well, yeah, he's still getting shat on, but he's trying to move past it at long last rather than just continue the "woe is me" storyline. Tetsuya/Real Shoichi is taking a stand and trying to do everything possible to protect the potential Agitos. Mana is bringing everything togeter, and even Shoichi is beginning to gain more of a character--I'm actually starting to see the intended problem with him, that he's afraid to rely on other people because he doesn't want them to mess up or get hurt. So he takes on too much responsibility because of it--a character flaw I really like to see (Andros, Eiji). This is the chance for him to mess up and be afraid. When Hikawa klutzes out a bit trying to do something nice for him, he loses his patience and takes it out of his hands, only to mess up worse, with Hikawa pointing out that this is the first time he's ever seen him in this light. And then he hesitates when Mana brings him a meal she cooked, since he's the only one who does the cooking, and then he looked guilty when he saw she'd cut herself trying to make it for him. Then she delivered a verbal bitchslap of a speech to him saying that he's got to try and fight for himself--pre-empting everything Kobayashi will write--and he ate with gusto, trusting other people to be able to help him while also finding the strength to overcome his own fear.

I'm engaged. I'm interested. While I still can't see yet how Agito was so wildly popular--from what I can see, it has the highest ratings of any Heisei Rider--but I can definitely see why people like it so much. When it does right, it really does right. And I'm now interested to see the next few episodes.