Star Driver 12 – It Works Every Time
Even though there were some segments of this episode that were pretty weird (see anything related to boxing), Kanako always makes Star Driver worth watching. Setting the strangeness of this and other episodes aside, Star Driver has been doing a good job of developing its characters and setting up plot points for later on.
While Kanako losing to Takuto was nothing new and pretty much expected, the events, both before and after the fight were pretty interesting. Mizuno’s seemingly childish response to Kanako, in which she explained why people couldn’t use magic anymore, seemed pretty weird and out of place on its own. However, by combining this scene with what Kanako said about becoming the demon king so that the world can go on does leave some room for imagination. It makes you wonder if Takuto is doing the maidens and everyone really, a disservice by preventing the Crux from reaching new stages.
Perhaps Kanako, who seems to think she is in a position to do good, believes that if she can beat Takuto she will be able to unblock whatever is keeping people from using their magic. Now to say that Takuto is the show’s antagonist wouldn’t be right, but it is pretty selfish of him to prevent the rest of his classmates from reaching the next stage, while he gets to build a harem that will stand the test of time.
A line isn't recycled as long as you use it on someone new
Speaking of his harem, it appears that Takuto tried to consolidate his hold on both Kanako and Simone/Pamela. Kanako’s newfound desire to kiss without the glass after being defeated says volumes about Takuto’s appeal. However, I thought the most interesting interaction this episode was between Takuto and Simone. Though you have to give credit to Takuto for casually working in that beautiful eyes line to Simone, she seemed to realize that he had used that line in the past, and we know that he did on Marino in episode 10. You have to think that this is going to come back and bite in the ass in future episodes, as pulling off the harem is difficult to do, but he hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down yet.
Then what would an episode of Star Driver be without Sugata brooding over what his next move should be. That scene with Head was nice in that it showed that Sugata still hasn’t done everything that he wants to, and that his actions in the last episode weren’t his ultimate goal. While I suppose its possible that he didn’t want to help Takuto in this fight due to fairness concerns, its also possible that he wanted to see Takuto lose. On another Sugata related note, I thought it was interesting to see Keito ask so many questions about him at the Brigade meeting. Knowing that she and him have some sort of past, it will be interesting to see what she will do in the future, especially considering that she hasn’t lost the ability to pilot her Cybuddy yet.
Finally, there was that comment of Kanako’s, in which she stated that she would not be able to compete in the Olympics even if she wanted to because of the Crux’s plans for departure. Now I know that these pilots call themselves Star Drivers, but it would be pretty out there, even for this show, for some events to take place in space. However, given the similarities between Zero Time and space, I suppose it wouldn’t be that big of a leap. I mean, the show has taken the time to show that there are a lot of people in the world with a stake in the Crux’s operations, so it would have to be something pretty important for them all to drop a large chunk of change.
