Selector Infected WIXOSS Final Episode (12): Betrayed at the last second

Well, we knew there was going to be a second season, so it’s no surprise that Ruuko’s wish failed. Honestly, I was expecting something much darker to happen to Tama. It looks like Iona knew that becoming an Eternal Girl involved becoming a LRIG, so I’m guessing her wish was to find someone worthy enough and take the place of that person’s LRIG. This, of course, begs the question of what happened to Tama. That question will probably be answered in the second season, but I’m wondering if it will be one of those things where they take care of it pretty quickly or if it will be the focus of the entire next season.

I don’t know if I want to commit to covering the second season, so I might never know (the cliffhanger might be enough to pull me in, though). Anyway, I was honestly expecting Tama to be some sort of powerful evil that would wreak havoc on the world if released from the card…still possible, but highly improbable considering the conversation Tama had with the mystery girl.

Selector Infected WIXOSS Episode 11: Is that you, Madoka?

Well, I can’t say that wish from Ruuko is a huge surprise. It’s only natural that she would want to save everyone after hearing the truth. I wonder what the mystery girl meant when she said Tama is different from the other LRIGs. Is she a manufactured LRIG? Or is she formerly human like all of the others, but something about her wish caused her to develop some other powers? I’m also not sure I like where things seem to be going with Hitoe…it’s starting to look like she might be able to overcome her punishment with the power of friendship.

Anyway, next week is the final battle against Iona. There’s supposed to be a second season of this show, so it’s very likely that it ends in a cliffhanger. One can only hope for a resolution of some sorts, but it’s unlikely considering the fact that one of the main five characters has barely had an appearance. Still, Iona seems to know something about the mystery girl that Yuzuki met, so I wonder what exactly she hopes to accomplish. Does she have a similar goal to Ruuko? Perhaps an opposing goal…

Selector Infected WIXOSS Episode 10: The challenge is out

This development with Hitoe begs the question of what will happen if Hitoe actually succeeded in becoming an Eternal Girl. Logically speaking, her body would be granted the wish of being able to make friends, so Yuzuki in her body would be healed, but her mind trapped in the card would theoretically have the same limitation of being unable to make friends. So she would have to get her next Selector to ask for the exact same wish to be healed herself, right? Just a bit of theory-crafting for fun…not all that much happened this week.

I guess this series is heading towards a cliffhanger. There was that fifth main character for this show that was briefly introduced, but she hasn’t really had any role up to now. Presumably, they wouldn’t resolve things until she had her turn. I’d say revealing Tama’s true nature would be the easiest way to end the series on an enticing cliffhanger. Anyway, it looks like next week is another battle against Iona. Is she trying to force Ruuko to stop her by sending the blanket challenge to all Selectors?

Selector Infected WIXOSS Episode 9: The truth is revealed

So it looks like the current Yuzuki is Hanayo released after all. It only makes sense…the only other option was that the current Yuzuki was some sort of evil clone or something. Strange, though…why is Hitoe going along with this despite knowing the truth? Why has she seemingly become Yuzuki’s puppet? Did Yuzuki maliciously promise her something because of what she knows of Hitoe’s past? Hitoe shouldn’t know who Yuzuki is, right? So she isn’t simply trying to save her, right?

What does this truth reveal about what happens next? Hanayo seemed to be very aware of what happened to her while she was an LRIG, but Tama seems pretty clueless. Is she just playing Ruuko or is she some sort of special case? Is she supposed to be the result of someone similar to Ruuko, having no wish, becoming an Eternal Girl? I’m not sure what else we’ll get, based on the preview. It looks like Hitoe might lose again, which might trigger her previous wish’s punishment…that’s all I got.

Selector Infected WIXOSS Episode 8: This is why you read the manual before joining the game

So the Selectors and LRIGs are a self-perpetuating cycle, just like the old story of the man wishing for power from a genie and becoming a genie himself. I probably should have seen that coming. I didn’t expect someone to become an Eternal Girl just like that. It’s a cruel system, but who created it and what is the purpose of it?

Now, the question to ask is what happened to Yuzuki? Is the Yuzuki that is currently interacting with Kazuki some sort of doppleganger? Or maybe it’s Hanayo freed from her service as an LRIG? And the Yuzuki that is currently an LRIG is presumably the real one, but the preview suggests that she no longer remembers her former life. It seems like the showing is heading towards a martyr ending involving Ruuko saving all of the girls from their misfortune.

Selector Infected WIXOSS Episode 7: So…Iona is the enemy?

It looks like Akira hit three losses as well at the hands of Iona. So far, it looks like Iona and Ruuko have a light vs. dark thing going on, but I still wonder if she’s supposed to be the antagonist here. We still don’t have a clear one and she’s been fitting the role so far. That being said, it just doesn’t feel quite right. And isn’t that other girl supposed to be involved in all of this too? What’s her role?

I guess Iona has found something in Ruuko. It’s not something cheesy like “a worthy opponent” or “someone who can grant my wish”, right? I can’t think of much else. It looks like next week will be threatening failure on Yuzuki? Is she the next one that will have her wish tainted? If so, there’s a high likelihood that Ruuko will find the “heal everyone’s wishes” ending eventually…

Selector Infected WIXOSS Episode 6: There seems to be a lot going on at the same time

The drama is building. It feels like the cast has basically split up and started doing their own things in tandem. Also, I suppose one of these days I’ll finally figure out how this game is supposed to be played. So far, all I’ve learned is that it looks like you have to make the decision between growing your avatar or attacking with it each turn. It’s still not too clear what the win condition is, though.

Looks like next week Ruuko will face Iona. Interesting that Iona changed her mind about facing her. Did she crush Akira and make a decision? Also, I’m wondering how this all comes together. Are all the characters we’ve met so far supposed to be coming together as a team? It’s hard to imagine some of them getting along. And if they are supposed to band together, what exactly are they supposed to face? Tama?

Selector Infected WIXOSS Episode 5: This is where the card games get serious

So they are running with the “you’ll never get your wish” thing after all. Well, Hitoe ended up serving the purpose I expected her to serve, revealing the dark nature of the LRIGs. It does make it curious what Ruuko’s role will end up being given that she has no wish. The obvious way to deal with that contradiction is to make her penalty something to the effect of “you suddenly have wishes, but they can never be granted”, but that might be stretching things a bit too far.

I assume that Ruuko will now start crusading to save all of the Selectors from the cruel fate of losing their wishes. From the preview, it almost looks like she loses to Akira despite her big talk (though I would have expected her to be the character that never loses in this show). That being said, Akira looks like she’ll have to confront Iona again as well.

Selector Infected WIXOSS Episode 4: Something dark’s going to happen soon, right?

It looks like my prediction of the early wish forced on Ruuko has a fairly low chance of happening. It looks like this show wants to milk the fact that she’s a wish-less player in a wish-granting game. A possible direction for the show would be watching the other Selectors find out about Ruuko’s lack of wish, so they avoid her until her thirst for battle overcomes her and Tama somehow. That might be too extreme, though.

Next week looks to delve into the darkness surrounding Hitoe. She managed to get her wish without completing the game and now has no reason to battle. There were hints that this would end poorly for her this week, and they’ll probably be put into play next week based on the title of the next episode. Is it as simple as losing her LRIG? I don’t expect it to be something extreme like “she’ll never be able to get her wish now”, right?

Selector Infected WIXOSS Episode 3: Wait…they evolve too?

So it looks like the show went with the simplest explanation was correct. Yuzuki and Hitoe are the ones taking the loss today. As I said before, this is quite the blow to Hitoe so early in this series. Assuming this show is headed down a dark path, it does give the option of using her to reveal what truly happens when you drop out. Either that or she becomes a support character similar to Kazuki. As for the game itself, it still looks like I have a lot to learn about the mechanics. There seem to be “arts” and “spells”. It looks like spells are just cards, whereas arts may be linked to the Rulig. Also, the white deck that Ruuko plays seems to be the multi-color archetype, more flexible, but probably missing certain Rulig-color affinities or something that full-color decks have.

The simplest explanation for Akira works too. She is just really overzealous about her wish and her behavior stems from desperation to see it fulfilled. My guess is that she joins the cast when either Iona or Ruuko puts her in her place. Although based on the visuals for the series, it looks like Iona will join as well. My guess would have been that Ruuko would beat Akira next week, but it looks like she may fight Iona instead. There’s only one other main cast member not introduced so far, it seems. I still have doubts about this show because it doesn’t look like anything too serious has happened yet, but the tone still seems much too tense to go nowhere, right? Maybe I’m watching too much Yu-Gi-Oh on 4kids.