The Invisible storm:  this episode justifies exactly what this series has been heading towards and what all these relationships between the girls literally mean: making friends.

The comedy in this series last time took a somewhat twisted perspective of Princess Lulu’s inability to accept her brother’s love by killing him numerous times.  Here we’ve got a repetition of what Ginko yearns for while she is living with Lulu and Kureha.  It is strange to put this at the beginning of the episode but nonetheless it worked in bridging the gap here between Kureha’s love for Sumika and what she needs to find in a new friend.

Tori Takahashi wrote a pretty decent episode that flushes out Kureha’s bond between bears and Ginko’s unwavering resolve turned destiny towards loving her.  The flashback is touching and yet pulled off a wonderfully comical parody of Full Metal Jacket with the helmet.  Deep-rooted emotional scenes that add a bit of hilarity to them is what makes this episode so different than what we’ve had in previous episodes.

Takahashi directed Inari Kon Kon Koi Iroha last year and I can tell how his writing influences this:  a brighter side of life with friends at the academy, Kureha’s interactions with Ginko and Lulu are playful fun.  Although the transition was executed decently here–  these lighter scenes would have been better off more towards the beginning of this series than the middle.  However, this second half is tried and true towards what this series is using as a focal point:  the invisible storm.  It’s great to see this being a reflection on how girls make friends at the academy:  when one acts upon their own wishes they are excluded.

Karou Harishima, the acting president over student council is the most interesting girl in this episode–  she’s apologizing on behalf of the others for what happened and the turnaround to exclude her provides a good justification for Ginko to save Kureha.  The court scene is at last different and I like how we are seeing these phrases of eating humans or rather Kureha being shifted into being her friend, not backing down on love.

The layers are peeling off of Ginko and I can see Lulu somehow sacrificing herself in order to get this dream of hers across.  Definitely not what I had expected with that cliffhanger–  that song there is fantastic!

OVERALL IMPRESSION: 7/10

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