Funny that with the sounding name like “Classroom of the Elite”, this episode moves as far away as possible from the “classroom” scenario and of course in no way those kids are the “elite”, because no elite argues about the need of portable toilet in the middle of a deserted island (because of course you need no toilet in the middle of a freaking deserted island); yet here they play it completely straight. That and somehow nearly the whole class don’t know how to set fire to wood make me question whether the writer himself knows anything about proper camping. Put the plot aside for now (because silly plot is… silly), it’s the setting that I find rather intriguing this time. Of course it comes from me who have zero experience of getting stranded in a deserted island before, so take my two cents below with a grain of sand. Suppose that a group find itself stranded in the middle of nowhere, what would they do first? Setting up a base, choosing the leader and looking for food. The basic, long-term survival plan. In that sense, Yousoko this week fulfills two of these, and they actually blend these two with the “bonus points” each class will compete with each other (finding the spots, only the leader can secure the plot and the guessing game of who is the leader of each class).
The most natural rule about setting up base, is to pick the place near the river/water. Maybe I come from the place whose big cities are primarily located in a coastline, so I’m biased; but I believe that control the water supply is one of the most crucial condition. Class-D, intentional or not, picks one of the best place to survive as a result. Then, you’d need to look for the food and this is where Yousoko does a poor job as the class has no trouble or even put much thoughts of finding food. Granted that they’re leaning on buying two meals a day anyway but this should be an aspect the show can make an interesting spin on it. On other notes, despite my moaning, I understand the intention behind the guys and girls arguing about that wrecked portable toilet. In order to work together as a team, you’d need to satisfy the basic needs of the members of the group. About picking the leader, l really adore the subtlety from Youkoso about saying the importance of guessing and figuring out the leaders of other classes (High risk, high return they say) and then the very next scene our guy Ayanokouji just happens to spot the leader of Class A – with his card on his hand, lecturing his classmate about “don’t talk too loud” no less. Choosing Horikita as a Class-D leader is a sound plan, mostly because she’s a lead (hah!) and that way Ayanokouji can work effectively in the shadow for the class’s benefit.
But behind all these complicated rules and “living in the island for a week” premise, the main meat is always about points. It’s not the matter of saving and gaining points, it’s more about how to use the points wisely. Not wasting any unnecessary points, but still fulfill the basic needs for everyone and gain more points by securing spots and identify the other classes’ leaders. Seems like Class-D get that aspect right, except that… the Tarzan Perfect Species doesn’t agree with any of that. Man, at this point I stop taking him seriously because who’s in the world except monkey would climb and hop between trees instead of walking normally like a normal sensible human would do? I believe he has another agenda for swimming away and admiring the moon, but frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn. Another important development is that class-D decides to take care of Class-C girl’s Ibuki, who is beaten up by her classmates. It looks like a trap for me consider that we don’t really see the reason why she got injured in a first place and I know Ryuen is wicked bastard; but class-D proves again why they are at the bottom of the food chain by sharing her their food and genuinely care for her without any question asked. Until next week when all the cards are on the table should we know how all this play out, but for now, securing the spots, while having fun argue about portable toilet, how to use points and protecting themselves from the evil scheming of other classes sound like a pretty good fun for me. Do it with styles Youkoso.
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