Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we\u2019re returning to the tangled drama of Blue Reflection Ray, a fact I announce with some trepidation, given the show\u2019s recent turn towards genuinely harrowing personal drama. Princess Yuki\u2019s experiences with online abuse served as a thoughtful exploration of both the promise and dangers of seeking community online, effectively capturing the contradictions of socializing in online spaces. For the many people feeling isolated in our increasingly atomized modern world, online communities are a crucial lifeline \u2013 but crowdsourcing your sense of self-worth is an incredibly fraught gambit, thus necessitating the forging of genuine, intimate connections like Yuki\u2019s bond with Miyako.<\/span><\/p>\n Then we got into <\/span>Niina<\/span><\/i>\u2019s story, which has proven even <\/span>more<\/span><\/i> devastating. Abused by her mother and eventually cast out on the street, Niina had lost all hope for the future when she was discovered by Hiori\u2019s sister Mio, and drawn into the company of the red reflectors. Could any promise our team might offer sound like anything but fanciful, naive lies to one so mistreated by life? Regardless, I\u2019ve been thoroughly impressed by Blue Reflection Ray\u2019s refusal to pull its punches, and can only hope better things lie ahead for poor Niina. Let\u2019s get to it!<\/span><\/p>\n Episode 7<\/b><\/p>\n \u201cPlease, Just Let Me Have What I Want.\u201d A title that immediately brings the Smiths song to mind, though I highly doubt that\u2019s an intentional connection<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMaybe this rain is like their tears of joy. They\u2019ll be reunited. I\u2019m sure of it.\u201d A mysterious cold open, accompanied only by a gray, cloud-blotted sky. The match cut from this shot to the blue sky of the opening seems like a promise \u2013 can we draw these lonely characters back to the light?<\/span><\/p>\n A montage of scenes featuring Mio and Momo seem to imply we\u2019re finally revealing Mio\u2019s story. Given these scenes are apparently flashing before Momo\u2019s eyes, it seems like she actually felt Mio\u2019s new partnership with Riina taking the place of their own prior bond<\/span><\/p>\n Even the other girls realize something has happened to Momo, but she tells them it\u2019s nothing<\/span><\/p>\n In the wake of Mio sharing her vision, Niina lies stunned on the couch. Uta tries to guess whatever Mio showed her, revealing her own insecurity in her attempts to dig at her former partner. Uta claims to only love suffering, but her true desires are always written on her sleeve \u2013 she\u2019s actually a pretty standard adolescent, divorcing herself from vulnerability through her melodramatic poise, but secretly desiring the same things as everyone else<\/span><\/p>\n When her first two provocations fail to gain a response from Niina, Uta then guesses that Mio declared Niina was \u201clukewarm and dull.\u201d An attempted insult that only demonstrates how much Niina\u2019s previous words struck home for Uta, such that she cannot think of a more damaging insult to throw back<\/span><\/p>\n Once again, Miyako proves herself the brains of the group by bringing up Momo\u2019s strange behavior from earlier<\/span><\/p>\n Miyako and Ruka both already have their overall group\u2019s schedules plotted in their phones, which Hiori interprets as a reflection of their love for Momo. The truth lies somewhere in the middle \u2013 Hiori\u2019s lack of scheduling is really just a result of her scatterbrained personality, but Miyako and Ruka\u2019s dedication to their duties does indeed speak louder than their actual ability to articulate their fondness for each other<\/span><\/p>\n Ruka still addresses Hiori formally as she asks about her sister. A neat encapsulation of her personality, as Hiori pointed out regarding that girl who needed help earlier \u2013 Ruka is quick to recognize the feelings of others, but lacks confidence in imposing herself in their lives<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt was a rainy Tanabata,\u201d Hiori explains as we cut to Niina, implying this memory is the same one Mio shared with her<\/span><\/p>\n This memory reveals Hiori being her same caring self, fretting that Tanabata\u2019s star-crossed lovers can\u2019t meet on a rainy day<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMaybe this rain is like their tears of joy.\u201d Flashback Mio attempts a positive reinterpretation of this rainy Tanabata. Her musing over the lovers\u2019 separation seems entwined with her coming separation from her sister<\/span><\/p>\n Both of them have written wishes for their mother to come home, the true inspiration for their lonely reflections<\/span><\/p>\n Clearly impacted by this alternate tale of a neglectful mother, Niina heads out<\/span><\/p>\n Miyako receives notice that Uta might be showing up at the Tanabata festival. A closed loop, then \u2013 Tanabata is when Mio disappeared from Hiori\u2019s life, and this current festival might just be the moment she returns<\/span><\/p>\n Ruka bumps into Momo at the convenience store, who\u2019s shouting at some unknown superior on her phone regarding the relationship between her and Mio. Welp, no hiding it anymore, Momo \u2013 though I\u2019m personally most curious as to who she\u2019s talking to. What organization actually exists around these reflectors, and why is that organization keeping itself concealed?<\/span><\/p>\n Oh my god, hearing Ruka describe Hiori as her \u201cbuddy\u201d is so much. God this girl is awkward<\/span><\/p>\n Momo reveals as little of the truth as she can, stating only that she\u2019s learned Mio is working alongside Uta and Niina<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYesterday, Mio\u2019s memories flooded into me for some reason.\u201d Ah, so Momo actually wasn\u2019t hiding the truth \u2013 her knowledge of Mio as a partner was erased as well<\/span><\/p>\n Excellent deadpan beat of some random guy walking up to the convenience store, seeing the clerk is engaged in some sort of urgent magical girl debate, and swiftly making his exit<\/span><\/p>\n So this whole memory deal is somewhat interesting, as it seems too adjacent to the red reflectors\u2019 promise of \u201cstealing away all your painful memories\u201d to be a coincidence. When you place that alongside the fact that Niina seems to have <\/span>absorbed<\/span><\/i> Mio\u2019s memories, the relationship between reflectors and memories seems even more obscure. Are red reflectors just acting as containers for each other\u2019s memories, sharing their suffering because the burdens of another are easier to bear than your own? There\u2019s actually a certain truth in that, which is in keeping with this show\u2019s general implication that the red reflectors clearly aren\u2019t \u201cevil\u201d or anything, they\u2019ve just embraced less healthy methods for grappling with their trauma<\/span><\/p>\n The fact that Momo\u2019s memories of Mio were wiped is still quite mysterious, though \u2013 that makes Momo seem like she was actually Mio\u2019s first \u201cvictim\u201d as a red reflector, that Mio immediately stole her memories of their partnership, but sharing those feelings with Niina brought them back to the surface<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHow can you be sure?\u201d \u201cWe resonated.\u201d Seeing an echo of your pain in another \u2013 rather than attempting to make your pain disappear, taking solace in our common experience of suffering, and our mutual desire to overcome it. The whole resonance system echoes our general productive means of overcoming trauma, the same recognition that Miyako offered to Princess Yuki<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSaying that you like being alone just proves you have no idea what it\u2019s actually like to be alone.\u201d Our Uta-adjacent target Kana seems to have a similarly misanthropic philosophy<\/span><\/p>\n Uta arrives to devour Kana\u2019s prey<\/span><\/p>\n And then reflector time activates. I\u2019d almost forgotten Miyako hasn\u2019t actually activated as a reflector \u2013 I am immensely curious as to who she\u2019ll end up resonating with, and have to assume it\u2019s one of our red reflectors. Her and Uta would make for a hilarious pair, but I\u2019m pretty sure Miyako would actually kill Uta<\/span><\/p>\n Niina arrives as well, and immediately blasts Uta. She demands a one-on-one battle with Hiori, clearly intent on taking Hiori\u2019s place in Mio\u2019s heart<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhy does my chest feel tight? I feel like crying.\u201d Hiori can\u2019t help but resonate with Niina\u2019s pain<\/span><\/p>\n Hiori tragically tries to bond through them apparently both having older sisters, which of course only pisses off Niina more<\/span><\/p>\n Love this depiction of Mio approaching as a morphing silhouette, making her seem like some monster from beyond the stars<\/span><\/p>\n The flower is plucked, Mio and Niina make their exit, and Hiori is once again left alone on a cold Tanabata night<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOr what? You just wanted us to suffer forever?\u201d Then Uta\u2019s acolytes surround the party, admonishing them for their \u201ccruelty\u201d in refusing to let others abandon their fragments<\/span><\/p>\n And Done<\/b><\/p>\n Jeez, nothing\u2019s ever easy for our poor girls. The team\u2019s grand reunion with Mio proved to be a disaster for everyone, with Hiori obviously suffering the worst from her sister\u2019s new apparent nature. In the wake of her mother\u2019s disappearance, Mio was the family she clung to, her one source of warmth in a world that\u2019s frequently as isolating and disappointing as Niina knows it to be. She\u2019s been putting on a strong face ever since then, but her wish upon the Tanabata tree demonstrates that she has in truth been propelled by an undiminished faith, a hope that one day her sister would return. And now she finds out that not only is Mio an enemy, but she\u2019s even replaced her with a surrogate younger sister? I\u2019m not sure even animal-faced ice cream will lift her spirits at this point, but goddamnit team, you gotta try!<\/span><\/p>\n This\u00a0article\u00a0was\u00a0mad<\/a><\/em>e possible by reader support<\/a>. Thank you all for\u00a0all that you do.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wrongeverytime.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/October12111742.jpg?resize=584%2C329&ssl=1\")
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<\/p>\nLike this:<\/h3>\n