Saturday, January 20, 2007

   Venus Versus Virus Ep2
[Posted @ 4:30 PM]
Here comes Episode 2 ... less action ... but more development.


Recapturing from last episode, Rucia probably brought the fainted Sumire back to Venus Vanguard. Still a little wobbly, Sumire staggered out. Souichirou asked if Sumire's okay for the test later, Sumire just smiled and said she'll be alright by evening ... it had always been like that. After Sumire left, Souichirou noticed that Sumire's tired form was probably because of exhaustion of turning into Berserked mode. Souichirou asked Rucia if it's really necessary to turn Sumire to Berserked mode in their fight in Episode 1. Rucia replied yeah, if not they wouldn't be able to defeat the Virus. Souichirou's a little worried for Rucia because they were still unsure of the powers Sumire possessed and it's better if they don't use it ... Rucia cut in saying that they have to, as it's a great advantage, so why not. In the end, by asking Sumire to join them, isn't their purpose just to borrow her strength? It's a waste to not use it, Rucia ended. Souichirou protested, saying Sumire can't control her powers yet and they need to test out more experiments on her if not ... Walking back, Sumire thought to herself that although she's used to her physical tiredness but that feeling of destroying the Virus ... she still can't shake it off. Sumire recalled her feelings when she's in Berserked mode, her conscious knew what she's doing ... she can't control her body. Sumire seemed fearful and a little hateful of her Berserked form ... and this forced 'job' she's in.

In Venus Vanguard, Sumire's undergoing a series of experiments to see to what degree she reacted to the anti-virus and the situation/feelings. In her Berserked mode, Sumire was trapped in this barrier to prevent her from lunging at anyone [LoL even Rucia was taken back by Sumire's evil growls]. Souichirou, Lola and Rucia were kinda pushing Sumire to her limits just because Sumire's a special case and so they must do the tests. Sumire probably felt sick of this and mumbled ... that she felt like a test rat. Sumire was placed in another test and this time Sumire or rather we can see Sumire's Berserked form with the physical body getting up to Rucia leaving Sumire's conscious body still sitting on the chair. Sumire realized she can't touch her physical body and couldn't even find the voice to call out her body to stop ... instead, she could only scream and shiver with fear. Souichirou and Lola noticed the marking on Sumire's left shoulder was different from before and had a chart of the marking in elements in which it represents. After the experiments, Sumire went back, upset that noone in Venus Vanguard understood what she's feeling and going through. It's like she's supposed and obligated to go through all these crap with no questions asked. Later in the night, Sumire ran out of Venus Vanguard, probably escaping from being experimented again to her school dorm and her friend, Mika. After Sumire's escape, Rucia and company realized that Sumire left and Rucia was okay with her out for the night and seemed to understand what Sumire's feeling.

In Mika's room, seemed like Mika invited Sumire's other friends in the room and Sumire seemed at ease with herself. Her friends asked Sumire to move back to the dorm [Sumire moved out 6 months ago] if she's not happy in Venus Vanguard, Sumire smiled and said she's considering ... her friends were delighted. Sumire's glad that her friends kept mentioning that it'll be like old times ... In school, Sumire also started to hang out with her cousin, Nene when she asked her out. Just then, Sumire saw a Virus up on a tree, looking out for preys in her school. The Virus seemed to notice Sumire but Sumire took out her repealing bracelet to confuse the Virus and it took off. Freaked out, she left the place hurriedly. While walking to her class, she saw a shadow in the corner and thought it was a Virus ... but it was just Rucia. Rucia told Sumire to go back to them, Sumire ignored the question by saying class's starting and avoided looking and went past her. Rucia told Sumire that she knows what she's thinking ... wanting to go back to her normal peaceful life, she knows all these because she hereself used to long for such moments. However, Rucia added, the now Sumire and the past Sumire's different, now she has the eye to see Virus and the Berserked mode. Even though there might be a day where Sumire might return to normal ... but it's not now. Rucia bluntly told Sumire that she wouldn't be able to return to the normal life she lead ... Sumire yelled that she doesn't understand such complex words and ran away. Later, Sumire can't help but think about what Rucia said, morever, she understood briefly what Rucia meant but doesn't want to face it probably. In class, Sumire became a little paranoid which worried her friends.

During lunch break, Sumire was still lost in Rucia's words before and her friends tried to cheer her up and it worked for Sumire for a while before she noticed the presence of the Virus from before. Sumire was stunned and fearful of her ability to see Virus and doesn't want Virus to exist in her world. Sumire took out her repelling ring but a ball knocked the ring out of her hand and into the drain. Just then, the Virus noticed Sumire and she ran away through the school's corridor. Sumire kept uttering that she doesn't want this ... ran to her classroom and took out the anti-virus gun. Indeed, the Virus noticed her and followed her, Sumire ran out of the room to avoid hurting and alerting other students probably, but Sumire shot at the Virus just outside the classroom ... kinda weird isn't it that noone noticed lol. Anyways, Sumire managed to hit the wing of the Virus but it dodged the second bullet Sumire shot and many others as the Virus lured Sumire to the rooftop. Chasing the Virus, Sumire thought to herself, she wanted to return to her normal peaceful life and her oldself. Leaving with two shots, and missed one, Sumire found herself cornered with only a shot left. Shivering and desperate as the Virus tried to attack her, Sumire shot the last anti-virus on herself, turning herself into Berserked mode [It takes a lot of courage XD]. Berserked Sumire's hands burnt the Virus's hand, causing it to spread its wings and flapped up the sky taking Sumire with it. Sumire's marking on her right thigh changed to the 'Air' element as seen in the chart and she possessed the ability to control wind.

Sumire flew above the Virus, plunged down and stabbed the Virus in midair. The Virus fell down and turned into dust ... Just then, Rucia arrived, Berserked Sumire merely said that Rucia probably smelt good/yummy or something and charged at her lol. Luckily, Rucia was prepared with the barrier she built around Sumire. However, the barrier was still not strong enough as the Berserked Sumire managed to pry open the barrier for a moment and scrapped Rucia's cheek. By the time Sumire woke up, she saw the concerned Rucia with a bruise on her cheek looking down on her. Sumire took out her hanky for Rucia to clean her cheek but Rucia said it's okay, the wind then blew Sumire's hanky away ... Sumire confessed to Rucia that she understood that she wouldn't be able to return back to normal ... After class, Sumire cheered up a bit when her friends invited her for cake and tea. Sumire also decided not to run away from the tests and probably more at peace with herself now she sorted everything out. Smelling the fragrant scent of flowers, Sumire was lead to a playground and as she climbed up the playground slide she saw a guy inside who was giggling at Sumire's klutziness. Sumire blushed at the guy's smile and thought to herself that that smile was warmer than any of the flowers there. At Venus Vanguard, Rucia and the others noticed that Sumire's cheeks were red and filled with happiness but Sumire just said it's nothing ... - END -

In this episode, we touched on Sumire's internal turmoil of not being able to return to her normal life, laughing, gossiping and giggling with her friends and fear or rather hate of Virus for interrupting her normal life. This episode also revealed Sumire's powers to convert herself to kinda 4 different elements as the mark on her left shoulder changes. It was further illustrated during her battle with a Virus in the episode as she had the powers of the 'Wind' element. In one of the experiments Rucia had for Sumire, Sumire could see what her Berserked mode was doing and that was probably the breaking point for Sumire as she tried to run away. Rucia managed to convince Sumire that it's normal to feel that way but the Sumire now is different from before so she must accept herself as now. Probably the most important development was the appearance of Kusanagi Yoshiki, the love interest of Sumire as she blushed when she saw Yoshiki for the first time and probably love at first sight for her ...

Art: 6.5/10 [Animation going down, =(]
Story: 7.5/10 [More of Sumire's internal turmoil.]
Characters: 7.5/10 [More was revealed on Sumire's berserked mode and stuff.]
Overall: 7.5/10 [It was an okay episode.]

[Signing off @ 5:26 PM]
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