Looking into Saekano Flat Episode 8: Katou Megumi

Now I see why they couldn’t show anything in this episode’s preview – more than half of the episode’s content are anime original. I think I’ve talked about this before in my review of Quan Zhi Gou Shou and how you can make use of anime original contents to enhance the quality of an episode and more importantly the anime as a whole.

K-On! lives as an example of how to perfectly use anime original content to make anime better than a mere adaptation. Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata ♭ closely followed on, especially in this episode.

I won’t be mentioning background music because I’m at the point of being assured; they can never go wrong, ever.

Lastly, the reason of this review being named Katou Megumi says something; this episode screams Megumi all over the place! Taking my comment from MAL over to here, I thank you, Fumiaki-sensei and everyone over at A-1 Pictures for making this episode so sweet to the point that diabetes is guaranteed for loyal Saekano fans.

This episode is exactly what I’ve hoped for it to be!

Flat Katou, crying Katou, angry Katou, Tsundere Katou, cooking Katou, naked Katou, Katou throwing tantrum, Deredere Katou and ending with Katou in love.

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For the last time, he realized that Megumi…

…been the true momentum behind everything that had happened from the moment Tomoya met her until this very time. Not willing to lose Katou from his misguided actions, Tomoya sets sail to reclaim the treasure that he could have claimed was once his.

Katou has been acting weird for the past few weeks ever since she has read his text message. He knows exactly what’s going on and won’t let this chance go to waste.

Neither would I, Tomoya.

This freaked me out as much as it freaked Katou…

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Audiovisual Room – The one room Megumi has no presence in

This room was heavily featured as a comedy stage in the first season. This episode finally turned it into something else worthy of a good memory for the pair.

Though, I can always question Tomoya’s method of urging Katou into the room…

Not cutting to the chase (I’m surprised that there are girls who can actually put up with so much bullshit – all the reason to hail Katou), Tomoya eventually lets Katou know that he’s onto starting the second project, to which she question whether Tomoya thinks that she’ll be happy taking part in the project or not. Man, salute this dude – he feigns guilt and runs a white lie saying that he doesn’t know for sure. There’s even a flashback of Katou’s mad face in episode 6 to prove that Tomoya indeed knows she’s not happy about all of this.

Not backing down, Tomoya states that without her, the game will never be fully completed regardless of how many top notch people are involved. He needs Katou; specifically, he needs her charms to make the greatest heroine possible.

Katou isn’t falling for that trick again, however. She knows all too well.

Gotta love this show and all the cocky people in it.

“Being the model for your main heroine isn’t much of a role.”

What does it mean to be the main heroine?

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Regrets – Megumi’s attempt to end it all

Finally, fiiiiiinally! It only takes a pair of balls, normal functioning brain and vocal chord to let someone know that you have screwed up, that you’re the one at fault. See, this very problem exists among nearly ever competitive gamer and is the biggest reason that hinders their improvement, let alone the still performance.

Tomoya admits that he has truly been the bottleneck of Blessing Software, to which Katou takes as a ticket to exiting the room. That idea only lasts a second when Tomoya also admits that having Katou as his main heroine was only a ploy; he plans on having her experience more than just the 2D world of emotions, to which he failed with the first game despite its commercial success.

It is then, Katou buys right into his honest dream.

There goes again with the “Katou-kun”.

Her stealth mode is still active, my God.

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Not taking the same route –  Megumi and her precautions

Seriously going through the slideshows this time, Katou tries to confirm that the circle won’t run into the same mistake after pointing out that Tomoya has puts himself into the position of handling many roles at once. She then finds her name under assistant section to which she lazily complains that it will be too much work for her. Katou is seriously multidimensional; she says things that make her look lazy despite being all-time hardworking.

After having her denials dismissed, Katou still has one more thing that needs clearing up…

“Do you think that’s okay?”

Thing is, Katou’s romantic side is rarely on display. But like normal girls out there, she knows when to really talk about it. As subtle as she can be, she’s asking Tomoya whether having his sights dead set on her will tow away Eriri or not. They’ve reconciled recently in episode 6.

Hey look! Tomoya isn’t being romantically dumb this time. He catches on Katou’s subtlety and does the nervous, asking her if she’s actually jealous of how he and Eriri have got so close (again).

All of the heart pounding moment (literally, that was the sound effect) was worth Katou’s reaction…

If season two never happened, this is probably the best picture to describe Katou Megumi.

The hell? No way?

Tomoya’s reaction to Katou’s reaction is just as grand, in my opinion.

“But, you know, it happens a lot in dating sims!“

HE IS TOTALLY TALKING ABOUT HIMSELF!

Give me a knife. Now.

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Her tears of love and grudge – Thank you, Megumi

Once Tomoya has cleared out one of his two deductions as to why Katou is not happy with him, he goes for the emotion kill and passionately lets out the real reason he’s here to apologize. It was lovely. I have no words for this scene at all. It just sucks that something like this only appeared after nineteen episodes. Katou Megumi finally has that flat skin peeled off completely. To anyone, myself included it’ll be a good surprise.

Let the video speak for it all – for how they make up.

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The wife we will know as Aki Megumi

Can anyone tell me of a person they know, who goes to undergarment shopping with a ‘friend’ of an opposite sex? Hell, not even my female cousins want me nearby when they are doing this kind of shopping.

The scenes are nearly entirely anime original which add more to the cuteness that is Katou and how natural it is for her to just barge into Tomoya’s house before him and cook for him.

At the table, Tomoya goes on and on about his 2D fantasy with his dream girl, which should be clear that is no other than Katou herself.

Her remark on Tomoya’s subtle confession is as flat as ever.

Having nothing to fear since he knows that Katou is truly a haphazard type (remember episode 2 of the first season?), he goes on to say about potential failures the second project may face. They are not making the game for money; they are tracing their memories into it.

Katou isn’t about to let him be a full on downer and strikes with a cute move. CUTE I SAY. ❤

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Megumi… ?!

The pair end up in Tomoya’s room where they eat junk food (how much can they eat, holy shit) and play a visual novel while discussing about their upcoming visual novel. Tomoya makes it clear that he wants to only make a normal galge, no crazy settings and fantasy story like Cherry Blessing. But man! I enjoyed and cried out of Clannad which happens to be supernatural and fantasy! While I want to say that Tomoya’s blunt way of expressing his ideas isn’t in alignment with mine, just like in real life, I can only respect others’ wishes and let the result speak for themselves.

“We’ll simply offer ordinary conversations, small events and the cuteness of our heroines.”

I think I know where this is going. The project’s name is Saekano, after all.

Tomoya then lists two existing errors in the game that they are playing and coincidentally the same issues that rose from Cherry Blessing – He wants to fix them badly.

One being that having majority of the events and dialogues between the protagonist and the main heroine only would make a boring game – they need more events that happen between the heroine and supporting characters, to which Katou instantly agrees.

The other one being the heroine’s emotion – at the very end of each route the heroines are still slapped into stereotypes like Tsundere and all that.

“Heroines are people too. Depending on the time they’ve spent with you and the mood they’re in, it’s natural their reaction would change.”

Katou’s mind is clicking on Tomoya’s hypocrisy…

“Attitudes change when feelings develop. The way you talk with old friends changes too, very subtly and in step. Yes, they can’t change abruptly either. If they do, the player will be taken out of it. That’s why it must be gradual.”

Okay, I think he has just said a few lines that describe every good romance anime out there. But the fact that he’s saying this with utmost confidence and managed to piss off Katou, had Utaha run off her mouth and had Eriri bedridden on the way here is erm… well… never mind me.

Let Katou show you a good reaction in my stead.

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Triggerd Megumi!

Yeap, the dense ass protagonist manages to bring madness out of someone who I never thought would be able to match Utaha in this very department (ranting, that is). Here Katou spews a few lines of truth to which are all oblivious to Tomoya.

• Human relationships DO change over a period of time, DUH!
• She is a human just like the main heroine, DUH!!

I can’t help but laugh my ass off at this scene because this is literally first season’s episode 2 in reverse – this time Katou Megumi is the one lecturing. I also thought that she’d at least be calm about it but oh my God, she screams her feelings at him in the same way he’d screamed his passion at her back in that episode, too!

She then finally speaks about Tomoya being even more dense to have used Saekano for the name of the second game, as a basis for what she is to him.

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Megumi’s Tantrum

She continues to rant while taking a bath. There she asks Tomoya if he really has what it takes to trace all emotions into the game given how he’s a dense ass wimp.

He’s doing the best he can! After all, you’re scolding him hard, Megumi!
She ends up mocking his lack of fundamental sensitivity anyway.

It’s literally Katou being ALL OVER THE PLACE with her cute and angry flips. She angrily sighs the same way Utaha is best known for doing while telling Tomoya to shut up (literally, with ‘Urusai‘) – what Eriri does in her Tsun mood. She even then pulled a full on Tsundere at the end saying, “It’s not that I really wanted to bring my phone into the bath with me!”

Three characters in one? I’ll gladly take that offer!

Can you seriously believe it? In just a single episode, Katou Megumi easily surpasses what I would have called a stereotypical perfection Kasumigaoka Utaha and a Tsundere childhood friend Sawamura Spencer Eriri. Even better, she’s doing it with her flaws (the minuses) rather than her pluses. What do I mean by this? Well, say that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with Utaha, everything about her are pluses – the fact that she’s a genius writer, her b( o )( o )ty and how she’s definitely sexually active, according to Tomoya himself. Katou on the other hand has nothing to show from the ground up. Whatever she builds onto herself will be compared to others. But that’s exactly why it’s good, because that’s normal. Katou Megumi is normal.

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Deredere Megumi

After letting out her fuming angst, Katou goes back into wonder mode and releases barrage of questions to worry Tomoya once again. He really doesn’t have the mind to be answering any of her questions since she just pulled a massive flip of emotions not long ago. Katou states to not blame her for whatever happens because Tomoya isn’t even sure of how the second project is going to take off.

Ah, she pulled the cute! I’m lost for words.

Here. Let the video speak for me again. ❤

A good way to end this episode for me and probably for you too – Good night! (Though, it’s going to be 9 A.M. when I finish writing this)

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Despite massive alterations of the light novel in order to translate into anime, this episode is in no way rushed and probably the best out of the entire series. Come on. Fumiaki-sensei. Show me that you can do better in the remaining 3 episodes!

I have intentionally left out the scene where Tomoya and Katou walked home together because the only important thing that happened was of Katou saying something very obvious – even Tomoya thanked her for being a captain.

I have to admit that as a vivid fan of the show, I’m 300% satisfied like a fatty in a buffet restaurant. And with that, I do not feel the urge to be filling in with source materials.

By the way, the insert song is called Eternal ♭ (Flat) which comes with Character Song Collection CD, goes on sale on the 28th of June.

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Looking forward to the next episode

Man, this week is going to be just this episode and maybe Tsuki ga Kirei on my screen. Better stay flustered while I can because I know what’s coming in the future of this show.

Have you noticed something odd in this episode?

That’s right – The lack of Utaha!
So with it, I can fully expect something like this in the next episode…

I’m also confident that Katou won’t make a total appearance in next week’s episode.

What is that intense music? Doesn’t matter.
Best prepare for voice acting power from Kayano Ai-san as she will downplay the sorry ass Utaha, because even I’m sure that you can see it – the cafe scene….!

Yeah. Katou probably isn’t going to appear; even Eriri called out to her in the PV.

And Utaha’s fourth wall breaking, haha!
Ai Kayano even went back to talk with her normal voice at the very end.

See you next week in Saekano Flat‘s section of Looking Into! ^_^

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