Things really keep escalating in every new episode of Dorei-ku. The episode starts off with Seiya and Julia talking while Julia is reveling information to Seiya about her new life. As Midnight suspected in the previous episode’s blog entry, Julia had a duel in process, but she doesn’t start wearing her SCM until after she explains her new lifestyle to Seiya. In the end it goes about as expected and Seiya ends up losing. Julia also takes away Seiya’s SCM.
Yuuga and Eia find out pretty quickly that Seiya isn’t Yuuga’s slave anymore and ownership has been transferred to Ryuuou. The website Yuuga showed them was some pretty creepy stuff, but it reminded me we met Julia in the short after credits scene in episode 1. It’s interesting to see the limits of the device, although I have a couple of comments about those limits that I’ll mention later on.
This time around we meet new characters again. The episode mostly centers on Adachi Shiori and Taiju Nakano. Shiori works at a café where she impersonates a princess from the Rococo period, but although she doesn’t seem to dislike the job, she admits the character she plays is very different from what she’s like in real life. One day, as she’s leaving work, a girl approaches her and asks to be made into Shiori’s slave.
Nakano explains the process of slave-gaining and the SCM to Shiori and as they’re about to decide on what kind of duel to have, they are approached by two guys who insist on hanging out with them. Shiori proposes having a duel until midnight and the girl who gets the guy to spend more money on them will win. I found this really funny as a type of game because I didn’t see any connection between that and becoming someone’s slave, but well, a duel is a duel. 
Nakano was adamant about becoming Shiori’s slave and she even said that she would let Shiori go if she happened to win, but it really shocked me to see Nakano was really serious about winning! Wouldn’t she tried to lose on purpose if she really wanted to be a slave? That was pretty suspicious to me.
Either way, they go through with the duel, eventually one of the guys spikes Shiori’s drink and we see quite an aggressive side to Nakano. Later they’re resting in a park when midnight strikes and Shiori has now become a slave to Nakano. There’s also quite a reveal here: Nakano is actually a guy! I honestly must say I didn’t see it coming, even if his aggress response to the drink thing was a hint, but I really liked that development. Right about then a hooded figure approaches them and they feel their SCMs vibrate.
Zenichi Bukyo makes a grand entrance and thinking that Shiori is the master in this pair, he forces her into a duel through physical harm and threatening to kill them. Shiori accepts and loses so Zenichi now owns her as a slave. He’s under the impression Nakano is Shiori’s slave so Nakano takes this opportunity to get away and try to find help to rescue Shiori. Julia ends up finding him and they make an alliance of sorts, having the rescue as the duel that will seal Julia’s ownership of Nakano. I thought that was some pretty cool strategy to guarantee that both of them will get the results they want. As they get back to the park, there’s another SCM user there currently in a duel with Zenichi and it’s… a dog?! I suppose the dog is trying to repay Shiori’s kindness from before, as she fed him when he was hungry, but why a dog would be wearing a SCM is anyone’s guess until we meet the owner, I assume.
Either way the episode ends with Zenichi losing and a lot of things being in the air as to how the duels will continue. It was a really intriguing episode with some nice strategizing, but also questions keep popping up about how all these characters will converge, if we’ll see previous characters at all again and what’s the deal with Ryuuou’s who we have yet to meet.
As for my comments on the limitations for the SCM, I can’t imagine why Yuuga let Seiya and Ayaka roam around with the SCMs on after knowing that people can be forced or tricked into duels. It’s crazy that people can’t defend themselves from being in a situation like Shiori’s where she was beaten until she agreed. I don’t really understand how the device can make someone obey if they are being tricked, as in they don’t know they’re dueling, the feeling of losing shouldn’t come… well, at least to me it’s kinda iffy and the dog… how can the dog give commands? I suppose dueling without one of the people involved knowing is a duel has to be possible just so the dog duel can happen, but I can’t really imagine how commands and ownership would happen in that case so I’m looking forward to finding out.
It was cute to see Pin practice with Hinako, but he was so shy about it that he couldn’t even face her. In fact it was nice to see more of his shy side, especially the conversation where he thanked her over the phone. He said all the things he wanted to say to her, making us wonder if he really did realize it was her. But my goodness, there were moments when I experienced second-hand embarrassment on Hinako’s behalf. Pin is not shy in praising her beauty, and I was just waiting to see the girl melt into the floor.
The primary reason why I decided to give it a second chance is because I realized even though Mitsuyoshi and Teresa have not been not in the spotlight since the first episode, there is in fact a purpose for it. Both Mitsuyoshi and Teresa are more or less benched for the purpose to to observe what is going on around them. Although we have yet to see any signs from Mitsuyoshi himself, we have been seeing a subtle development on Teresa’s end. Since episode 2, Teresa has been quietly observing/experiencing what is happening around her. Particularly in episode 3, we see that she is slowly but surely developing a crush, followed up with last week’s episode where she was conscious of experiencing an indirect kiss with Mitsuyoshi after he had taken a sip from her cup. This week at the end of the episode, we see her muse about how love is complicated, and reflects on her own secrets she is keeping from the others. All of these things will affect her future decisions, or so I would like to believe that is the writer’s intent.
I feel bad for Hiyajo as she grows more and more about Okabe blurring the line between Amadeus and the real Makise Kurisu, I get the feeling she’s come close to this herself. The brief flashback of her crying at Makise’s funeral is heartbreaking. Despite the fact she wasn’t in the first Steins;Gate or even mentioned is almost sad. Because I feel like even from these first three episodes that her and Kurisu had a close and perhaps almost sisterly relationship.
This episode suffered from a lot of, underable, mood whiplash. Where parts of the episode felt bright and happy, other parts felt like pure despair. These people who are suffering so deeply are just trying to live their lives at least, in Okabe and Hiyajo’s case.
The competition begins, with guest star: Mozart!
As I previously mentioned, the piano playing looked cool overall, despite the minor disrupting of the CG. I do want it to go further though. The show uses light and unique scene creations to really drive home the beauty of what the kids have been doing so far. It would be a shame if that was lost in the competitions. Being able to see the actual playing of all the notes is certainly something that I enjoy, but I need a but more ‘oomph’ to really get invested in it.
Meanwhile, the show reveals Yang’s political beliefs through the wisdom he has learned from both his father and the history books. I think this development of Yang’s character is well done, and the words of a father to an impressionable childs should stick as they have.
I was wondering if this adaptation would touch upon why he was the Hero of El Facil, and I’m glad they did because it reveals an adorable little character in Frederica Greenhill! Very much looking forward to her role in the future.
Even the vibes of their episodes were different, with Yang’s being much more Slice of Life and cozy, while Reinhard’s was ambitious and driven. This difference is some awesome shit.
