World Dai Star

It was obvious to me from the very start, that Shizuka was in Kokona's imagination. The way she did not interact with things, the she did not seem to talk to anyone but Kokona, the way she was positioned most of the time.

The audition was bullshit though. Changing the scene for 1 person because of a whim means that this person gets special treatment and is not assessed on equal terms with the other candidates. At the least, I would have given previous participants a choice to try the new scene right there and then, if they were willing.

Will give this a chance. Maybe it will work similar to Gakkougurashi!, but considering how obvious the twist was for me from the 2nd, if not 1st appearance of Shizuka, I fear they may get tired of this gimmick pretty quickly.

Not only did Shizuka materialize (something tells me, that not permanently), but looks like the director or whatever (violet hair woman) can utilize her jutsu outside of Hogwarts. I mean off stage.

I was surprised that Kokona was aware that Shizuku is imaginary. I mean, they planned everything so well thus far so that viewers would question that, and I think they kind of ruined this build-up by just 1 short line in the very beginning of the episode.

Also not having her permanently tangible can be a better idea. I would make Shizuku disappear after some time. This can still happen, though.

Other than that... I am not sure what they're gonna do to keep things interesting now. Exploration of Shizuku felt very secondary this episode and kind of went nowhere. It's possible that they will not get any deeper into the matter and just accept that there is another girl out there, not registered in the real world, not needing to eat/drink or even go to the toilet.

It feels that mystery of Shizuku is now put on the closet until, probably, the last episode. To be honest was thinking of dropping it, but... Now I wonder what Panda meant that that Kokona is meant to be foil. Quick google explained that means "contrast" or "opposite" to a character, but to whom would Kokona be opposite? I do not see it.

Also it felt like the quality dropped a bit with a few shots being quite blurry and Katharina's eyes being somewhat weird at times.

Let's be honest, based on pieces of the play, I'd say all girls are bad actors, not just Kokona. Kokona's inability to realize that no one was looking at her all showed, that she was not serious. Yes, when playing on stage you kind off cut off the feeling of eyes on you, but at the se time you also become more aware of it. Dunno how to explain this, just basing on personal experience.

Also the ending of the episode was weak. There was no feeling of risk, so no catharsis or even a breath of relief when Shizuka returned.

I am not sure I understand Kokona's sense any better than before. Shizuka can get immersed in a role, and that transfers to Kokona? But why would this sense even need a separate entity?

It doesn't make sense that they only got 1 article about the play, and that it was practically after the last performance. Unless no one cares for this theatre at all.

How come Shizuka knows about King Lear, when Kokona doesn't?..

Grade schooler who goes to 400 performances annually? So... Not going to school at all?

Also I starting to feel like the show's protagonist is Panda, because she has been getting a lot of screen time and probably most development compared to others, even Kokona.

This is what they should have been doing for the whole series. It really showed how role can be interpreted by different people. Aladdin had similar motive, but it was much weaker. There is also a lot of emotions in this episode, like self-doubt, fear, restrain... Things a lot of people do not recognise as part of acting.

Yae auditioning for Phantom is bullshit, though. In real life she would have been cast for Christine.

Also I won't be surprised if it turns out that it's actually Kokona, who is not real, in the end.

It feels like this was pulled from the ass. Kokona's performance was ok, although not that immersive, but what the hell is her sense?

If Shizuka was representation of Kokona's emotions, then why did not Kokona lack those emotions? At least I did not notice her lacking in anything, and I did not see her gain anything after merging. And if she was just a practice partner, then there would be no need for her to merge at all. Furthermore, what would even be the point of her returning now, which i obviously what we will get in next episode?

It just does not make sense.

So what the hell was Kokona's sense? What was the point of Shizuka?..

So much wasted potential. They could have gone with deep psychological approach, with researching how actors prepare for their roles and how become them. They could have shown how senses transform the stage and viewers' perception of it going full throttle into madness. Or they could have made this into a musical even.

But no. They played safe with everything anf thus became a bother show for obscurity.