Of course, this episode wouldn’t be complete without dense Ichika. They’re not high art, but they can be damn fun. Even so, I still respect shows (like High School DxD) that know what they want to be and are shameless about it. At its best art is, honestly, not indulgent at all – I probably should call this indulgent narrative if nothing else. It was a fanservice episode 1000%, and though that’s indulgent and lowbrow and any number of other charges you might level against it, it didn’t try to pretend to be something it’s not. I feel it’s worth repeating – the reason this episode worked is because it knew exactly what it wanted to be, and it did that. Someone get me a defibrillator with Char’s voice before the reaper gets here. And then meido Chifuyu-nee–!! The other fourth of my blood is gone. As for Laura, she had a surprisingly weak showing, though I did laugh at the swimsuit bit. Speaking of, Tatenashi-sempai oh damn! I just…that says it all. If I had to put someone on the bottom of the pile (hur hur hur), it would be Ling, who didn’t even really get her turn after it was snatched away by Russia. That attempted kiss and that accidental oppai cookie–!! OH MY France-tan is still best tan! I was especially impressed how her choice in billiards allowed her to snuggle up to Ichika with a good excuse, so extra points there…that is, until Charlotte came out with her french poodle outfit (DAMN!), and I instantly lost three-quarters of the blood in my body. If we’re just going by oppai, don’t count England out, especially since that’s not the only place she’s packing heat. I mean holy heck, that fanservice! When Houki came out with the kitsune miko and Ichika was totally enraptured by her we’ll say ears, I was about to call the competition for Houki, but then Cecilia came out. It’s not the ideal, but it gets the job done. I respect stories that can seamlessly mix these tones a lot, but I also respect those stories that realize they can’t (or shouldn’t) mix them and keeps them separate. Then they switched over fully to plot with the reveal at the end, and the seriousness of the scene wasn’t polluted by any fanservice or humor. The–well, the majority of the episode was all fanservice all the time, and it was amazing. That’s why their decision to almost completely separate the fanservice and plot in this episode actually worked out really well. Its mecha stylings are still better than the non-harem aspects we get in most other harem stories, but it doesn’t weave it with comedy and fanservice as well as other series, at least this season (I only remember the broad outlines of Season 1 at this point, so I can’t directly compare). Infinite Stratos has more of a mixed record in this. Some shows are very good about mixing fanservice, comedy, and plot – Hataraku Maou-sama was one, though it had far less fanservice to mix in. The amount of fanservice in this episode was near toxic levels – and I loved it!