tl;dr

The Story Itself

• It seems they were trying to develop Rino's character with this event,
• But they kinda wussed out of it in the end?
• I also think Shizuru was kinda underused, might be because they wanted to focus on Rino. Could say the same thing about Labyrista, but she's the victim in the story.

Difficulty

• Missed one of Rino's slip of tongue, other than that, easy event.

The Story Itself

Rino's development...sort of

The first thing I noticed right away when reading this story is that it seems to want to give the spotlight to Rino and Rino only. This starts as early as Episode 1.

In Episode 1, when it was revealed that KSKN has gone missing, Rino and Shizuru naturally freak out. One thing that stands out is that when Shizuru realizes that it's not just KSKN missing, she immediately asks Rino if she'd know anyone that could go missing with him. And of course, Rino knows the answer, KSKN has been helping out with a store that stocks up materials from Togoku.

The thing that drives this in is when the two start asking around Landosol for clues, the story only shows Rino asking the shopkeeper, completely leaving out showing Shizuru's search.

Before I go any further, I just want to say for the record, I have no problem with stories focusing on one character only. In fact, I think it's what a story should do to maintain coherence. The problem this story has is that it "overwrote" Rino's development with a lore reveal later on. And naturally, just because a story focuses on one character only, that doesn't mean the supporting should just hang around. Shizuru didn't just hang around in this story, but most of her contribution is mostly played for laughs here? I'll go more into that later.

Okay, moving on. In episode 3, the group is exploring a Togoku area in the Labyrinth. They're blocked around by invisible walls, until they notice a bunch of chests lying around. KSKN being KSKN, immediately goes over to open one. It explodes. From here, they figure the key must be in one of them, but they'll need to go through a bunch of mimics to find it. Shizuru offers to chop them all up until they key shows up. The idea was immediately shot down by Rino, and Rino herself steps up to deal with the chest because she has experience in dealing with mimics as shown by a flashback coming up.

Hmm...well, I think it's a good thing that the story shows this with a flashback, it's an improvement over older stories where characters would just dump their background for two minutes straight. However...I think they forgot one of Rino's character traits; she's a tailor by hobby that admires Tsumugi, the designer for Carmina. They could've used this character trait as the explanation instead of coming up with a whole new one. Honestly, I thought it was what they were going for! "Oh, Rino is stepping up because she's got dexterous hands thanks to all the sewing she does!" Then the flashback came.

Next up is episode 4. The group runs into a forked path. You can choose whether to go left or right and both choices are wrong. Rino says to the group that she heard a noise that's basically telling her "nope, not that way!" but no one else heard it. The group decided to trust Rino because she was right with the chests, so they go the middle road with the reason that the fact that there's no indication you can go there is enough reason to go there. This is followed up by another flashback,

Here, Labyrista was giving Rino a pep talk about trusting her intuition more. She went about how people can study and train all they want, but Rino's intuition is something that she has that no other will have.

I see, so that's why Rino was able to handle the chests as well as the forked path, it was because of her intuition! This is them adding a whole new character to Rino, which I'd normally have no problem with...if they didn't overwrite this in the end. Honestly, the fact that Rino heard noises should've been enough foreshadowing that this was coming up. I thought she heard noises from the brain damage she got from being headbutted by Shizuru all the time...wait, that's another character trait they could've used! This plus Labyrista's pep talk would've made for a much better justification, I think.

Anyway, what was overwritten, exactly? In episode 6, after bailing Labyrista out of the red cube, Labyrista is thinking of closing the Labyrinth because she can't handle it well enough to prevent it from leaking out. However, Rino objects, with the reasoning that she heard voices that sounded like singing that had been guiding her. During the chests, during the forked path. Labyrista suspects it's the "Five Spirits" behind them all. Labyrista seems to be relieved to hear that, "it seems they are here after all" and decided to keep the Labyrinth up.

So...it wasn't Rino's dexterity that had helped here, it wasn't her intuition...it was just a bunch of spirits!? Sure, it could've been those two plus the spirits, but this still cheapens Rino's development and contribution in the story. "Oh, you thought Rino is contributing to the story with her character traits? Too bad, it was just a bunch of spirits!"

This isn't the first time this has happened, it also happened in the Little Summer Memories (the Little Lyricals summer event) event. Coincidentally, Labyrista was there, too. There, Little Lyricals learnt to let go by releasing their friend Myuu-chan since it can't live in their world. And then Labyrista came over and told KSKN, "oh, myuu-chan will be back, after all it was I...never mind", implying that Labyrista was the reason behind Myuu-chan's existence. By outright saying Myuu-chan will/might be back after all the tearful farewells...it really cheapened the message.

It's disappointing to see that they didn't learn from this.

Shizuru's otouto-kun obsession

The big difference between Shizuru and Rino in this event is that Shizuru is contributing to the story with character traits we already know instead of the story trying to come up with new ones. Which further supports the notion that they were trying to focus purely on Rino.

In episode 2, the group runs into a monster house in the Labyrinth. You know how in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon you may sometime run into a run full of Pokemon which is run-ending most of the time unless you have an AoE move? Yeah, they run into the same thing here. They handle the monsters pretty well...until the Labyrinth notices that and changes the monsters to take form of KSKN. Rino thought Shizuru would be incapacitated with charm...but it's got quite the opposite effect. Shizuru lets out her tough love and starts chopping all the KSKNs. She's not afraid to scold KSKN if he's misbehaving, she says.

This is a fine use of Shizuru's character trait, just the fact that it's kinda played for laughs bothers me a bit. All of Rino's contribution was played seriously, so I can't help but notice the contrast.

Next one is back in episode 4. After Rino was done having her flashback, Shizuru gets one, too. There, she starts having KSKN withdrawals during her work hours. Labyrista tells her to calm down and jokingly suggests maybe she could do her job, fawn over KSKN and take a break all at once if she had shadow clones. Shizuru actually tried making a shadow clone but failed because her onee-chan power was insufficient. She did manage to eek out a clone for a moment, though.

Again, nothing wrong with this. But the fact that the writers gave Shizuru only one flash back right after Rino's no less made me think they went "oh shit, we forgot about Shizuru! add her in!"

Also, were they trying to make an Assassination Classroom reference there? There's one part where Koro-sensei used his hyper speed to give all of Class 3-E one-on-one study sessions, with one clone taking a break outside the class.

Labyrista, crown in distress

She's the victim in this story, so I won't be too harsh on her. I just want to say...don't you think the story is glazing her a bit too hard? I mean, one of the purpose of this event is to show how much of an impact Labyrista had on Shizuru and Rino, so it's a bit understandable, but still. Although it's not like I can blame them, she's a great boss. She gave the two severance pay, always looks after them during work hours and is planning to bring the guild to a hot-spring trip after the guild reformed.

All the reasons why someone would glaze Labyrista are shown in the story, so the insistent glazing is perfectly justified, actually. And it's played straight, no humor intended. Except the time with Shizuru, I guess. But the purpose of that one was to show that Labyrista is a humorous person in general, not to make the entire scene humorous.

One more thing, Shizuru notices that Labyrista is more honest with herself. One of Labyrista character traits was that she was a pretty secretive person to the point of annoying Mana. So, it's great to see that Shizuru and Rino also having an impact on Labyrista.

Difficulty

With Rino being the main character, the difficulty mostly comes from her malapropism. Thankfully, she doesn't do it many times here. I only missed one, the rest I caught on pretty quickly.

The exact line I missed was this one. Still don't get it even after Shizuru corrects Rino.

Also, the lore dump part about Vision Empress setting up a trap so that Labyrista wouldn't interfere with the Labyrinth leaking out was a bit difficult. I had to slow down there, but I didn't miss anything in the end.

99% (746/747) comprehension. Story's a bit on the shorter side.

That is all for this blogpost. See ya on the next one.

You know this story is a work of fiction because a boss like Labyrista doesn't exist.

Notes

prologue:

• shizuru and rino suddenly called to labyrinth hideout
• wonder what it's for, extra expedition? more hours at the crepe stand? new year gift?
• sure hope not. shizuru wants to have a good sleep for the year, and rino needs to study for finals
• labyrista comes, it's new year gift
• wow thanks!
• actually, it's severance pay
• because labyrinth is disbanding
• what!?
• our goal of "unraveling the mysteries of the world" is almost done
• the three of us are still connected with the desire to protect kskn
• but that's not in the job description
• laby doesn't want shizuru and rino to get involved with the irl dangers
• vision empress, the police and all that shit
• shizuru is saddened, but happy she will have more time with kskn
• rino is devastated
• leave the hideout, rino thinks she wont be able to study after hearing the news
• sees shizuru talking with a stranger
• rino follows them, the stranger is gathering info on kskn
• they end their business deal, since shizuru has more time now
• the stranger reveals that kskn is missing. he went to a shop and never came out, and didn't come home to bskdn's guildhouse
• rino pops up, and shizuru and rino go back to hideout to discuss things

episode 1:

• actually, not hideout, their old guildhouse. can talk without anyone listening there
• reminisce for a bit
• since kskn disappeared, he must be out of town, so they figure they should start searching outside landosol
• rino brings up a cloth material store that stocks up togoku goods, they might have an idea
• they split up, shizuru asks around town, rino asks the shopkeeper
• shopkeeper doesn't know either much to her chagrin because kskn helps out the store too
• shizuru and rino are stuck, how come the guild whose entire schtick is solving mysteries can get stuck?
• they try to think of a person who's also as interested in protecting kskn as them
• labyrista
• they go back to their hideout, no one there, and the security is off
• they look around for hints, and rino finds labyrista notes
• shizuru reads it, something about dawn labyrinth
• suddenly, something shows up behind shizuru
• it's a rift in space, they both get sucked in
• they land in a forest
• this must be the dawn labyrinth! it feels different here
• someone approaching
• it's the information gatherer
• there's also other people too, so she takes the two to camp
• kskn is in the camp
• happy reunion

episode 2:

• before they do anything, they eat mochi first
• fanservice moment, the sisters enjoy kskn's handmade mochi
• they start talking about how people gathered here
• same, doing something, suddenly, in the dawn labyrinth
• shizuru still has labyrista's notes, maybe hints
• rino can't fucking read, hands it over to kskn
• still not enough hints, need to look around
• but they need to escort the people to safety too
• suddennly, big man calls the group
• another portal
• they go in
• it's the haunted hause from the halloween ghost festival event
• carefuly, might be monsters
• there really are
• they beat monsters
• suddenly, monsters turn to kskn
• shizuru is incapacitated with charm, leaving rino fighting alone
• or so she thought, shizuru brings out the tough love and starts headbutting and chopping the clone kskns
• room clear, they go on

episode 3:

• next room, lava
• they just rush to the next room
• togoku
• they try to walk around, rino bumps her head on an invisible wall
• there are treasure chests around, maybe that's a hint
• kskn tries to open one, it explodes
• how about onee-san handle opening the chests from now on? i don't mind giving all of them some slicing
• nah, let rino handle it, her hands are quite dexterous because of her job
• rino opens one successfully by checking if the chest has any suspicious traces of magic in it
• rino keeps opening the chests while shizuru checks the contents
• one chest makes a sound when opened and has a key like object in it
• they go back outside, rino is traumatised and is still afraid of walking around, but they find the next portal
• arrive back in landosol! but still in the simulation. no one around
• suddenly, warning message and sky goes red
• suddenly, it stops
• labyrista shows up, but she's wearing sunglasses and acting a bit weird

episode 4:

• they start sending back the people who were sucked into the labyrinth
• delete their memories
• labyrista was about to send back rino and shizuru (without deleting their memories because they were members of labyrinth anyway) but...
• shizuru wonders if this labyrista is real
• rino says her speech pattern and feel is all different. also this one is cooler
• this labyrista is actually labyritheta. long story short, and alternate avatar made to support. think of it like neneka's mirror mirror
• the real labyrista is deep in the labyrinth doing labyrista stuff
• shizuru and rino want to see for themselves what's so dangerous to the point labyrista disbanding labyrinth
• labyritheta begrudgingly go with them
• new room, there are two paths
• pick one, wrong
• rino can hear a sound telling it's wrong, but shizuru doesn't hear it
• maybe that's just your intuition rino, the same thing happened during the chests right
• so...let's trust rino. which path?
• neither left or right, the middle. the fact that there's no indication to go middle is the thing that's nudging rino
• they go with rino, correct
• new room, rino starts reminiscing about her time with labyrista
• flashback, about the time labyrista telling her to trust her intuition more
• thanks to her, rino was able to overcome a challenge
• flashback for shizuru too, the time when she couldn't hold back meeting with kskn during a mission
• nothing changes, shizuru just accepts she can't help it. she can also use shadow clones apparently
• point is, labyrista is an important figure for the both of them
• wow...thanks to you two, the dawn labyrinth is changing because of your thoughts. thanks to its self-creation program
• huh?
• program by vision empress, labyrista is looking into that
• labyritheta suddenly silent for a second
• is the real labyrista in danger!?
• nah it's fine. btw that's the final portal, let's go

episode 5:

• they arrive at the deepest part of the labyrinth
• but the noise keeps increasing
• labyritheta points at a pillar, that's the thing keeping the world together
• other worlds also have it, gio teogonia, gio gehenna, gio niflhel
• suddenly, security system starts
• if they don't run, rino and shizuru will be frozen. labyritheta will just get deleted
• rino and shizuru starts freezing
• labyritheta uses her powers to unfreeze the sisters for a moment
• she also finds a cube that's connected somehow to the real labyrista
• throws it to kskn, labyritheta gets deleted
• the three escape
• grieve for a bit, then the cube suddenly starts talking
• the real labyrista is inside
• shizurino demands explanations
• first, labyrista made the labyrinth to test out the relics
• when you leave the labyrinth, you don't keep the relics for security reasons
• one relic was possible to take, the relic that lets you accept the power of spirits. but it was hard to decipher
• then the abnormalities start to happen and labyrista disbands labyrinth to keep the sisters out of danger
• labyrista goes back in to see what's up with the pillar and gets trapped by vision empress, the cube
• vision empress is screwing with the pillar so that the game world and irl world merges, which is in accordance to her goal
• shizuru and rino decide that's enough loredump and start skipping labyrista's dialogue (lol)
• they rush to find a way to get labyrista out of the cube

episode 6:

• go back to the pillar
• they have a strategy this time
• the security goes off again
• shizuru stalls off the security while rino arranges the sign pieces
• notably rino thinks of it as sewing to keep her cool under the pressure
• rino gets authority access to the labyrinth and brings labyrista out of her cube
• labyrista exposes the thing's that hiding's in the pillar that's been causing everything
• it's a dragon-like thing virus that vision empress hid there
• good ol beatdown
• well, that's done, but there's more to be done
• we're closing the labyrinth?
• yeah since i can't manage it
• but wait...i've been hearing voices, during the road, during the chest picking...
• voices like singing
• no one else can hear it
• labyrista suspects it's the 5 fairies
• labyrista now sees the merit in keeping the labyrinth up
• she asks the help of labyrinth, indiretcly cancelling the disbanment (not yet?)
• in the end, labyrista wonders if all this crap was just vision empress trying to fuck with the rest of the crowns
• so many mysteries, but protecting the world comes first
• outside the labyrinth, rino and shizuru are doing the menial job of erasing people's memories
• fuuuuck
• labyrista also set up safe houses in sarasaria and togoku
• more potential job

epilogue:

• done with job, walking around togoku now
• rino sad because labyrinth stays disbanded
• shizuru too, but already in togoku, let's eat around
• suddenly, screams
• labyrista shows up with a bunch of monsters
• where did these monsters come from?
• that's a mystery i'm trying to solve...and i can't do it alone!
• labyrinth reforms and then fights together also with kskn
• they beat the monsters
• the first reformation was too sudden, so labyrista does it again after the fight
• admits wanting to protect shizuru and rino, but now acknowledges they don't need to be protected
• the two notice labyrista being more honest, they don't mind
• to celebrate, they go on a company trip to an onsen