Young Ladies Don't Play Fighting Games

Episode 5

I'd like to kick this off with an ode to Aya's roommate. She obviously doesn't realize that her beloved roomie is a fighting game fiend and doing secret, late-night locales with some of her fellow schoolmates, including Mio—and that furthermore, they're all going to EVO Japan to bask in the thrill of competition. What she believes is that Mio and Aya are in a secret relationship with one another, and are setting off on a secret, romantic getaway. And not only is she cool about it, but she's also thrilled and supportive of them! What an excellent roomie. Shout out to Aya's roomie, what a good one.

This week was mostly about the girls getting to EVO Japan—and in particular, getting permission from Mio's mom, who they had to trick into thinking this was just an ordinary tourist trip to Tokyo with friends. And what a scene that was, by the way! I'm sure it hits especially hard and is relatable to anyone who grew up in strict households. And in that sense, despite the show trying to play the whole thing off comedically (when Akuma appeared, I lost my mind—that was really funny), I couldn't help but feel like this was a sad scene. Mio's going to have to keep such a big part of her life a secret, navigate all the difficulty that comes with that, and do it for no good reason. Meanwhile, Mio's mom isn't helping her; all she's doing is dooming herself to a fractured relationship with her daughter—if they still have one left to salvage at all. I'm sure by series end, Mio's mom will realize that Mio found community through games and that her love of games isn't harmful, but for the time being, she comes off as tone deaf and frustrating, to say the least.

Actually, this isn't the first time we've seen a biting sadness underpinning otherwise funny or exciting scenes in this series. It's sad that the girls have to be so secretive about their love of fighting games around school. And it's sad that Aya doesn't think fighting games are proper behavior for a young lady, and that society has conditioned her to think that way in the first place. All this does is highlight the girls' efforts, and how badly they want to play fighting games with one another—to say nothing of the friendship-and-community-building power of fighting games.

In any case, eternally bewildered as I am at the idea that with so little time out from the event the girls could still make their way to EVO Japan all the same, they've made it there nonetheless. More importantly, a Guile player seems to have entered the chat at long last. We haven't really seen the girls need to confront a zoner—let alone Guile, in particular—which, for those unfamiliar with fighting games, is a more distance-based kind of character. While characters like Ryu, for example, have moves (EX: Hadoken) that have some distance to them, characters like Guile thrive in the distance. Suffice to say, it'll certainly give them some trouble adapting, and I'm really excited to see how they respond to it. Even if this week's episode was more about setting the stage for next week, I'm super excited all the same.

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Young Ladies Don't Play Fighting Games is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.