ViVid Strike! 04 (A Bully Victim’s Revenge!)

ViVid Strike! 04

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

ViVid Strike! 04Fuka continues her training with the girls of Nakajima Gym. Elsewhere, Rinne goes to Bulgheroni Private Academy, where she is admired but feared. At Nove’s request, Yumina has compiled information on Rinne, which she gives Fuka a chance to watch. Fuka agrees, learning about Rinne’s adoptive family and the grandfather who was instrumental in that adoption. Rinne is given a precious tie clip that the old man made. Rinne then starts attending Rosburg Private Academy.Ā  At school Rinne excels in athletics and wins approval by the staff. A trio of girls take to bullying Rinne.

ViVid Strike! 04They briefly steal her tie clip, but Rinne manages to get it back. To safeguard it, Rinne stops bringing it to school. The girls discover Rinne was adopted, they decide to fake reconciling with Rinne so she’ll bring her tie clip back. They again steal it, throwing it in a toilet. She gets it back. One of the girls takes Rinne’s phone and destroys it. They then beat her unconscious. After the death of her grandfather, Rinne snaps. At school, she encounters the bullies. She attacks them, breaking one girl’s arm. She then slams one girl’s face into a locker, knocking her out. Rinne kicks anther girl into a locker, knocking her out. She then stomps the girl with the broken arm, leaving all three bloodied and out.

Thoughts/Review

You know, last episode I said I wasn’t interested in Rinne’s story. I already knew how it would go, and that was true. However, I was wrong about Rinne’s story. A bullied girl getting revenge somehow makes for a satisfying experience.

ViVid Strike! 04

A Tale of Adoption

One thing this episode did is make me want to donate to orphanages. I’m seriously going to have to look into that. I did help at an orphanage many years ago. I don’t have time to help at one now, but I’m sure they take donations.

ViVid Strike! 04

Either way, I couldn’t help but think of how Fuka and the other kids must have felt when Rinne was adopted.

ViVid Strike! 04

Still, Rinne got adopted by nice folks. Her home life is happy at least and that aspect still remains until today.

ViVid Strike! 04

A Tale of Bullying

You know, it is hard to watch tales of bullying. It is hard to hear tales of bullying. It is hard to read tales of bullying. Well, let’s face it — bullying sucks. And it sucks more when one has to hide it from one’s parents.

ViVid Strike! 04

Still, anyone who’s ever been bullied as dreamed of revenge. They want to hurt the ones who hurt them. Here, Rinne reached that point when her bullies beat her up and she wasn’t there for the death of her adoptive grandfather.

ViVid Strike! 04

The unexpected part came from how brutal, vicious, and violent Rinne’s beating of her abusers was. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed seeing Rinne get her revenge. That being said, I couldn’t help but wonder if Rinne had killed those girls. I kinda figure she didn’t, but those girls were seriously messed up. I hope we learn more about that.

ViVid Strike! 04

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Question is, what does Fuka do with this information about Rinne? Fuka used to be Rinne’s defender. Rinne has snapped and a part of her has died. However, I still think that Fuka and Rinne will reconcile in the end.

ViVid Strike! 04

In the end, while I had not been interested in Rinne’s story of abuse, ViVid Strike! 04 kinda changed my mind. Rinne’s revenge on her tormentors was brutal, but did provide satisfaction.

ViVid Strike! 04

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34 Responses to “ViVid Strike! 04 (A Bully Victim’s Revenge!)”

  1. Inspuck says:

    Most interesting epeisode of the series, was very surprised that they didn’t focus on young fuka and just on rinne I was expecting young Rinne to cry for Fukas help or something but they keept her mostly out of it, I wonder if we will find out why fuka left the orphanage

    • AstroNerdBoy says:

      My own thoughts are that Rinne probably despised herself for being weak and needing Fuka’s protection. Plus, Rinne is a smart girl. For her, Fuka is the past. Combine the two and I think that’s why Rinne didn’t call out for Fuka. Instead, she just snapped.

      I wonder if we will find out why fuka left the orphanage

      There could be a deeper issue like the orphanage going away, but I suspect that after Rinne left, Fuka couldn’t stand being there any more and set out on her own since no one was going to adopt her.

  2. Andmeuths says:

    If Rinne had killed those girls, given the justice system of the Nanoha verse and that Rinne is a minor, I would have imagined that her sentence would have been a limiter placed on her and service in the TSAB.

    And given that the Nanoha-verse has a tendency to escalate once brutality and serious themes appear in the season, I suspect that Vivid Strike will follow the same pattern. Which might mean that this episode is more indicative of where the show intends to go than the previous three episodes.

    So, I’m not sure whether your prediction that the story will end with Fuka getting through to Rinne and redeeming Rinne would play out straight as most people think it might. This episode makes me suspect that the show knows full well that the audience has certain expectations of how the Rinne-Fuka conflict that drives the show will play out, and might chose to somehow subvert it or play with those expectations. In the same way while I suspect many audiences watching this show predicted a bullying episode, I don’t think many people expected Rinne to snap with such astounding violence and potentially lethal force against her tormentors.

    It’s very clear that the show intends to take a rather different direction from Vivid, even though it seems to be starting from similar premises. Vivid would never have dared to go into the territory Vivid Strike went this episode.

    • AstroNerdBoy says:

      And given that the Nanoha-verse has a tendency to escalate once brutality and serious themes appear in the season, I suspect that Vivid Strike will follow the same pattern. Which might mean that this episode is more indicative of where the show intends to go than the previous three episodes.

      Even though this episode was surprisingly good, I still don’t get a sense of the series being more than a tournament thing, culminating in a showdown between Rinne and Fuka.

      As to the Rinne and Fuka reconciliation, I’m basing my idea primarily on how other titles in the franchise go. Fate is the first enemy, but she is a friend and ally in the end. Hayate’s group is an enemy, but they are friends and allies with Fate and Nanoha at the end. Nove and her gang are all enemies, but almost all of them are friends and allies of Fate, Hayate, Nanoha, and company at the end.

      That said, if Rinne and Fuka don’t reconcile, then it might mean that Fuka has to all but destroy Rinne. Otherwise, I’m not seeing the point (goal) of the series.

  3. nt122 says:

    I would like to put that while the Bullies got what they deserved, Rinne had no right to kill them.

    Those effects make me think she killed them

    Unless they are in a coma, then the TSAB would slap that limiter on, and put her into community service,

    Now I dont like bullies as much as the next guy, but in case you forgot Nove, the other Numbers, Jade, and Yagami’s group did far worse things and for the most part, all of them are still alive, so these getting getting their just deserts is GOOD But BAD.

    I think Rinne getting back at the bullies was great, but since she literally in the eyes of the public just attacked them unprovoked, she would be given charges that she is liable to either be a TSBA person, or thrown into prison for murder.

    Otherwise we are say three bullies under 15 are worse than a Criminal such as Jade.

    Now, here’s another thing we should take out of it.

    From this flashback, and what she did with Fuka, she is clearly UNSTABLE. And a DANGER TO EVERYONE.

    Pretty damn sure that this episode tells me that if Fuka didn’t use that Punch she learned from Einheart, Rinne would have killed her.

    She’s a silent Beast waiting to go INSANE.

    And thats why i am going to like this series. Because Rinne is going to go nuts and Fuka would have to stop her.

    • nt122 says:

      I meant to put in “No right to kill them” but before i noticed i already posted and I cant edit it…

    • AstroNerdBoy says:

      I would like to put that while the Bullies got what they deserved, Rinne had no right to kill them.

      I agree.

      Those effects make me think she killed them

      Yes. Especially that last blow on the girl who’s arm she broke and then drug around to attack the other two girls. I think broken arm girl was already unconscious and then Rinne did whatever it was as a final blow to her.

      Now I dont like bullies as much as the next guy, but in case you forgot Nove, the other Numbers, Jade, and Yagamiā€™s group did far worse things and for the most part, all of them are still alive, so these getting getting their just deserts is GOOD But BAD.

      I thought one or two died and another couple or three were in prison. It has been too long.

      The difference between the bullies and folks like Nove and company (or even Fate) is that the opponents were in a corrupt environment and brought up with a twisted sense of things. Through Nanoha’s efforts, most of her opponents became allies and friends. The bullies were clearly raised in proper, rich families. They simply resented some adopted girl like Rinne coming into their world. So they targeted someone they saw as weak with an Achilles heel, and ended up biting off more than they could chew.

      So in some ways, the three bullies are worse because they were raised in a proper environment, yet did horrible things to Rinne, including beating her unconscious. But they didn’t deserve to die, if they got killed. And I’m a big proponent of second chances, so if they are alive, I’d like to see them get that second chance.

      From this flashback, and what she did with Fuka, she is clearly UNSTABLE. And a DANGER TO EVERYONE.

      She did snap, so she is likely more than unstable in my mind. She maintains a home persona of things being happy and good. At school and in a tournament, not so much.

      Jill is the wild card element here. I wonder if Jill is manipulating Rinne.

      And thats why i am going to like this series. Because Rinne is going to go nuts and Fuka would have to stop her.

      Well, I’ve already stated that I’m not looking forward to Vivio and even Einhart getting their butts handed to them so Fuka can be the last one standing against Rinne. But we’ll see how things pan out.

      • Trey McClure says:

        In the first episode what if Rinne find out that fuka was in that street fight and got fired from her first job

        • AstroNerdBoy says:

          I’m not sure that it would have mattered. Maybe it would have, but Rinne only sees strength as a key to protect herself. So she despises weakness, starting with her own (in my opinion). I think she would have looked down on Rinne taking a beating and losing her job.

      • Joshua Bell says:

        I think that Sarah may come back for revenge in season 2 of vivid strike for revenge for putting her in the hospital and I think that if she gets a second chance I think that Rinne ,& Sarah are going to fight in season 2 Rinne takes Fuuke rol and try to save Sarah of her thoughts of revenge that would be a cool storyline for season 2

  4. WMC says:

    Laying down for bullies is the reason we had to fight WWII. A major lesson the US had relearned by 1945 was that the only thing bullies understand is when their face gets smashed in the dirt. Delivering violent, lethal revenge on them is everyone’s duty. Death or slavery will otherwise be our fate at their hands.

    • AstroNerdBoy says:

      I understand that sentiment. I went after a bully once in my life and beat him up good. Today, we are friends and he’s no longer the punk he was in high school. Go figure.

  5. nt122 says:

    Well, I managed to find epsidoe 5 today somehow, and I guess i can live with the end result, but I still hate Rinne. In a loving way mind you XD

  6. Trey McClure says:

    Fuuka is fighting with rinne right now

    • AstroNerdBoy says:

      I’ve still got to watch the episode. Maybe I’ll get to do that today after my last PC parts come in.

  7. Joshua Bell says:

    I like to see a second season of vivid strike maybe the bullie Sarah comes back for revenge against Rinne for beding her haf to death and putting her in the hospital that would be a good storyline for season 2 that is the only way that I see the bullie girls get a second chance Rinne flights Sarah and after that Rinne & Sarah become friends and I think that Sarah may be the leader of the bullies she is the only one that gets named of the bullies in episode 5 by she older brother we do not even know the names of the other two girls

    • AstroNerdBoy says:

      I suppose that’s possible. However, based on how this franchise works, they’ll introduce a ton more characters and drop some of the previous characters.

    • UX3 says:

      But the leader had a broken arm and the brother only mentioned Sarah’s disfigured face, so it would either be the longhaired girl (Rinne kicked her face) or the one with the glasses (she “apologized” with her about their behavior and I bet she was the little sister as she lied to her brother that way).

  8. Atavo28 says:

    Let’s be honest here: This not about bullying at all. It’s about a bunch of nutcases getting a hard on from creating an anime about a blonde girl beating up a bunch of girls with dark hair and making up some excuse to turn it into a story.The freaks who created this should get penetrated in their asses every day with a sharp object.

  9. ferralex says:

    This is sick

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