Episode 9 of The Rolling Girls, titled “Thieves of the Night,” is currently streaming on FUNimation for premium members. Free members can watch the same episode seven days from now on March 14th. If you like in the United Kingdom, then you can watch this episode through Viewster. If you live in Australia, then you can this episode through Madman Entertainment.
The titular Rolling Girls find themselves in Hiroshima, the same city hit by the first atom bomb, narrated as a land “without honor and humanity.” Hiroshima has degenerated into a land void of order as gangs constantly fight each other. I will assume that the Yakuza, gangsters, and other degenerate gangs have occupied Hiroshima.
I laughed when the gangsters were literally “Bested” by a pirate girl, Shima Ishizukuri, leading the Ishizukuri Stones.
The Rolling Girls decide to spend a day relaxing on the beach before they head to Hiroshima. It is obvious that they do not understand the duties of being Maccha Green’s substitutes. There is still the reality, which Ai implies, that the girls need to obtain power in the long run because they can only go so far with being like the Rest.
It is obvious that Nozomi’s reluctant about using the moonlight stones let alone anybody else in the group using them. I have the feeling that the superstition could hold true because of the second episode as Kuniko and Maccha were incapacitated without their stones.
But it is important to note that they had a climatic showdown with each other near the end of episode two. They’re still in the hospital recovering from their injuries because they lack the healing properties of the moonlight stones.
Doji Shuten, introduced in episode seven, sets himself as a major player because of all the stones his gang has acquired.
Nozomi’s timidity and Ai’s selfishness clash when it is time to have their first major argument. I expected this to happen for quite some time because they both bring up valuable points.
Nozomi’s timid nature allows people to walk all over her even though she is the de facto leader of the group, but she does make a point about Ai’s selfishness. I do agree with Ai, too, because Nozomi is too timid to be a leader.
But Ai is also too selfish and abrasive to be a leader, too. I do agree that Ai is selfish, but I can understand because she’s sick and tired of being like the Rest. It is obvious that the Best get their abilities from the moonlight stones.
I guess that this is a better time than later or never to vent.
I laughed when Yukina got dragged into their argument, when the subject about directions popped up. It should be known that Yukina sucks at directions and ends up getting lost at the end.
I was glad that Nozomi finally brought up Ai’s interest in the stones, but she unfairly criticizes her for obtaining power the easy way. It is unfair, but that is the reality of the situation. Every Best that they came across, except for Mr. Dandy, possessed a moonlight stone.
Ai brought up the other important point that Maccha’s stone originally belonged to Nozomi.
It was a hard and harsh lesson that Nozomi needed to learn because she cannot do anything without the help from the Best. The previous episodes have proved it. The reality is that Nozomi and the rest of the girls are ultimately powerless.
If the gang captains refuse to work with them, then the Rolling Girls have no function.
The episode also checks on the current status of Maccha and Kuniko back in Hiroshi Town. Maccha is getting better, but Kuniko is fully healed and faking it. Yukari brings up a crucial point, validating Ai’s argument, because Kuniko is a marked woman when everybody eventually learns that she is no longer one of the Best.
I was ultimately surprised at the foreshadowing when Chiaya has a flashback because her room had a storybook that contained the faces of the Rolling Girls. It ultimately seems that they were fated to meet each other.
I was further shocked that Chiaya is actually an alien from another planet, but I guess that explains her connection with the moonlight stones.
The pleasantries end when the truth behind the stones slowly becomes apparent.
