Red Data Girl - Episode 7

There's danger in the air as Mayura turns on Sagara with a view to testing him and his abilities, using the ethereal Masumi to do so in the process.

As per prior episodes of Red Data Girl however, any sense of tension is relatively short-lived, as the situation is soon diffused by a moment of insight from Izumiko which brings this "contest" to a close.  Of course, Mayura was only testing her new friends; never mind that this seems like an incredibly bitchy thing to do.  With thoughts returning to their current camping trip, bad news soon strikes Manatsu, who leaves as word reaches him that his horse Tabi is gravely ill.

Calling up the excitable Masumi to take over Manatsu's role at the camp causes Sagara in particular all kinds of headaches, but this is little more than light relief as Manatsu and Mayura's concerns about their horse takes a troublesome turn in light of the worst possible news about its fate - the resulting conflict of emotions set Manatsu off on a path which leaves his sister mortified and distraught.

Try as I might to care about all of these goings on, I simply can't do it - for me, Red Data Girl now feels like a show where things most certainly happen, but none of them leave me with any attachment to, or interest in, either the scenario or its characters.  I'm not sure whether it's due to this or simply sloppy story-telling but the whole thing feels jumbled and without direction to boot, leaving me stuck within a vicious circle of apathy.  In fact, this series is probably a perfect example of what it does badly, given how it spends much of its running time almost literally flogging a dead horse...