il sole penetra le illusioni ~ Day Break Illusion - Episode 4

Yume Higashiyama is the kind of girl who is made to be envied - she has a wealthy and influential father, a promising and burgeoning artistic talent, and a boyfriend.  No surprise then, that some look upon her life with more than a passing sense of jealousy.

Classmate Kiyone might be a quiet girl, but as time goes on so the envy within her burns brighter and brighter out of both a dislike for Yume's attitude and a genuine belief that she's a better artist than her feted cohort.  It's these emotions that are ultimately prayed upon by a mysterious fortune teller, who proffers Kiyone a Tarot card and suggests it might help her the next time jealousy strikes her.  Once Kiyone spots Yume kissing the boy she herself likes... well, you can probably guess what happens from there.

So it goes that Kiyone gets at least some of what she desires with Yume out of the picture, but this isn't enough and before we know it she's gone berserk and transformed into a full-blown Daemonia, meaning that it's time for our team of magical girls to attend the scene.  Having had another spat about the nature of Daemonia and their origins, Akari and Seira are still somewhat at loggerheads, although this battle also allows Luna to witness that Akari can indeed hear the voices of the Daemonia.  Once again, this makes little difference when faced with such out of control insanity, with Seira delivering the final blow in spite of Akari's protestations as she again laments the abilities which she has at her disposal.

While I could certainly make an argument for this being the strongest episode of Day Break Illusion thus far, it still really isn't all that satisfying.  As per previous instalments, a fair amount of the story setup feels forced, and although things feel a little more interesting as a whole now sufficient layers of the story have been peeled back and revealed to us I can't help but feel like the show is already becoming a little formulaic in its presentation.  Some nice visual touches here and there aside, there's nothing that really hooks me into the series or any of its characters, and without that emotional connection Day Break Illusion is little more than a colourful shell.