Grisaia Phantom Trigger: Season 1 Episode 3 – Recap and Review | The Lack Of Danger Leads To A Lack Of Investment

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Recap

With SORD at the Kitaoka campus, The Fatal Answer doesn’t stand a chance. In roughly 20 minutes, they massacre them, and the only ones who get injured are Taiga and Chris. Everyone else barely gets a scratch on them, and to add to the pure badassery, when it comes to the two posted as snipers, one makes it clear she shoots for the kidneys, so they suffer for ten minutes and then die.

It’s all a tad bit eye-opening, but once the mission is over, they are back at school or in the hospital in terms of Chris, and the clean-up begins. Headmaster Ichiru learns Natsuki, like Taiga’s mom, has given up on Taiga, and now Ichiru is assigned Taiga’s guardian against her will. But Taiga doesn’t care and likely doesn’t know her father was even around.

Why? Well, because she is so integrated with Class A that even if she doesn’t have a mom or dad, she has almost a dozen sisters and a brother in Haruto, who all care about her, and that love allows her to be a child. She talks to Chris about this after she recovers, and in some ways, it seems that while Chris was willing to die for Taiga, now she has switched to living for her mom and focusing on making her mom’s sacrifice worth it.

Episode Details

Episode Title	Mother’s Cradle III
Originally Aired	January 15, 2025
Network	Crunchyroll
Director(s)	Mitsuhiro Yoneda
Writer(s)	Tetsuya Yamada
introduced ACTOR(S) NAME	Tsubasa Yonaga
Previously Established Actor(S)	Natsumi Takamori, Toa Yukinari, Kôichi Sôma, Kaori Nazuka

New Character Descriptions

Haruto (Tsubasa Yonaga)

Haruto has a bit of an odd role at Mihama Academy. He appears to be a member of the staff, but with the way he talks to Headmaster Ichiru, it seems he sees himself differently from the other adults. Maybe it is because he is younger than them and still learning to accept he is an adult himself? Perhaps it is because he still has his own thoughts and ideas about life and the world that he feels doesn’t fit in with the adults around him? It’s hard to say.

However, what is known is that he is as violent as any other member of Class A, but his weapon of choice is a blade.

Review

Trajectory (79/100): Plateau

The first three episodes were kind of meh. I appreciate what they tried to do with Chris, but it felt too soon for them to go that deep. And while I appreciated the action sequences, having it where things were real and felt life or death with Chris, while multiple walk-in guns blazing, bullets firing at them, and not a single one hitting? It undercut what episode two showcased.

Now, don’t get me wrong, the team looked cool, but even with them saying names, some having cool lines, and things like that, I never felt compelled to really take note of everyone, and a part of me thinks, “Grisaia Phantom Trigger” may have peaked. It has shown who most of the characters are, given them distinct personalities and skills, and yet something about them sort of falls flat.

Maybe not enough to stop watching, but I wouldn’t say it pushes itself to be seen as a priority.

Highlights

• The Action Sequences Were Decent

On The Fence

• Still Not Heavily Invested In The Characters

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