The Crusade That is Happening There (Episode)

The Crusade That is Happening There
今そこにある聖戦 Ima soko ni aru seisen
Episode Info
Air Date	October 27th, 2010
Adapted from	Manga Chapter 17
Episode	4.0
Arc	Hunting Break Stories
Opening Song	God only knows
Ending Song	Tatta Ichido no Kiseki
Episode Guide
Previous "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party"	Next "IDOL BOMB!!"

"The Crusade That is Happening There" (今そこにある聖戦, Ima soko ni aru seisen) is the 4^th episode of The World God Only Knows. It aired on October 27, 2010.

Synopsis

It all begins with a mysterious girl who seems to be an artist, talking to an unseen person, wanting someone to see her painting. Then it shows a scene, saying that there is a game that has crushed many gamers. The mysterious girl appears again, she seems to have given up hope of getting anyone to see her painting. However, she hears Keima's voice promising that he will be there.

Kodama yelling at Keima

As Keima is heading out to school, Elsie greets Keima. Keima's mother warns Keima not to eat and play games at the same time. Keima does not care at all. After swallowing his bread whole, he heads off to school, followed by Elsie. Mari worried for her son so she asks Elsie to watch Keima so that he does not get in trouble. Overjoyed with a task given to her, Elsie promises to do so and takes off. After seeing Keima barely avoiding an incoming bicycle (while playing a game on his PFP), Elsie warns him that he needs to be careful not to get hit by a car, while a cat leaps up and yells in pain as Keima stepped on its tail. In class, Elsie keeps watching Keima, but she trips over herself. Chihiro is amused, commenting that Elsie is all fired up today. During English lesson, Kodama gets mad seeing Keima playing a game and not paying attention to Kodama's lesson. He asks Keima to translate a sentence he just read. Keima translates the sentence perfectly, angering Kodama further.

Nikaido slapping Keima

During Nikaido's lesson, she caught Keima playing his games with a frustrated expression. Distracted and feeling annoyed, she rolls up her book and whacks Keima on the head. As the day pass on, many teachers slapped, punched and even threw books at Keima due to the distractions he cause while playing the game. As the school ends for the day, Keima is found crying at his desk. Elsie is worried and asks if everything is OK. Keima answers that he is powerless. Elsie is surprised that Keima is not his usual confident self, and asks him what happened that day. Keima shows her the heroine of the game he was playing on his PFP. He says that the rumors were right, she cannot be conquered. Elsie is not impressed, thinking that it is just another game. However, she says that it must be a really hard game for even Keima to have trouble with it. Keima, at a lost for words at what Elsie had said, asks her to have a better look at the game before commenting further. He explains that the game heroine's name is Sora Asuka. Elsie comments that the heroine looks like an artist.

Crayon Accessories

Keima demonstrates to Elsie the unsurmountable problem he encountered. Sora asks "Will you look at my picture?". Elsie tells Keima that the answer should be "Yes", but after they choose that answer, Sora asks the same question again "Will you look at my picture?". As a demonstration, Keima selects "No", but Sora asks the same question again "Will you look at my picture?". After a few more tries of "Yes" and "No", Elsie wonders if Sora is sick. Keima is frustrated as he explains that there is a bug in the game that caused that scene to loop. Keima snapped, ranting that looking back, there were hints that there was something wrong with the game. Keima mocked the commercial for the game, complaining that the release for the game was pushed back twenty three times, instead of fixing the bugs in the game, they added lots of merchandising. The game came in two discs, but the second disc turn out to be just a huge patch. He happily bought the game the first day it was released, but was disappointed when he encountered the bug. Many others gave up playing the game after finding that the many patches to the game does not fix the game, complaining that even when one bug is fixed, another pops up in its place. Keima believed that he was the only one that could beat the game, but laments he can do nothing against a bug. Elsie tries to cheer him up by saying that it is not his fault if the game is broken, even Keima cannot do the impossible.

Hearing the word "impossible", Keima gets re-energized. He says that nothing is impossible for him, and is determined to overcome the bug. dragging Elsie by the collar, he asks her to help him. On the school rooftop, Keima asks to Elsie to write down every action Keima takes in the game on a piece of paper. He says that he cannot be sure that the loop is caused by the choices made just before, so he wants to try every possible combination of choices until he beats the loop. As Keima starts the game on his PFP, it crashes. Sadly, he tells Elsie, two out of three times the game will not start properly. Angrily, he complains that the game is a piece of crap. As he plays the game, he explains clearly which choices he makes to Elsie, while she writes down the choices he makes. In the game, Sora invites him to the cafeteria for lunch, Keima accepts the invitation after rejecting it previously. To the surprise, shock and despair of both Keima and Elsie, they see an enormous list of food choices scrolling on the screen. Elsie drops her pencil, asking if they must go through every one of these choices. Keima insists that they must, since there is no way of knowing which choice will give a different outcome. Elsie is already tired of the game, but Keima tells her that there is another bug in the game. Saving the game will cause the PFP to stop working. So each time they fail, they will have to start over from the beginning. 

Demon Keima

Elsie had enough and tries to run away, but Keima grabs her, reminding her that she owes him for helping her capture spirits. As Elsie is forced to help him, she says that Keima is like a demon.

Keima and Sora

As they continue playing the, Sora is seen upside down. Elsie wonders why, Keima says that it happens all the time. Later, the sound in the game becomes choppy. Keima says that the game developers claim that it is part of the atmosphere of the game. Later still, Sora became an old man, making Keima mad. As Elsie became tired, Keima continues to play the game. Elsie believes that it will always end up being the same, but Keima insists that since they have not tried all the combinations yet, the chances of overcoming the bug this way is not zero. Elsie wonders if it really matters if there is a game Keima cannot beat. Keima ignores her, continuing to play the game. Elsie buys a drink from a vending machine and wonders why Keima is not tired from playing the game yet. She wishes that he can be as dedicated when it comes to capturing spirits. Elsie buys a drink for Keima, but cannot seem to get his attention while he is engrossed in the game. In the game, Keima is eating with Sora in the cafeteria again. Sora says that she always eats Udon for lunch and asks him what will he have for lunch. Keima tries the "lunch lady's special". Suddenly he is hit by a ball thrown by a girl in dodge ball game. After running away, he comes back to the scene where he has lunch with Sora. This time he tries curry, but he finds himself in the dodge ball game again.

Keima's God Mode

After many tries, Keima reaches the scene where Sora asks him to look at her picture. However, he finds himself back in the cafeteria scene again. Thinking that he triggered another loop, he tries the "fresh school special" for lunch this time. Sora asks him if he likes it, just as he answers that he does, he finds himself in the dodge ball game again. Again and again, he picked different choices at the cafeteria scene, but he finds himself in the dodge ball game each time.

Bugged Ending

Keima is showing signs of fatigue and cannot remember all the choices he had made before. Elsie interrupts him saying that the next choice should be the twelve-color parfait. Keima looks at Elsie, who has been staying by him until nighttime. Elsie asks Keima if he thinks that reality is just bad as games, why does he care so much about a bad game. Keima replies by asking, if he does not play it, then who will look at Sora's picture. He says that the game is clearly bad, but that is not Sora's fault. He insists that the heroines are always waiting for him to go and save them. Elsie seeing him suffer, thought of writing a complaint to the company who made the game. Keima tells Elsie that the company went out of business last month, saying that the people who trapped Sora in the loop are gone and no one else is playing the game anymore. He declares that he is the only one left, and promises to save Sora. He continues to play the game, and eventually Sora asks Keima to look at her picture, this time he says "yes". As he accepts the picture, Keima rejoices, happy that he finally broke out of the loop. Thinking that he can see the ending of the game, he goes to the next scene, but he sees a corrupted screen with gibberish on his PFP. Undeterred by this new bug, he declares that he will defeat it, much to Elsie's chagrin.

In the Wikipedia article about "Crayon", the game Keima was playing, it mentioned all the faults about the game. There were rumors that only one person saw the ending. However, nobody believed it and it was soon forgotten.

Trivia

• As the people who have failed to clear Sora's route are shown, this piece of music by Frederic Chopin is heard: Piano Sonata No.2 in B Flat Minor Op. 35, 3rd movement, Marche funebre: Lento.
• The background music during Keima and Elsie's commentary about the game sounds similar to "Gonna Fly Now" from Rocky.
• The background music, while Keima is illustrating what a loop bug is to Elsie, is similar to, if not the same as, "Raiders' March" from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
• Keima does Lelouch's signature pose, with the determination to clear Sora's route.
• "So, as I play - Unlimited Blade Works!".