Episode 2 is downright depressing as the girls struggle to keep their heads in the game, now that the world they knew and took for granted has collapsed. Laws don’t matter and vanity might get you killed. Which is why I’m so glad episode 3 restores my faith in the writer that they’re still teenagers. They make up as fast as they break up. Fine, they did not gather around a campfire and retell horror stories, but one fixed relationship is a step away from strangling each other, okay?

Tidbit: I did a little digging and found out the manga artist also did Life. No wonder why Limit feels homely.

Limit Episode 2 Recap:

Themesong: Savage Heaven – bump.y

Still laughing about Sakura’s demise, Arisa earns a slap from the deceased’s best friend, Haru. But before Haru can inflict more physical violence, Arisa’s hand grips the nearest weapon – the sickle! I knew that thing will come in handy. She angrily flings her small notebook at Mizuki, who looks at the notes and listens to Arisa’s furious account of the date and time whenever Sakura’s group has bullied and made fun of her. She remembers every mocking laugh each of them has shown when she was suffering. Although Chieko didn’t join in with the bullies, Arisa observes that neither did she help, which makes her believe that the latter looks down on her too.

Blazing at the four girls, Arisa declares, “You all deserve to die.” She vows that she won’t allow anyone to look down on her any longer. This place isn’t school.

When Chieko beelines for the flipped bus, Mizuki wonders what she’s doing, and she answers, “Looking for stuff that might be useful. The dead ones don’t need them anymore.” Repulsed by the idea of sorting through the dead’s belongings, Mizuki thinks that they should wait it out for help to come. But Chieko breaks down her theory to them: The bus driver was really worn out from his job, which means that the bus company lacks proper management. Coupled that with the bus going off course along the way, she deduces that help won’t come so soon. She urges everyone to stop fighting and work together if they all want to survive. “The first rule of survival is staying as close to the crash site as possible.”

Haru disagrees with staying near the bus where dead bodies scattered around the premise. Mizuki quietly stands in her spot, agreeing with Chieko’s assessment but does not dare to speak up against Haru, until she comes and drags her away.

They wander through the forest. Haru cries out continuously for help but no one replies to her scream. She stops when Mizuki suggests they go back to the other girls. Angry, Haru scans Mizuki’s face for any hint of sadness about Sakura’s death, and when she assumes that the latter only cares about her own safety, she slaps her too. My my, you’re Miss happy-slappy today huh? Slapping every face your hand lands on! Shocked, Mizuki defends herself but Haru barrels on, “In the end you’ve just been using her, haven’t you?!! You’re the worst!!” She spins on her toes and leaves.

Standing there in a daze, Mizuki brings us back to the time when she was a timid junior high student. She was also hanging out with a group of mean girls and one day they decided to ostracize her friend, Mika. She didn’t want to but eventually caved in with the peer pressure. And yet when her friend was publicly denounced, she stepped up to protect her. Only to be faced with Mika’s ultimate betrayal as she joined the same gang and shunned Mizuki. After being taught a painful lesson on her kindness, Mizuki made a promise to herself: “I won’t sympathize with anyone again, ever! I don’t need to become a good person. I just need to read the atmosphere, go with the flow and I won’t fail again.”

Back at the crash site, Chieko sorts through the belongings and places useful items, food, and water into one area. Due to an injured foot, Chikage sits on a rock to check the phone’s reception, while Arisa refuses to let go of the sickle. When she sees how Chikage needs help to stand up and walk, she sneers, “Useless.”

At school, the lucky teacher, Wataru Igarashi (Masataka Kubota), who’s caught a fever and therefore couldn’t accompany the class on the camping trip, dutifully waits for the other teacher’s call. The people at the bus company, despite not being able to contact the bus driver, aren’t worried, “It’s unlikely they had an accident or something like that.” They think that the bus driver ran away due to the workload. The boss replies to the manager, “Tell him he has to return the bus even if he wants to quit.”

Tired and exhausted, Haru sits down for a drink, without a thought of sharing it with Mizuki, who is standing behind, looking worriedly as her friend wolfs down bag after bag of snacks. At some point, she raises her concern, “Hey, isn’t it better not to eat everything at once? We might not get rescued until tomorrow.” Considering the idea and scared of the prospect, Haru stops eating. They continue to trudge down the path but the sight of Mizuki’s phone charm distracts Haru and she trips. Mizuki quickly extends a hand to stop her friend from falling. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the backpack of food.

Night time. Mizuki and Haru cuddle by each other, cold and hungry. In her dream-like state, Mizuki recalls the day where her crush, Haruaki, consoled her after she lost the swimming competition. He plugged one end of his earphones into her ear and together they drift into a temporary paradise. Mizuki cries over his death, holding the phone with his last message close to her heart.

Briefly, we learn that Mizuki’s parents are having a divorce and her father is leaving tomorrow.

In the middle of the night, Mizuki finds Haru crouched over on the ground, puking all the food she has consumed during the day. They move on and notice a dim light from a distance. It’s an open cave where the other three girls are residing at. Haru lights up at the sight of water and hurries over. Her outstretched hand hangs in midair when the camera pans over and Arisa is holding sickle, separating Haru and the goods. “This is something we collected with great difficulty. I won’t give you any of it.” Desperate, Haru pulls out some bills to pay but Arisa laughs mockingly, “You still don’t get it? Things like money, phones…even your precious make-up, accessories, and grades…None of that matters here.”

Mizuki softly asks about the rescuing team and when no one answers her, she screams, snapping Chieko out of her trance. She answers that help might not come so soon because she’s been listening to the radio she’s found and no reports have been made about an accident. This means they will have to stay in this cave for more days to come.

Their faces darken, only Arisa seems happy about the arrangement. She loudly announces a hierarchy in which she rules as the empress, Chieko as royalty for collecting the food, and Chikage is the commoner. The problem lies in the last coveted spot because the person who ranks lowest as a slave won’t get to eat or drink. Finding the whole situation unjust, Mizuke speaks up, “Why are you deciding this as you please?” And Arisa’s answer shuts her up, “I’m just doing the same as you guys did. Didn’t you also make me the lowest rank in class on your own accord?” See. Karma’s a Bee.

Mizuki balks back, “I don’t need your stuff and I’d never fight with Haru!”

Arisa smiles evilly. Change of plans. She makes Mizuki the servant and Haru the slave. If Haru doesn’t want to be a slave, she’d have to move up the ranks by defeating Mizuki in a fight. Ah. Dang, this girl is shrewd and manipulative. Since she can’t provoke a fight from Mizuki, she turns to the insecure Haru instead.

She probes, “Don’t you actually hate Mizuki? Aren’t those your true feelings? You’re clearly under Mizuki in terms of appearance and grades. On top of that she really knew how to flatter Sakura…..and became closer to her than you. She snatched away your position and this is your chance to snatch away hers.”

And what do you know? Arisa’s provocation works. Haru picks up the sharpened stick and raises it…

Mizuki narrates: “At that moment I realized. This isn’t school. Everyone has died. There’s no need to put on a fake smile here.”

Cut to: Wataru checking his phone logs to see if the other teacher has called. Nope, she hasn’t. When the principle questions about the call, Wataru nervously replies that he has received it.

Limit Episode 3 Recap:

Fail to stab Mizuki with her stick, Haru hops on her and starts to strangle her friend. Mizuki screams for help as the others look on in horror, with the exception of Arisa of course, who’s pleased to see bloodshed. Gasping for air, Mizuki manages to say, “Aren’t we friends?” This snaps Haru out of killing mode and she searches around frantically for the flower hair clip. She cups the clip in her palm protectively and turns to Mizuki, “We aren’t friends. From the beginning, I have never considered you as friends!” She prepares to pounce on Mizuki but Chieko steps in between them and stabs the stick forcefully by Mizuki’s head, “Nobody wants to see this stupid quarrel of yours. You’re the slave, Mizuki. Just like Arisa decided. Tonight you’ll also be sleeping outside.” She hauls Mizuki’s bum outside.

Satisfied with her strategy of inducing a fight, Arisa sits back and snickers. To Haru, she ridicules, “At any rate, you really want to stab Mizuki, don’t you? After just a little provocation. You’re so easy to read. The worst.” This revelation leaves Haru staring down at her own hands, disturbed by her behavior. Would she have killed Mizuki?

Once outside, Chieko whispers an apology for her action inside the cave. She did it to quench down Arisa’s thirst. “At any rate, don’t try to provoke her for now. Just pretend to obey her. I’ll bring you water later.” As she says all this, Mizuki doesn’t appear to register the words, still deep in her stupor about Haru.

Morning arrives and Chieko suggests they look for a nearby river because their supply of water is limited. Arisa orders everyone to go but Chikage’s foot injury prevents her from putting pressure on the wound. Afraid of being alone with Arisa, she begs Chieko to come along but Chieko comes up with a task for her, hoping it would protect her from being completely useless in Arisa’s eyes. Her job is to make sure the fire doesn’t go out. Quite smart, this Chieko.

She proves her ability to survive further once they are far along from the crash site. Chieko passes out small pieces of paper, which are used as markers to keep them from losing their way in the woods. Up until this point, every one of the girl has shown their frustration and malevolent side, but Mizuki ponders how Chieko remains composed in this predicament. Chieko shows the girls a photo of her younger siblings. They’re waiting for her and she’s not about to die here.

At school, Wataru waits and dreads for a phone call from the bus company. When his phone rings, he picks it up with wild urgency as the blood drains from his face when the person on the line is the delivery man from the camping ground. He reports that no one has come. The groceries are untouched. He informs the bus company and they promise to look into the problem. Having no choice left, Wataru strides to the principle’s office. He pauses and then turns around.

Let me tell you, if I were Chikage, I’d rather hop on my injured foot then stay with Arisa, unattended by another company. The crazy girl doesn’t shy away from waving that sickle of hers when she notices that Chikage has been sitting in a corner and crying. The moment Chikage meets eye with the sickle, she practically crawls over to the fire to put in more wood. With tears trickling down her dirty face, she pleads, “Forgive me, forgive me, forgive me…” I fear for her safety!

Having stole some snacks earlier, Haru sits on a log to ingest the goodies. Afterwards, she proceeds to puke out the food. The sounds of her vomiting catches Mizuki’s attention and she hurries to her side, but Haru pushes her away. It’s here that we learn more about Haru and that she isn’t a selfish eater. She was friends with Sakura for a long time. To her, Sakura is a god-sent gift. However, because of Mizuki’s interference into their friendship, Haru begins to experience uncontrolled anxiety and the only way to feel better was to eat. She eats to fill up that hole of craving. Craving for Sakura’s attention and love. And before she knows it, it’s become a habit. Subsequently, she’d feel bad about binging and often hide in the toilet to throw up the excessive intake of food.

Hearing Haru’s confession, Mizuki mutters, “I’m sorry.”

Thinking that she’s been mocked, Haru yells, “You don’t give a crap about my feelings and don’t know anything. Don’t act like you understand me!”

Calm and apologetic, Mizuki shakes her head, “I knew it. I noticed it, I really did. That you didn’t want to talk about your grades. That you did well at avoiding this topic with a laugh. I knew it. Forgive me.”

Haru glares at Mizuki and stands up to leave. Her hand naturally goes through her hair which is when she figures her hair clip (a present from Sakura) is missing. As she looks around the area, Mizuki retells the story of her bullying experience to Haru. How she thought she could read the atmosphere and people really well. She snarks at herself, “I wasn’t good at all.”

She takes a few steps away and a little farther down, she sees Haru’s hair clip, sitting prettily at the bottom of a steep slope. She volunteers to get it for Haru. The latter doesn’t object but the worried lines clearly outline themselves on her face. Watching Mizuki slide down the hill perilously, Haru ekes out, “Mizuki! I’m fine without it…” But Mizuki continues and successfully retrieves the clip for her friend. Relief washes over their faces.

Cut to: Wataru mustering up every bit of courage to enter the principal’s office. He apprises the principal of the horrible news and intends to take full responsibility by calling the police. However, the principal stops him. Confused, Wataru looks up, “Why?”

Chieko’s voice calls out to Mizuki and Haru. She has found a small pond. The water isn’t clean but with filtration and boiling, she believes it’s the best alternative. Something else catches Mizuki’s attention…

The scene switches to the cave where Chikage comes back after gathering more wood but she trips and knocks over a candy container. The sight puts Arisa in a state of utter distress as bad memories creep into her head. Disarranged, she jumps on Chikage and uses her sickle to stab. The last thing we see is Chikage’s leg goes still. OMG. Did she kill the girl? A death so soon? O_O

And we’re back to Mizuki and the girls. They find a camp’s manual near a dead campfire. Chieko whispers, “This means…There is one more survivor.”

— End —

Kappy A: OHOHOHOHOH! So good! There’s another survivor!! I love it when the drama sings on one aspect and totally turns it on you. If the person is part of the school, why didn’t the girls see him/her? Are they friends? Or enemies? But I do like how they edit the scenes to build up heightened anticipation. It leaves a quick pause for the audience to generate their own ideas before refuting it with the truth and some more mysteries.

I call Arisa crazy girl in the recap but honestly, what her and most of the girls are doing is displaying facets of their personality. Under different circumstances, an individual adapts and behaves to the situation accordingly. Similarly, when you’re with a group of friends, your behavior might be different, bold and harsh or quiet and reserved, compared to when you’re alone facing the same issue. If Arisa wasn’t oppressed for so long under the reign of the girls at school, she might have adapted better in the forest because she’s given time to develop and control the different sides of her personality. Inexperienced, when she’s exposed to this chaotic, unrestrained environment, her dark side completely buries the other traits. Unpredictable, this one.

I’m also curious about Chieko as she has yet to lash out. Controlled and observant, she has a good head to survive this ordeal. But of course, I want them all to beat this tragedy upside the head and come out a better person.

By the way, the preview at the end of each episode is spoiler-y! I advise you guys not to watch them and wallow in suspense all week. 🙂 I’m serious!

Keeping the count of survivors by showing their desk. I wonder who sat there?