Episode 1: Night Zero [The camera pans across a cliche scene of a schoolyard thick with flowering cherry blossoms.]
female voice: Welcome to class 1-A!
これは学校の物語です。
This is a story about a school.
[Scene cuts to a classroom filled with an assortment of students. Many of these students are not human. All in all, the class looks like the creation of a 12-year-old fanfiction writer. The speaker from before is revealed to be the teacher, alca-sensei, who is standing at the front of the classroom holding a book despite clearly not using it for anything relevant.]
alca-sensei: As you’re all aware, due to budget cuts, the school has greatly reduced class sizes and funding for club activities. In fact… there is… only one class this year, for all ages of students. Umm… but I’m sure this will work out, somehow!
私たちの学校。
Our school.
[Cut to the classroom during lunch break. plotstickers, ezreal, Rodea and adawg are gathered around their desks. Their desks are conveniently next to the window. One can see cherry blossoms through the windowpanes. The cherry blossoms alternate between fluttering in the breeze and staying still depending on how lazy the animators are.]
plotstickers: (Sighs to self) This seemed like a normal school when I first put in my application to transfer… What’s going on at this school?
Rodea: (Eager at the chance to make fun of the new kid’s ignorance) Hey, transfer kid, you haven’t heard the rumors?
plotstickers: (Innocently unaware of Rodea’s bad intentions) Rumors? What rumors?
ezreal: (Leans in conspiratorially, because all rumors need to be shared conspiratorially) Well… they say there’s an underground student group that’s been embezzling all of the school’s funds for illicit club activities. That’s where all the money is going.
plotstickers: (Surprised, but not really that surprised, given what kind of school this is shaping up to be) Really? Who?
adawg: (Wanting to remind everyone that she’s in this conversation too) That’s the thing! Nobody knows. They’re completely secret. Buuuut if I had to guess…
[ezreal, Rodea and adawg turn to look in one direction. The camera pans out to reveal T3tsuya with his feet up on his desk, texting on his phone. He realizes they are looking at him, and stares resolutely back.]
T3tsuya: (In a voice dripping with exasperation and disdain) Alright guys, really. For once, it actually isn’t me.
ここに何か後ろ暗いことが起こっています。
Something underhanded is happening here.
[Timeskip, the background is a classroom around sunset. eleni, nautilus, drandahl, Aistaraina and Rasei are standing by the window speaking in hushed voices.]
eleni: (Crosses her arms and speaks clearly because this is important exposition and everyone needs to be able to hear it) They’re cancelling all club activities if they can’t get more funding soon.
drandahl: (Crosses his arms in the exact same way) This is unacceptable.
Rasei: (Also crossing her arms, but in a different way) Even the sports teams will be affected by this...
Aistaraina: (Not crossing her arms, because it would look really weird if everyone crossed their arms) The band, too. What will we do?
Rasei: (Thoughtfully, in the tone of someone providing more exposition) You heard the rumors about the underground society, right? What if we found them, and turned them in?
eleni: (Ignoring the rise of music in the background that means that her next line is clearly setting up the main line of this trailer) Impossible. The school administration would never believe in rumors like that.
nautilus: (Who has until this point been standing quietly silhouetted against the sunset with a sword like a classic samurai) Well then… (Adjusts sword in a potentially menacing fashion) ...We’ll have to take matters into our own hands.
学校を救わなくてはいけません。
We need to save our school.
[A montage of quotes out of context, superimposed onto images that do not effectively explain the plot of this anime. Many of these shots are clearly here just to show off certain characters who were popular in the manga.]
[nautilus, Cure, deo and drandahl are standing in the courtyard outside. There are cherry blossoms.]
deo: (With a thoughtful finger against his chin) An underground student group that’s embezzling money? And you think we can help?
Cure: (Rolls her eyes and crosses her arms, because crossing arms transcends scene changes) That is the STUPIDEST idea I’ve ever heard of.
drandahl: (Also crosses his arms in the exact same way Cure does, because this is now his thing) Yeah, stupider than your stupid face!
nautilus: ... (Draws sword)
drandahl: (Realizing that some things, like staying alive, are more important than method acting) SORRY. SORRY I TAKE IT BACK.
[Rasei, Sammiya, high seraph, Luxaria, and AliceofOz are in the library. It is an unnaturally large library for a school, full of computers that look both sci-fi and high tech, and also entirely outdated. For some reason, there is nobody at the front desk, because this anime didn’t have the budget for a librarian NPC.]
high seraph: (Typing into a computer that looks like a combination of a 1980s terminal and something from Tony Stark’s lab) According to these records, the school received funding at the start of the year, but as of last week… it’s gone.
Sammiya: (Frowns, chewing on her thumbnail as she looks over high seraph’s shoulder as if she could possibly interpret the lines of fake code going across the screen) But what could this mean…?
AliceofOz: (Wearing a maid uniform, sets a stack of books on the desk next to Luxaria and Rasei. Everything she does comes with cute sound effects and sparkles) Here’s the rest of the books you asked for!
Rasei: Thanks, Alice! (Turns to Luxaria) Are you sure you’re on the right track? (This is not a track pun)
Luxaria: (Surrounded with mountains of books and drawing what looks like a chart of every possible combination of students who could be in the secret society) This is the only proper way to do things. You need to be thorough, okay?
[eleni, Ninfia, Kotakia, Tiki The Troll, kiku, chinomi, Kiyoko and Jaiser in a classroom that doesn’t actually look like the classroom from the first scene even though the story literally said they only had one class of students this year.]
eleni: (In a tone that indicates that she just finished explaining the situation) ...And that’s the situation.
Ninfia: (Turning to face the empty air) So what do you think? It might be fun to help out. Not like there’s much else to do now that all the clubs are shutting down.
eleni: (Bristles)
Kotakia: (Who has passing familiarity with things like voices in one’s head) Um, Ninfia, who are you talking to?
Tiki The Troll: (Ignoring the previous few lines of dialogue entirely) Saving the school from baddies, right? I can do that.
kiku: (Also ignoring the previous few lines of dialogue entirely) My magical companion and I will save the school with our combined powers!
kiku’s sheep: (Makes sheep noises)
chinomi: (With a classic tsundere mumble) You humans can’t do anything on your own-- I mean, as a perfectly normal human just like the rest of you guys, I… I suppose I could help, maybe.
Kiyoko: (Barely agreeing to be in this trailer in the first place) Do what you want, but don’t get me involved.
Jaiser: (Cheerfully, entirely oblivious to anything else going on) Ah hae nae idea whit aam daein' haur tae be honest.
しなければ…
And if we do not...
[In a darkened room that is presumably a classroom, though it’s rather vague and really could be anywhere at all. All the figures are silhouettes. It is not clear how many figures there are in this room.]
mysterious voice 1: The… mafia club?
mysterious voice 2: I’m sure you’ve heard of us. We could use someone with your talents. What do you say, are you in?
mysterious voice 1: What do you do with the money?
mysterious voice 2: Whatever the hell we want.
mysterious voice 3: Guys! Shh. I hear someone outside the door.
[Camera pans to the doorway, where Mr. Alice is peering in]
Mr. Alice: Hey… you guys got food in there?
[Camera cuts suddenly to black.]
GAKUEN MAFIA
9月4日2015
Send in your confessions and night actions. (Or actually hold off so I can make another post about the format for this!)
6M:16T:2N
The phase will end at 4:00pm PST on September 5 2015.