What an episode, and they ended it in a cliffhanger, too. But before we get to that, it seems pretty clear that ANN was correct expecting 12 episodes, and everyone who claimed 2 cours were wrong. {Actually, no, we're safe, see below.}

Producer continues to underwhelm to the very end, and honestly I am getting fed up with him. I never promised stuff to my kids just to shut them up, on principle. Also, Haruka admits to being drawn to the big stage, which is a big minus in my book (I even dinged Shiho for it!). Her candy, which was a great gesture in ep.7, made a comeback as a farce.

Apropos Haruka's raise and fall, JTfish, a professional animecoblogger currently with Jinx, asked me who is my favourite. Heck if I know now. I was inclined to like Yukiho in the games, and on CDs, but she was portrayed in a very unattractive way in the anime. Haruka made a good try for it, but now this. Miki is a sex bomb and all kinds of amazing, but it's not quite what I am looking for. I guess, I have to fall back to Chihaya, then. She always was steady in her cool, even if her episode was somewhat compromised and open-ended.

By the way, I have to give props to A-1 animators for a small detail that is a pet peeve of mine: the airplane contrail. For some reason everyone else -- and I literally mean everyone -- draw the contrail and the airplane on the same overlay and then drag it across the sky background. The result is hideous. But A-1 actually animated it.

So, the next episode is Live. Will we see Ritsuko to show the upstarts how it's done? Without much practicing, too? Stranger things happened in anime!

As far as the brouhaha with Miki, I predict that nothing will come out of it. I suppose it may make for a great hook for the next season if she were to quit and join a competitor... But in the anime continuity Hibiki and Takane are part of 765 Pro. This is just not going to work. They will make Miki to suck it up somehow, so that everyone have their Live together (although perhaps she is the type to hold a grudge and then we get the hook, in the last 15 seconds).

UPDATE: After a twit from Kuro, I went to check the sources. The magazine thing is not here nor there, but the TBS thing is more interesting. Their October schedule lists an episode a week from now, on October 29, in the usual 25:25 slot, although without a number. It may be ep.13, or it may be something else. The syoboi goes further than the TBS website.

UPDATE: A commenter at Chizumatic pointed out that the official website links to a preview for ep.13.