My face while watching this episode probably could have been plastered in this screenshot just fine . . .
I’ll say that while I don’t think this ending is particularly great, it does at least fit in the grand tradition of anime having absolutely bonkers endings. It seems like the two most generic ends are “life goes on” or “wtf”. Personally, I usually prefer the latter to the former, because it can be great fun to go wtf every so often.
Have to say, whatever I or anyone else may think about No. 6 right now, we can all agree that this brief fight scene is awesome, right? The animation style reminds me a lot of Hironori Tanaka (thanks to Digiboy for jogging my memory with his name), who did several of the big fights in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Greedling vs. Wrath comes to mind immediately as particularly representative of his style), but looking up the credits at ANN, it doesn’t appear as if he is working on this series. It’s an awesome scene regardless, and far ahead of any other animation I’ve seen in the series thus far. Guess BONES really broke the bank on this episode to hammer down the dramatic impact of that scene.
Did it work for me? Yes and no. The animation absolutely sells the drama. There’s a tension and sense of weight that great animation shows that nothing else can really replicate, so in that sense, I bought into what is being sold by No. 6. But the writing is a bit too hurried, like it’s trying to keep pace with the animation but moves just a bit too quickly for its own good.
I was going to say this is a good episode — if a bit quickly paced — after last week’s debacle, but then this had to happen. No matter how many visual allusions to 2001: A Space Odyssey you throw out, I will not be swayed, Elyurias! Go away, you magical forest elf god! You are unwanted!
Seriously, though, I did enjoy this episode a fair amount more than last week’s if only because it acted as if the whole, “lol No. 6 is all about dat magical forest lol” exposition dump didn’t happen (for the most part, anyway; clearly, it will come up again, and I will be sad). The focus shifts back to the plan to bust Safu from the joint, which is kind of strange in a way. I get the Action Movie Logic of allowing yourself to be captured to complete an objective — it worked for Golgo 13, after all. (And that episode is fucking awesome.) Wouldn’t the mooks recognize Nezumi, though? Even if what the good folks of No. 6 are going to do to Nezumi is top secret, his face could be plastered on wanted posters and shit, and the soldiers could just be told to find him without knowing why. If there’s anything we know about Soldier Drones, it’s that they love having missions, even if the objective behind the mission is unclear. But I guess they can’t be bothered.
Also, they need to watch more action movies — if someone’s hiding his or her face under a hood, then that person has something to hide! Suspicious!
Suspension of disbelief is a fickle thing. Everyone has his or her own standards; some folks are just more or less accepting of things than others. For me, a lot depends on timing — the earlier a strange concept is introduced, the easier it is for me to accept it as part of the world a story is building, and the less likely I am to think of it as some bullshit the writers are pulling out of their collective asses.
Obviously there’s a lot of farfetched stuff in No. 6, but let’s pluck two examples: The parasite bees and the magical singing. The former is acceptable to me because it’s introduced relatively early, and while not really explained all that much, it’s not an especially foreign concept in science-fiction, so I can roll with it. (There’s certainly been far crazier things that have grown inside people in fiction, especially if you’re a fan of body horror.) The latter, well . . . the first hints came in episode five, which, to be fair, isn’t that long ago in terms of episode count (though the wait between episodes makes it seem longer), but seeing this in action in the latest episode is getting to the point where I’m thinking, “OK, this is slightly too much for me.”
Just kidding lolololololol. I don’t want to pay the homophobes too much lip service (lol), but only a really silly, insecure person could possibly be disgusted by this scene. Not that any of those people visit this site. (Or, if they do, then they’ve been unusually quiet for being such loudmouth idiots.)
Anyway, with both Shion and Nezumi being up front with each other, that adds another dimension to everything. Or does it? If Nezumi has indeed kept Shion’s lesson with him his whole life, then was his plan ever truly to destroy No. 6 from the inside out? It seems contradictory that Nezumi would claim never to have forgotten the lesson that Shion taught him — that there do indeed exist people kind enough to help each other — but also to plan the destruction of the city he so despises. However, is it really so? Perhaps it isn’t, from Nezumi’s point of view.
Apologies for getting to this so late. Last week was quite hectic for me, and I fell behind on many things. It was an ordeal just to get that Sister Princess post out Saturday. This week should be better, hopefully.
Safu seems to be the spark that will move No. 6 into the endgame. I doubt Nezumi will tell Shion about her capture — after all, there’s really nothing in it for him if he does — but doubtless Shion will find out about her eventually. It would be a narrative waste for Safu to return to No. 6, only to be killed off, especially since she has become more sympathetic following her stay in No. 5. (And it’s not like she was unsympathetic in the first place; she was just strange and crazy straightforward.)
This is a nice dancing scene, unlike a certain inexplicable dancing scene from a certain seventh movie in a certain series about certain wizards.
The ending is nice, too — a decent way of showing that Nezumi is letting his guard down around Shion because he’s caring for him more, and also that he doesn’t know how to deal with it because he’s spent his whole life in survivalist mode. I actually got a decent chuckle out of Nezumi overanalyzing Shion’s movements (and that strikes me as the intention). The whole, “Where did he get these awesome skills?! He sneaked up on me out of nowhere! Who is he?!” bit of panic is amusing when the truly rational explanation is that Nezumi is viewing Shion more as a person and a friend (and, of course, as a potential romantic partner), which has never really happened to him before, from what we have seen so far. He has a distinctly antagonistic relationship with even people who might be termed his friends (like the Dogkeeper).
Shion and Nezumi sitting in a tree . . . K-I-S-S-I-N-G (and not more because this isn’t a Y-A-O-I).
People really take slights personally on the outside. If someone insulted my mom, I’d probably just brush off, because, you know, fuck people and their opinions, but then again, I don’t live in a place where you need to constantly defend your honor and look like a badass, or else people will murder the shit out of you. (Although my hometown is arguably as big a dump as this place.) I guess Shion is a reason for fighting, too, but mostly, it’s because Nezumi called the Dogkeeper’s mom a bitch. (Which, to be fair, is accurate. I mean, damn, that lady was a huge bitch.)
Any image of surgery is certain to get a cringe out of me. Not quite as bad as that episode of Shiki, but still fairly squicky to watch. I hope Nezumi didn’t have to cut too deep, or else that would have been really painful for Shion . . .
I found many of Nezumi’s thoughts on No. 6 to be interesting, particularly when he talks about how No. 6 only takes in those who pledge total obedience and shows no tolerance for deviants. His tone struck me as viewing No. 6 as a unique city in the world — perhaps that No. 6 is the only totalitarian state among the remaining six, and that the five remaining nonetheless deal with it because they can’t afford not to? Or maybe it’s just that Nezumi has experience solely with No. 6; I doubt he’s had the opportunity to venture to any of the other cities on the map.
Don’t really think we’ll find out too much about this (unless there’s some streamlined way to introduce this information); just something interesting to think about. Curiosity about whether No. 6 is the only dystopian game in town, or if everyone else has joined the party. I also wonder if there is any significance to No. 6 being the newest of the six cities created in the aftermath of whatever disaster befell the world . . . (Or, perhaps, BEEfell the world? Yuk yuk yuk.)
God damn does that little bastard ever get around! Either this rat truly is the fastest creature in existence, or it knows some killer, Mario Kart-style shortcuts. This thing probably owns on Rainbow Road.
(Digiboy suggested to me that there are probably multiple rats. That seems like the most obvious, logical conclusion to make. I prefer the idea that there is one, super badass rat, though.)
Anyway, this episode gets things moving some more and introduces more of the world in which No. 6 resides. Lots of standard dystopia stuff here — the over-the-top loyalty pledges wherever the government can cram them in (you get the feeling these people require a loyalty oath before citizens can use the restroom), the dystopian world being different from the “real” world (which is, of course, totally fucked), and a deadly virus thrown in for good measure. Dystopian governments can never leave well enough alone. They always have to be working on some deadly shit or another in their spare time.
UNMEI KAIHEN 