ERASED #11 – The point of The Spider’s Thread is that Kandata loses his chance for salvation because he’s not willing to share it with anyone else. So I’m not entirely sure what it means to see the thread attached to people. That they’re the recipients of (as the killer sees it) undeserved grace? Or they’re destined to be survivors, and he just likes taking that away from them to be a jerk? At least now we know what the deal is with the hamster in the closing credit sequence.
Speaking of credits, the modifications to the opening sequence really underline the fact that events have been definitively wrenched into a new timeline. Satoru has come forward to 2003, rather than 2006 where he started, and he’s done it the long way around this time. And, losing his memory in the process, he goes from an adult’s inner voice in a child’s body to a child’s voice in an adult’s body.
…until he gets his memories back. And then decides to tell the person who wants to kill him. While they’re completely alone, on the roof, in the rain, out of reach of friends, communication devices, anything that could help him. There are two possible explanations for this: One is that Satoru is an idiot, which would be entirely consistent with the story so far. The other is that he’s already confided in Kenya and/or Sawada, and he’s hiding the fact that he’s actually ambulatory by now.
Not that Satoru is the only one coming down with a life-threatening case of chutzpah. Of all the ways he could have come back into contact with Yashiro/Nishizono, the one I would absolutely not have guessed is that the murderer just walks right up and cheerfully explains the confusion away. That’s overconfident even for someone who has decided that a career in the public eye as a politician is compatible with being a serial killer.
This leaves one bothersome detail about Nishizono– his voice. I get that there had to be a way to make it less obvious that he was Yashiro in 1988, and deeper voices are anime code for old people, but I’m not buying that a guy in his early-to-mid forties would sound like he’s been through puberty a second time while Satoru was in a coma.
(Crunchyroll – Daisuki – AnimeLab – Wakanim – peppermint anime)
BBK/BRNK #11 – As nice as she is in person, Migiwa is looking less and less like a heroic protector. It turns out to be her keeping all the human-controlled buranki on Earth suppressed, and her fight with Reoko that caused Reoko to be assimilated by Entei (though that one may have been by accident). And then she basically tells Hīragi that it’s all his fault that his dad is a depressed alcoholic.
On the opposite side of things, Matobai decides that if he has a few hours left as a bubuki user, he wants to spend them helping Team Ōbu and reining in Arabashiri. For his trouble, he is injured by both sides, dropped from a great height, and finally zapped right through the torso. Sometimes it just doesn’t pay to be the hero.
But the point of Matobai’s and Hīragi’s stories is that control of bubuki passes down the family line immediately on the birth of the first offspring. This seems kind of inconvenient from an operational standpoint, and I hope there’s an explanation for it other than the writer wanted to really hammer home a message.
Meanwhile, the Russians’ master plan to renew the glory of Mother Russia is to drop a giant alien spaceship on their own capital, the Americans are blundering around uselessly, and the British have arrived but no one really cares. Meanwhile, Reoko is accumulating brain damage each time she dies.
State of play: Everyone is nuts. This should be a fun season finale.
(Crunchyroll – ADN)
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans #24 – With time running out, Orga fires Tekkadan up for for one last glorious, potentially doomed, attempt to get Makanai and Kudelia into Edmonton. (Edmonton, seriously? Maybe all the likely coastal candidates got hit by the wave generated by whatever turned the eastern coast of Australia concave.) And just when everyone has piled into the fight, Ein turns up and starts smashing the mecha that have helped bring them this far.
Ein vs. Mikazuki is the main event that the last few episodes have been building up to. There’s no one else in Tekkadan or Turbines left with an operational battlesuit, other than maybe Akihiro. On the undercard: Fareed vs. Gaelio. Odd that Fareed should decide he needs to be out there too, but maybe he’s concerned that Gaelio has gotten disgusted enough to change sides.
(Daisuki – Gundam.info – Crunchyroll – Wakanim – AnimeLab)
Active Raid #11 – With Logos in control of all the country’s critical systems, Unit 8 can act like it’s not actually being disbanded, and charge in to try to save the day when Mythos finally attacks the Ro datacenter directly. And though many rayguns are fired and stunts are performed, Mythos does succeed.
Something has really gone out of Active Raid lately. It’s losing that extra spark that made it fun, and just going through the motions. Well, mostly.
One intriguing question still dangling out there is the identity of another member of Logos, Monkey. It could be that Unit 8 has an enemy in its very midst, in which case my guess would be the IT guy. But another fun possibility is a character who’s been popping up again and again for no apparent reason. Remember the pickpocket Kuroki brought in in the very first episode? If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve been able to spot her in the crowd in every single episode since then.
Then there’s the whole business of Liko, who, as we have all guessed by now, was indeed the mechanism for Mythos to take control of personal computers all over Japan. How this leads to her having to turn into an apple peel and not be able to do the preview…. no idea.
Utawarerumono: The False Faces #24 – It’s time for a good old-fashioned kaijū smackdown! Right at the gates of the city! Seriously, guys, if you’re both so concerned about showing which of you is better at protecting Yamato, a good way to start would be having your rumble well away from the civilians.
Just when Oshutoru is on the ropes, Haku conveniently recalls that he’s been handed the cheat codes for the masks in the form of the Kamunagi. They invoke the power that deactivates the masks, but it turns out that side effects include redness and irritability, and Oshutoru winds up having to kill Vurai anyway.
Anju seems to be recovering, so that leaves Raikō to deal with before the princess can be returned to the court and Haku can somehow wind up as regent. (Vurai did have a point there, about controlling the heir.) And maybe some other loose threads can be tied up. I wonder if this show will even bother.
