Anime roundup 3/19/2020: The Other Side

ID: Invaded #12 – Hayaseura opens up the Mizuhanome to flood the entire Kura building, explaining that turning the whole thing into a giant serial-killer-investigating machine will make up for all the people killed by the serial killers he created. And, presumably, all the random staffers who he couldn’t bother to let out of the building first and who are now trapped forever. Also he doesn’t care enough about justice to actually stick around to face it, rather than take a one-way trip into the collective unconscious.

His master detective name is Uraido, where ura means the hidden side of an object or a personality. It’s yet another sign that the Mizuhanome, or Asukai, is done with being subtle. She wants revenge on John Walker, so she sends Hayaseura into his own id well. She’s ready to smooth the path of Narihisago and Hondōmachi as they try to stop him.

Somewhere in all of this, Fukuda Tamotsu, the guy who was first introduced as the serial killer who murders people by drilling holes through their heads, has become a sympathetic character. Partly it’s that we know that he was being manipulated into the killings, by using the Mizuhanome to redirect his desire to kill himself. Partly it’s getting to see the absolute doofus of his Anaido personality. But also, now, he’s one of the few people in this show to have formed a genuine new connection with another human being. As Hondōmachi has done, we now get to see him as a whole person.

And it may be the attempted suicide that forms the “urge to kill” which actually allows the use of the Mizuhanome. It’s the thing that binds everyone connected with it. Narihisago seems to have been ready to give up after his wife and daughter died. Hondōmachi was willing to sacrifice herself to stop a killer. Hayaseura killed himself to escape. And Asukai has expressed more than once that her fondest wish is to die.

(FunimationAnimeLabWakanimbilibili)

Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun #10 – First Nene is being menaced by spectral hands in old gardening club photographs, then she’s abducted for the second time in two weeks, then she gets stuck with yet another cute but useless guy, then she’s being attacked by demons who want to destroy her self esteem, and then finally Hanako’s evil twin shows up again, because there is always some way things can get worse.

Tsukasa seems oddly protective of Mitsuba, given what was going on last time they met. Maybe this puts Mitsuba back in Tsukasa’s debt, so Tsukasa gets another chance at warping Mitsuba into something horrible?

So it looks like Nene and Hanako will have to disable yet another of the school mysteries. That’ll be three down out of seven, and Hanako himself is one of the remaining ones. Does this eventually lead to removing them all, including Hanako?

(FunimationAnimeLabWakanimAnimax Asiabilibili)

Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story #11 – Iroha finally gets a break by focusing on the whereabouts of one of Ui’s hospital buddies. Mifuyu dodges Yachiyo to make Iroha an offer, if she can just come to a lecture at a place that supposedly doesn’t exist. Finding none of this suspicious in any way, Iroha and friends arrive at the appointed place and time, only to find Ui’s other old friend all ready with a story about why they should support the Magius.

It looks like some big revelations are about to drop, not just about why the Magius organization has decided that creating Witches is a completely sane and reasonable project, but also how Yachiyo and Mifuyu fell out. Plus possibly a bonus explanation for why Yachiyo has an alter ego that resembles Iroha’s, only instead of emerging at critical moments to save her, it taunts her about taking away all her friends.

For the mid-show cliffhanger, I think we’re going to see a big philosophical disagreement between Yachiyo and Mifuyu, one that both have paid a price for. Iroha will have to choose one side or the other. Will she pick Yachiyo’s even if it means giving up her chance to find Ui?

(FunimationAnimeLabWakanimAniplus AsiaAnimate GamerbilibiliCrunchyrollHIDIVE)

In/Spectre #10 – Kotoko deploys argument #2, which is that the Steel Lady is a real ghost come back to avenge the injustice of being blamed for her father’s murder, and then argument #3, which is that she isn’t a ghost at all but a deranged fan trying to adjust her reputation.

By deploying diametrically opposed arguments, Kotoko floods the space of possible fictions so that Rikka has to wind up agreeing at least in part with at least one of them, thus strengthening Kotoko’s side. Or at least, I think that’s how it’s supposed to work.

Tantalizing details like the fact that Nanase Hatsuko couldn’t believe her sister would die that way are brought back just to be warped into the service of Kotoko’s newest attempted fictions. It’s frustrating that we may never know the real explanation. That may be the author’s point, but it’s still frustrating.

(Crunchyrollbilibili)

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