We hav sixteen episodes to work with and yet the pacing of this anime is almost breakneak, but admittedly that doesn’t quite feel rushed. It could do with a few more moments of slowing down and letting the atmosphere speak for itself or even just some back and forths between Zack and Rachel. So after alleyways, a hospital and s sewer with a graveyard we are brought to a prison with a new floor master who is keen on punishing those that enter. Unfortunately this new villain falls under the same problem as many of the others as being rather one note and going so over the top crazy that it’s hard to take her seriously. But I do like that she presents herself like a tv show host when talking of her plans to execute the two of them as it sort of eludes to the nature of executions being used as a form of entertainment in early humanity. Even prison executions has a audience and the idea of some bubbly host girl presenting the whole thing like a game show is rather novel. The theme of this floor is very much on punishing the wicked or excessive punishment as the traps the two encounter are all elaborate forms of execution.
Zack getting strapped into an electric chair is quite cathartic but I admit that I find Rachels extremely delayed reaction to releasing him rather frustrating. It is rather odd for how quick witted she’s supposed to be to not think of the factor that Zack can’t kill her if someone kills Zack. But admittedly there is the question of just why it has to be Zack that needs to kill her. The question that was brought up time and time again last episode was that if the goal is for Rachel to die then anyone could kill her. The only point that gives Rachel undying loyalty to Zack is that he swore to god that he would kill her. So let’s examine things. Rachel wants to die but she does not want to commit suicide. Thus she cannot give up and let others kill her as that would be a form of assisted suicide. Of course the big contradiction her is that once they get out of that place and Rachel lets Zack kill her then that too would essentially be assisted suicide. The only differentiation being the oath to god. Therefore I see this, Rachel wants to die but she does not want to be punished for taking her own life, or that she does not wish to be sent to hell. A point of interest as while it may have been a figurative taunt, the doctor in the first episode also stated that her parents where in hell. So could it be that Rachel doesn’t actually want to meet her parents and that is the reason she has an apprehension towards the idea of suicide? Because it would send her to hell where she would be reunited with her parents? Or it could be that she has a apprehension towards suicide because she already committed it? The opening does show a girl hanging from a noose which could very well be Rachel. Speaking of the opening I did find it amusing that Rachel and Zack had to take the same mugshots they were posing for in the opening in order to proceed.
This show is still weird but interesting but I do admit that I am having difficulty with Zacks voice actor. The problem is that having watched A certain Magical index subbed, every time this boy speaks I hear Accelerator. Word on the net is that most hear Bakugo in his performance but for me I hear more of Accelerator and that admitly takes me out of the show a bit. So seeing as the first episode of the simudub came out I figured this would be a good time to get some use out of my funimation subscription. I got to say that the dub for this show is really quite good, better than the sub in my opinion. I feel the english actor for Zack captures the goofball aspect of Zack a lot better than his Japanese and the small little dialogue changes add a lot more. If i had not chosen to blog this I would have likely watched this dubbed but admittedly I said I would watch Steins;Gate 0 and Hinamatsuri dubbed and yet fell behind on both. Watched High School DxD Hero week by week to completion yet fell behind on those…I am actually disappointed in myself for that.
