We come to the climax of Kayos arc and the time when that mother of hers gets what’s coming. Admittedly I would have preferred that the payback was a little more forceful as they essentially cornered her and killed her with kindness. A character like Kayos mom is a difficult one to make deep, as many writers just resort to the minimum effort of characterisation. An abusive parent whose abusive because they are. By making a character unapologetically evil and them being unaware of the right of their actions just spurs a feeling of wanting to slap some sense into these idiotic simpletons. While this shows efforts didn’t quite make Kayos mom a more complex individual; at least it tried to give some logic behind her actions. I truly appreciate that it recognised that Kayos mom had gone too far to become sympathetic by showing the onlookers to be largely unaffected by Kayos breakdown into tears. I now understand just how she came to beat Kayo; namely because of the stress of being a single mother and that Kayo was a reminder of a previous incredibly abusive relationship she had with her husband. But while I understand why she came to do what she did; that doesn’t excuse the fact that she’s beating the crap out of her daughter. I feel her plight is even more apathetic when you consider that we have a perfect example of a single mom in Sachiko to contrast her with. Cry all you like; I am not going to forget that just minutes ago you nearly took Sachiko’s head clean off with a snow shovel. I admit that this resolution to Kayos problem is a little too quick and clean. Though having this all done does serve to benefit the story seeing as the heavy focus of Kayo put the main plot to the sideline a bit too much.
On that note this show certainly is making an effort to remove suspicions from the teacher being the murderer and I find myself questioning it. Before I was dead set that he was the one but now he has become so suspicious that I begin thinking he’s a red herring. He remains prime suspect due to the fact that there is no other characters who fit the bill but that would make Satoru’s view as a father figure quite tragic. The big reveal of a stash of candy in his car compartment almost seems like a dead giveaway but his explanation behind it is so quirky that I find myself believing it. So with Kayo out of the way we have moved on to the other two victims of the killer and I fear Satoru is making a big mistake. He’s continuing as through the pattern of murderers will follow the same path but he has interfered with it. The episode ends with an ominous shot of the girl who previously attempted to fame Kayo for stealing money following Satoru’s friends. Heavily hinting that she may be the next victim. Personality this looks like a fake out as it’s likely the animators thought they needed to carry the tread of ending every episode with a cliffhanger. Chances are she will follow the boys and get involved with what’s going on. Though the chance of her ending up as a new target is quite high. It would act as a perfect wake up call for Satoru to realise how his actions have consequences.
As this episode ends the ever looming question remains. Just how do they plan to cover the rest of the manga in the remaining episodes. We have reached a point where they have too much to cover and yet have gone through the story so much that there’s not enough left for a second season. As I see it we have two outcomes to this. One is that they plan on announcing a OVA or movie at series end to conclude the series. The other is that they plan to rush the remainder of the content at mach speed. Considering the level of care that has gone into this adaption; outcome two seems unlikely. There is no way they planed out these episodes and didn’t see the issue of the remaining content. That would just be a densely grave oversight. A movie seems like the most likely option and the best one. It would give them the remaining time they need to conclude the story and up the production values. Boku Machi is a show that deserves a worthwhile ending.
…for the curious; Misato is reading 『はてしない物語』 (‘The Neverending Story’).
Wonder if she got to the part were Bastian goes power mad and starts taking over Fantastica.
This anime has kept on reminding me of the game Ghost Trick. I don’t know if it’s the music, the time travel or the production values, but it has kept me invested.
At least this episode explained why Satoru wasn’t worried about his friend. Though it’s still weird that he’s a boy [I mean with even having that awkward moment with Satoru].
Also I think there’s a lot of things that could go wrong. And what I think it’s setting itself up is the killer cornering Satoru at one point.
As a meaningless gripe its weird how it feels most characters fall for Satoru, even the smart kid, kinda conveyed that.
Finally just to comment, that was really a unrepentant showing of child abuse, with the mother punching her daughter in the face. That I think it’s something we don’t see in western media.
I think that rushing through whatever happens to these other girls would be fine with me, because they don’t have the same emotional ties as Kayo. I don’t know what’s in store, but I imagine that it involves another tragic moment, and the reveal of the villain.