Category: 18if

At this point, I wholly expect 18if to bring different approach, have different style on its same themes each passing week. This week, they indeed pulled a very different episode from its first two. It was a fascinating episode. I said “fascinating” because if I’m gonna mark this week as a standalone episode (or as a premiere episode), then I wouldn’t rate it too highly because its flaws are massive. But If I see this episode as one jigsaw piece in this 18if universe, then it adds up. Episode 3 addresses the issues that I have with 18if from the very beginning, even with the expense of the main cast. In order to sell us on the Witch’s case we have to invest to the Witch, and this episode spends a fair amount of time to develop her. Tojiro Fujii, an animator most famously known for his work with studio Pierrot, was given full creative control on this episode, as he directs, writes, storyboards and animates this piece, and his input surely shows: the characters are more expressive and the dream world is more grounded, with muted color palette. This episode actually reminds me of Flip Flappers for good reasons, so despite its shortcomings I don’t deny that this episode is my favorite 18if so far.

One thing, for better or for worse, that you can all take out from this week is that episode 3 feels and tastes different than the previous two. Instead of the excessive LCD psychedelic images of the first episode, or red blood disturbing atmospheric second episode, this one is surrounded by isolated normal town with only Kayo, the third witch, and Haruto, stay in. Kayo wanted to experience the normal high school life, but she was so sick she missed all the activities most of the time. All those visual choices actually help deepen the insecure state of Kayo, from her sitting alone in the middle of the empty town, to how 18if maintains the distance between the Kayo and Haruto (If you split the screen right in the middle, then those two would fall on different side) until she opens up to Haruto. This isn’t showy type like previous episodes but this is very well-handled direction, which I greatly appreciate. This episode also develops Kayo greatly by telling the episode from her point of view, so we can get into her thoughts, her nervousness and what she wants to achieve. Haruto and Kayo spend some solid chemistry together as well and seeing that little girl having small moments of happiness make my heart swell. I don’t really like the romance first love part but it does have its merits. The direction and the great development of the Third witch are understandably the highlight of this episode.

But its flaws are too big to ignore. Haruto spends an entire episode being passive, hanging around and doesn’t know what to do. Remember his main mission is to solve the case and get out of the witch’s dream? Well, this Haruto doesn’t have that purpose anymore, or any purpose whatsoever except for playing around with Kayo. I don’t like to say this but he has no personality this week so his tears in the end just don’t do anything to me. Other recurring characters are all relegated to some small lines and one-off, which of course hurt the consistency the show has established so far. And honestly I don’t know what to make of Kayo transforming into the witch. By any mean she would become extremely dangerous but 18if simply leave it aside. Well, witches aren’t necessary dangerous but when Kayo doesn’t use any of her power then what is the point of making her the Witch then? In the end, I consider this episode an anomaly in this 18if universe as it doesn’t follow the game rule established in previous episodes, and the results have its fair share of strengths and weaknesses. My usual complaint for 18if is that this is style over substance series, and I guess that’s likely where they will go for the rest of their run, but this episode proves that 18if still can go deep into the psyche of characters to tell a compelling personal story.

18if (pronounced as eighteen – if… nah I’m kidding) is an anime version of a multimedia project The Art of 18 which also include a mobile game and a VR game. Watching the first two episodes you can see a clear influence in its game format: a self-contained case that more or less has the same setup. Haruto wakes up in a dream, enters through red door, encounters the Witch of the Week, solves her problem, exits via blue door and goes back to sleep. It’s worth noting that each episode is handled by different director (Space Dandy-style) with overall supervised by the great Kouji Morimoto (Memories, the Animatrix), hence explain the slightly different look both in terms of visual and character’s designs. Unlike the premiere episode with overloaded with random visual, this week’s dreamscape is much more stripped down, yet they nail the mood with the atmospheric dark murder room and everything bathed in red blood gore scenery, down to the red heel. Overall, this episode goes much darker territory than the first, we have more details to work with the dream settings but 18if still has issues with its storytelling.

The main case of this week starts with the murders of the whole family where three members were brutally murdered, leave only the youngest daughter alive as she was hiding in a closet. The three murderers, who all were minors at the time, didn’t receive a proper punishment and years later, they re-enter the society like nothing happen. If you think this is a jab at the Japanese criminal justice system, then rest assured that 18if just drop it as soon as they mentioned it, and it works more as a setup for the girl to kill them in their sleep, Freddy Krueger-style. As much as I found the concept intriguing, I can’t fathom the fact that after all those years of sleeping beautifully, she didn’t kill them then and just waits for 10 years (is it?) carry out her plan in 1 day. Seem pretty random to me except for the purpose that Haruto can come save the day. Other aspect that surely will raise conflicting opinions from viewers is the moral ambiguity towards murdering someone in the dream world. 18if stands by the side that those three former murderers deserved to be killed, even Haruto helps out to finish the last guy off. Revenge is a dish best served cold after all. But are they? In the end the Witch and Haruto get away with all the murders. While I certainly see those guys are garbage, do killing them like this make the Witch feel better? 18if says yes.

This episode further confirms the theory that Haruto isn’t a real person. Throughout the course of two episodes, he never appears in the real world. Maybe Katsumi (the talking cat) has the key for his true existence, as aside from Lily and the Witches, he’s the only person who interact with him and his only line of communication to the outside real world. As for if Lily was Katsumi’s sleeping sister, it remains to be seen but as of now I don’t think it’s necessary a case. Might be Lily is similar to Haruto, an entity who wanders in a dream and save people’s problems (she calls him “brother” after all). Again, the shortsighted in storytelling and characters’ development still remain. This case, by all mean, is bold and surely grabs viewers’ attention, but dig deep into the case and you find nothing much. The Witch this week has a compelling reason and for me she’s an improvement from the Thunder Witch last week, still I can’t call her role exceptional. She just doesn’t have much time to develop and again, the ending wraps itself up too clean that when it’s all said and done nothing much to remember, except for its gore and its atmospheric blood red visual design. 18if relases with both Japanese and English dub versions, while I haven’t checked out the English dub I’ve heard good reception from it. I will try the English dub out but make sure to check out its OP. Lovely groovy song.