Category: Night Head Genesis

Whoa… I can’t help but feel sad for Shouko. Her powers have become so huge that her spirit left her body, forcing her to spend the rest of her life in the state she’s in now. At first, I thought it was quite convenient for her to have such a power, but this is just sad. Very sad.

Anyway, this episode concludes the Mikuriya arc. It was a very good episode, in my opinion. A lot of life-changing themes which can’t be solved that easily passed the screen. I’ve always been a fan of series which introduce these kinds of questions. Mikuriya survived the episode, though I don’t think we’ll see him again, as he’s planning to leave the country. The fact that humans can be able to exceed the 30% of brain capacity appears to have some serious consequences, as Shoko proved.

The other parts of this episode, in which Naoto, Naoya and Mikuriya had to escape the mysterious threesome also were well worth the watch. The creators did a good job in making expecially the beginning very creepy. There also was quite an amount of time put aside in order to show this. Most times, when fights are dragged, it doesn’t mean anything good, though this episode provided a very nice exception, as it gave Mikuriya the opportunity to hold a rather interesting speech. Also, did the threesome really die? Or do they still have a few tricks up their sleeve? And what happened to Naoya at the cliff-hanger?

Night Head Genesis started to become disappointing with the Kariya-arc. Okay, it was nice to see, but a bit too dramatic without much emotions, and it didn’t go anywhere. The Sonezaki-arc made a nice attempt to recover from this, and now the Mikuriya-arc has continued this. I’m glad to see that Night Head Genesis is finally getting good again.

And with this, the second half of Night Head Genesis has begun. And it’s an appropriate start, as it introduces three new antagonists, gives some background about both Naoto and Naoya as Mikuriya and Misaki. It’s a really interesting episode. I really liked it, it’s a very nice contrast with the rather fastly-paced episodes that preceded this one.

I especially loved Mikuriya-sensei. So far, he didn’t really have background, but this episode really looked at him through multiple dimensions. We both see the current him, as the him from fifteen years ago. And finally, changes between his two versions appear. I just loved how natural he changed, especially after what happened with the research institute burning down and all. Naoya also looked scarier than ever when he was freaked out when he touched Mikuriya’s assistant.

Now, the question remains, why did Mikuriya have to be locked up? It’s clear why the research institute was targeted: it’s located in a place where a lot of energy gathers. Because of this, Misaki could synchronize with it, and he was able to erect a large barrier. Right now, the three new antagonists are trying to do the same, but they’re failing. Still, they’re keeping Mikuriya in this hut, right next to the former building. Why is this important? Another interesting fact is that Misaki released Sonezaki, right after he took Naoto and Naoya in. Afterwards, Sonezaki joined up with the main antagonist of this anime. If Misaki knew this, then why did he release Sonezaki in the first place?

As noted above, it’s fairly possible that this episode introduced the third part of this anime. The first part was fairly episodic, introducing a lot of cases to build up the story, combined with lots of angst and drama. Then, when Naoto and Naoya reached Shoko’s place, the second part started, the cases focused more to Naoto and Naoya, and their secrets and mysteries. The drama and heavy scenes made way for mystery and manipulative scenes. It makes you wonder what the current part will focus at. It all depends on the powers of the new antagonists, I think.

Oh, my. That was an interestingly great episode. It’s another one of those in which nearly all things people do is talk, and episodes like these prove to be very enjoyable most of the time. This was no exception.

It seems that Sonezaki was behind the last episode after all. It seems that he’s acting on his own at the moment. For now, it seems that the reason for this is that he couldn’t bear to see Naoto and Naoya spending their efforts to the good, though I think there’s more behind this. I’m also wondering what Asano-kun’s role is in all this. Did he just come to observe things, or does his power work well with Sonezaki’s? In any case, he looked happy when Naoto unleashed his powers.

Also, the way Sonezaki’s background was shown really was creative. It really shows that Naoya’s power can become great at times. All the time, Sonezaki was manipulating Naoto and Naoya, he was entering their memories and confronting them with them. Because of this, he was the leader of the conversation. He strengthened this by bringing a number of random people along, who each proved the fact that being good has too many restrictions. For example, he manipulated a girl into hitting her boyfriend who’s been cheating on her for a long time. In any case, then when he really was in his element, Naoya read his mind as well, completely turning the table. A nice element of surprise. It seems that Sonezaki once was lockedin the research institute as well, before Naoto and Naoya arrived, it seems. That means that he’s quite old. You’d say he’s just in his thirties, but if this is true, he’s got to be at least forty. The question also remains how he managed to escape. Could it be that someone helped him escape, or he was let go?

Also, some more information is revealed on Naoto and Naoya’s power. They were the ones who made the woman from the previous episode commit suicide. Asano just made it look like the little boy was behind it. Naoto also unleashes a lot of his power at the end of the episode, this suggests that if this will get even bigger, things may get problematic. Also, you’d wonder whether the fire at the research institute, mentioned at the end of the episode also was Naoto and Naoya’s doing. After all, the circumstances were perfectly right: Naoto exploded and afterwards, Naoya got the vision of the burning research institute.

Then, at one point, the episode also takes a strange turn when Sonezaki actually starts singing a strange rap-song. I’m not sure what the exact meaning of this is, but it seems that it’s his style of acting that way. In any case, that song really reflected his ideals and ideas about this world. It was quite creepy, though a nice touch at the same time.

Hmm, the bad guys get more evil by the minute. I so do hope that the following episodes will show a bit of their background and history. I’m not really into those bad guys who are just evil because they’re evil. This time, the bad guys send Asano-kun after Naoto and Naoya. His powers look a lot like the ones we saw Sonezaki use on Kariya and Tadano. That means that they’ve either got similar powers, or it was actually Asano-kun who manipulated everything, while Sonezaki just took care of the talking and diplomatic matters. If that is the case, then you’d wonder about his powers.

Three cases get highlighted again this episode: the guy who attempted to kill Miki, Kariya again and the boy who caused a bunch of suicides. Asano-kun uses the latter to try and either take Naoto and Naoya out, or to awaken or study their mysterious powers. During this stage, strange characters appear, bearing the same tattoos like the guy who attempted to kill Miki. What appears to be the case? Naoto and Naoya created these people themselves. Their negative thoughts, hidden in the backs of their heads started their existence.

Naoya also received a memo from Mikuriya. It contains a prophecy Kamiya once had. Naoto’s power seems to be too strong. For a minute, I thought I read Naoya, but it really seems to be Naoto. It’s strange, as it did seem that he managed to control his powers. “Schism, two bodies, beasts seek out to eat his flesh, separation will lead to terror and death. I cannot see past the darkness, but this Upheaval will be white.” Seriously, I have no idea what this means, but the mystery-parts in this anime really are awesome. I think the beasts are Asano-kun, Sonezaki and their bosses, with the flesh being a metaphor for his powers. Separation leads to terror and death seems to suggest that the two brothers have to stay together. But I think that there’s more than just that.

The role of Mikuriya, the research centre and the barrier also gets questioned during this episode. Right now, it seemed that the centre was evil, though Mikuriya decided that it was impossible to chase the brothers, so they formed a truce. But during this episode, Naoto actually wonders whether the barrier wasn’t meant to protect the two of them. That’s why it was so bad that the elder died. Not because Naoto and Naoya could get to others, but because others could get to them.

And also, was the name “Purple Chain” just a random coincidence, or was more behind it?

And the Kariya arc has ended. It was quite interesting. We start with where last episode left off: Kurahashi’s assistant, Tadano, suddenly has trouble breathing and nearly collapses. It turns out that someone used mind control on him. Kurahashi meanwhile finally understood the message, and deletes her research records. The visions, however, only stop after Tadano freaks out and attempts to strangle Kurahashi, only to get shot down by a crossbow, coming from a rather enthusiastic fan of Kariya. Quite a nice scene.

Afterwards, Naoya gets a vision of Kariya, disappearing. And indeed, when they leave, the guy behind Kariya’s powers, Sonezaki, finally shows himself. Along with a shady character called Asano-kun. The vision with the gloves, the snake and the elephant never had anything to do with Naoya, but with Kariya’s own death. The gloves are Sonezaki’s. He first shows Kariya a golden elephant, as a symbol that his job is done. Afterwards follows the silver snake who turns into flower, as a symbol of Sonezaki, poisoning Kariya.

The thing I liked about this episode was the huge number of references to earlier episodes. Somehow, the case with the women dressed in purple got addressed again. We’ve got a reference to the suicide-arc, the golden elephant and silver snake of the past few episodes, Shouko gets mentioned again, new information about Naoto and Naoya’s parents turns up. Each of these pieces of information actually contributes something to the individual stories. That’s the beauty of having these arcs who look finished on the outside, but still contain a lot of mysteries on the inside.

Okay, so if I understood things correctly, there’s one guy who hires other psychics, in order to try and understand the whys and hows of Naoto and Naoya’s X-factor. For that, he hired the guy from episode eight, Sonezaki and Asano. Sonezaki was the one who gave Kariya his visions. Probably to make him manipulate Naoto and Naoya. The way Sonezaki laughed at the end of the episode probably means that he’s got some ideas of his own he’ll probably be executing in the near future.

I’m wondering how the next arc will be. This show showed that it can be both a strong drama and mystery series. I wonder whether the mystery-element will be even more emphasized in the next episodes.

Hmm, this case is beginning to get more interesting by the minute. I was sceptical at first, as I thought that each arc in Night Head Genesis would be full of hate and suffering, but the concept they used for this arc also worked out very nice.

First of all, the vision of Kamiya shows a bit more of itself. We have a golden elephant who flies away. Then we have a black glove, in which a silver snake appears. This snake dissolves into a flour-like substance.

Also, if the visions keep coming, this anime can do some very interesting things. I think it’s going to try and play with the future. As things stand now, the woman who attacked Naoya will kill someone other than Naoto, Naoya and Kurahashi and end up in jail. Naoya will end up touching someone and have the worst shock of his life, making him unable to recover. Then, an airplane disaster occurs in which a young pilot takes his parents along with him and afterwards, about fifteen, twenty years into the future, the disease will kill humanity. The question remains, how much of this will come true?

Remember the first prediction we saw from Kariya? Naoto and Naoya were looking at a street full of corpses. As this will happen about twenty years into the future, it has to be a symbol, instead of a realistic vision (just like the elephant and the snake). What if their own meddling was the actual reason for Kurahashi to develop the virus? Was it their meddling that caused Kurahashi to become nervous, and messing up so much that the virus was set loose? At the end of the episode, we also see Kurahashi’s assistant in a very unhealthy condition, dumping a few strange flour-like medicines and dropping them in the drinks he was supposed to be getting. What could it mean?

Hmm, the current arc isn’t really that good. Not enough pain and suffering. Except for the vision with the little girl. That one was great. It seems that the main plot is something else than the dangerous disease which spread, and if things all go well, the woman who attacked Naoya will be killing Kurahashi and end up in jail. With that, things are solved. I hope that the creators can bring some kind of twist to this, and I’m secretly hoping that the virus will be escaping in the end.

You could wonder whether the things Kamiya Tsukasa did are good or evil. From his point of view, he saw numerous of things, and I think that he couldn’t bear just telling nobody about them. But because of this, he does have influence on people. If he never spoke of anything he saw, then the woman who attacked Naoya would have never attacked him. I think he does realize this, but keeps telling himself that it doesn’t matter that much.

Even though this episode was rather bad, I do have hope for this show. Lots of times, we see a small reference to a future arc, which is afterwards never mentioned again. We already know that Night Head Genesis is great with toying with these things, so I’m looking forward to the episode in which the doll girl, the woman with the umbrella, Shouko and many others return. The next episode will also be a good chance to find out about the nature of the events foreseen. Shows tend to use them in two ways. The first way is show a vision of the future in which bad things happen. The one who saw the vision then rushes to prevent the bad thing and everyone’s happy again. The second one I like more. A vision is shown, and no matter what, it does happen. It’s like destined to happen.

An episode focused on the main plot of the anime, instead of an individual case. A bit less awesome than usual, though. There wasn’t enough pain and suffering, unfortunately.

In any case, a few things about Shouko become clear. It seems that she’s at a warp which connects the entire world. No time and no space exist where she is. This has showed her things she needs to know. Still, it also seems that she doesn’t know everything. She doesn’t know what the “Upheaval” means. it does seem that she left some messages for the two brothers in Miki’s care. Their memories about their parents aren’t false. And she shows them the strange scriptures she was reading in episode one.

Naoto and Naoya seem to have a very strange power. The power to change reality. Much details aren’t known yet, though it does seem that people will be trying to take advantage of them. At the end of the episode, we also get to see another psychic, who seems to have another vision-ability. I think he can see alternative futures, or something in that direction. In any case, he sees a future in which Naoto and Naoya have killed the entire world population. He’ll probably be coming after them soon.

A strange tattooed man also appeared during this episode. I’m not sure what his purpose was, or who sent him, though it did seem that he was trying to profit from the brothers’ sorrow. He makes Naoto and Naoya see that they seem to have more abilities than they thought they had. He wasn’t really interesting, though. Just an overconfident bastard.

Even though the coincidence is a bit too obvious, I still love the way Night Head Genesis introduces its cases. Every case Naoto and Naoya run into is somehow linked to its previous case. The killer woman was in the pub. The suicides all happened near the place Naoto and Naoya grew up. The culprit behind these suicides happens to be Shouko’s little brother. As so little anime are attempting this, the effect that this gives is great.

In any case, like I said, the culprit was Shouko’s little brother. He seems to have the power of mind control, which he used to kill off the bikers who killed his dog and ran away. Quite a shock for such a little boy. When such a thing happens to ordinary children, they start screaming and yelling. But what if a kid has potentially killing powers? Right. Then things get out of control. Still, it worked perfectly. The boy was so sad in this.

His mother also plays an interesting role in this. She knew about her son’s power, though she just let him do what he wanted. It’s indeed the depth of a mother’s love. Though I wonder why she hasn’t discovered Shouko’s power yet. It may be that because of Shouko’s disappearance, she allowed her son to kill off those students. She was too scared to lose him as well.

The teacher, coach and popular girl also were very nice. The teacher was on good terms with the students. When she realized that she was being used to kill them off, she got cornered. As she couldn’t do anything, I think the least she could do was put their pictures on her altar, as a means of paying them respect. The popular girl actually was in love with Megumi, the first girl who died. She probably kept chasing after the boys because she was scared of being found out. And the coach was uninvolved as well. He was just a horny coach. Nothing more.

Okay, Night Head Genesis has its flaws. Naoya’s voice-acting can get annoying at times. The two of them also get entangled in situations for weak reasons. The overall purpose of this series also seems a bit lost, though maybe Shouko can change this.

Still, I love this show. It’s not afraid to deal with disturbing themes such as suicide, homicide and abuse, and it successfully portrays the feelings of all of the persons involved, whether these are Naoto and Naoya, or some side-characters, unimportant to the main story. Because this show deals with such themes, the pain and suffering from each of the characters are huge, only contributing to the awesomeness.

I also like the way that the different stories are integrated with each other. Before the conclusion of one arc is found, evidence for the next arc has already started. It gives this show a nice piece of unpredictability.

Same with this episode. Things didn’t go as I expected. Naoto and Naoya didn’t recognize the woman, so that’ll probably be a story for later. She seems to work for doctor Mikuriya now, so she’s bound to appear later in the anime. The house being gone seems to be a nasty side-effect of Naoto’s power, though full details haven’t been given yet.

The case for this episode revolves around three students, friends of each other who committed suicide. Every week, at the same time and same place for the past three weeks. Furthermore, the school they attended harboured some nasty people. We’ve got one extremely popular girl, who likes to steal boyfriends from others, only do dump them immediately afterwards. Then there’s the corrupt gym teacher and we have a school nurse who’s always calm on the outside, but hates people and likes to stab others on the inside. Somehow, these suicides are linked to these three people.

I’ve got no idea how things happened. After all, the last victim did kill herself. We saw her slitting her wrist. Not because someone forced her to, but because her entire life was boring, and she actually wished to die out of boredom. It’ll be interesting to see how this boredom is linked to the school nurse.