Quite the intriguing episode. I remember noting a few weeks ago how unlikely it was for children to be involved in whole complots and companies, though now I understand where this anime is going: both Isako and Haraken have become obsessed with its mysteries, and it basically shows how fragile the minds of children can become at that age without any form of support. It’s a pity we’ve yet to see anything about neither Haraken nor Isako’s parents, but by the looks of it, they didn’t spend much attention to their children.
In here, Yasako is much like the “straight man”, who basically grew up normally. I think that it’s now up to her to save both Haraken and Isako in their obsession (notice how Yasako stopped calling Isako Isako?). Basically, the entire episode was about how Haraken lies to Yasako about stopping to worry about Kanna, while he makes a deal with Isako afterwards: exchange the access-code for the Sacchi’s so that she can take him along with her. I assume that this means to use Michiko-san to go to the cyber-world where Kanna’s soul is supposed to be.
I don’t know… while I loved this twist the current episodes have felt rather… formulaic. Sure, the twists are interesting, but I somehow feel I’ve seen this before. But then again, we’re only at episode seventeen. The series is probably building up again for its finale, and there are plenty of episodes left.
Another thing that bugs me is the utter lack of quality-time for Daiichi, Fumie and Kyoko ever since the recap-episodes. It’s a pity, since they were among my favourite characters.]]>
Category: Finished Series: Mystery/Suspense
Bokura no – 23
I’m not sure why, but my mood seems to be extremely random and unpredictable when it comes to final episodes. Bokura no, though, still had me as pumped as ever with its semi-final episode, and I’m really looking forward to see the end of this. I actually remember making a few predictions about the next episode, and surprisingly enough NONE of them came true. Obviously, this episode is going to be filled with spoilers. DO NOT READ this entry if you haven’t seen this episode yet.
Seriously, Bokura no started off with so many characters, and only three of them are alive right now: Jun, Kana and Seki. The rest of them: all dead, because yes, in this episode, Yoko kills Koemushi and takes Kana’s place as a pilot! I remember predicting that the giant tower would bring some kind of major plot twist: it didn’t. Yoko just destroys it, along with the building of Kanji’s mother. I also never expected that she indeed would be a pilot as well!
The fight also was one of the most exciting ones in the series, as it was also one of the most challenging ones. It really looked like a battle between titans, though in the end, it was Yoko’s experience that managed to finish the fight in her favour. This episode also was the first time we saw the government really involved with their bombardments of the city, around the fighting Zearths. It was actually a pretty weak strategy, as it would place both mechas at an equal disadvantage, not to mention the huge amount of homes that were burned in the process. The next and final pilot is going to be Jun.
The obvious question remains: How the HECK are the creators planning to finish this series?! Who were these people dressed in white? Are they really the ones behind everything? Will Bokura no attempt to rush its ending by killing off these guys in the end, or will it just close off the story of the current world, where the giant robots of other worlds will remain killing each other. Will the reset-button truly be pressed, or is this just a piece of false information. I’m dying to know!!!]]>
Dennou Coil – A Circle of Children – 16
Another building-up episode. It’s a bit disappointing, since most of the airtime was dedicated to a revelation that everyone probably already figured out: Isako’s brother is 4423. Yasako and Akira find this out as they find her, visiting her brother, conveniently located in room 4423 in the hospital.
I do woner what Isako’s been up to, by the way. She’s obviously waiting for something, but what exactly is it? Right now, it looks like all she’s been doing is visit her brother with regular intervals and nothing else, so it must be something really important. Anyway, the only new pieces of information is that we now know that 4423 is inside the library now, so Isako has been able to recover his cyber-body somehow, and Isako classifies Yasako with “all those other adults” after telling what happened to 4423. This explains a bit more about her reasons and personality.
Apart from that, we finally know the reporter’s name: Nekome. He seems to be an acquaintance of Tamako, and he apparently contacted her to help her. I’m feeling that he’s also after Isako (we see the pink cat again in Room 4423, and I’m getting more and more convinced that it’s owner is Nekome), and it seems that he’s now the superior of Tamako.
The interesting stuff about this episode came from Fumie and especially Haraken, though. They’re both in the library, researching the Illegals and Michiko-san after Fumie finds a few urban legends about her in a local tv-show. It’s also the hardest to understand part, so I hope I got this one right.
It seems that Haraken posted on an on-line forum, asking whether other people have heard of accidents with the navigation-equipment. I like this part; it shows that our main characters aren’t the only ones in the world with affinity to the cyberworld. It seems that there are more cases about people disappearing. One article also speaks of “cyber-clothing”. I’m not sure what this means yet.
Fumie then brings a few books about urban legends, and they show quite a few interesting things. It contains hastily drawn pictures of people and shrines, and a certain keyhole that we both saw in Yasako’s old diary and on the Illegals, as soon as Isako tried to open them. I’m not exactly sure what the book said apart from that, but if I had to guess, then it’s got something to do with people, disappearing into the cyber-world. We see them walk either towards said keyhole, or along a couple of train-tracks. The interesting thing is, of course: what was that keyhole doing in Yasako’s diary? Right now, it looks like she just fled once 4423 got eaten, but I’m beginning to think that more happened afterwards.
Still, I do wonder whether Yasako will be able to carry the second half of this series as a main character. She has been developing nicely for the past few episodes, but she never really turns into the highlight of an episode. It’s always another character that turns out more interesting than she does: Daiichi, Fumie, Haraken, Denpa, Kyoko and Takeru are all more interesting than she is, and I’m beginning to get worried about that. The only time where she really shined was in episode nine, where she was on her own and had to protect her teacher from Daiichi’s attacks. Ah well, only time will tell.]]>
Bokura no – 22
This episode was truly magnificent. Even though there are only three episodes left, Bokura no spends an entire episode on Jun’s past, but boy, does it turn awesome. I love how well his character has been developed up till now, this makes his background even sadder. The creators did a wonderful job in making his personality as real as possible.
All the times Jun’s been yelling at others, these were all about relieving his frustrations. The problem with his father wasn’t the fact that he didn’t pay attention to Jun, heck he seemed awfully keen to please him. But at the same time, he only spent very short times with his son, before getting distracted with something else. Jun has actually been screaming on some quality time with is father alone, but that never came.
And unfortunately, he often spent time alone with Kana, so he often directed his frustrations at his father towards the poor unfortunate girl. Kana realized this, which is probably why she kept supporting him. She kept hoping for someone or something to save him. This is why she asked Tanaka to search for Jun’s real mother: she thought that a mother would be able to save him. She was probably too tiny and scared to do it herself.
I’m seeing Kirie more and more as the biggest saviour of Bokura no with this. Not only did he bring Yoko closer to the other children with his revelation, he also was the one who managed to save Jun from his built-up frustrations; both by coming to live with him, and by refusing to fight. I almost believe that he did this to show Jun that there are far worse people on this earth. And it definitely made impact: ever since then, Jun started to change, being helped by all the other children. I seriously love both his and Kana’s characters.
Anyway, with only two episodes left, it doesn’t seem like Seki will be piloting. My gut says that in the next episode, during Jun’s fight, something very special will happen, that will somehow resolve the story. Two episodes are just enough time for both the fight, develop the people who are behind all of this, and give some conclusion. It’s going to be tricky, but I’ve got faith in the writers. They’ve already accomplished so many great things, if anyone can pull off a great ending, it’s them.
If I had to guess, then it’s got something to do with the giant tower that was being built by Tanaka’s employer’s employer. I assume that he’s been working on it for a while, and now it seems that it’s finally finished, due to Kanji’s mother’s research. The previous episode already showed that things like these can accidentally suck up the energy of the entire planet. I’m interested in how Kanji’s mother managed to tweak it in just a few days, and what the effect of it will become.
Long story short: I love Bokura no.]]>
Dennou Coil – A Circle of Children – 15
Rejoice: Dennou Coil is back! Apparently, the break and recaps weren’t meant to give the animators some time off, or to catch up or something similar; the timeslot for Dennou Coil was just occupied with baseball. Sorry about that.
Anyway, with this episode, the story gets fired off again, with a very high emphasis on mystery. Being a mystery-fan, I like this a lot, and It’ll be interesting to see whether the mystery is going to develop as well as in other great mystery-series as Higurashi, Night Head Genesis and Ergo Proxy. So far, it’s making a great start.
Basically, in this episode Yasako gets lost. After being chased by a bunch of children, mistaking her for Isako (apparently, Daiichi and the others aren’t the other she mercilessly used), she gets saved by a young boy of about her age: Takeru. He uses the same drawings on the ground that we’ve seen Isako use. He claims that this was drawn there before he came, though I don’t really believe that (see below).
Anyway, it seems that Yasako was quite close to her neighbourhood without actually noticing it, so Takeru decides to give her a bit of a tour through the area. Then after a while, Yasako starts to have deja vus, where she’s almost certain that she’s close to the place where she got lost when she was small, right before meeting Yonyon nii-san. The two of them search a bit, but Yasako’s memory is just too fuzzy to remember. She however, remembers that something big happened.
There’s one place that looks like the stairs we’ve been seeing in a few episodes, though there are a few differences. Takeru then suggests that it might have been a cyber-place on an old place in the town, with the white fog and all. If that’s the case, and the place was really a shrine, there is a possibility that the place is still there somewhere.
Takeru then explains about a phenomenon called “Imago”. It’s a psychic ability to find old buildings and spaces with your glasses. A person with Imago is supposed to be guided by strange voices, but it’s supposed to be just an urban legend. I suspect though, that Yasako has it, because she has heard these whispering voices once before.
Yasako then wonders why Kyuu-chans are erasing so many old buildings, and Takeru replies it’s because illegals caused a child to get killed (aka: Kanna). Then, Yasako hears the voices again, and they lead her to the place where she was lost when she was young. She then begins to recall her memory. She ran into a small shrine, and something was hiding inside of it. It turns out that this was a human-like illegal that was searching for Yonyon nii-san.
Furthermore, we then switch to the part of her memory when she was with Yonyon nii-san, probably fifteen minutes later. Yonyon nii-san was then swallowed up by that very same illegal. He urged Yasako to leave before this happened. Unfortunately, the Kyuu-chans erase the fog that was causing the whispers, so Yasako isn’t able to remember more.
After this, Takeru talks about a few more “urban legends” about these “cyber areas”. I suspect that these are the same as the one we saw Densuke escape in in episode 1, but these ones are accessible to humans as well, it seems. Supposedly, you can’t stay within them for too long, otherwise your cyber-body and real body will disconnect and you’ll lose your soul (I hope I understood this part well). There’s another urban legend that says that you must never, under any circumstances take of your glasses in such an area, otherwise you’ll never be able to return.
The two of them then say goodbye. When Yasako arrives at home, her mother tells her that she got a phone-call from her teacher. Apparently, a classmate of her called “Mayumi” is going to transfer to Hokkaido, but to be honest, I completely forgot who she is. Wasn’t she the third girl-member of the biology-club? The one we saw in episode 8 and 9?
Anyway, the episode closes with Takeru, making a suspicious phone-call with what sounds like his employer. He tells him or her about Yasako, and how she’s got Imago, the same as with Kanna.
This episode finally confirmed that the real and the Cyber-world aren’t two entirely separated things, and that people have been known to have an unconscious effect on the cyber-world (Imago; I’m actually starting to believe that it was this Imago that caused Kanna’s navigation-system to screw up, not the Illegals) and that there have been cases where people were just “taken” into the cyber-world, leaving no traces in the real world apart from memories.
Isako’s brother is either Yonyon nii-san, or he suffered this fate of being in a cyber-area and he either stayed for too long or he took off his glasses. Apparently, the power of Michiko-san is useful in getting him out of there. In any case, Yonyon nii-san is still out there somewhere, as we heard him talk with Haraken in episode 9. If Yonyon nii-san and Isako’s brother are indeed the same person, it’s quite ironic, as Isako was actually quite close in being able to talk to him. I wonder why she hasn’t discovered this yet. I also wonder, is there a link between Yonyon nii-san and Imago? Are the whispering voices actually his, and if tat’s the case, did Kanna meet the guy somewhere in her past as well?
The question also remains: what is Takeru’s role going to be? That’s about the only bad thing about this anime: kids who are barely twelve years old already are expert hackers, and instead of playing games, they’re already involved with shady businesses. I’d rather see some more development regarding this plot-hole. Is it usual for kids around that age to have a part-time job like that, or are Isako and Takeru exceptions?
And to close off this post: what surprised me as well was to see Yasako being surprised by a life dog, not a cyber one. It really seems that pets in this age have become less and less common for people to have, with the arrival of cyber-pets who are much easier to maintain. Still, there remain people who didn’t buy them, and stuck with the real ones for different reasons.]]>
Bokura no – 21
First, the good stuff:
The episode immediately begins with Kanji’s fight. There’s only one thing he did between his selection and his time to pilot: ask Tamotsu to kill his mother. Kanji’s case is similar to Kirie’s in a way: they both didn’t have any friends outside of the group of twelve, and they both had problems with their mothers. They were both struggling with a reason to fight. Kanji resolves this quite differently from Kirie, though, when the fight happens right besides the building his mother is currently in. Yet again, this episode was totally different from the previous episodes and fights somehow. Kanji is one of the few members of the cast who doesn’t like doubting (by lack of better description).
This time, the enemy also is an inexperienced one. They probably haven’t figured out yet that the other side is being piloted by real people as well. They go all out, but Kanji manages to easily beat them, protecting his mother in the process. He’s given quite an interesting reason for it: his mother may be an idiot, her research is top-notch. He’s actually fighting, so that he can give Seki and Jun a chance to survive! He probably knew that Tamotsu would never kill his mother, but he did want to make her aware that he’s fighting for her, and Tamotsu is of couse, the perfect person for this.
Then, when Kanji destroyed the enemy’s control-chamber, something strange happens. The enemy robot uses Kanji’s mother’s research to pull power from the entire city to get back to life. If this continues, it could suck up the energy of the entire planet, at least that’s what I understood.
What follows was a part I didn’t quite understand. From what I could get, along with an online-translator, it seems that even though the enemy’s children had been killed, Kanji still needed to immobalize the enemy robot to prevent the earth from being destroyed. The scene we see in the OP also reappears, and it turns out to be the links to the pilots of the enemy earth. Either that, or I just missed a huge plot-twist.
Kanji’s life-force is meanwhile depleting, but he manages to finish off the enemy robot, and places the power-source on top of the building where his mother works, in order to restore the power. I think that Zearth’s program really is linked with the earth itself, and when the enemy robot made contact with the research that Kanji’s mother had been conducting, it managed to pull out every bit of energy from the planet itself. All in all, it’s been quite an interesting explanation, and this really strengthens the theory behind the different Zearths and how they work. Seriously, other anime should really take an example from this series, and the way it so carefully explains its dynamics.
That was the good stuff. Now comes the GREAT stuff. 🙂
After the battle, Jun and Koemushi remain in the cockpit and have a little talk, and it’s indeed exactly like I feared: Koemushi plans to turn Jun into the next Kokopelli by making KANA the next pilot. If I understood things correctly, there will be two pilots left on the current earth: Kana and Seki. Jun will then go to yet another earth to get members, and he’ll stay alive. I’m not sure if this was in the Kokopelli-way, as in do it once and you’re fine, or in the Koemushi way, making him destined to become Koemushi’s successor.
Koemushi really believes that Jun is willing to throw his sister’s life away in order to live. What follows is the most amazing scene between Jun and Kana, where it becomes clear that Kana is indeed willing to die for her brother, if it was only because she didn’t want to live without him. Jun then makes a phone-call to his father, asking him to pick up Kana. In other words, he’s going to beg Koemushi to switch places with Kana, so that she can live, after she probably rounded up fourteen new pilots on a different earth.
And I think he’s actually going to pull this through, unlike Kokopelli, who at the last moment became afraid for his own life. I think the biggest difference between the two was that Kokopelli only seemed to care about his daughter. It’s just a guess, but I don’t think that the different pilots on Kokopelli’s world formed such a unity as in the current world. Every world has different pilots, some have the entire planet backing them (Takami’s opponents), others are afraid (Moji’s opponent), and others want to save the people from different earths instead (Kirie’s opponent).
Because the group here was more closely knit than with Kokopelli, who probably never cared about the other children, Jun, who started out like a jackass slowly came to understand why his different opponents fought. He probably understood this when Kirie started living with him, and he suddenly had to take care of him and became involved with his problems.
Still, the thing is: is Koemushi just going to let Kana and Jun swap places? He’s proved himself to be sneaky and a total idiot, and he loves to see others suffering. Is he really going to be content with such a happy ending?
Also, with this episode, I became convinced: Bokura no is THE most thought-provoking anime of 2007. At this point, this series goes much further than Seirei no Moribito, Jigoku Shoujo, Death Note and all the others combined. Also, in terms of realism it’s one of the best of this year. I really love this series because of this, and I just hope that the creators saved the best for last. :)]]>
Dennou Coil – A Circle of Children – 14
“You know, I’m all for giving the animators enough chance to catch up and all, but I’m beginning to get really pissed off when there hasn’t been any Saiunkoku Monogatari or Dennou Coil for FOUR SUCCESSIVE WEEKS! Because yes, this week is yet another recap. This time, told in the perspective of Akira.
Seriously, I’m getting Wolf’s Rain flashbacks here. Thank god the beginning of this episode had at least a bit of new footage.”
At least, that was what I was going to write, until the end of the episode started showing some more new footage. First of all, Fumie discovers that Akira has been spying on her all along. While this was nice and fun, the next scene was what really surprised me: remember the reporter-like guy? He finally shows a bit more of himself when he talks to Haraken.
He really knows a lot about both Illegals and Haraken himself. He also tells him something very interesting: if Haraken continues his research, he’ll end up just like Kanna. The name “Dennou Coil” also has been chosen for a reason, it seems. This seems to be the event, item or phenomena that everything centres around.
We also see a new cyber-pet introduced in this episode: another cat with hands as ears. The question remains: who is her owner? Some heavy hints are pointed to the reporter-like guy, but it can be anyone at this point.
Let’s hope the next episode will be a real one.]]>
Ayatsuri Sakon – 25
Yes! Yes! This arc is progressing perfectly! I couldn’t have expected it to get any better, by the standards that have been set with the rest of the series. There’s a strong and consistent emotional strength throughout the entire episode, the mystery progresses perfectly, and it’s great to see Sakon as the centre of attention, without any increase of cheesiness.
The interesting thing is that this is another one of those arcs where we know who did it, before the final episode: the Shinozakis. If the creators are confident enough that they give out these hints, they must have got something very interesting in store for the conclusion. With other words: Shinozaki’s reasons should be quite juicy.
Come on, Sakon! There’s only one episode left! You’ve only got one more chance to prove yourself and your unique character. Please, make your end a memorable one!]]>
Ayatsuri Sakon – 24
So, apparently there is no Baccano-release this week. To make up for it, we get treated to a double-release of Ayatsuri Sakon. We’re finally ready to start the final arc, and it’s exactly as I hoped: the final arc is going to be all about Sakon, as it centres on his succession of his the puppetry-school that has been lead by his father for ages. If I had to say so, this episode was the best opening to an arc since the first one, which benefited most from the fact that I had no idea what to expect from this series.
Lots of side-characters also return for this arc. Shiho from the fourth ac is back, Shinozaki from arc I returns, and our regular side-characters of Kaoru and Zenkichi are also present. Like I mentioned above: Sakon’s famous grandfather finally decides to hand over his title as the head of the house, after suffering from a heart-attack on stage. The successor will be Sakon. I nearly forgot that this grandfather is also Kaoru’s father, by the way. His other child, Sakon’s father, committed suicide when Sakon was only ten years old.
The fact is that people obviously disagree with Sakon being the next head. The most obvious suspect would be Sakon’s grandfather’s brother, but he also coughs up blood at the end of the episode. The big question is now: was Sakon’s grandfather’s heart-attack a real one, or was it created by a human? If it was, I’m putting my money on the guy who takes care of the clothing, due to a hint that was given around the middle of the episode. There are still lots of questions that remain, though. Why did the criminal set a garbage-can on fire? Is Sakon’s father’s suicide related to this?
I’ve got high hopes for this arc. This is probably going to have more emotional strength than most other arcs, due to the fact that it focuses on characters who are already fleshed out, and with a bit of luck, it’ll be able to finally top the seventh episode. Come on, Ayatsuri Sakon! You’ve only got one arc left, so make it an arc to remember!]]>
Bokura no – 20
Whoa, plot twists! Before I start with them, I must say that I finally realized how incredibly versatile the second half of this anime had been. It started out as a case-based series, then, with Kirie and Maki it turned into science-fiction, then with Takami and Aiko, the political undertones of this series suddenly got lots of attention, and the past two episodes have yet again changed the main focus, as they start to explain all of the mysteries in the series. It’s hard to name a series where the difference is so noticeable.
Anyway, this episode: Yoko’s background. It seems that her original world has been visited by a Koemushi-like creature as well. Yoko wasn’t part of the pilots, but her brother was. He already was a huge brat at that time, but it seems that the group of children had also decided to battle until their deaths. Then, if I understood things correctly, the gray Koemushi came with a revelation when Yoko’s brother was the final pilot left: if he were to travel to different worlds, enlisting people for the very same game, he’d be allowed to live. With this news, he became overjoyed, and gladly accepted this for the chance to keep living. Yoko, while she didn’t like this, still decided to accompany her brother.
They then travelled through countless other worlds, where their robot always ended up defeated at one point. Then they reached Kokopelli’s world, where they met him. Things were a bit different in that world, as Yoko entered a class as a transfer-student in order to get them to sign up, and she became friends with them. Kokopelli’s daughter was among that class, and Kokopelli was their teacher. He was the one who nudged his daughter to enlist.
Kokopelli became like Tanaka when he found out the true nature. I guess he felt responsible for it, and offered his life, in exchange for others (aka, his daughter). Obviously, with Koemushi, this didn’t turn out as planned. In the end, only he and his daughter remained alive. I think that it’s then when they knew about the final pilot being the one to remain alive. Kokopelli offered himself, to keep his daughter alive, though Koemushi had different plans, and chose the daughter instead. When Kokopelli’s wife tried to commit suicide along with him afterwards, he suddenly was begging for his life. After that, he went on to help Koemushi and Yoko.
At least, that explanation makes the most sense. There are quite a few details in this episode I didn’t get, like why didn’t Kokopelli turn into a Koemushi as well? And why did he so easily throw his life away in the first episode? Why didn’t we see the last fight of Kokopelli?
And holy god, I suddenly realize how similar Yoko and Koemushi are to Jun and Kana! With Kanji being the next pilot, And after that only Seki and Jun are left, and it really seems like Koemushi is trying to make Jun into the next Koemushi, due to Kana being there. There’s also a thing I’ve been wondering for the past few episodes: the final pilot. Now that Kirie killed two, and Tanaka died, there should be no need for it. But according to THAT Anime Blog‘s entry of episode 17, the line-up that Koemushi mentioned consisted out of all the pilots (Komoda – Jun – Seki – Tanaka – Kanji). This has confused me for quite a few episodes already.
Anyway, next episode should be awesome: Kanji is going to pilot! (at least, I hope ^^;)]]>