Short Synopsis: The old guy reveals his connections with Nijuu Mensou
Highlights: Deja vu?
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
This episode started out excellent: Chiko is being accompanied by Nijuu Mensou’s former research professor, and Ken gets attacked by one of his minions when he tries to follow her. One thing I love about this series is how brutal the fight scenes are. There are supernatural elements, but it knows full well that superpowers alone don’t make a good fight. The animation is subtle, but it knows where to be detailed. I’d much rather watch a fight scene of Nijuu Mensou than one of Soul Eater, for example. These are fights between people that can get wounded very easily, and don’t have some sort of plot-device that automatically heals their wounds/makes them able to block a sword with their bare hands.
But as the episode went on and the focus got back to Chiko, I got a strange feeling… didn’t this already happen before? Someone from Nijuu Mensou’s past? Check. Grudge against Nijuu Mensou’s betrayal? Check. Hostage? Check. Nijuu Mensou appears from out of nowhere? Check. Everything just sounds awfully familiar to the doll-arc, apart from how the scientist doesn’t have any powers and so has to use two cyborgs. What exactly is this arc planning to add?
The other big difference here is that there was a huge emphasis on Chiko, thinking for herself. The doll clearly wanted revenge against both Chiko and Nijuu Mensou, but the professor (what was his name again?) wanted Chiko to side with him for his goals. Still, what could the creators be planning for that next episode. This series’ strength was how its plot often took 180-degree twists, but this turn it looks more like 360 degrees
A repetition of the plot? Perhaps, although the dangerous super-people, the heavy industrial machinery, and the “evil villain ties Little Nell to the railroad track” aspects are all emotionally very strong, it seems to me.
This episode also begins to tie all the threads together. NJM was working on more than one project, it appears: human improvement, energy from water, huge weapons. He believes that people are not capable of controlling these powers or themselves, so he wants to destroy the knowledge.
My own opinion is that once knowledge is out, it is impossible to forget. We will see where things lead. I think we also have to consider the possibility that the old professor wasn’t entirely wrong, and NJM has some ambitions of his own, and is using Chiko, as well as protecting her.
On 2channel, there are rumors that Chiko will be married at some time in the series, to someone. Since there are only 22 episodes, that would be sometime in the next five episodes.
I like the scenes in caverns and factories. There is definitely a kind of old-fashioned feel about them. The way the technology is represented is fairly ridiculous, but it is all part of the “Showa 30s” feel.
Those are some strange rumours, and I wonder who it is that Chiko is supposed to end up with. The only one who makes a chance is Ken, but there hasn’t been any sign of romantic tension with him (or any other character, for that matter).
I think that NJM indeed is also partly at fault, and Chiko seems to realize this as well. That’s why it was interesting that despite this, she chose to stay faithful to him.
The riiculousness of the technology in this series is perhaps mimicking the “science fiction” of those “Showa 30s”. Like, how after the war, people began to fear these supernatural weapons and stuff.