Wow. Okay, like I said in my Senkou no Night Raid entry: I might just drop it when Rainbow’s second episode turns out to be really good. It did.
Seriously, the first episode was full of overacting, but this episode actually made me tear up a bit. I’m not sure whether I’m going to drop Night Raid or Angel Beats in favour of it, though. It’s not like these two are the worst, but I’m getting rather worried about their short length of only 13 episodes.
But seriously: the reason why I didn’t like the first episode was because it really tried way too hard. It was all sentimental without us knowing anything about them, and without any build-up whatsoever. The acting wasn’t that good anyway. The lack of build-up was probably its biggest flaw. And here the second episode comes and wastes no time in building up, exploring who these kids really are. Seriously, talk about improvement!
My guess is that the creators wanted to rush through the introductions, so that they could start with the good parts of the manga as fast as possible instead of having four episodes of these introductions. It’s not my favoured approach, but damn, this episode sure made up for it. Joe gets to be the first one to be put under the loop, surprisingly. He first struck me as a bit of a weird kid, but damn. Having been continuously raped in his childhood, about to lose his sister to another pedophile. This is heavy stuff, and I guess that the setting of this series really allows for the creators to write about the darkest parts of society.
The old hag may have overreacted a bit, but still. That part in which Joe escaped the prison, only to be recaptured when he tries to look for her was rather hard to watch. I’m not exactly sure why she decided to react so coldly, but it probably was because she knew he’d be punished severely if he were to try and escape again.
I actually have no idea for how long this series will continue (I of course hope as long as possible), but it’s mostly going to have find its balance between subtlety and overacting, while still capturing the horrors that these kids went through. But if all of their stories are going to be as good as with Joe, then there’s a ton of potential here. And really: what I’m hoping for the most is that the creators are smart enough to actually let this continue up to the end of the manga, in which we can see the characters grow up. I know the manga is really really long, but animating it until the end would really be awesome.
The animation however is nowhere near Madhouse’s best. There are a ton of still frames and speed-lines, and you can really see that Madhouse’s best staff are currently too busy with either Yojou-han and the Marvel-series. But still, that old hag looked really creepy.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
It was on this part when I started to be really interested with the manga xD It was so touching~
ARGH THIS EPISODE NEEDS TO BE SUBBED QUICKLY
@Beta: Subbed! And loved this episode..creepy and intense.
WHY DIDN’T THE POLICEMEN REACT TO WHAT JOE HAD SAID ABOUT THE PERVERTED ORPHANAGE DIRECTOR NOR ABOUT HOW SHE HAD ATTACKED JOE?! What the old woman did could have killed Joe!
I didn’t understand why Megu had treated him so coldly, but I guess what you suggested is plausible. Still, it’s sad to see her submissively go according to what the old woman told her to (to the pedophile).
I thought the rain scene where Joe was crying was animated really well, though arguably there’re other scenes in this episode that isn’t as good like you’ve said.
its good but it made me feel miserable, maybe every episode is going to be like this O_O
Rainbow is too depressing for me. The rape scene was just sick and it seems that good people in rainbow have the worst luck to them. Maybe I’ll just marathon this when the series ends airing. I noticed that evil characters have ugly faces which is weird because their ugliness reaches the point of ridiculousness.
It’s pretty weird how severe these kid’s punishment is for, what I assume, to not be incredibly heinous crimes.
Also, I thought it was given from the fact that she was weeping in despair that she still loved him, but was cold to him to protect him (though I guess this would also crush him psychologically; then again, a little girl might not understand that).
I threw up in my mouth a little at the rape scene. This series is pretty hardcore.
Man, they make every single adult very creepy. Ugly pedo-bears out in the loose! And I loved this episode, “Uragiri” wanted to make me puke in my mouth actually, not Rainbow. Now THAT is depressing. But as warned, Rainbow isn’t meant for everyone to watch.
One thing about this episode: I really hate the officers that just stood there and watched the old rapist slam a flower pot on Joe. Freaking cowards.
Fear the ugly pedo-bears. Fear them.
I thought that was still way too overstated, melodramatic and sentimental. Where you have a subject matter that is so dark and heavy in the first place, you need light handling and understating to make it come alive in a way that doesn’t look caricatural and ridiculous. I though the part about Spoon was good, but the rest of the episode still made me cringe with how overdone it is.
Etrangere: before I started this episode I was prepared to say that as well. But something about this episode really hit me, despite how it was so over the top.