Holy crap. I’m not often disturbed by gore in anime, but there are a certain number of exceptions (from madhouse series, of course). This episode was such an exception: what an amount of detail they put into that broken hand.
Normally I really don’t like it when a show pulls a Murphy. Not enough drama? Let’s throw in some punks! Let’s nearly kill someone! Let Easter and Christmas take place on the same day! But seriously, this show does it with such force. It’s so incredibly determined to show a worst-case scenario. As much as I hate the extreme cheesyness of this series, I’m still glued to the screen from start to finish.
Here is a tip for this series however: during the lighter parts, stop playing that ridiculously cheesy music. I really feel that the first half of this episode would have been a ton better if just no soundtrack was played at all. It’s a very simple choice the director could have made. I like series that have a lot of emphasis on music, but these shows should know when to use it with subtlety. It doesn’t really work to play sad music every time. If the music is good enough, then okay. It can be awesome to play really outrageous music during just a simple and random conversation. But not this kind of cheesy stuff.
Psycho guard’s absence in the first half did show that he’s just a special case. Most guards actually can be normal people. It’s just that this is one ridiculous nutcase that gets to run free. The question is of course his portrayal: insanity is often a very tricky thing to portray in anime. It’s just so easy to go over the top with it. The same as the punks that were introduced in the second half. I admit that I know very little of how punks like them used to behave in Japan in 1955. They were just kids during the war, their role models probably ended up to be criminals. Can it really go so far, though?
Then there are the idiots. Mario really took the cake in this episode, which really surprised me. In a way though, I can really see a teenager do that. It’s stupid and annoying, but at the same time I can see how he wants to be kind-hearted, but really fails to think of the consequences of his actions. The thing with these things is obviously balance again. Stupid teenagers is one thing, but they’re not that much of a moron. Compared to just about everything that this show does over the top, Mario’s actions actually feel pretty believable.
Overall though, out of all the brilliant directors that are stationed at Madhouse, it’s a shame that Hiroshi Koujima got allocated to this series. I haven’t seen the other series he directed, but the stories I heard about them all reeked of mediocrity. Rainbow is set to be his best work, but that’s only because the rest of the staff is so excellent. The manga won a bunch of awards (and I can really understand why), and Hideo Takayashiki has more than enough experience to plan out the series correctly. Sure, he may have screwed up at Kaiji, but most of his works were really excellent: Ride Back, Maison Ikkoku, Souten Kouro, One Outs, Akagi, and then there’s the script of the Hi no Tori Movies, Oniisama E, Master Keaton. And it really shows: for all that it’s worth, there really has been nothing wrong with the pacing so far. This episode was yet again well paced, combining both the light and the dark moments with each other. It’s just a shame that the director has no idea what the word “subtle” means.
Rating: * (Good)
Actually, on a note of the ‘insane’ prison guard, his behavior is actually the norm. From what I’ve seen in stories I’ve heard and read, as the guards have no real rules, they treat they inmates as the please, and can vary from crazy to kind.
There’s a difference between cruel and insane. Officer Hadley (or whatever) from Shawshank redemption was cruel. Insane is a different thing though; this motherfucker is insane. I still find it a little hard to believe. His facial expressions are just too lulz.
Also, since (presumably) none of us have been to prison, I think it’s a bit presumptuous to say that prison guards are /actually/ this or that. We can speculate, but I think you’ve got to give them some sympathy. They get paid shit and their jobs really suck. Also, they do have rules. Whether they follow them or not is a different matter, but it’s not like the state is like, “hey, here’s a bunch of prisoners, go crazy.”
Rather, the state turns a blind eye to what happens.