I really like episodic series. Sure, they’re easy to screw up without the right execution, and their main storylines don’t become as smooth as series with a continuous story, but really: who cares? They’ve got plenty of ways to make up for that. This episode showed that even episodic characters are just awesome if they use each other to build up and flesh out the story. Seriously, this episode was amazing.
This was EXACTLY what I was hoping for when I started this series. Sure, the story started off with a number of cliches and all, but this was a really emotional episode that did just about everything right. The first half of this episode was full of wonderful slice of life that makes me take back what I said earlier about this show, in the way that the characters in this series don’t have the most interesting personalities: the way in which this episode fleshed them out was wonderfully down to earth and showed a lot of new things about them, like Isana suddenly liking a famous pop star. Or the fact that Merry has been lost and killing off other dream demons for ten years now. Yeah.
Then the second half came, and that was the point for this series to suddenly contradict a lot of what it had been building up for. Seriously, how many series this season have already done this right? Yumekui Merry gave another wonderful addition to the collection of amazing plot twists of this season: it turns out that Merry didn’t have the power to send demons back at all! In fact, there was no way to get back to the dream world in the first place.
The second half of this episode also wonderfully moved the lead characters into the gray area of morality: in this episode a character representing justice shows up. She’s very much like your average protagonist here: searching to exterminate every dream demon in order to get revenge on her sister and to stop their evil deeds.
The animation also was gorgeous and really inspired, even for this series’ standards. I mean, this just shows the amazing things you can do with generic character designs, if you’ve got the right artists and animation direction behind it.
Rating: *** (Awesome)
Damn the episode ended in the best of cliffhangers!! I warned you before about how this serie is everything but episodic, and that pieces were thrown like that to resemble the dreaming experience. BìNow it’s quite time to catch all of the fragments and begin develop the main plot.
Anyway this is really excalating to the top of my personal seasonal ranking. I had higher hopes for Korezombi, but the last couple of episodes just disappointed me. I don’t know anymore wether that show would keep the light mood it started with or they’re changing it into some kind of horror drama.
Great episode and i agree, amazing visuals. I’m really liking this series.
Wow, really strong episode 🙂
Oops sorry to double but forgot to add:
Agreed, aenea, the visuals were just gorgeous, and that color work is stunning.
I have a love/hate relationship with this show so far.. I like just about everything except the strange pacing of the story (and perhaps the camera’s demented fascination with Merry’s stomach, which I’m hoping will be some weird twisted plot-point).
It feels like we’re missing something between episodes. At the end of the last one, Merry finally agreed to hang around with Yumeji. Now suddenly she’s appreciative of the time she’s spent with him, as though they’ve lived together for months.
I guess it feels like they’re rushing it somehow?
The soundtrack was awesome in the 2nd half.
So the new adventures of old Merry continues by same pacing and you found it awesome this time. Hmmm… What was the difference between 5th and the first three, i really don’t get it. SSDD is all over this show. Nice twist in this episode but Yumeji said he will find a way to send her back. I bet he will and everyone will make comments “way to go Yumeji”… to shitting this twist.
From my watching of this episode I don’t think it says that there is no way to get back. Engi says to Merry somthing along the lines of “Do you think it’s that easy to get back?”. She didn’t say you couldnt get back, just it’s not as simple as Merry thought. What seems clear though is that Merry has been killing, not sending back, those dream demons for the last 10 years.
Anyway a truly awesome show, even with all those navel shots. This and Madoka are my favorate of the season.