I’m kind of annoyed with the direction Zankyou no Terror is heading in. I was really excited about this show when it first started— the main characters were evil maniacal terrorists bent on destruction, a grizzled cop was fighting against the banal evil of an organizational hierarchy, and all the characters were fighting their own demons of alienation.
Now our terrorist friends are trying to stop bombings and being all chummy with Lisa while they engage in a shounenesque chess match against their childhood friend a la No Game No Life? Sadly, No Game No Life worked with that approach because it had one thing Zankyou no Terror doesn’t— nudity.
Basically, they took the main thing this show had going for it— the twisted protagonists— and somehow made out the people planting the bombs to be the ones trying to save lives. And now our terrorists and the detective are on the same side.
Don’t get me wrong, I still like the show. But I think this current villain is a waste.
Further Thoughts
Al-Qaeda’s new recruitment method: help girls run away from home, let them cook dinner for you, recruit the worst cooks as terrorists. The poor girl just wants to belong somewhere, if she can’t belong with her family or classmates. Joining a terrorist cell probably isn’t her first choice, but she’ll take whatever form of belonging she can get.
Such a fast response ahaha.
The Engrish in this episode was atrocious. Is it impossible to hire someone who, you know, actually speaks English? It’s not like these are produced out of somebody’s garage. You’d think they could hire an actor or two who actually speak the language they’re acting in. There are more people in the world who speak English than Japanese…
I love protagonist with moral ambiguity. They are more human.
The direction of this show certainly disappoints me.
Ever since our bomber used his own body to shield the others last episode.
I certainly won’t do that.
God should understand that the one at fault is the one who prevented my cell phone from working.
😀
How come these kid bombers are casted as heroes of justice now?
Sigh.
Yeah, it’s hard to consider bombers as heroes of justice. Or sympathize with them much at all, in fact…
What bothers me the most is that Nine and Twelve didn’t even blink when they found out that their bomb injured 72 people. I get that Five sabotaged their plans, but anyone with a conscious should feel at least a little bad when the bomb they made and planted injured 72 people.
Yeah. Anyone with a conscience wouldn’t go around planting bombs in the first place, regardless of the conspiracies they’re trying to reveal. If Nine and Twelve are so smart, they can think of a better way to handle this.
I do think Lisa’s involvement is questionable, I’m starting to get the dumb impression if she has any kind of logic with her current decisions (being straightforward being one of them) =/. Granted she’s still a character we need to keep an eye out for.
But frankly speaking, the change of direction is quite okay with me. There was bound to be some other character with an “integer” to enter the fray and it definitely keeps things suspenseful instead of it being a singular cat & mouse chase.
“Ever since our bomber used his own body to shield the others last episode.
I certainly won’t do that.”
Are you a terrorist by any chance?
Yeah, don’t think she has much logic to her decisions either. I don’t entirely mind the lack of logic on her part though, she is a stupid teenager who can’t make any friends and ran away from home and decided to become a terrorist.
I suppose there’s nothing wrong with a new Integer coming into play… but this just makes them all come across as children. All of this is a game to her, and that makes it seem like it might be a game to Nine and Twelve as well. I don’t think that’s the angle they’re striving for.
I’m still interested in this show. What is the terrorists’ tragic childhood story? What happened to the other ##? We only know 5, 9 and 12. Perhaps the detective turns out to be #1? And is Lisa now assigned a #, too?
Jokes aside, I was impressed how easily the FBI could take control of this police operation. I suppose this is meant to critizise American meddling in Japanese affairs, like stationing troops in Okinawa. In reality, I doubt it would be so easy.
The turn in storytelling is fine for me b/c the Greek mythology riddles became kind of repetitive. But I agree that this chess game is childish. And of course it’s unrealistic. So I hope there will be another turn of events when the protagonists’ true motivations are revealed.
Lol I was gonna saaaay glad you are joking haha.
There’s no way the FBI could just take over the Japanese police like this in real life.