Dantalian no Shoka 04 — Dalian Discovers BL

Dantalian no Shoka,

The previous episode was anticlimactic in the best way. This episode was anticlimactic in the worst way. What were the creators thinking here?

The setup was for the mystery was great, until the end, when the author and his lover are lying on the floor getting murdered over and over again as Huey and Dalian watch from the sidelines without much concern. (For a sensitive young maiden, Dalian sure seems inured to slaughter.)  Here I’m expecting Huey or Dalian to do something to end this impasse. Then one of the shots happens to decapitate the dead man. He proceeds to pick up his head. At this, the woman goes ballistic and shoots him even more but the shots have no effect. He begins to glow, as does his lover. They merge into a gelatinous mass of light, and smother their murderer to death. They disappear.

Now while this is happening, Dalian and Huey are standing in the jail cell. As the corpse picks up its head and begins glowing green, they stand there and watch, nodding sagely that it’s evolution. They seem unimpressed by the transformation into an energy being with two souls. After all, the two people have died thousands of times, so there’s plenty of time for evolution to work its magic! Of course they have developed an immunity to death! It’s science! After the organism passes away, Huey prays for its soul, Dalian says “Amen”, they grab the conclusion of the BL novel for Dalian and go on their merry way.

This episode just made me ask: what is the point of our main characters? They were worse than useless in this final scene. Couldn’t they at least feign some concern or surprise upon witnessing a massive killing spree and a decapitated man transforming into an energy being? If not, why are they even there? In the last episode, our main characters didn’t do much to solve the mysteries either: but at least they weren’t indifferent. They were worried about the children, and were certainly not pleased about being robbed. In this episode, they’re just passerby who don’t even care about a mass murder right in front of them.

Aside from that I actually liked the episode though, so who knows, I think this was just a one-off thing with a conclusion not to my liking. The two main characters do need to start getting more involved though. I was hoping for some longer non-episodic story line… or at least something involving Huey and Dalian.

This week’s Phantom Book is Ras Alhague by Asclepius. As far as I can tell a book by this title doesn’t exist. Asclepius is the Greek god of healing and medicine. There are several stories about Asclepius’ death: in all of them, he is killed for bringing someone back from the dead. The rod with a snake around it (see the book’s cover) is Asclepius’ symbol. The snake is believed to symbolize rebirth and rejuvenation, through the shedding of its skin, and also the snake’s venom may bear some comparison to medicine.  This snake leads to the title of the book, Ras Alhague, which means “the head of the serpent” in Arabic. This is also the name of the star which is, well, the head of the serpent, in Asclepius’ constellation Ophiuchus.

A blog note: I’m travelling again and will be gone next week. I won’t be quite as busy or travel nearly as far as my last trip (just across the country), so I may still be able to update: it all depends on my hotel’s internet connection. I do have at least three posts scheduled for my absence either way. So Stein’s; Gate and Iroha posts may be delayed until next weekend, and next Thursday’s shows will be delayed a day or two as well.

Mawaru Penguindrum 05 — Lovers’ Quarrels

Mawaru Penguindrum,

This just keeps getting better. I really love the interactions between Shouma and Ringo. I’m not sure if I can quite put my finger on what makes it so much fun to watch though. Part of it is the fact that they both have their own social idiosyncracies: Shouma goes ahead and ask a girl if he can “borrow” a girl’s diary without realizing the implications, and Ringo is, well, a crazy stalker. Another part is that their personalities are so distinctive and different from one another. Shouma is soft spoken and mellow, while Ringo certainly isn’t. The other thing I like about them is how they just don’t get along, even though in many ways they’re so similar. The way they don’t get along is obvious, but their similarities come through in a bunch of smaller ways: their love of curry, their identical reactions on Himari’s revival, and Ringo’s near perfect usurpation of Shouma’s usual spot during this week’s Survival Strategy. They’re also both kind of idiots.

I’m becoming even more impressed with Ringo on her own as well. If anything, her luck turned out even worse in this episode. Her dad doesn’t use their family cellphone strap anymore, and her plan to win the heart through the stomach is soundly defeated by a preemptive strike. Then her newfound best friend’s brother tries to peek at her diary, and her friend then dies. Not exactly the best day. But she still manages to keep spirited throughout. She gives Shouma a great talking to as well. If everyone in Mawaru Penguindrum ends up as well developed as Ringo and Shouma, this is going to be a memorable show.

The survival strategy this episode was even better than usual. This is why rituals like the survival strategy scene are so powerful: it becomes all the more memorable when you break a well-established precedent. All seemed normal at first, except for Ringo taking Shouma’s usual place. The survival scene arrival and confrontation continued along the usual path, up through Ringo falling through the trap door and Shouma complaining to the penguin hat. He even mentions that he can’t get the purse from Ringo because she fell through the door. And then it turns out she grabbed onto the edge. She jumps out of the door, runs up the stairs and throws the penguin hat onto a passing truck. Ringo is a badass. And the reason this scene had so much of an impact is because the entire scene had been repeated so many times and become a ritual, with the viewer developing strong expectations.

The other half of the episode was flashbacks and Kanba’s side of the story. So did Kanba get that money by pushing the girl down the stairs? The girl said that she saw “him”, and since she’s in the league of Kanba’s ex-girlfriends, Kanba is the most likely culprit. Also, Kanba’s money packet had the same penguin seal as the red-haired girl’s bullets. Kanba always seemed willing to go quite far for Himari’s sake, so I can’t say I’d be entirely surprised. I wonder who the red-haired girl who seems to

  • The penguins continue to be fun times.
  • That doctor was hilarious.

No. 6 05 — Nothing Matters When We’re Dancing

No. 6,

This episode was a step in the right direction. Safu made her return, and we discovered a bit more about the disease and its apparent spread.

The main reason I felt things were improved, however, was because Shion and Nezumi weren’t together much. This isn’t the best of signs. Alone, each of them is tolerable, even if they aren’t the best characters. But when they’re together… The scenes where Shion was with the dog woman and his mother’s friend were pretty decent, until Shion heard about the bee disease spreading and started screaming about how he had to tell Shion right this second or the world would end. People miss their significant other when they’re apart, but the extent Shion takes this to is simply ridiculous. And then after he rushes over to the theater, Shion decides he shouldn’t go in because Nezumi told him not to. I don’t care what you do, Shion, just don’t waste my time titillating.

I will admit that the dancing scene was nice though (at least in terms of animation). Some very nice scenery. Shion’s confession afterward and the hitting of Nezumi’s weak point… ugh. But it wasn’t nearly as bad as the fiasco at the theater.

Interestingly, Shion is already becoming more popular than Nezumi due to his less abashed charity. He’s already closer to the dog woman and the neighborhood children than Nezumi ever was. For those who are wondering, the story Shion read to the children was Oscar Wilde’s The Happy Prince, and the show has already referenced it several times. My simplistic interpretation: Shion is the prince, who has already lost his ruby / hair, and Rat is the Swallow. Who will the reed be?

The other event of note is Safu’s return. I had kind of assumed that all of No. 6 was as frank about sex and reproduction as Safu, but this appears to be incorrect. She’s an oddball even in the cities. It seemed that the creators were trying to show how Safu changed a lot since she left, with her classmates claiming the only thing that hadn’t changed about her was her frankness regarding reproduction. I can’t really see how she’s changed at all though. She seems exactly the same to me. Perhaps she’s a bit more pretentious?

The other thing is that vision. Why did both Safu and Nezumi see the same thing? The only thing they appear to have in common is that they both know Shion, who happened to be in the vision. Perhaps not only did the bees affect him, but he affected the bees? My suspicion is still that the bees are a censorship tool used by the city— everyone so far has become ill after voicing some rebellious ideas. Hard to say though.

With Safu coming back next week to say goodbye to her grandmother fight off her love rivals, I’m optimistic that things will improve. My patience is gradually wearing thing with No. 6, however.

Usagi Drop 05 — Rin Acquires Weapons

Usagi Drop,

Daikichi met up with Rin’s mother in this episode, and she seems to be quite the interesting character. I’m guessing that she’s a prostitute? She sneaks out at night for her job, Rin was an unwanted child, and I highly doubt that grandpa was actually Rin’s father. Plus she was with that guy at the end. So an aspiring mangaka / maid by day, and a prostitute by night?

I have to agree with Daikichi’s mother on this one though: she is a terrible mother. I don’t think Daikichi should feel too torn about taking Rin from her. His grandfather definitely made the right decision in entrusting Rin to a random relative over her birth mother. It doesn’t seem to be a temporary thing either due to personal difficulties: she doesn’t ever intend to act like a mother to Rin.

The other major thread of this episode was whether Rin would change her name to share Daikichi’s. It was amusing how Daikichi and Rin’s mothers both agreed so vehemently on this point. I can certainly sympathize with Daikichi here in wanting to leave the decision up to Rin, but let’s face it: she’s six years old. She’s not exactly equipped to realize the enormity of the decision, and Daikichi’s plan backfires. Rin ends up having to hold Daikichi in her lap to comfort him. I doubt the consequences will be as enormous as the two mothers think… but I’m not a mother, so what do I know.

One last thing I’m pleased about: the pace of this anime. Rin has already graduated from nursery school and will soon be starting first grade. I’m not sure exactly when she started, but at least several months must have passed by. You can observe the passage of time from a bunch of the small details: Rin and Daikichi have a well established tooth brushing routine, she apologizes for never hugging him before, her knife present, Daikichi saying his home will always be her home, and more. With such a short timeslot, Usagi Drop needs to make the most of its time. So far it seems like it will be prepared to give a solid conclusion.

Steins; Gate 18 — Gender Restoration

Steins; Gate,

I did find this episode funny, especially the early parts. Christina’s discussions with Okarin are always amusing. As were Kyouma’s requests that Ruka undergo a sex change.

But overall, I felt this was one of the most disappointing episodes of Steins; Gate yet. Ok, Kyouma and Ruka go on a date, and Kyouma expands his harem by one. Who now happens to be a male. What’s the point? We already knew Ruka liked Kyouma, and was sexually ambiguous. We learned that Ruka liked Kyouma because he defended her for being male. Which is not all that surprising, and adds very little to anyone’s character that we weren’t already aware of, unlike Feyris’ episode. Are we going to have to go through this capture sequence with Moeka next week, and then Christina and Mayushii?

As far as I can tell, there were really only two directions in which the plot progressed in this episode. First, the only reason Okabe doesn’t have the IBN5100 is that Ruka accidentally broke it a year ago. Which raises the question: instead of changing Ruka’s gender, why don’t they just send her a message not to break the computer? There’s no guarantee that Mayuri doesn’t die in the original timeline anyway, so I’m not sure why Okabe is so fixated on returning there, particularly since Christina dies in a nearby timeline.

The other point of interest is that Ruka remembers what happened in the previous timeline. This makes two people, so my theory from last week that Feyris had some kind of special power like seeing Steiner now seems unlikely. Perhaps Okabe’s repeated time travel is breaking down the barriers of space-time and merging the timelines together… or his seeing Steiner is rubbing off on his friends… or something. Maybe Kyouma will need to be the hero who saves the multiverse from the destruction he himself has caused.

Next episode Kyouma is planning to undo Moeka’s message and infiltrate the enemy ranks, so we should get out of this harem building rut. I have difficulty imagining that Kyouma will be able to add Mayushii’s killer to his harem without a bit more difficulty.