Anaglyph’s Anime Appraisals

Just when you thought you could relax after three blissfully songless episodes, they’re back. I don’t want to dwell on it but I do find the inclusion of the songs strange. They’re too short and inconsequential to make this a fullblown musical anime and just come across as a bit odd and out of place - so why bother with them at all? Guess it was an experiment; one that failed in my opinion. Oh well - like taxes they just have to be endured. On with the show…

Spoilers ahoy!

The episode begins at the start of another school day and, for once, Claire attends. She probably regrets the decision as she’s harassed during lunch by one of the more officious Grace members Jessica. Kate tries to intervene without much success. Jessica gives her the dreaded Ticket and tells her to hand it to Claire herself before stalking off to persecute some other hapless victim.

My sentiments exactly, Claire

In another part of the canteen Rachel gets into an argument with her friends. As she leaves, Kate and Rose follow and try to offer their support but she lashes out as usual. After this failure they regroup and target Claire for another attempt at bonding by using a discovery of Kate’s.

“Lemons?” asks Claire, and I shared some of her bewilderment. Apparently eating lemons helps to calm their fever and raging thirst. I must admit I hadn’t really noticed anything unusual in this regard. It seems perfectly natural for someone to feel a little out of sorts after being killed and resurrected and forced to fight beast-like men by some shady organisation who won’t let you know what the hell is going on. Anyone would be a bit fretful under those circumstances so none of the girls’ behaviour seemed especially noteworthy. I do recall a lot of water drinking now that it’s been mentioned, but at the time it didn’t seem particularly unusual. Immediately after the night they were killed they were clearly suffering physically but that didn’t seem to last.

The conversation goes on to reveal that these symptoms are also suppressed by using their power when they fight. Unfortunately the already obscure is further befogged by the fact that the only time any of them really seemed to use their power was during the second episode fight when Rachel made her supernatural leap. Seems like the story should have made more of an effort to establish all of this - or maybe I just missed the bleedin’ obvious. Either way it’s now clear that Rachel’s diet is very lemon-deficient.

Does that mean Creepy Man’s name is actually Fry? Alas, no.

In a corporate building owned by “Vivaleo”, who’s top priority is apparently our wellbeing (I feel better already), we finally get to see a little of what the “enemy” is up to: medical research it would seem. Surprisingly there’s a distinct lack of evil cackling scientists and deformed foetuses in jars; it all seems rather inoffensive. Even Creepy Man is suddenly looking a lot less creepy; and he’s further humanised when he is greeted as Elray (presumably his family name) by a doctor named Bender.

Elray is here to see his younger sister who, along with another girl, is suffering from some condition that Bender is attempting to use in a scam treat. During this scene Elray’s creepiness is nonexistent; he seems so normal it’s hard to believe he’s the same person as the sinister smirking figure from the opening of the first episode. Still, he was involved in the killing of our heroines - if those recalled memories can be trusted. It’s worth noting that the symptoms of the disease include fever and extreme thirst, and this similarity with our girls’ state is emphasised by a cut from Mireille (the other girl) gulping down some medicinal drink (lemon juice?) to Rachel gulping down water.

Rose considers buying a can of extra-strong bug spray

That night the butterflies make their usual appearance but Rachel cracks under the pressure and runs. Lula utters an ominous threat: anyone who abandons the fight will be punished; not only that, the whole group will be punished and the punishment might be death. The three chase after Rachel and eventually catch up. This whole set of events is edited well, ramping up the tension and conveying a complex sequence with clarity; it could have easily been an incoherent mess.

Some time later Rachel has calmed down but she’s utterly without hope and sees no point in continuing to fight for survival. Resigned, she lies down on the sidewalk and waits for death. And that’s when Lula arrives to dangle a carrot in front of the girls, claiming that they can regain their old lives. It’s interesting to note lackey’s surprised reaction at this announcement. Is he surprised because Lula’s lying through her teeth, or surprised because she’s being unusually merciful? I suspect the latter.

Black Mesa is a bit rundown after budgetary cuts

The girls are blindfolded (more like hooded actually) and taken to some underground location. There they are shown coffins containing their real bodies and told that if they fight and win, one day they’ll be able to return to those bodies and regain their old lives.

I had wondered about this back a few episodes when we saw our girls’ “brethren” being killed and turning to ash only to see a news report a bit later about the dicovery of their bodies, but this was still a pretty dramatic moment. Does this mean that Lise is still out there somewhere in another body? Doesn’t seem implausible.

Harsh - but a source of hope

This episode was just what the doctor ordered to restore my faith in the series. I was actually pretty certain that Creepy Guy would turn out to be a bit more layered than a simple moustache-twirling villain simply because of the realistic approach to the characters, but it was still nice to have it confirmed. On the one hand we have Elray being the sympathetic brother concerned about his sister’s health, and on the other we have Lula directing dire threats at school girls… which ones are the bad guys again? Moral ambiguity is usually much more interesting than pure good versus pure evil. I will say though that I believe a lot of Lula’s grim pronouncements are more in the way of motivational speech than actual direct threats; there are frequent hints that she’s a little more humane than her words would indicate.

So finally there’s a sense of the series moving forward after a bit of a lull. We’ve seen a bit more of the “enemy” beyond bestial guys with glowing eyes and a hint of future developments. Lula is still telling the girls to fight or die, but she also dropped quite a bombshell on them. Even if it wasn’t entirely unexpected, the way the revelation was delivered was quite surprising and powerful, though the final shot was slightly overwrought for my taste.

Though I didn’t mention the scene, it should be noted that Lula’s lackey has finally been named on screen. Okay, so he’s not actually given a full name, just a set of initials, but that’s better than nothing - right? He is now officially promoted from lackey to… JC. Hmmm… a series about death and resurrection and a character with the initials JC… lol

Looking forward to episode seven now.