Also, is this season one where Kana Hanazawa plays dumb detectives because she voices two dumb detectives in two different anime and I’m watching both of them. However, Echika’s actions in this episode makes Hosho look like a genius because Hosho would obviously call backup or at least have someone with her in a dangerous situation but Echika doesn’t think twice about going to a location alone where an obviously fake phone call is telling her? I  have a feeling that Echika knows it’s not Bigga, but it’s still stupid of her to go alone without notifying anyone about this suspicious phone call. She even got kidnapped—this is the second time she got kidnapped in this anime. Damn.

The fact that Abaev died and Nikolai got kidnapped means that the killer seems to be someone who knows who these two. Abaev was the Nightmare’s first victim’s father who unfortunately suffers the same fate as his late daughter. Nikolai, who is Sozon’s brother, is also a very specific person to kidnap. This means that it’s definitely someone in the police force or someone who knows a lot and has a connection to Sozon. Why else would they use his digital clone? Heck, Echika getting kidnapped definitely means that the killer is targeting Harold on purpose.

As you can tell, this episode frustrated me. I’m still thinking that it’s Shubin or Ivan because they have brown eyes, but I could be wrong. Let me know your thoughts on this episode!

Now with the Nightmare returning after so long, it makes me wonder if it could be someone in the police force because why stay silent after so long and reappear after killing a detective? All that was shown from the killer in the previous episode was that he had orange eyes, but whether it be a naturally brown color that looks orange due to lighting or not is still unknown. Usually, in cases where new characters are introduced, it’s usually the new characters that are the culprit or have involvement with them. Like with Raissa, she was the culprit behind the E case and she was newly introduced. I know it’s weird to pinpoint who the killer is when it just started, but why can’t I help but to think that it could be Ivan? Either him or Shubin because it’s either the one who expect or least expect—in my case, I pick Ivan because he’s the one you’d least expect to be the murderer and Shubin looks like the obvious choice given that he has brown eyes too. Oh, but what if they pull a twist that it’s actually Napolov? If that were to happen…well…I’m gonna flip because that’s way too cliche.

It’s still pretty crazy to read a story where deepfakes are used as part of a crime. With how deepfake and AI crimes are slowly on the rise in recent times, it makes me wonder if it’ll be a common thing in the future. On top of that, this episode also reveals that there is a canon human and Amicus couple in the form of the Devero CEO Shushunova and her life partner Bernard, who is a male Amicus created specifically for her. I get that it’s hinting that this could happen to Echika and Harold in the future, but it could also happen in reality some day…

I wonder how old Bigga is because she is now working as a consultant for the CID and she looks to be younger than Echika who is twenty. She also seems to have a schoolgirl crush on Harold as she gave him a scarf that matches his eyes and also blushed when she saw the Shushunova and her husband kiss.

Still, it’s a little strange that the killer’s first victim after reappearing is an Amicus. The way he was killed is the same as it was years ago, yet something feels off… Let me know your thoughts on this episode!

I can’t believe this anime gives more background about Harold than Echika. Harold was stolen from England and illegally trafficked in Russia and later became homeless before being taken under Sozon’s wing where he learns what it’s like to have a family and to have a fondness for things. Still, I do wonder who stole Harold because I would assume it’d be difficult to steal from a large research lab.

In a way, Sozon feels like an older male version of Echika with his dark hair and eyes, and also had wariness towards Amicus at first. However, he is a lot more established as he has a wife and was someone who grew to care and trust Harold for the two years he spent with him. However, unlike Echika, Sozon dies because it’s already been established that he does. I didn’t expect a gruesome uncensored scene where he gets dismembered by chainsaw right in front of Harold. 

Apparently, the serial murders are because of anti-Amicus sympathy? So, Sozon was targeted because he had an Amicus partner? But isn’t it hard to differentiate who’s an Amicus and who’s a human? That would mean the killer would have to know who Sozon was to know that he liked Amicus. His most distinguished trait is his orange eye. So far, no one in the story has this specific eye color. I also noticed that Sozon’s death is a little different from the first victim’s. The first victim had their limbs and head displayed on a park bench but there wasn’t any blood seeping out. Meanwhile, the Nightmare just left Sozon’s corpse after he mutilated it. Why do I get this weird feeling that there are two killers sharing the same identity? To be honest, I thought the killer was Stephen as Marvin was involved with the Furman and Carter case—Stephen doesn’t have orange eyes and Amicus Robots cannot kill humans…

Jun Fukuyama brings in quality acting as Sozon and it sucks that he had to voice an impactful character who died tragically. Still, props to Fukujun. Darya is voiced by Ayaka Nanase who is known for voicing Ageha Hijiri/Cure Butterfly from Hirogaru Sky Precure. This is the first non-Precure role I’ve heard Nanase in and she’s good! I like how she sounded when she got drunk. Napolov is voiced by Koichi Yamadera and Shubin is voiced by Tomokazu Sugita. I feel like these two names are already established enough to the point that I don’t need to mention their other roles.

I’ve read that this episode omitted a few key details like Harold requesting for backup after finding Sozon’s location, but the department didn’t send any because they didn’t trust an Amicus and assume Sozon would be fine. I wish they would’ve added that so it wouldn’t make Harold look stupid to not call for backup. And with Harold’s backstory revealed, it only makes Echika feel like the weakest link in this anime and it hurts to say that because I’m sure I’d love and understand her if they didn’t omit the first volume. I still don’t know why she hate Amicus at first and what happened with her sister. The anime studio definitely did her dirty. Let me know your thoughts on this episode!