#shubin

People might not like it when one character is being talked out of going towards a dark path by another character, but I feel like it works in Harold’s case. Echika is trying to talk him out of killing Napolov in the sense that he’s disregarding the Laws of Respect that he doesn’t have, and that she doesn’t want him to lose what he has just for revenge. Echika cares about Harold as a person which is why she’s trying to talk sense into him. His idea of revenge isn’t a good idea, but it’s one that would lead to dire consequences like being put into a pod like his brother Stephen and being taken away and never seeing Darya again.

To be honest, Kensho Ono really pulled off a good performance here. Normally, his tone for Harold is the same given that he is a robot, but with how emotional he got over his desire to kill and avenge Sozon, it really was nice to see how much he improved since he started as an anime voice actor. Kana Hanazawa as Echika was really good in this episode, especially in the first half. Heck, I think that the best thing about this anime is the voice acting because everyone did a stellar job. It sucks that the anime is below mediocre at best. It’s not terrible, but the good voice acting is the saving grace.

I’m also happy with the reveal that Sozon’s killer was a copycat. See? I was right! While Napolov was the actual Nightmare who killed three people, he didn’t kill Sozon. It’s all in the eye color. I guess my theory of Ivan being Sozon’s killer still stands. Why do I keep insisting that it’s Ivan? It’s always the one you least expect to be the killer, after all…and he’s like the only other major male character with brown eyes… The reveal made Echika stopping Harold worth it because had he killed Napolov, he wouldn’t know of this.

Though, there is a possibility that it could be Alan Jack Lascilles and that he’s an actual person and not just an alias. The way that he modified Bernard for him to be more human-like is kind of interesting because at the end of the day, Amicus cannot comprehend love and it’s all in the human’s mindset. So, it does make me wonder if there will be a day where Echika and Harold’s relationship will be like Shushunova and Bernard’s…and if Echika does fall for Harold, how will he reciprocate?

Other than that, I do think the other saving grace of this anime aside from the stellar voice cast is the Brain Dive scenes. I really liked them and think they’re very well-animated. It’s also a very interesting concept to see because what’s inside a person’s mind is their truth, after all. Napolov’s Brain Dive scene was the craziest due to how messed up he was since childhood.

Yes, the fact that the anime didn’t choose to adapt the first novel really hurt it in the long run. Because it started in media res, I don’t know the full context of Echika and Harold’s dynamic and it sucks because I’m sure Echika would be intriguing if her backstory was animated instead of mentioning her dead sister because I don’t know who her dead sister is because of the production staff.

Would I read the light novels? Actually, yes, I’m curious to see how different they are because I heard that the anime omits key details from the light novel. Would I recommend this anime? I wouldn’t. There are better sci-fi stories out there and this isn’t it. Good concept, terrible execution. It’s a solid 5/10 anime and I’m giving it a five because I enjoyed the last arc and if it didn’t exist, it’d be lower. Don’t listen to what ANN says about this anime, it’s not dogshit like they claim it to be. It’s bad, but not terrible—yes, there is a difference. Let me know your thoughts on this anime!

However, something feels off. He doesn’t have brown/orange eyes and the way he murdered Sozon is a lot different than how he usually killed his victims… Shubin feels like an accomplice as he feels a bit too meek to actually kill someone. Like if he was caught that fast, he’d be the worst killer out there. Also, for someone who supposedly “killed” Sozon, Napolov seems a bit too…obsessed with where he died. He uses words like “The place Sozon died” and even called it dirty. If he did kill Sozon, wouldn’t he have been satisfied and use words like “the place where I killed Sozon?” The fact that he uses third person and not first person feels like he didn’t kill Sozon.

And I can’t believe Echika got kidnapped twice in one episode. The first kidnapping was a continuation of her disappearance at the end of Episode 11 and now she got kidnapped again in the middle of this episode just to have the twist villain reveal. I already crashed out at the twist villain reveal—I don’t have the energy to complain about this.

But hey, at least Harold decides to give the Laws of Respect the middle finger and shoots Napolov. His whole stint towards the end was the most entertaining thing in this episode. Remember that the Laws of Respect is only a concept and that the RF models aren’t bound by it. With Echika pointing a gun at him, it makes me wonder how everything is going to play out because Echika doesn’t want him to kill while he wants to. I apologize for crashing out. Let me know your thoughts on this episode. By the way, I did not flip my laptop at the twist villain reveal. This laptop costs a lot of money, you know!

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!