Winter 2020 Animu - No attempts at being funny in the thread description this time, sorry

Just watched the finale of ID:Invaded this morning. To be honest it was a little underwhelming. The final battle with Hayaseura/John Walker was cool, but as a character he didn't really get fleshed out enough to be a compelling villain. By the end it wasn't even clear what his goals were, or why he did everything he did. What was his endgame in linking himself to the IdWells of every serial killer in the world? I presume he was creating serial killers as "test cases" for the Mizuhanome system to prove its efficacy, but I don't get how releasing Kiki and turning the Kura facility into a giant IdWell fit in with that. I just wish his motives had been a little more clearly spelled out.

The resolution of Kiki's plotline was also morally pretty iffy. So Momoki refuses to kill her to put an end to her suffering because that'd be wrong, but apparently stuffing her into a machine to experience being brutally murdered by serial killers over and over again is A-Okay? I don't really buy that she's okay with it either. This isn't a typical "life can be painful but it's still worth living" Aesop, Kiki's "life" in the Mizuhanome consists of literal endless suffering, with only the faint hope that she might be saved someday. Even if she's resigned to it by the end, pretty much nobody- much less a traumatized teenage girl- could find happiness or serenity in that.

If the Kura squad keeps using the Mizuhanome even while knowing its true nature they're really not any better than John Walker. Narihisago is seemingly the only one locked out of the loop at the end that Kiki is still alive and powering the Mizuhanome (since he was stuck in the Well while shit was going down IRL), so I can't help but wonder how he'd react if he found out. Given how determined he was to save Kiki back in her IdWell, I can't imagine he'd take it well...

Despite those complaints I still enjoyed the episode. There were some awesome moments, like Hondoumachi literally bodyslamming Hayaseura with a shark (honestly I had a giant grin on my face during that scene) and the way Hayaseura got ultimately defeated was pretty cathartic. He hoped for a grandiose martyr's death at Sakaido's hands, instead he gets ignominiously tricked and forced to live out the full consequences of his crimes in Kiki's IdWell. For a man with delusions of godhood who thought he could escape all the consequences of his crimes by dying in the IdWell, there's no more fitting fate than to be arrested and tried like an ordinary criminal.

As a whole this was a fun psychological thriller show with some likeable characters and a relatively unique sci-fi premise, which is really all I asked for. The animation and background art in the IdWell sequences was consistently imaginative and occasionally jawdropping (Fukuda's IdWell in the first two episodes is still one of the most visually creative setpieces this season, I reckon), so I'd recommend the show for just that reason.

But I do think it could've been better if some of the characters were more fleshed out. Hayaseura is an obvious one, but Hondoumachi also has some wasted potential. There were ominous hints throughout the early episodes that she secretly enjoyed killing and was in danger of becoming a serial killer too if she wasn't careful, but that never really went anywhere. After she got transferred to the Kura squad she was a pretty straightforward heroine, with her supposed bloodlust never brought up again. So yeah. It was a good show, but at times felt more like a vehicle for the various sci-fi and psychological concepts at work than a fully fleshed out narrative.

Also, if anyone else finished the show and is still hungry for more, there's a manga of ID:Invaded running currently. It's called ID:Invaded #BRAKE BROKEN and features an original case starring Sakaido in an IdWell where he's stuck in an out-of-control car. Given the anime ends with Sakaido and Hondoumachi continuing to solve cases as Brilliant Detectives, it's possibly even meant as a sequel. I might check it out sometime soon...

On one hand, Agent Railgun.

https://i.imgur.com/iPsQE1Z.png

On the other hand, Remember Kids: Always Buckle Up!

https://i.imgur.com/D67VBrQ.png

Either way, bless Railgun.

It's still so weird that the spinoff is so much more coherent than the source. I know it's because Railgun takes 12-15 episodes to adapt 30 chapters of manga, while Index sticks to 3 episodes per LN, but it makes me wish Index was given time to breathe rather than breakneck one set-piece to another.

I give a damn when Saten gets threatened by Loli-1000, because she's been given time to develop, but gave no fucks about WhatsHisName NoPowers from Index 3 because he's feels super one dimensional.

All they did was that after S3, no one aside from those in the know would care about the wild ride that is New Testament.

So, Magia Record 1st half is over. I liked it. Not as much as the original, but that's fine. Looking foward to the 2nd part.

So now that I finished ID:Invaded and had some time to think about it I have a few lingering questions. Namely, was it ever explained how exactly John Walker/Hayaseura "invited" other serial killers into Kiki's dreams? He couldn't have used the Mizuhanome since it hadn't even been completed until Kiki was made into the core. Apologies if this was explained already somewhere in the show, but I can't recall and it's nagging a little at the back of my mind.

The way I read that is that Kiki was the Mizuhanome, and all the machinery did is amplify it and allow others to observe it. How he managed to control her to such an extent to bring in serial killers through? No Idea. Especially since the Brawler was one of his and they didn't find out about her until Sakaido killed him. Unless it's a timey-wimey "Dreams exist beyond time" thing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mattias

The way I read that is that Kiki was the Mizuhanome, and all the machinery did is amplify it and allow others to observe it. How he managed to control her to such an extent to bring in serial killers through? No Idea. Especially since the Brawler was one of his and they didn't find out about her until Sakaido killed him. Unless it's a timey-wimey "Dreams exist beyond time" thing.

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Ah, so it really wasn't clear then. I assumed Hayaseura was brought into her dreams randomly at some point, and that's how he found out about her abilities. But how he leaped from that to "invite a bunch of serial killers and start a murder-party in one girl's mind" isn't intuitive at all, much less how he actually carried that out in the first place.

Since Cognition Particles are something that objectively exist in this setting and presumably aren't just an extension of Kiki/the Mizuhanome's powers, I almost wonder if everyone has the ability to share their dreams/thoughts with others and some just have it stronger than others. Hayaseura could've been a lower level empath than Kiki who couldn't bring other people into his dreams, but could partially control who gets let into others'. So he basically hijacked Kiki's ability to use her for his plan. That's what makes the most sense to me anyways. Obviously just headcanon though, since nothing like that was remotely stated in the show itself.

Also, just to be clear, the "only serial killers can go into Kiki's mind" rule was just because of John Walker right? That's not an intrinsic limitation on her power itself, since she brings everyone in the Kura facility into her dreams and most of them presumably aren't murderers. Since the Mizuhanome is based on the same principal it makes me wonder if it'd be possible to broaden the range of inner worlds it can create, from those formed only of intent to kill to all kinds of emotions. Then again that could lead to a seriously dystopic scenario if technology existed that could monitor all of someone's emotions, so maybe it's better not to go down that route...

WTF Kurou you make butter look like Rin's first time.

The Kojin Nanase arc dragged pretty badly, but this episode was great. I'd watch a second season.

The pacing is kinda abrupt on this episode, but Mami being nuts from the witch system is very in-character.
But as I am a biased person, everything is redeemed when they give Sayaka an awesome fight scene.

Chibi RamxRem kiss. Thank you, Isekai Quartet. Thank you

Fuckers did it. They actually animated the cliffhanger about Rem getting her existence erased AGAIN that they didn't animate for S1. So, that's all the new content Director's Cut has. Rem is forgotten again. I can see why they didn't animate it for S1 back then. It's an AWFUL scene to finish a show that at the time didn't have S2 guaranteed. But now S2 is coming (and plans before the virus fucked everything would be to continue next week into S2), so they can animate it.
Time to wait 3 months.

Bandori s3ep 11 was great. What a character glowup for Pareo. Funny how RAS went from the loudmouthed obnoxious bad guy to the underdog protag you wanna root for.

dendrogram continues delivering extreme whiplash with a hype as shit 10/10 OST with intense guitars howling passionately by Xenoblades composer, while the characters are grossly off model, stiff and barely animated.

Looks like the entire third season of SNAFU got delayed

Railgun e10: I always hate when evil scientists do this exact thing. It's one thing to drive the MC to despair by killing one of their friends, but to do so when you're right in front of them, and are about to give them a massive power boost is just stupid. I get that you want to see the results, but you're obviously the primary target for said power, and it's hard to get data when four seconds after your plan comes to fruition they're scraping your torso off the road from a fuck off huge laser blast. You're basically giving someone a gun while you're standing over their friend's still warm bodies, covered in blood.

My Hero Academia Season 4 Episode 83: So Gentle Criminal's Quirk lets him make anything he touches elastic. Something like that does make getaways easier. I like Midoriya's new gloves too, it looks like it will really be put to the test in this fight.

My Hero Academia Season 4 Episode 84: One mistake ruined any chance Gentle Criminal had of becoming a hero, that's so horrible. I did not expect La Brava's Quirk to be like that though, the power-up it gave him made him strong enough to match Midoriya's strength. The fight between them at the end was so good. I can't believe Midoriya is going have to race back to the make the concert after all that, he's already done so much.

Damn, that Kuroko takedown was badass.

Next episode's gonna be hype, even with the delay. Raildex franchise really is like Touma: cursed to hell and back but keeps on trucking anyways.

That entire fight is my favorite in this franchise. Both Kuroko and Misaki having a gambit that requires them being smart and gutsy.

Good thing these threads exist to remind me how much shit I wanted to watch but ended up forgetting. (Usually a lot).