What They Say:
Kido, Momo and Marry rush to the hospital and find Seto trying to calm Shintaro, who is still worked up over the events involved with the accident he witnessed. Suddenly, the door to the hospital room bursts open and an unexpected reunion takes place!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the previous episode having really stayed on track and brought many of the various characters and plot points together, we’re making progress. There’s still plenty more of that to do, though, so there’s no time to waste! This time, we catch back up with Hibiya as we get a bit more of a clear-cut explanation of what happened with him when we last saw him, and that prompts some exposition that follows up on the episode detailing the members of Mekakushi-Dan all having unintentional powers spawning from red eyes, this time delving into how they all got those powers in the first place.
For an episode of mostly talking, it’s not too bad, partly because it’s important to know what’s really going on by now and partly because the general aesthetic, intercutting of different angles, and abstract imagery for the purpose of visual metaphor keep the scenes flowing in an appealing and engaging way, even if the writing behind them isn’t the most brilliant or original. It disappoints me to no end that I don’t get to precede the following episodes of this show with Hanamonogatari as planned until very recently, but I think it’s probably for the best that Shaft focuses on one TV series at a time. Throughout these scenes, some pieces of music caught my attention as helping to move the presentation along nicely while remaining appropriately underplayed for the most part, something that’s not necessarily characteristic of this series in general. That’s not to say that I don’t often find more enjoyment in the moments of much more powerful music and action, but again, this one needed to get its talking out, and it could have done so a lot worse.
As Kido explains that the characters all get their powers from having nearly died and going through a snake-like void from which they all returned, it provides the opportunity for some further exploration of her history and that of several of the other immediate characters. It may not ostensibly be the point behind the dialogue, but we need all the character explanation we can get for such a huge cast in such a short show, and that’s especially true for the leader of the Mekakushi-Dan who hasn’t gotten much focus (and appropriately so, considering her own power and main running gag). It’s no surprise by now that there’s a lot of tragedy surrounding all of these young people, and with Hibiya and Hiyori now mixed up in it, the impetus is there to try to face this mysterious void head-on to try to take back what was lost.
The insert song goes into full music video mode to express a little of what’s going on in Shintaro’s head after realizing there’s some connection between his new group and his past love interest, which soon turns into a new ED sequence. If it was thrown in the middle of the episode it would be very jarring, but since it’s used as it is, it transitions and serves its purpose well enough.
In Summary:
There’s plenty to worry about with as much as Mekakucity Actors seems to have on its plate, but it’s slightly reassuring to see it has calmed down and started to bring together everything that’s been put on the table to try to achieve some cohesive storytelling building toward a final goal. Exposition can drag, but at least the visuals, music, and emotion are strong enough to carry it.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Custom-Built PC, Sceptre X425BV-FHD 42″ Class LCD HDTV.
