What They Say:
“Chapter Four – The Rainbow Colored Past”
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Everyone is stunned by the death of the lab’s director, especially since they haven’t yet stopped reeling from the discovery of Magata’s murder. Nishinosono’s mind begins to race, and the analyzes that the knife in the back of the Director could not have possibly been self-inflicted, and that the murderer must have been someone familiar – there’s no way that the director would have turned his back to a stranger sitting behind him in the seat. They also realize, grimly, that the murderer is likely still with them on the island, and now that the helicopter’s radio is out of commission, having been torn apart by whoever committed the crime, they’re still left unable to contact the authorities.
One place that the group hasn’t looked yet is within Magata Shiki’s room itself, so they all turn their attentions there. The room is a mysterious place, with multiple seats (even though Magata lived locked-away on her own), books unrelated to any area of her studies, and quirky toys. The entire area is virtually spotless, as if it were purposefully cleaned. Her bedroom door is locked and it sounds as if her voice is calling from inside, but it is instead Michiru, a robotic AI living inside. The group speculates that perhaps the killer dismembered Magata, throwing her limbs down the room’s garbage chute.
The team’s final act of investigation for the day is to boot up Magata’s computer, an what they find is awfully interesting. She’s been running an updated version of “Red Magic,” and there’s a calendar with the previous day’s date highlighted – “Everything Becomes F” it reads, though no one in the room has a clue as to its meaning. Saikawa becomes fixated on that point as they read a note left from several different names. As it turns out, Magata had several different personalities within her with whom she interacted regularly. Soon day begins to break and people begin to filter out to sleep. Nishinosono becomes preoccupied and plans to stick around for the investigation.
After the previous week’s intense cliffhanger, this episode dials thing back just a bit to concentrate more on clue-collecting and some further analysis of the victim’s character, which is fine by me. As with most geniuses, Magata Shiki was certainly not without her quirks, though I’m still left undecided as to whether her stable of various personalities seems like something which falls in line with the pseudo-reality laid out in this series, or if it’s just a bit too over-the-top and distracting. An interesting point to make about split personalities or multiple personality disorder in real life is that the disassociation that results in fractured pieces of someone’s psyche is most often the result of some traumatic event or situation, and might be a coping mechanism. If this carries over to Shiki’s character, it does make one wonder exactly what those traumas might have entailed.
Thankfully the characters, Nishinosono in particular, go into a bit more detail on this subject and plant some interesting seeds which I hope will sprout and grow in the coming weeks. Nishinosono mentions that, during her meeting with Magata, the subject of her multiple personalities is brought up in relation to the murder of her parents. Far from blaming the act on one of her side personalities, she confirms that the only one capable of committing the act was the “doll” named Magata Shiki – she was the only one aware of her parents’ existence. A doll is an entity that lacks its own motives, and can only operate under the influence of another person. Whether or not that “other” was someone within or without Magata Shiki is still up in the air at this point, but this new information really serves to confuse how we feel about her even more. Doubly-so in regards to the uncomfortable sexuality she exhibits during the flashback in this episode.
I have kind of a goofy habit of getting excited whenever the title of a song or a film appears in the lyrics or script of said piece of media, so when the title of the series “Everything Becomes F” makes its appearance here, I felt my heart jump a little bit. We still have no idea what the “F” refers to – the character speculate “finished” but there’s still no clear solution at this point. The phrase is left as part of a parting message ostensibly left by Magata Shiki and two of her other personalities as part of a set of instructions. Interestingly enough, the characters seem unconvinced that it was Shiki herself who wrote the message, instead attributing it to the murderer, who must have been someone who knew Magata Shiki incredibly intimately, enough to be familiar with those who lived inside her body. The identity of that person is still a compelling mystery, since the doctor was so isolated and physically closed-off from society. We have yet to really meet or hear from Shiki’s sister Miki… it will be interesting to see how she fits into this story (if she doesn’t end up another check mark on the killer’s victim list, that is).
In Summary:
Part of the fun of a mystery story is collecting the clues and seeing if you can solve the crime before the characters manage to piece it all together. What’s been kind of interesting here is that what few theories I’ve managed to create so far have been explained-away by new clues or logical leaps by the characters. Each new episode grants a few new things to add to the list – an AI robot with a manipulator that can perform various tasks, a suspect that knew the victim (and possibly the subsequent victim) well enough not to raise suspicions until it was too late, a person whose multiple personalities had lives of their own – and new ways to consider how it all went down. Add to that the fascinating “characterization-by-proxy” that’s happening for Magata, and this series is really developing into something both atmospheric and mentally-stimulating.
Grade:B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Samsung Galaxy S5 running the Android Crunchyroll app at 1080p
