The cruelty is the point.
What They Say:
Episode #4: “A Large Vessel”
The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Captured and carted off to parts unknown is how this episode of To Your Eternity opens. An episode that tries to cram an awful lot into a scant amount of time and suffers a bit for it.
March and Parona learn from the elderly woman who picked March out to be sacrificed that she is a prisoner. A criminal who was given the role to play in exchange for a lighter sentence. She explains more of the world to the girls, and why they were chosen in a shame of a ritual.
Many of the problems in this episode are a direct result of problems with the manga. The motivations of Hayase and her people are a complete enigma. Why bother with imprisoning the girls, it serves no purpose. Why go through this incredibly complex web of lies at all? It’s clear from the developed nature of Yanome that the people who live there could easily overpower the villages if they just wanted the land. I can understand wanting to hold on to the immortal, but beyond that almost every other action is bizarre.
Even stranger is that she seems to take joy in showing the girls around town before tossing them into cells. It’s entirely possible that the cruelty is the point, as she seems to enjoy welding her civilization over the girls. The fact the girls didn’t pick up on the fact that Hayase kept them shackled even though it’s obvious to the audience lends an air of dread over the shopping spree.
Where the anime does screw up is in the pacing in the back half of the episode. Events are swift and small pieces of the narrative are left out. I recall the manga explaining more of what the immortal goes through during some of the scenes, and further scenes between March and Parona discussing their escape. Fushi’s interactions with the bear and the soldiers show just how cruel these people are, but never is it stated that Fushi’s empathic connection to potential forms allows him to feel their pain. It’s not even immediately clear that the bear has died, which is what the episode title is referring to. Those scenes pass her in montage fashion, a haze of fragmented scenery and moments. While I’m not a fan of exposition, a little bit of narration would have clarified things.
Also, the further we get into the series, the shakier the animation becomes. It’s not bad, it’s just not as fluid or well-framed as the first two episodes, which is a shame.
In Summary:
To Your Eternity is one of those stories that lifts the audience up with the promise of hope only to dash them back down onto the rocks. Survival for March and Parona is secured, but the gift of life does not grant freedom. Their traditions are a lie and their villages are vassals to a culture they don’t understand. Their captor’s motives are unkind and unclear, and the only hope left is to make an escape and inform their home about the truth. Escape may be easier said than done, and there is no guarantee their home would be happy to see the girls returned. This episode misses a few key explanations which would help clarify matters, and that gives all of the events a scattershot feeling which is swift and confusing.
Episode Grade: B –
Streamed by: Crunchyroll
