Just finished watching it right now, what an amazing episode, best one so far definitely.
I expected this one to be a big deal, based on what was set in last week's episode, but regardless it blew my expectations away.
Amazing voice actor performances, especially for Maki Kawase (Tokiko) and Natuski Hanae (Shinpei), also animation wise it had some really interesting and much-detailed shots and cuts, love it.
There definitely are many things to say from a narrative perspective, but I totally need to watch it again at least once. Also, the last scene was astonishingly satisfying to watch.
I'm really in hype for the new loop
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Episode Review
Ok, so... I'm here again after a rewatch.
Hands down my favourite episode so far.
This one as well is a perfect adaptation of the manga, from chapter 58 to 63 included. As always, the tension is kept high both narratively and visually. I loved some direction choices, like the way to adapt the panels at the beginning of the episode when Shinpei recalls every time he met Haine, and what she did in the previous loops.
I'm really interested in the whole "chicken and egg" stuff Haine brought up; it's gotten very intriguing from a narrative standpoint, and I guess that Ushio being the egg has something to do with her giving Shinpei mother's eye in episode 1. This makes me more and more interested in learning what happened to Ryuunosuke in the past, and what specifically he did, and how he relates to Ushio.
Haine is a fascinating character, her personality is kinda "anticlimactic", and in my opinion this contrast is well-portrayed in a scene when she is acting in a childish way in response to the Big Shadow Guy, and then it cuts directly to Shinpei's terrified face, pointing out the oxymoronic atmosphere of the scene.
Also, we now know that somehow she isn't able to interfere with Shinpei's power, which is indeed interesting. Does this mean that she will never be able to get her eye back? Maybe it's somehow connected to how she lost it in the first place?
Ushio being a "special shadow" is nothing new of course, but being able to contrast Haine, Hiruko's power was sure a surprise. I mean, it does make sense, Hiruko seems to be very much underpowered in her current state, but still this gives our protagonists a new advantage.
I wonder what the big-ass-4-arms shadow actually is. He seems to be looking after Haine, but what actually is he? What was he copied from? I hope we'll get answers to the question eventually (we will). Also, I like the way he described Shipei's ability, "rendering the reality", that was cool, and now the title has a meaning as well.
In the end, things went out as I expected from last episode, with Mio's death being a focal point in the new-loop scene, although basically everyone died so...
I absolutely LOVED the point in time where Shinpei and Ushio came back after resetting the loop, Shinpei waking up and Hizuru telling him "basically, you are a time traveler", it seriously got me chills hahaha Now I wonder if Ushio was actually looping back alongside Shinpei all along, I guess it makes sense.
Tokiko and Sou's whole family situation is definitely going to be discussed in this new loop, I'm looking forward to get some further details about that.
I can't chose a "favourite scene", it either:
~!1. the whole "pre-opening" scene, with Shinpei finding out that Haine was Shiori's shadow all along, that was really cool
- Shinpei drinking that poison, incredible voice acting performance and also visually speaking, very well-portrayed
- when Shinpei and Ushio came back to the 22nd in front of Hizuru and Nezu.!~
I have no idea what to expect from now on, except for a resolution for the Hishigata family's current situation, with Tokiko, Sou and the father. Looking forward to Shinpei (and Hizuru's?) next plan. Are we finally getting to knwo what exactly happened 14 years ago to Haine, Hizuru and Ryuunosuke in this loop?
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Once again, amazing episode. My love for this show is increasing exponentially.
