A million times more painful than you could imagine.

So, the episode pretty plays out as you’d think it would, only with a few more GIAnT BLACK SNAKES and Lances of Longinous than expected. It wouldn’t have bothered me so much if 1. Taku had actually managed to win the “fight” without the help of every girl in the show (as well as a crippled, diseased 10 year old) and 2. they hadn’t decided to play that distorted version of Traditional Japanese Crosswalk Lights Music (there’s a name for it, but I can’t remember). That was instead of disturbing, just EXTREMELY irritating, to the point I’d hoped Taku would just die so the music would stop. What was welcome was Taku getting a stake shoved up his… back. I think the censoring even lended something to the experience; only the visceral sounds and shadow of Taku gave any hint that such a torturous event was taking place.

Final Impressions:

So what was good about Chäos;HEAd?

• The music was fantastic and really well used. Every track fit the scene that was taking place perfectly but what really stood out was the direction, at  the points that were, at the very least, supposed to be disturbing. It’s sad that the calibre of the show didn’t match up to the calibre of the music.

And what wasn’t so good?

• The animation was average bordering on truly terrible at times, they should’ve put less money into animating Taku’s quivering eyes and more money into drawing faces properly.

• The plotline was pretty stock , and as I said before any sense of mystery about the show was eliminated when you could predict  how the series was going to continue after the big reveal about Nozomi and Noah way back in episode 6 or so.

• The characters were all pretty terrible/cliched/uninteresting/harem-esque/annoying, except for Shogun and Rimi, who had a surprisingly loving and warm relationship (about the only good relationship in the entire show.)

• Voice-acting and dialogue were all just kind of “meh”, the dialogue especially was needlessly convuluted at times and stupidly simple at others, but you could put that down to the pointless use of science in the show (it really was unecessary to hear about the Dirac Sea in a show about harems and giant swords).

Chäos;HEAd can be summed up in one word: dissappointing. All the expectations I got from the first episode of the show were dashed one by one throughout its entire run. I thought Taku would eventually develop into a human being. I thought that the harem elements would slowly dissappear and be replaced by a disturbing, Higurashi-like atmosphere and as such there would be needless amounts of blood, violence and gore combined with mystery and conspiracy in the show. I thought we’d even possibly get a few decent sword-fights out of it. It’s the kind of show where you just keep waiting and waiting for a payoff that never comes. The show got steadily worse as it contued and further and further away from its true potential. If you’re holding out to watch the entire show at a later date, I wouldn’t recommend it. And if you were unfortunate enough to have expectations of the series and watch the whole thing, weep with me. Weep bitter tears.

That’s how long it took for Taku to grow a pair.

Chaos;Head manages to redeem itself slightly in these four episodes. Rather than focusing on the irritating harem elements or nonsensical science, we finally delve into the mysterious/psychological aspect of the show, though it isn’t nearly as interesting or disturbing as it could’ve been. For example, the “divine punishment” that Ayase went through was… water dripping on her face for two weeks. Meh, I guess the fact that it was at EXACT FIVE SECOND INTERVALS was the reason her mind broke. It does bring to the forefront an interesting thought, though it’s a bit late in the series to be theorising about anything: that the Di-Swords are created through periods of extreme psychological stress.

The show had a way of wrapping up Kozupii’s and Sena’s stories which seemed kind of rushed and insubstantial, by which I mean I didn’t give a crap about either of them or their history. At least Sena’s was disturbing enough to involve a dead baby sister (*shudder*) but Kozupii just had some weird issues with identity that weren’t really explained and then were solved by GARkumi. Yua’s just irritating and useless, her reasons for following Takumi were explained within a total time frame of about 3 minutes and then I guess we’re supposed to assume she dealt with it because she got a sword. I really don’t care about her or her twin sister issues, and it seems like the creators don’t either since she had absolutely no part in helping any of the other characters.

The detective simply sucked at his job then got shot by his subordiante, Suwa, who hilariously went crazy and started waving his gun and stakes around. To be honest, I just laughed at that entire scene, perhaps I’m just a sadist and a disturbed individual, but those two were so insignificant that to see one of them go turncoat and kill the other as if we were supposed to be shocked (they showed him going evil inthe OP) or feel empathywas just great entertainment. Ah well, if it’s of any consolation, the killer got reverse-Gigalomaniaxed by Takumi. Divine punishment!

BRAINS!!!

I hate censors. That hand should be a bloody stump. In fact, the entire show’s just been annoying in terms of QUALITYanimation and censoring. I don”t understand why they can show someone being crucified with stakes pointing out of their body and blood everywhere, and yet they can’t show any blood coming from the nurses neck when she stbas herself. I wanted Higurashi levels of violence, dammit! Also, the animation’s just been getting poorer and poorer over the last few episodes, with some ruly terrible shots cropping up that I’m not even going to bother to screencap. Surprisingly, the actual fight scenes aren’t too bad. There not even in the same galaxy as Soul Eater, but hell, they could be worse. What I don’t understand was when a bunch of giant insects just exploded out of everyone’s backs, what the hell was that about?

And so we get to the crux of the entire show, with Taku, Rimi and the not-so-mysterious Shogun’s origins being revealed. Turns out Shogun… IS TAKU!!! Wasn’t so much of a surprise that. What’s confusing is why exactly Shogun’s so damn old, probably som sort of disease that the creator’s couldn’t be bothered to mention, or Taku somehow sucking life energy from him. Anyway, Taku’s a delusion that Shogun created who can real-boot delusions, so that he (Taku) could stop Nozomi’s plans. Only he royally f*cked up by making him a terrible human being. TakuXRimi blah blah blah go bother Hinan0 for your shipping.

One more episode and we’re at the end of this less-screwed-up-than-it-should’ve-been show. Yay!!!

Fear it!

I’m not really sure why the creators of this show decided to doss about for 6 episodes with hints, mysteries and harems only to do a HUGE information dump in this episode. If you really want to know what all of these terms mean, 7’s got some reasonable explanations, but otherwise I’m going to glaze over the entire scientific portion of the show; in my opinion, all you really need to know is that Nozomi are an evil organisation and that Sena and Kozu-pii (KYAAAHH!!! SO CUTE!!!) are trying to stop them. Why exactly, I have no clue. How Sena knows so much, also no clue. But then this wouldn’t be the abysmal Chaos Head we all know and love if you could figure it out straight away, would it?

I think what we have with Ayase is a mixture of startling insight and complete insanity, all wrapped up in a cold, semi-emotionless exterior. Her thought process is a complete mystery to me, but at this point in the story it’s becoming clear that the “Legend of the Black Knights” refers to the Di-Sword Users, Gigalomaniacs (who the hell came up with that name?), so there must be some sort of mysterious evil beyond Nozomi that exists for the harem to fight.

This guy has the look of someone who 1. is an evil and ambitious megalomaniac and 2. will eventually betray his two colleagues in the near future. He’s already been reprimanded for disobeying orders to a certain extent, so I’d say in about 2 episodes time he’ll be the one pulling all the strings. Basically, Nozomi are creating illusions for the population though the use of their Noah II machines for an as yet unknown goal. If he turns out to be related to Sena, I shall *headdesk*

The effect of the earthquake and the change in people’s biorhythms is clear; the people of Shibuya are slowly descending into chaos. Add to this Nozomi’s illusions and it seems like the cities on the brink of a man-made disaster.

Short post, but I said I wasn’t going to get into the science and that made up a large proportion of this episode. One last point: Taku’s “special” (hell, that’s the only reason he could be surrounded by so many hawt girls) as he’s able to real-boot (i.e make an illusion reality) without a Di-Sword. Though, even that seems slightly doubtful, because of what we see here:

Pink.

*facepalm*

Next Time:

Delicious fighting.

Shiro’s 10 times more awesome than Taku will ever be.

Episode 5

I loved the entire dream sequence as it gave some hints as to the progression of the story or, more specifiacally , Taku’s and Rimi’s relationship. It was also the first time that Taku didn’t sound like a whiny son of a bitch who needed to have some sense slapped into him.

Okay, I know Taku’s a despicable human being and I shouldn’t expect anything from him, but what kind of a bastard just ignores someone who trips over right in front of their face? That’s just not chivalrous, man, have some respect for both yourself and the people around you. You don’t deserve the awesome plaster (of thanks?) you received from Kozue.

So now Taku thinks that Sena’s the one having delusions, rather than himself, who only sees his imaginary magical girl wife everyday. Dumbass. Anyway, seems like things got a bit scientific at this point (though I’m not sure what the chain’s suposed to represent) and everyone’s stuck in a Matrix-like universe where whatever they can imagine (their delusions) can become reality, but only if those poeple are “chosen” or whatever you want to call it. The only thing that’s truly important is that this goes some way towards explaining the accident that Taku may have caused in his childhood and the giant swords that members of his harem are carrying around.

Hey, Yua’s back and I have no idea why she’s still here. The whole “repeating essentialy the same phrase in various ways” thing still irritates me and having extreme pity for Taku with his Dissociative Identity Disorder (at least as she believes) is in complete contrast to her initial appearance and interogation. If we don’t get a concrete reason for her being here soon, I’m just going to write her off as meganekko fanboy bait, like Nana, who’s siscon fanboy bait.

SMASHING REALITY FIST. I loved the way that scene was done and it kind of reminded me of Evangelion for some reason. Hopefully, with this Taku begins on the road to becoming less of a complete FAILURE and more of a PIMP. That’s essentialy what the show seems to be about: how to become leader of your very own harem by being unbelievably pathetic.

Cops = still incompetent and useless, but one interesting thing we learnt was that shit’s about to go down in Shibuya because of uneven gravity distribution affecting the biorhythms of young people’s psyche, or something. At least the show’s not just saying “It’s MAGIC” and is using doubtful science to try to justify these events. One last thing, the suicide scene was creepy as hell due to the whole way it was done, a dark rooftop, silent except for the wind, filmed on a LQ camera. Can anyone say Blair Witch, only in a bustling metropolis in Japan?

Episode 6

What’s the first thing you do when you see a bishoujo? Run outside and vomit, of course. If the writers haven’t hammered it in enough, you may just be able to tell that Rimi supports Taku whole-heartedly and they’re getting closer and closer as friends and lovers. Just maybe. What is love if not holding someone while they’re being sick? It’s also surprising people actually care about mysterious deaths occuring all over the city? Social activism (read: chanting the mantra of “DESTROY THE DEVILS”) is sure to stop the New Gen Events. That was not a sarcastic statement.

I didn’t see the doctor’s death coming at all. That really wasn’t a sarcastic statement, I was honestly surprised as I thought he’d be some sort of spy for the Nozomi organisation who finally get another mention this episode. It’s quite clear that the machine for “looking into people’s minds” that Sena destroyed (F*CK YEAH, ACTION, FINALLY; Di-swords look even better materialised) is possessed by Nozomi, but the real question is what they intend to do with it. It’s probably going to be take over/re-shape/conquer the world, but I can always hope for something deeper in this show about magical swords, harems and crazy otaku delusions.

I’m starting to think there must be some sort of defect with all of the girls in the harem. Ayase’s been in a mental hospital, Kozue keeps having headaches of MADNESS, Sena can’t stop theorising that everyone’s stuck in the Matrix and eating Gari Gari-kuns or whatever they’re called, Nana’s an IRRITATING younger sister, Yua’s got OCD because she has to say something at least 5 times in any conversation and, most horrfying of all, Rimi’s actaully attracted to Taku. Delicious deficiencies.

Blah blah blah bullshit science discussed between the inept detective and a man-woman. Basically, a researcher into the gravity/GE phenomenon mentioned in the show was the person crucified by Rimi, and this was before he could go public with his findings. Culprit = Nozomi? You decide.

Best part of the episode, as quoted from myself:

The slow transition of the ringtone commonly heard at crosswalks in Japan (Shogun? Shibuya? Crosswalks? I see what you did thar.) to the insane sound of an ambulance screeching throughout the city. Shit’s about to get started.

Takumi Delusions Awards Part 5

#3 Bokusatsu Senshi Seira-tan

Wake up or I’ll beat you to a pulp ^_^!

#2 Ayase Double Mizugi Combo

Sparkling wet moesplosion.

#1 Hot (in more than one way) Rimi

I could make a vulgar and tasteless joke about drinking something else to quench her thirst, but I won’t.

Next Time:

Taku gets the crap beaten out of him. Yay!

That joke never gets old.

So the disturbing refrain in the series which I first assumed was probing the depths of Taku’s mind and then assumed was a simple reference to the feeling Taku’s had all his life… turns into a meme. Damn the infectious nature of bloodstained writings on toilet stalls! The entire situation kind of cheapens the meaning of the phrase, but hell there probably wasn’t that much there to be pondered anyway (at least, that’s the opinion I hold for now. That’s the thing with episodic blogging, you’re constantly changing theories and perspectives. But that’s a good thing, no doubt ^^).

Can’t say that much about Sena, except for the fact she has some sexy feet idea of what’s going on around here. She seems like a typical rough and violent girl, but in my opinion, that’s a good thing for the masochists and I like the way she carries her Buster Blade Di-Sword. We have some new words like Error and Di-Sword whcih have absolutely no meaning whatsoever (except for the Di-Sword which is briefly explained in one of Talu’s many ramblings) so it leaves room for yet another couple of questions to pile on in this intriguing mystery.

Daisuke’s charm,wit and overall FABULOUSNESS pales in comparion to Taku’s amazing… MMORPG skills. Typical harem, nothing else to say. Though, I’d Kishimoto Ayase. In several ways. As I believe would many others. (Side Note: There are some scenes of serious QUALITY in this episode. It’s not HORRIBLE but it is irritating. Makes Taku look even more creepy, which is a hard thing to accomplish.)

Hey, the return of Dumb and Dumber! Now, if you’re a police officer and you meet a teenage boy on the street fitting the same description of a suspected murderer (backed up by video evidence) who then starts rambling about devil women, psychic abilities and brainwashing and then grabs your hand in a desperate plea for help screaming, nearly overcome by fear and insanity, what is proper police procedure? Leave him alone completely! Don’t even take him in for questioning, act like his friend so he trusts you and you can get closer to the heart of the case or whatever the hell it is that old man is trying to do (the yonuger one seems to have some semblance of intelligence).

Yeah, at this point, I don’t get what Rimi’s deal is anymore. She seems to be completely innocent in both her feelings for Taku and the fact she hasn’t been stabbing anyone since the first episode. She’s helping him more than anyone else can be bothered to (except for that god awful sister. Nana, DIE IN A FIRE.), she obviously cares about him and wants to make his babies so for now I’ll just have to trust that her intentions are benign. For now…

O.K, so  Yua was completely right in her assumption that Taku was Shogun. And Taku was completely right about his sleep-walking. And this tells us… nothing! Also, for some reason Taku’s original doctor has mysteriously disappeared. Right after seeing Taku return after years of not coming to the hospital. Just an extermely large coincedence, I’m sure.

Learning the true origin of the Di-Sword does mean we have one common thread: the legend of Gurajiooru. This makes it seem more and more likely that we’re heading for some delicious apocalyptic action. Taku’s a dumbass for thinking he could by such an epic weapon at a dingy trinket store. But props to the owner managing to squeeze his cash out of him like a wet sponge (And LOL at Taku’s Sword Skillz). I’m pretty sure that though the fake Di-Sword is a piece of crap, the bracelet he got with it that he gave to the irritating ball of siscon has some sort of significance in the future. The girl has to have some purpose other than crazy orange mandarin attacks. Oh, and don’t take Sena’s GariGari-kun. She will KICK YOUR ASS.

Token Loli finally takes centre stage! For 10 seconds. The underutilisation of lolois in this show is appaling. Anway, the fact that Kozue said that Taku was like him means that all too-far-gone otaku can somehow sense each other. Either that or she knows he has some sort of power, it’s too early to say. Though I wish the creators would try to focus on one character/plot thread at a time (where the hell is Yua anyway?) Also, the harem is complete!

Blah blah blah want solitude blah blah but not if everyone’s gone blah blah WHEELCHAIR ZOMBIE! So, that was random and cryptic like everything else in this show. The fact he says he’s Shogun and sounds about 1/5 of his age doesn’t help either. He tells Taku  to “Hurry up and “awaken”". Bet everyone’s forgotten about the Seira-tan Awakened version and wants that sexy Taku figurine instead. (Side Note: Ever since seeing Toki Wo Kakeru Shoujo, these types of scenes always make me think that someone’s causing a PIME TARADOX.)

Taku slap. Because about 90% of people who watch this show (or even watch-ed this show) want to do it.

Takumi Delusions Awards: Part 4

#3 I Want Me Some Sexy Wife Like That.

#2 Surprise Foot Action!

#1 It’s a Zombie. In a Wheelchair. In a Grayscale Shibuya. Epic \m/

Next Time:

Gettin’ a bit telekinetic up in here.

]]> http://yukan.dasaku.net/anime/chaoshead/chaoshead-4-ha-boob-grab/feed/ 4 http://yukan.dasaku.net/anime/chaoshead/chaoshead-3-hard-rock-gothic-sword-girl/ http://yukan.dasaku.net/anime/chaoshead/chaoshead-3-hard-rock-gothic-sword-girl/#comments Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:24:54 +0000 Omisyth http://yukan.dasaku.net/?p=2549

What we all really want in life.

CRAWLING IN MY SKINNNNNNN~

C-C-Character developement?! Never thought I’d actually feel sympathetic for Takumi but at least now it’s slightly understandable that he became such a withdrawn and detestable human being. Considering the circumstances it’s not surprising he thought he was responsible for the accident, kids often think their to blame when such disasters directly related to them happen. Although those kids don’t normally have superpowers. It also raises some questions about his semi-phenomenal nearly cosmic powers precognitive abilites; though he may have predicted the future, is there also a chance that he shaped it as well? Perhaps some sort of powerful ill intent lies behind Taku that’s been guiding him from birth to become such a withdrawn person for some malevolent purpose, giving him the power to “curse” who he wishes. Supernatural children are creepy…

That is the single most awesome badge I’ve ever seen. Plus it’s GOLD.

And we begin to see hints of the bigger picture emerging. The mysterious N.O.Z.O.M.I (which means “wish” or “desire”, I think. All I have to go on is the amazing teaching machine that is fansubbed anime. Yeah~) organisation seems to have some sort of link with Taku’s doctor or his past. In all fairness, a doctor could easily forget one of his patients after such a long time, but the fact that Taku mentioned it makes things seem a bit more sinister than that. (More importantly, why would a doctor see a kid who’s undergone trauma only once over a period of a few years? I’m pretty sure that they would want to keep the number of children who grow up to be disturbed serial killers/introspective, delusional otakus to a minimum). Taku is completely insecure and paranoid; his voice never really grated on me before, but when describing his “symptoms” to the doctor (still don’t understand how sleep-walking would justify any of the PIME TARADOX that occured last episode), his constant stuttering and the wavering of his voice just pissed me off. Especially as the doctor was so old and kindly HE’S REALLY DEADLY NEVER TRUST A GRAY-HAIRED DOCTOR WITH A BAD MEMORY. It was just weird to watch him spiral into despair and to hear the conversations around him echoooooo. Although if I were the doctor I would prescribe him with some Valium just to get him to shut up about how he thinks he’s sleepwalking because his detective friend told him that he was typing complex messages and links into his computer without knowing it. How could Taku believe that a sleep-walking excuse would be more believable than plain old memory loss? (Maybe he should have said something about the delusional version of a computer game babe that seems to appear every now and then. No?)

I’d accept her book, if you get my meaning. *wink wink nudge nudge*

Still not sure what the point of Rimi’s existence is, except for the fact she’s a moe, easily-scared, high-school clone of Seira-tan. Gray-Haired Goth Girl’s much more interesting, especially with her belief in ancient myths and legends (alas, an epic name like Gurajiooru doesn’t seem to exist in the annals of history. At least according to Google and Wiki). There must be a problem with me when the most likely scenario seems to be that a devil king is being resurrected in order to bring about the apocalypse. Love the artistic effect of having a cross divide up FES’ face.

Damn you, Edward Elric!

I lol’d at how Taku managed to clean up the image only to further incriminate himself in the case. What confuses me is that I originally thought that Seira-tan was just Taku’s wishful delusion, but this week she surfaced whenever he was 1. Alone and 2. Facing some sort of crisis. There’s a very purposeful mind behind that moe moe smile, but in my opinion, she’s simply an avatar through which he can either reassure himself or make decisions.

OH GOD IT’S IN MY EYE GETITOUTGETITOUTGETITOUT!

I didn’t expect us to get an explanation of the “Those eyes, whose eyes are they” phrase at this point in the series, but not only is it unexpected but surprisingly simple in meaning. Rather than all that philosophical crap I talked about in the first episode, it seems like there may actually be someone (N.O.Z.O.M.I organisation?) or something (Gurajiooru?) watching Taku from afar; it would also explain the sudden sense of paranoia that seems to surface within him whenever he’s alone. Or better yet…

I think someone on the Chäos team doesn’t like Wiki.

Dissociative Identity Disorder. The idea of multiple personalities would make more sense; we already have Seira-tan lightly influencing Taku’s decisions and the “eyes” watching him could even be considered as another personality that resides within his fractured psyche.  I hope we get to the point where he starts having stuttering conversations with his evil, sadistic, alter-ego Mr Hyde. What’s interestnig is that Yua actually believes this is the case and feels sympatehtic towads him. Other than a picture of her without her glasses (or was that her mother? Or twin sister?) we still have no idea what Special High-School Detective Kusunoki Yua’s stake is in all this. Also, what the heck’s with the giant Gero Gero frog?

Mmmmm delicious swords.

OMG “A Crucifixtion of Faith” is soooo~~ AWESOME!

Now that we have that out of the way, pushing aside the fact that FES is a myth reading, gothic, rock chick, with legions of hypnotised followers ready to do her bidding and embrace her to the ends of the galaxy (Damn you Macross Frontier. I can never take anyone singing for anything seriously anymore. Hell, she even had a glinting earring on.), there must be some measure of truth to what she’s saying in that, basically, “shit’s about to go down”. As for her part outside of surprise boob-pressing Taku, I’m not sure.

“Do they really intend not to let me, the only loli to appear in the show so far, speak?”

Random crazy loli Kozue-chan is random. I have nothing to say (neither did she) except for the fact that grabbing your head and shaking it while looking at burning school clothes can’t be a good sign.

IRRITATING.

This Nana’s appeal has long since disappeared in the 15 minutes of screentime she’s had so far, and it’s gotten to the point when just hearing her voice is reason enough for me to understand why Taku’s such an anti-social person. And not even sis-con can redeem her at this point. It also brings to my attention taht we’ve had no mention of Taku’s family beyond the hospital visit and the fact that (I think) Nana’s being sent to check on him every now and again. Did he just cut himself off from them like he did the rest of society? I wouldn’t have expected so; a mother like Taku’s would probably just worry even further if her son grew increasingly reclusive. Also, Taku’s laugh is pretty goddamn disturbing, and the girl with the giant blue sword looks pretty goddamn badass.

“Judgement will come upon this city.”

For once, the raving homeless lunatic might actually be right.

And yet another OP character! Who’s yet to say anything even though he appeared in the first episode. (though only for around 2 seconds). Perhaps he too has precognitive abilities, though that’s where the similarities between him and Taku end. I actually respect the homeless guy.

Hell yeah, vampires. Next on the list has to be zombies to bring this show to the next level of awesome.

Whatever happened to the detectives trying to stop this from happening? Oh, who cares, they were useless and boring anyway.

Takumi Delusions Awards: Part 3

Unfotunately, nothing worthy of the bronze medal this week. Delusions were disappointingly sparse. However…

#2 Nurse Seira-tan

I’d let her take care of me anyday *wink wink nudge nudge*

#1 Clothes Slowly Falling Off Of Goth Girl + Surprise Boob Press

In the back, a voyeur enshrouded in darkness.

Next Time:

Wheelchair Zombie? Please let it be a wheelchair zombie.

Less fun than it sounds.

I have to say I’m kind of disappointed with this episode, or at the very least the first half or so. The harem aspects of the show aren’t what keep me watching; rather (as with School Days) the potential for gore, psychological horror and MINDF*CKING. Though that potential is still present, I’m skeptical of the writer’s choice on what was made a more prevalent aspect of this episode. Takumi is a hopeless individual, that we already know, but to try and get the viewers to sympathise with him by introducing themes of trust and fulfillment on his part won’t work if at the same time they’re still portaying him as a delusional asshole. I have little to no pity for the guy already, and if their task was to make me dislike the main character even more, then mission accomplished.

I doubt we need more evidence than the random hypnotizing mind-control to assume that Rimi isn’t an old childhood friend of Taku’s (yay for another typical harem scenario). The similarities in both her appearance and personality to Seira-tan don’t seem to serve a purpose beyond making her look cute (at least for now… ) but in contrast to Seira-tan, I feel a hidden evil intent coming from half of what she says. Not that that’s to do with the fact she’s been shown as a vicious murderer already. Speaking of Seira-tan, there was another reference to her “Awakened” form in this episode, and if this form doesn’t end up being her with some sort of weapon similar to those shown in the OP, I’ll be surprised to say the least.

Because if you did, I’ll have to kill you ^_^

The police force behind the New Gen investigations comes off as completely inept. Who needs an entire forensics team to determine from camera footage that Taku’s a man (I use this term loosely)? But what was laughable was that outside of the three or four people that had speaking parts (including two characters who are obviously going to become integral to the main storyline later) the only reason for the other investogators’ presence was to “Oooh”, “Ahhh” and “GASP!” whenever anything pertaining to the case was said. The aforementioned two characters, an old, wily detective named Ban and his young upstart assistant Suwa, seem uninteresting and stereotypical, though as a side note, Suwa looks a bit more evil in the OP than he does at the moment (there’s aeven a spotlight on him combined with a smug smile of malevolence), so that’s probably a foreshadowing of things to come.

As I said before, the whole issue of Taku trusting Yua, her accepting the way he is and him starting to feel less like a disgusting, worthless loser was overshadowed by him being a complete douchebag at the same time. Which made it all the more hilarious when it turned out that she was just investigating him. That entire confrontation, though accompanied by great music and full of tension, was both confusing and irritating. Confusing in that there was ample talk about times, locations, precognitive powers and irritating in that Yua kept reapeating herself in different ways over and over again. I understand that it’s a good way to aggravate Taku and get him talking, but to me I just wanted her to shut the hell up after repeating what was essentially the same line five times in a row and the addition of a large amount of flashbackswasn’t useful either. At least the statement “You are Shogun” makes it clear what Yua was implying, though I don’t get how he could of IM’d himself from the future or whatever PIME TARADOX was going on there. You could just chalk it up to delusions but that doesn’t seem to justify the situation enough for me. Yua’s sudden detective hax was a surprise as well, though it’ll be nice to see the reason that she randomnly suspected Taku in the first place and what exactly her stake is in all this.

Takumi Delusions Awards: Part 2

#3 The Love Glomp

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.

#2 Jealous/Worried Seira-tan

Yet another MOEEEE! Moment from the spunky heroine.

#1 Crazy Rimi

Higurashi ga naku akazu no mori he…

Next Time:

Token Loli appears.

In my opinion, its one of the best things about the show. And yeah, I’ve realised I spelt grammatically wrong. I REGRET NOTHING!

The series I most looked forward to has finally aired and I have to say that though it hasn’t begun the way I thought it would, I’m still pleasantly surprised. Rather than delve straight into the gruesome and dark side of the show straight off, we get a mixture of a typical harem comedy (ironically, the personality of the main protagonist allows for many statements about the improbable nature of events that happen to him later in the episode) and a disturbing horror/mystery show, both of which offset each other fantastically. The BGM is perfectly suited to the two sides of the series (especially the disturbing piano piece that played during the meeting between Rumi and Takiumi in the alleyway), the animation is for the most part fairly good (apparently, it was headlined done by the studio responsible for Spice and Wolf, Imagin). The OP’s quite good as well, though I think introducing all of the characters and the weapons they have is a bit of a spoiler (this seems to be the habit of many anime shows these days)  but the ED is completely average in every way (the Engrish and minimised screen don’t help either). I’ll definitely be covering this show from now on, so without further ado, its time for random specualtions on the first episode that’ll most likely be proven wrong later in the series!

Brings new meaning to the term “Kiss of Death”.

Beginning at the end is a good way to start of a series which has such a wealth of unexplored information at its core, especially considering the fact that cute girls with huge blades aren’t don’t seem to be the norm in the (similar to our own) world of Chäos;HEAd. Who wouldn’t wonder how we suddenly got to this post-apocalyptic setting with two seemingly normal school kids the only living beings on a site of massive destruction. Something which stood out to me was how Takumi called Rimi an “angel”. I wouldn’t have thought much of it if it weren’t for the other religious symbols in the episode. I love the refraining sentence of “Those eyes, whose are they?”. I could wax philosophic on how whenever we look into other people’s eyes we aren’t truly seeing their eyes but their eyes as perceived by us and therefore we can’t actually comprehend whose eyes they truly are, but I think I’ll just stick to saying that as Takiumi exhibits paranoia throughout the episode, constantly believing that someone’s observing him (which they were in the case of Yua, but how does that explain how he felt in his panic room apartment metal box?) he most likely becomes focused on the other (soon, in my opinion, to become highly suspicious) people around him, and this will lead to an obsession on his part of wondering who’s eyes he is looking into i.e is the person he sees within those eyes the same person he’s known up to this point? Or I’m just spewing hot air and drawing needlessly complex conclusions from a five word statement (in both English and Japanese, weirdly enough).

HELL YEAH HIKKIKOMORI LIFESTYLE FOR TEH WIN.

If Takumi’s not simply made out to be a pathetic, depraved, insane individual so that we feel all the more wrong for thinking of him as such hating him by the end of the series when he has evolved into a more respectable person then I’ll eat my hat. I truly don’t understand how he could be crazy enough to have such vivid delusions just because he’s a willingly anti-social bastard who thinks of the three dimensional world as irrelevant. I do understand that there’s a problem of this sort in Japan, but I still think it’s a tad unrealistic (he says about a show which has super powered, sword wielding school girls in it). To quote from the newly returned American television show Heroes (watch it now!) “The greater the fall, the grander the ascension.” I really hope he stops being such an easily despisable character soon (though I do like the contrast between him and his classmate Misumi, who seems to have banged “collected” all the girls in his class). I also give dredit to the voice actor for making Takumi sound just as crazy as he looks.

Uguu~~

I’m not sure if I should be rooting for the random incest route or not, simply because I love Nanami (she’s so stereotypical, but in such a moe way!) and I don’t think that she should lower her standarads to that of Takumi. Anyway, the direction of the good/bad delusions that Takumi has over the course of the episodes is excellently jarring, by which I mean, they show up at themost inappropriate times in the best way. The scene of the darkness suddnly closing in on him during a time of wha he thinks of as “peace and quiet” (at least on the surface) shows that maybe subconsciously he doesn’t wish to be left alone.

Yandere moe ftw.

“The world changes if you click it”. There’s definitely a sense of foreboding in the sentence typed by the mysterious Shogun (why in Engish?) Someone clear something up for me if I’m wrong, but Takumi received the picture of the crucified man (again, religious connotations. Stabbed onto a wall by cross shaped stakes, anyone?) before seeing the adorable horrifying Rumi in the alley. You could think of it as just another one ofhis insane, Coke stimulated delusions, excpet for the fact it’s announced that the man’s body has been discovered in a news report at the end of the episode. Either we have a huge pime taradox on our hands or Takumi with his black hole otaku soul has managed to predict the future. Also of note, the blue-haired girl singing about the crucifixtion of fate. These extremely substantial and informative pieces of information three coincidental references can lead to specualtion of something godly, in every sense of the word, being involved in this show.

KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!

Gruesome, dark, disturbing, horrifying, macabre goodness are the words to describe this scene. It places #1 in the “Takumi’s Delusions Awards” for the first episode of Chäos;HEAd, followed by Bikini Yua at  #2 and indirect Coca Cola kiss at #3. Tune in next week for the new batch of contestants. Seriously though, I’m always intrigued by madness in any television show, especially anime (Paranoia Agent is one of favourite series to date) so hysterical laughter from a red/yellow eyed creature of darkness carrying a huge cross shaped metal stake trying to kill Takumi was pure awesome for me.

Could this be a d-d-date?!

One thing I like about the show is how it doesn’t take itself seriously all the time. This’ll probably change as the show continues into its depths, but for now, I’ll just enjoy the comedy for what it’s worth. Already we see signs that Takumi truly is being deceived by Yua as he so suspectsby keeping quiet about the cross she sees; too bad despite all his suspicion he has no chance of resisting the group of moe girls soon to swamp him in traditional harem storytelling style.

ZOMGWTFBBQCRAZYKILLERGIRLWUTO_O?!

The sound effects used in this show are amazing simply because they always show up at the best time. I don’t normally like S-S-SHOCKING revelations to be accompanied by overly dramatic music, but when done well (and inculding appropriately timed falshbacks) I have to admit it sent shivers up my spine. Even worse is how normal Rumi acted towards Takumi; I think it’s a sgn that she was probably there all along and he was too busy emo-ing it up to notice her. Not sure whether the “Dou you want to save?” part was a nod to the players of the VN or a hint that they might just take the Matrix route in all this, wither way, it was an interesting technique and i can’t wait to see the next episode.

Next Time:

Moe girl turns evil…

…and evil girl turns CRAZY.

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