Norn9: Norn+Nonet Episode 3

Wow, I am so relieved I made time for myself last night to finish Akito’s route! I had a feeling this weeks’ episode was going to focus on him so I sacrificed a bit of my sleeping hours for play time. But while the playthrough paid off preventing myself from being spoiled, unfortunately the execution of this week’s episode was extremely sloppy. The entire episode was a mess, the pacing, the animation, the transition between scenes, it was all over the place. I was disappointed because there were a lot of things they could have done so much better. For example, I fail to understand why they changed the location of where Nanami was supposed to fall. It would have made way more sense to have her standing near one of the impacts holes of the ship (as she was originally supposed to), than being knocked off her freaking feet onto the side. Frankly how it happened as was outright stupid! Whose idea was it anyways!? Is it really that hard to still to the original material? And believe me, I wouldn’t feel any differently had I not played the game.

There were a lot of things going on this episode, but it appears to me they are attempting to cement who will be the “canon” love interest for each of the girls. Kakeru and Koharu are already the obvious, this week pointed to Nanami and Akito, and as for Mikoto… It appears to be in between the attacker (who I will not name yet) and Sakuya- so I am not entirely sure which route they are going to follow, but the opening does imply the greater possibility of the attacker route. Considering how they have been dramatically changing the sequence of events, I do have suspicions they will do it again for some of upcoming events, in hopes to maybe throw a curve-ball in order to make it more unpredictable.

And this brings me to my next point: I am seeing a very critical problem that can get out of hand very quickly. I have seen this happen before and usually it does not end well. I am referring to the infamous “Hogging the Spotlight” problem.
For the three episodes now, Kakeru and Koharu have had the most screen-time, leaving choppy bits of hints and bits for the other couples. With Kakeru being bedridden next week, we can only hope for an opening opportunity for another couple to get sufficient screen-time for the sake of their development. What is even worse though, is that the other characters who were not selected to be the girls’ love interest become almost non-existent. It is tricky when you are juggling nine characters, but it is a lot easier if they are able to execute and plan the storyboard by being time efficient with the important parts. With so little time on their hands, it is problematic how this show only has twelve episodes to work with. Had they had more episodes to work with, I sense it would have presented them a lot more time to spread things out to execute properly.

I think most will agree it was almost meaningless to even introduce Sorata three episodes late. They showed the audience the prologue of how he got onto the Norn in the first place, but then they skipped out on his introduction, clearly hoping the audience would remember the flyer with the year he was from (news flash: most people would forget), they left out his confusion and opportunity to interact more meaningfully with the characters and ultimately jumped to how he is able to see one mysterious girl on the ship that nobody else knows about. Of course the mysterious girl was not the only stranger this episode, but another mysterious man, only this time talking with Akito before vanishing into thin air.

Koharu and the audience were also able to see saw a different side of Kakeru, a lot darker side. Well, not to say the least he isn’t intimidating enough with how he goes after Senri (who is precious by the way). Can’t blame the kid for being scared of him. Kakeru slapped her hand away when she tried to brush dirt off his ear because of his earring- something he doesn’t like anyone touching. It made her uneasy but before long he was back to sunshine and rainbows face. We later learn the earring is a memento of Kakeru’s father, who was murdered. But beside the gloomier moments, there were also some amusing scenes. Koharu’s naive personality always gives me a kick since she takes everything she hears so seriously, and how she thought for a moment Kakeru was actually a girl! Perhaps the best part was (as Itsuki said best), seeing Kakeru lose to a plant.

Mikoto and Sakuya had very little air time, but they were able to at least follow up further on the promise that was mention last week. The promise involves Sakuya not falling in love with anyone. They also show us just how bad she is at art. Mikoto was attempting to draw a portrait of the attacker to try and get a reaction from the traitor, but it is completely indistinguishable. It certainly doesn’t help how Sakuya flatters her for how beautiful and accurate it is. He know it sucks, but he doesn’t have it in him to tell her that straight to her face! Sakuya is presently enjoying the fact he and Mikoto are able to interact some more.

Finally, we further learned how Nanami and Akito have a very complicated and tense relationship. Nanami is shouldering guilt of her sins, and wants and expects Akito to kill her. But more than anything, Akito is more infuriated with the fact she keeps on telling him to kill her, nor does he hate her enough to want to see her die before his eyes. Having hurt him in the past, Nanami feels obliged to take responsibility for that, especially if he is the traitor- which is is presently convinced to be the case. But most importantly, she is the only one who knows he is in fact not an esper. She is worried if he is paired with someone else, he would be found out. Furthermore, she knows “he” is there too.

Next week I smell there will be a lot of adjustments made from the original material. I am expecting them to throw a curve-ball and at this point the anime is going to make some original moves. Can’t say it’s for the better since this episode really did not showcase that particular effort in good light. Here’s to hoping next week will have a more stable pacing and all around better delivery.