Norn9: Norn+Nonet Episode 4

We continue from last week’s overly-dramatic execution of the dire situation Nanami and Akito got themselves into. Just as they were about to fall to their deaths, Kakeru swings in and just barely manages to catch them with his powers. But even after he had saved them, the two of them are too busy bickering with each other to mind. Instead of thanking Akito for his effort to help her, Nanami snapped at him, annoyed he didn’t let go of her hand- because she wanted to fall. Naturally hearing this, Akito becomes furious because of her ungratefulness. But ignoring Kakeru and bickering in front of him was a dire mistake, as he had come prepared with a specially made handcuff that will only allow them to be separated for 30 minutes- and after he clips them on, he faints from a fever due to over exerting himself.

The purpose of the handcuffs were to force Nanami and Akito to call a truce and get along. But Akito will happily choose being electrocuted (the consequence of being away from her when the time limit it up) than be in the same space as her. Nanami had chosen to be his partner because she wanted to help him, but instead she is being a nuisance to him. Unfortunately because her helpful intentions are one-sided and flat out rejected, she agrees with Akito when he tells her they should find different partners, since he doesn’t want to get to know her.

It is too bad we weren’t able to see more of their conflict, but I suppose it isn’t a huge loss considering there wasn’t too much happening in this particular event between them. The more relevant interactions were Sakuya scolding Akito for how he talks to her, and the ‘break up’ agreement.

Since Kakeru was bedridden from the fever, Koharu been at his side taking care of him. While doing so I was a bit bummed out how we weren’t able to see her more fiery protective side as she was in the game. It is quite entertaining, especially how she spooks Nanami and Akito when they demand the key to free themselves, which was in Kakeru’s possession- so too bad they skipped out on it. Talk about a missed opportunity to see a different side of Koharu.

It was nice we were finally able to see a bit more of Senri, Itsuki, even for a short bit. Senri is one of my favourites, mainly because he is one of the best commentaries of the game and is a sweetheart. Itsuki got to show off his playboy personality, making it fun to watch him be smacked and pulled away by others every time he threw around cheesy lines. I hope we will be able to see a bit of his more considerate/helpful side next week. Heishi was also there, but his presence was almost meaningless since he didn’t contribute anything to the conversation. Even being a part of that scene didn’t showcase his personality at all. He felt a lot like those background characters. As for Sorata and Masasume, they played a different role since they have merged and altered Mikoto’s routes a bit. Sorata wasn’t able to join Mikoto, but he was able to luck out and secretly hitch a ride into town when Masamune went at the last minute. We are seeing Masasume actively try to keep Sorata on the ship, because the kid knows too much. While wondering around town (before he was caught by Masasume), he caught sight of what shouldn’t exist in this time period, robots- creepy ones at that. The ship was already a red flag for something amiss, but now he sees robots in an era where they aren’t supposed to exist- and to make matters more complicated, Masasume will not answer his questions/suspicions.

Sakuya and Mikoto had a moment in town when Sakuya had a vision of a fragment in the future just when they were going to seek shelter at a tavern in the rain. What neither of them realized though was the attacker and his friend were in the building, but due to Sakuya freaking out, they end up going back to the ship instead. Remember Sakuya has seen the attacker back in Episode 2. He knows what he looks like, so seeing a vision of the attacker and Mikoto made him very anxious. He will do anything to protect her, and we saw just that, the part of the vision where he takes a shot for Mikoto. It is that vision which led to how the promise came to be, vowing neither of them will love anyone.

I was expecting a little bit more and different things from this episode, but I believe we can all agree there were significant improvements with the pacing and the transitions between scenes. This week’s episode primarily focused on dropping hints about the upcoming conflict and which direction the plot is going. For the past three episodes, relationships and characters have been the central focus, so it was about time the story’s plot is addressed. We see there is an Anti-World movement going on, and as we learned from Sorata earlier, the existence of weapons and robots in an era they should not exist. Another matter is the question of which love interest are they picking for Mikoto. As I said last week, it feels as though don’t want to reveal who it will be immediately. They are very cleverly mixing and merging both Sakuya’s and the Attacker’s routes events together, making it difficult to pin-point which path they are taking. But another thing I noticed is by doing so, they are showcasing the depth and layers of Mikoto’s and Sakuya’s relationship, which can come into play later on, regardless of which route they choose. That being said, I expected the curve-balls, but now they have reached the crossroads and next week may be the last hour to make the final commitment. Anyone who has played the game knows there is supposed to be a major event taking place just after Nanami and Akito decide they will no longer be partners. Since it has yet to be addressed, there is a possibility it may happen, but I am also facing doubts since the Dream World adventures will be coming into play next week (one of my favourite parts of the game!). Considering how they have already changed the timeline of events, I can see the possibility they will make the said BIG event take place after the dream world fun. However even then- it still makes me a little anxious to see how they will change it up to make it work with their plans. If they are able to do what they did with this episode, then I would like to think they can definitely pull it off, but they are definitely walking on thin ice (varying on who they have picked to be Mikoto’s love interest). In fact, perhaps this is a deliberate move, so  Mikoto’s route can remain unpredictable for as long as possible, since we know Koharu x Kakeru and Nanami x Akito are already locked in.

Next week, DREAM WORLD TIME!