Are we about to get into some time travel shenanigans? For a show I remember mostly being about a harem, there certainly is a lot of plot. I’m just excited we got to see Kurumi. She’s definitely less evil then I remember. Chaotic as ever though.
So, let’s talk about Origami. Origami is now (or always has been?) the Spirit that her younger self saw and the person responsible for killing her parents. I was confused about this at first, but I think I get it now. When Kurumi sends her to the past, she says something along the lines of ‘I wonder how much you’ll actually be able to change.’ I thought this meant that even if Origami stopped the Spirit from killing her parents, something else would kill them. Like, Final Destination style ‘death is inescapable’. You can avoid it once or twice but it’ll always get you in the end. While Phantom has no reason to tell the truth, her ‘I think you have the wrong person’ leads me to believe that Origami was always the one who killed her parents. So there was no way to stop it after all because she’s the culprit. Is that a fair conclusion?
Even if I’m getting mixed up somewhere, the despair that Origami went through was heartbreaking. I felt so horrible for her this episode. I thought the screams of agony and the faces of anguish they gave her were very well done. Perhaps too well done. Well done enough that I got upset.
Her transformation into the black ‘inverse’ version is just so tragic on so many levels. The production of this episode was top notch, in my opinion. Everything from showing the reflection of Phantom in Origami’s eyes, which were just… so filled with hate and rage to that stare down she had with her past self right before she lost her mind. I have no idea what Shidou will need to do to rectify this situation. He basically either saves her parents or he has to shift the blame to someone/something that makes it more manageable to deal with? I actually have no idea how it’ll work. I’m always skeptical when time travel is involved. It’s such a shady plot device. But… without the need for time travel we wouldn’t have Kurumi. Shit. I guess it’s a necessary evil then.
I forgot Shidou could fly. And when he fell 50ft to the ground straight on his back. Eesh. That’s a spine breaker for sure. I forgot he could heal to a certain extent too. I really don’t remember this series as well as I thought I did. The Fraxinus, which I was bummed they didn’t show last week, finally came back! It immediately got shot down again, but there was an attempt. So that’s something.
I hate that DEM gets involved now! What do they want with an inverted Origami? Actually, what do they want in general? Probably the most uncertain motive for me is what Ellen and Ike are plotting. Every episode has these like 30-60 second chats with the two of them and half of it is usually one of them flirting with the other. And it’s not like it’s a whole organization. It seems like it’s just those two. They had a couple of henchwomen a few episodes ago but they got instantly wrecked. We’re only on episode 8 out a total 12 so I guess I shouldn’t be too worried. Once we get our girl Origami back, I’m sure there will be some sort of conclusion.
On a side note, am I crazy or does Kurumi’s art style seem just kind of more on point than what they’ve been doing with all the other characters. Were they saving the budget for the best? Maybe it’s just because she’s been on the screen for the shortest amount of time, but a lot of the characters kinda fluctuate in terms or character art style. I wouldn’t say any of it’s been bad per say, but it’s weird to have everyone changing all the time. I’m glad they have their priorities straight with Kurumi. That last line of hers actually makes me curious if we’ll explore her backstory at all. Probably not this season but, as an anime-only person, I would very much like a focused narrative on her. She sounded so mournful about wanting to alter the past. I can’t handle Origami’s and Kurumi’s sadness at once.