I’m gonna be real with you. My interest in BNA is starting to slip. It had such a strong start, but the last few episodes have been borderline boring. Probably due to the fact that for two episodes, they’ve been dropping a lot of info dumps. And while it’s nice to finally get reveals, it gets kind of tiring when it’s episode after episode of walls of information. However, since I’m this far into the series, might as well finish it, right?
I really do not understand why Michiru keeps trying to reason with Nazuna at this point. Well, I guess that’s not true. I can see WHY since Michiru has proven to be very loyal to her friends. However, Nazuna is just so condescending towards Michiru, constantly putting her down and dismissing her words. I hate how she basically makes fun of Michiru’s “justice” by worrying over her but really, is it WRONG for her to worry about her friend’s state? It makes it difficult to root for their friendship because of how terrible Nazuna is towards Michiru and Michiru just not really taking Nazuna’s comment of jumping to conclusions too quickly to heart. I can understand her want to “rescue” her friend, but without knowing the whole situation and only going on assumptions just makes this whole situation worse due to the lack of communication. If only they could just talk and actually LISTEN to what the other has to say. I’m glad that Michiru didn’t actually tell Nazuna of Ginrou’s identity, but it’s just so frustrating to see her try and reason with Nazuna when the girl is just so far gone.
We finally got the reasoning as to why Michiru and Nazuna became beastmen. However it was a bit less… exciting than I had imagined. Though it may have had to do with the explanation of how all of this went down. It was pretty much a boring reveal and very anticlimactic. Basically dropping a lot of information all at once, making it a little hard to follow if you’re not paying close attention. I had predicted that the traffic accident is what caused the transformation, me thinking it had some sort of gas or chemical that caused it. But no, just some misplaced beast factor that got switched in the deliveries is what caused it. Not to mention just the fact that Alan is making the antidote makes it seem like Michiru’s search for a cure was for nothing. It’s just eventually going to be handed to her so it doesn’t feel earned. Everything about this episode felt very anticlimactic.
However, some shady business is definitely happening with Alan. While he makes everything sound all good and dandy, it still sounds pretty shady and I’m sure that there’s a more sinister plot behind all of this. And while he makes a good point of telling Michiru not to judge things by their appearances, it still doesn’t make him any less shady. Especially with how he’s been portrayed thus far. Right now, everyone seems to be taking his side, making him out to be a really great human. Though he hasn’t really done much to convince me that he’s doing things for the good of others. Especially with that final scene with him having a meeting with the Japanese minister. He’s definitely up to something not as innocent as he claims. Especially when all of the cult business essentially boiled down to a “all according to kekaku” type of thing by Alan. Things seem to be going way too smoothly for him and I don’t like it.
We’re basically 80% done with the anime and I’m having major problems with both Nazuna and Michiru. I’ll touch on Nazuna first. As I’ve said before, I don’t like her. Both as a character and her as a person. As a person, I hate how condescending she is and just refuses to listen. The only moment she was an interesting character was when she called Michiru out on her biggest fault. However, that’s when her interesting character stops. On one hand, Nazuna’s image of “Death Rube” has been helping beastmen. She thinks she’s doing the right thing by helping beastmen, in simpler terms, feel less stressed, which is valid. But it’s all based on a lie and if the truth comes out, I’m sure there will be outrage. Nazuna also seems to flipflop a lot as well. Since by the end of the episode, she finally acknowledges that Boris is gross but it feels like it came out left field. Especially since she’s been defending the guy since her first official appearance. Even coming off the conversation of not to judge someone by their appearance that same day. So it feels like a hasty change of heart for someone who was just so deep in their views.
And then there’s Michiru… I’m a bit disappointed with her character right now. It’s almost the finale and she’s hardly changed. Sure she’s come to love Animacity, but I feel like there weren’t enough positives shown in the series for her to finally come to that conclusion. However, her biggest fault, that Nazuna even pointed out (SEVERAL TIMES) is still alive and kicking. I literally screamed “MICHIRU. NO.” when she rushed in and started ripping apart that machine Nazuna was strapped to. She’s still rushing into things without freaking thinking about the repercussions. She didn’t even stop to ask what was going on and wait to hear Nazuna’s answer. It’s frustrating to watch her continue these habits as if she hadn’t learned from them. When she had her first falling out with Nazuna, that would have been the time for her to start trying to fix that habit or at least become more self-aware of it. Though I do like that Michiru has gotten a lot better at using her shapeshifting powers as it seems like she can seamlessly go from one form to another now with little effort. She even ended up harnessing yet another ability. I was wondering if she’d utilize the chameleon power and she actually did so I was proud.
