OP2 Sequence

OP2: 「End of the World」 by 熊木杏里 (Kumaki Anri)

「我が名は篝ちゃん」 (Waga na wa Kagari-chan)
“My Name Is Kagari-chan”

For those of you who haven’t been fond of the Rewrite OP, more good news: it’s gone. We’ve got a brand-spanking new one, and I do think it’s a measure better than the jumble of scenes we got the first time around. It also employs, as far as I can tell, new music as opposed to just tracks from the Rewrite visual novel sound track, and same goes for the new ED. Perhaps this is the signal that Rewrite is in full gear now and breaking new ground. It certainly features original material; I don’t know about this Rewrite+, but this was certainly not how the original VN went. What the anime is embarking on at the moment seems to be a mashup of all the character routes (perhaps with more focus on the arguably the more plot-centric Kotori route and Akane route), with a sprinkling of the final Terra route. And of course, there’s Kagari-chan (Hanazawa Kana).

Kagari, as we shall now call the ribbon-ghost, didn’t have a have a route per se, only getting any real character development near the end of the story. And indeed, in the anime Kagari has not really done much except pose enigmatically, kill monsters, and be cute. She still does all that, but now, she actually has lines! More personality! All the great things brought about by brain trauma! Don’t ask me about it, I can’t explain it without spoilers (just go with anthropic principle). Just know that, with the rest of the cast having been scattered to the winds, Kagari is here to freely fill the high school hijinks vacuum all by herself, like an ideal gas, and boy does she go out of her way to appeal as much as possible. Making up for lost time, I suppose, since the active and outspoken Kagari-chan may as well be a new character.

Thinking about it that way, it’s rather unusual for a new character to be introduced at this point of the story, after all the major developments of last week and right as all this plot is starting to spring out of the freshly tilled narrative soil. Evidently, Rewrite has chosen to retreat into a bit of a lull, an interlude before the various factions of its story collide For Realz. I think we should expect Rewrite to shift gears a lot, in keeping with its protagonist’s superpower. Hey, it’s called Rewrite, right? We’re just starting again, from the top. We’re now a boy meets girl story. Sounds good.

(That’s only half a joke.)

Where to go from here, though? The central conflict of Rewrite has been revealed, and obviously things will get more serious as we go. But we don’t really have that many episode left; only four, in fact. What does Rewrite hope to do in four episodes? Actually, I can see Rewrite managing to end everything in just this season, but that will require a lot of rushing—even more than it’s doing now—and judicious amputation. That would be a bit of a travesty, so I hope it’s not the case; certainly, they wouldn’t show all these new faces (and some old ones—remember them? The completely throwaway distractions?) if they didn’t intend to do useful things with them. So I hope that Rewrite intends to go long with a second season at some point—and that its production values manage to hold for that duration.

 

ED3 Sequence

ED3: 「Word of Dawn [sic]」 by 多田葵 (Tada Aoi)

14 Comments

  1. Now that we’re delving into some original material, I’m curious how they plan to wrap up the season, and whether that’s the end of the adaptation. I can see where they might go if this season is all we get, but it’d be a shame with all the pruning they would need to do to wrap this up.

    Of the character routes, I think Kotori’s, Akane’s, and Shizuru’s were the best options to merge together. We only ever see what Kotori is up to in her own route, even if some things about her fate are implied in the others. The reveals in Akane’s route are too important to drop. Shizuru’s doesn’t add a whole lot, but is the better option for showing the Guardian side, since the way Lucia’s route ends doesn’t fit with the rest. The most important thing from Chihaya’s was learning more about Sakuya, which could reasonably fit in anywhere. The rest of Chihaya’s route introduces some plot holes, and was also just straight shonen.

    We got glimpses of Kagari’s personality in the VN, but never anything like this. She did love to troll Kotarou (intentionally or otherwise) though, so I’m glad that’s still around.

    https://randomc.net/image/Rewrite/Rewrite%20-%2008%20-%20Large%2029.jpg
    There’s also a not-so-new face in here.

    The new opening spoiled Kotori’s reveal at the end of the episode, but it’s definitely better suited for where the anime seems to be headed. Also didn’t realize the ED image actually changed, that’s a nice touch.

    SK
  2. as a VN player, my expectations are derailed… i thought they would go to terra kagari arc, but no it was different… now i dont know what will happen to “this” rewrite anime. i am predicting that kagari Show Spoiler ▼

    , then return to mixed akane/kotori arc. or they would go to terra ending and Show Spoiler ▼

    Jeffers
  3. I can’t be the only one to read Rewrite posts just because Passerby wrote them. No matter what the anime is, Passerby always manages insert HIMSELF inside his writing. I can feel his personality through his writing. By my standards, that’s good writing.

    DK
  4. I do hope you’re right about a second season. I’m still not totally clear on what Gaia is supposed to be doing or if there are rogue elements etc. Guardian seems straight forward enough. Having all the girls removed for this episode made it feel very much like an omnibus route reboot. I also wish they had tied Inoue to Kotarou a little better so the handover of the chip made a little more sense. Just to establish trust between rivals investigating the same things as it turned out. Also thanks for reminding me about the pixies I forgot they made a previous appearance lol.

    Breedo

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