Kami-sama no Memo-chou – 11
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「ぼくのかけら」 (Boku no Kakera)
“Pieces of Me”
I feel a little dumb that I didn’t catch what now looks like a really obvious clue about what Ayaka was doing on top of the roof, but that’s the charm that this show continues to have — it’s not too smart for the average viewer that they feel alienated when the mystery starts to unravel. Instead opting to make them feel like they’re still competent and somewhat smart.
With the world in a rut about Ayaka’s suicide attempt, I was elated to see that she is still alive. While being comatose isn’t the best way to be alive, it leaves the door wide open for a deus ex machina situation that will wake her up — something I wouldn’t mind in the slightest after having to watch such a prominent character nearly die in such a petty way.
Among all the ruckus going on with Angel Fix and the race to track down its supplier, I’m fairly sure that I saw what you could call a confession of love between Alice and Narumi. While there may not have been any obvious feelings attached to the glorious moment when Narumi finally became Alice’s true assistant, the bond the two share resemble a couple that have already been together for years. No need for all the cutesy lovey-dovey stuff — just the smallest amounts of affection thrown in amongst all the serious hustle and bustle in their line of work.
Even though the mystery aspect of this arc has flown the coop, there was a nice amount of buildup to next week’s finale. Hakamizaka Shirou, the experienced genetic engineer whose specialty is botany, became the main villain like I assumed. However, I was thrown for a loop when he uttered those last few words before the episode ended.
Are you trying to tell me that Ayaka’s suicide attempt, may not have been a suicide attempt? Does that mean that there was foul play involved somewhere? While I wouldn’t call this a mystery, it does make one think about what circumstances Ayaka faced while standing on the roof. Was she actually drugged and the hallucinations she saw caused her to jump? Or was she just a bystander, getting stuck by her brother while he was high? So many questions, but only one episode left!
Preview
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September 18, 2011 at 2:19 amClick
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So she didn’t die? What a surprise. >_> If she wakes up at the end of the series, I’ll be a better detective than any of those NEETs. Anyways, I actually thought this was the best episode so far. But to be brutally honest, I kinda just don’t care about the characters, so it kind of fails in that respect :P
September 18, 2011 at 2:23 amlongtimefirsttime
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Now this is the kind of arc I’ve been wanting since this show started!
It’s got everything that makes this show great: a dark look at society’s underbelly, collateral damage caused by criminal actions, a strong protagonist, and a likable character whose life hangs in the balance.
I really like this series, but I wish that all the arcs could have been this good. I had also hoped that the other NEETs would have gotten some character development, but I suppose that is left for their individual arcs. A second season that follows the trend of this finale arc would be most welcome.
September 18, 2011 at 2:47 amewok40k
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We have been trolled… although nobody in anime shall be considered truly dead (see Blood C)
September 18, 2011 at 4:21 pmBass.EXE
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Dude, seriously, my face when Nene and Nono popped up again
http://imgur.com/FIRqP
September 18, 2011 at 5:27 pmewok40k
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I had my doubts earlier, something has been nagging me about people dying right and left and no emergency raised… you know, military, evacuation, etc. And who would sacrifice real people for some experiments.
September 18, 2011 at 2:53 amfragb85
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Yep Ayaka is alive, I totally called it. Killing her off would have been a lame attempt at shock value and angst. I’m glad the show didn’t resort to that. Alice did bring quite a bit of speculation on the cause of her jump. I’m guessing she was force fed some drugs and jumped while she was high.
Most of the other clues were fairly obvious, like the flowers and the Botany Student. Speaking of which, that drug dealing scientist is a scumbag. Hope he gets what he deserves.
Can’t wait to see GAR Narumi next episode.
September 18, 2011 at 4:17 amKimberly
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It won’t have the same level of awesomeness as Imagine Breaker though.
September 18, 2011 at 8:51 amChaos2Frozen
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@Kimberly
Nevertheless, it gave them practice ;D
September 18, 2011 at 3:09 amjackxu
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If Ayaka was to wake up, I think it’ll be more likely at the epilogue, where it may also prompt for second season. This however, would not be a desirable ending in my opinion cos it’d leave me with an eerie feeling of discomfort. Those who had read the light novel will know what I’m talking about.
I would prefer she doesn’t wake up during the episode but instead have a shot of her waking up during the preview for season 2 if it exists. I’d much rather be let off gently at the end of the finale than being slammed down by tragedy.
September 18, 2011 at 3:12 amx
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Loved this episode. Specially how everything seems slowed down while time is actually sped up by skipping XD. It’s all coming to a close. I wish this was at least a 24 episode anime, but then again, this is JCStaff :p. Better not risk having them mess it up big time with anime original material XD, and I wasn’t that impressed with their last long running anime either. One more episode to go, hope it will be a good finale. As for a second season, I’m kind of conflicted. I like this anime, but this is JCStaff we are talking about :p. Well, as long as they don’t try anything too fancy like doing anime original stories and characters it should be okay I guess.
September 18, 2011 at 3:12 ammac65
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Yes, I agree we’ve sorta been trolled…
I guess her eyes were a big clue we all missed (at least me). Well played by the studio.
I now think she was force-fed or tricked into taking the drug – and thought she could fly to heaven.
I think the anger drama (with the boxing) was not credible and out of place. Let him beat
the $#!@ out of Shirou who gave her the drug – that would be better, IMHO (that will
hopefully happen anyway). Although her brother appears remorseful, he’s still a jerk.
Also, it’s disappointing that Fourth still doesn’t take Narumi seriously yet; even after all
they’ve been through there should be more depth to their relationship.
Let’s see how it ends…
September 18, 2011 at 4:07 amChaos2Frozen
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“I now think she was force-fed or tricked into taking the drug – and thought she could fly to heaven.”
That reminds of the famous scene from the Max Payne movie; When the drug addict committed suicide by jumping out of the window, it was symbolically represented by an ‘Angel’ dragging him out of the window instead. Similar to [Angel Fix], the name of the drug is related to the mythical being.
September 18, 2011 at 5:40 ammac65
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That’s a great point. I always have to remind myself that most of us watch
a sub’d version. The word translated as “Fix” may be the best approximation
of an original Japanese idea closer to your explanation – but obviously would
be too verbose to translate. This happens in dialogue, but you especially see
it with musical lyrics.
There were a couple of series some time ago where the English subs between two
different sub’ers were different (although ultimately meant the same thing) and
it helped to get a truer meaning to what was happening.
September 18, 2011 at 4:19 amricz
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Love love this episode
Narumi strikes again
Too bad next wek is the last episode
September 18, 2011 at 4:41 amtattoo J
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Cool, I love it. Thanks.
September 18, 2011 at 5:39 amYttrium
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I looked up the final outcome of Ayaka’s dilemma and found it to be poorly devised and extremely cliched.
Show Spoiler ▼
I commend Kamisama No Memo-chou for consistently maintaining my interest over the lat 11-12 weeks, but this little twist is a major blunder- I’m taking a full 3-7% off it’s final score just pulling for that one, depending on how they decide to play it out…I still do like the show, and would love to see a second season- but as an objective connoisseur, I simply can’t overlook things like this…
By no means am I saying that the entire ending will be awful; it still has the potential to be quite satisfying. I’m simply unhappy with this little black spot, which they really should avoid focusing on too much next week…
September 18, 2011 at 6:36 amSerapita
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Now I can’t wait for the next episode, but at the same time I don’t want it to end just yet. :/
September 18, 2011 at 6:53 amSaangi
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Correct me if I am wrong but I heard that in the LN, Show Spoiler ▼
Just to say, this is getting interesting……
September 18, 2011 at 7:42 amjackxu
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Someone corrected me in the previous post for the series saying that this happened in the manga, not the LN.
September 18, 2011 at 7:37 amalex
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I’m GLaD she’s still alive
September 18, 2011 at 8:12 amKurofaise
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This is the 2nd time this series has actually interested me.. oddly enough. Episode 1 was the first time, but after that it just fell down and became to… JC Staff mediocre. This episode was actually pretty good though, and I’m interested in how this will end. Though, I still can’t forgive it for how utterly brain-dead episodes 2-10 were for me.
September 18, 2011 at 9:03 amTorrigan
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Angel Fix….the Asian version of Red Bull!
September 18, 2011 at 10:25 amMrRei
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Marathoned!
Interesting anime.. but not something new. I like how the last episode ended. Great cliffhanger. They pulled off an “Isurugi Noe”.. Good thing I marathoned! Waiting a week of that would be a pain. :D
September 18, 2011 at 11:06 amKumakaori
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Last ep left me worried, but I do believe Ayaka’s attempt has been handled well. I thought JC Staff had botched yet another series, but really they just needed the next episode to come around to make them look not crazy.
Time to finish it, Narumi!!
September 18, 2011 at 11:41 amPokpok
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it scared me a lot when the preview from the last-episode show that Ayaka jumped from the rooftop i really think that she will die . it is so obivious about the bad guy force her to take the drug and make her fell down there.
Narumi is fired up now; Revenge for her. Yoooo
September 18, 2011 at 11:46 amWhee
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go,go!
September 18, 2011 at 2:48 pmSanaki
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Um, no offense to the authors, but aren’t the episode summary previews getting blatantly spoilerific for this series? Last time pretty much everybody could guess what happened to Ayaka with the “something happened” + her face in the last screenshot, but this one has a main plot detail mentioned outright (she’s alive). :|
September 18, 2011 at 3:54 pmQB
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Actually Ayaka is forced to take the drug, but in order to save herself, she jumped down the building, the antagonist thought she have taken the drug, that make her commit suicide but it was the later, she didn’t want to feel pain or troubled with her brother’s situation and its the best solution she could think of.
Nobody dies from falling a low risk building hitting only the soil garden. (She’s just pretending to be in state of coma, take some drug that cause her to have that effect.)
September 18, 2011 at 5:17 pmRelic
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So no death. Had the signature black rings under the eyes that AF gives the user. School roof flowers, Narumi wanted that place to remain their’s, a meeting of sorts. Makings of one hell of a showdown, but there’s one slice of pie still missing…
September 19, 2011 at 1:13 amSnicket
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So they decided to follow through with this, hun. not really a good arch to end a series on, considering it had a decent run thus far. Though if this does follow the material, it sets things up for a second season…if it ever will get one.
-sorry folks, i’m not posting any spoilers.
September 19, 2011 at 3:52 amShizuo
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Thanks God Ayaka still alive even though she’s on koma right now. It’s happened because freak megane scientist, Screw you!!!
Narumi gotten strong this episode, nice!
Can’t wait what will happen next episode.
September 19, 2011 at 3:36 pmChaos2Frozen
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But at least now we know the name of the flower that we saw that day =p
September 19, 2011 at 4:24 pmBROOKLYN otaku
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Of course she survived ….how bullshit
November 11, 2011 at 1:22 pmкупон атор омск
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