「夜天下の暗躍者」 (Yotenka no Anyakusha)
“Covert Ops under the Night Sky”

After three long episodes that spanned the course of a single day, I’m proud to say that time seems to finally be moving forward. Instead of jumping from side story to side story I really enjoyed that things seemed to finally settle on a single main point. While it may not have been the one involving Toori and what he’s going to do with that P-01/Horizon-clone, I’m content that there’s finally some conflict building.

Thus far, it would seem that big things are building down in Mikawa. If people getting randomly spirited away weren’t bad enough, I didn’t expect that the people leading the country would go as far as blowing up the whole thing! I still can’t figure out what rewards could be reaped from distorting the tectonic plates under Mikawa; especially when the entire city has already been evacuated. Other than the notion of starting the Genesis Project which I believe is supposed to be part of the plan to “re-live” history, there were a lot more questions raised than answered this week.

Character-wise, it was a whole lot easier to understand things when there were only a few to focus on. Unlike previous episodes where the camera jumps from a handful of different characters, I really enjoyed watching Futayo’s story play out. Not only is she another representative of the Honda family but I’m curious how she will handle all of this responsibility thats been suddenly thrown on her. Not only is she fighting to gain the trust of the people who control the world, but she’s also fighting the urge to help her father who’s fighting against the very same people.

Seeing how I haven’t read the light novel nor do I have any intention to, I’m excited for what the weeks ahead have to offer. For a show that’s only redeeming factor was a flamboyant main character with a complete disregard for the rules society has set, I’m glad to see that bigger things are coming into play. The stage for conflict has finally been set by the lords of Mikawa and all that’s left is for someone to pull the trigger.

 

ED2 Sequence

ED2: 「Stardust Melodia」 by Ceui
Watch the 2nd ED!: Streaming ▼

69 Comments

  1. I was a bit confused by it all but it has finally become interesting. The anime seemed to be the type with a deep story and deep conflicts, which were only brushed on in earlier episodes. But now it seems we’re moving to the intense stuff. Curious to see where this goes next week, and preferably some more awesome fighting scenes.

    The maid that used telekinesis to fight mechas was very awesome

    Pride
  2. Kazuno’s fight against that mech may just steal the title of “best person vs. giant robot” fight straight from Guilty Crown. Sure, Shuu can pull swords out of girl’s chests, but Kazuno can forge giant telekinetically controlled blades right out of the ground! That is possibly even more useful!

    Anyway, yes, the plot is actually kicking off for real, and while people will complain about the initial episodes, some stories can’t just be kicked off immediately.

    Looking forward to the students hopefully getting involved next time. And I think I have an idea about what Motonobu is trying to accomplish, though giving Musashi a bit of a heads up would probably have helped. But then again, plausible deniability…

    As for the “Genesis Project”, I think its something separate from the ongoing “relive history” aspect, since thats been going on for a while. It probably has to do with how the Testament is no longer updating, and they are running out of history to reenact, hence the mentions these last few episodes of the “End of the World” approaching.

    Fencedude
  3. I know the source material is ginormous, that I’m not supposed to be able to begin to grasp the depth of the setting 4 eps. in yada yada rehash of all the comments of the previous 3 episodes…but this anime adaptation still isn’t throwing any bones at viewers unfamiliar with the light novels.

    I very much enjoy complex storylines that make me think and aren’t just spelled out for the viewers plain as day, but even with this episode focusing in on things, it still felt just as jumpy and random as the past three. The significance of what is going on is totally lost on me and there’s not a single character that’s keeping me coming back to this adaptation so far.

    All of that said, I’m still going to stick with it a bit more. At least it feels like things might start to come together and make some sense in the near future for a change.

    Xin
  4. Well, the first three episodes was just character introductions and them doing the normal slice of life for them. 3 intro episodes is a bit much, but considering the large cast so isn’t it that strange. Also considering that it looks like it will be war in the future episodes so did they need the calm days to show how the characters are normally. I strongly recommend people with trouble keeping track of the cast to check out this translation of the official bios:
    http://kyoukaisen.tumblr.com/charaprofiles

    Znail
  5. “Now normal days are over”
    Well I guess the first line gave us a clue.

    We can’t expect fast development since the novel is so thick that and hard to understand as well. I guess Sunrise is doing its best to adopt this.

    I’m guess this happenings right now has something to do with rewriting the apocalypse history that they were talking about. Show Spoiler ▼

    Croos
    1. You could find out from watching the show. What happens is that the girl attacks the old dude and he takes advantage of that to touch her butt. It wasn’t a serious fight as the girls father was there too and it was most likely meant as a lesson for the girl.

      Znail
  6. this show seems to not need fanservice.
    But all the time we see random huge boobs and ecchi poses but its like… I dunno.
    But i totally dont understand the deal with Horizon, so is he gonna ask out horizon at her grave or is a robot copy?

    omeganx
    1. He’s going to ask out P-01s, whom he believes (for reasons unclear at the moment) is really Horizon, or at least Horizon’s soul/memories/whatever.

      What he thinks will be accomplished by this is also unclear, but it will clearly be a major event, since its what the first three episodes were building up.

      I’m guessing it may happen next time, when Masazumi and P-01s meet up with the rest of the cast.

      Fencedude
  7. Too bad they only cover the first 2 volumes :/
    Too many people are bashing it, but this anime is just getting started. Like the Lord of the Rings movies. The real action started at the end of the first movie too, and nobody disliked it o-o
    It’s kinda hard to review it because it’s the animated version of the fantasy books, tell me about it.

    1. That’s kinda like the zeitgeist for most people nowadays – Things have to happen fast and ” ‘I’ want it to happen NOW!” Everything either has to happen his/her way or happen fast enough for them to like it. Pay no heed.Some stories (and by which I would presume KSnH as well) are meant to be built up slowly.

      Besides, LOTR had quite a special cast with grand settings and good visuals. Compared to animated characters that don’t really promise to be epic (not especially when the original material isn’t renowned amongst English-speaking people), it does make sense.

      Still, it looks like they’ve finally pulled the release for exciting things to start.

      Owaranai
  8. I think the problem with first 3 episodes, was how hackneyed and disjointed it felt, especially the way it kept repeating the day. The last part of the episode implied that the story was being told through the perspective of around 4-5 protagonists. It certainly an interesting way tell story, but it could have used a better narrative flow.

    The Maid vs Giant Robot was awesome though, so I look forward to more fights like that.

    fragb85
      1. I agree its not complicated or hard to understand. But its the execution that’s the problem. It kept jumping back to the previous times and the whole narrative goes to hell. When telling different perspectives its better to make it flow chronologically. Kind of like Game of Thrones.

        fragb85
      2. Eh? Not really. Sure, each episode started at the beginning of the day, but quickly jumped forward to approximately when the last one left off.

        The earliest moment we see is 5am, when Tomo wakes up in episode 3. The other 3 episodes each start right before 8am, when P-01s sings her song. In episode 1 we see Toori watching her, in episode 2 we see Masazumi wake up (late for work) and in episode 4 we see Futayo wake up.

        And its not like ever single movement through time wasn’t accompanied by a HUGE caption on screen telling you precisely what time of day it was. Its a tad anachronic, but not hugely so. There is no jumping back and forth during the episodes themselves, and as I said, if you look at the timeline I posted, the actual overlap in the first three episodes is quite minor. The largest overlap I believe would be between episodes 3 and 4, which do take place largely simultaneously, but predominant in two completely different places.

        They really have gone out of their way to make this as clear as absolutely possible without having a character turn to the camera and give a damn soliloquy.

        Do people just ignore the timestamps?

        fencedude
      3. Didn’t I say I could understand it? My problem is the execution, 4 episodes in and the only interesting things I find is Torii and the awesome Maid vs. Giant Robot. Everything else is just separate exposition dumps. Its a dull way build up a show’s subplots. The lack of focus really affects the show.

        fragb85
  9. I don’t know. I still had a hard time understanding what was going on, even in this episode. Well, watching it in the middle of the night being tired didn’t help.
    For example, where exactly is Futayo heading to? And aren’t those guys in red that she crossed when flying in her ship her enemies? What’s THEIR goal?
    Oh, and are her and Masazumi sisters?

    boingman
    1. Masazumi and Futayo are cousins of some sort or another. They were friends as children as well.

      Futayo’s not actually going anywhere, its clear that her mission was really just a way of getting her out of the line of fire before Motonobu set off the rebellion against the Testament Union. She’ll almost certainly end up joining the crew on Musashi, who despite being part of the Far East along with Mikawa, were not told about this plan. I have some ideas as to why, “Plausible deniability” being the first thing to leap to mind. Note that Futayo had no idea what was going to happen, despite her father and Kazuno being key instigators.

      As for Gin and Muneshige, they were there to escort Pope-President Inocentious to a summit with Lord Motonobu, which quite clearly won’t be happening. They have now set off towards Mikawa to find out what is going on.

      The Far East, Tres Espana (where Gin and Muneshige are from, as well as the mecha Kazuno fought) and KPA Italia are all part of the Testament Union, so they aren’t enemies. Well, they weren’t enemies at least.

      Fencedude
  10. >>After three long episodes that spanned the course of a single day,
    Don’t be surprise to see that the entire first volume (split into two parts each has 700+ pages) only covers events happen in TWO days.

    K
  11. I don’t get any of it.
    All i noticed was

    Funny echi dude, Some girl with no breasts, Robot maids, a whole lot of factions and old dudes. And euh. I dunno. I mostly watch it to see that echi dude do his echi thing.

    outcast
    1. You know, if you don’t even attempt to understand a show its not going to make much sense. The actual events thus far have not been particularly complex. The backstory and setting? Sure, those are kinda out there, but whats actually happened on screen these last four episodes is pretty straightforward, you just have to actually engage at least a bit of your brain.

      fencedude
      1. Im with outcast here, seriously fencedude! What’s your logic? Oh mighty one! If you are really really good at understandin it, fill us all in! Cuz we all need the explainin for it lololol, what’s your logic?

        The Story You Don’t Know
      2. Protip: If you need to follow your sarcasm up with a post going “oh thats sarcasm by the way” you may want to refrain from attempting to be “sarcastic” until you have refined your technique.

        And that doesn’t even go into how your response makes absolutely no sense whatsoever read either as perfectly straight or sarcastically.

        3/10. Examine your errors and refine your technique.

        fencedude
      3. What it comes down to, is that if its something they like, a fan will use any justification for their anime. If someone disagrees with them, they either turn it into a flame war, or try to use any cliche counter-arguments they learned from English Class. “Well I don’t exactly agree, but from a certain perspective, I agree, that is, from your perspective, understandably and rightly so…you’re wrong.” Basically, he likes something you don’t like, and he can’t stand it.

        TheRealFencedude
    1. And Commie’s is starting to “dumb out”(AGAIN!) as well. Comparing the two subs to TAN’s, the definition in many places are quite different, more noticeable in Hadena than in Commie.

      The Moondogg
      1. @fencerdude

        What? So trying to understand a series with a plot that is very hard to understand already just got a lot harder?

        Commie’s a communist, Horrible is just horrible and Hadena… well, they don’t know proper Japanese.

        The Moondogg
  12. I actually enjoy this one compare to persona 4(ep 2-4) :/

    Well I hope that it will be good next episode

    Glad I read some info before watching it so it’s not that confusing…the problem is the sub(super late)

  13. Ok so after rewatching all the 1-4 episodes, I still dont have a clue lololol! I dont get the place, the setting, why Horizon died even after I saw the subs for it, I still dont get the two factions and what they are fighting for, really soooo many questions and they just keep introducing more and more things without expalnation, we all deserve one! This show is fun but now its just getting tiring and taxin in my brain, me brain hurts! The Mecha fight scenes werent that great cuz theres no conclusion, they cut it off again and again and dont show what hapened, i was left like wat just hapend?

    The Story You Don’t Know
  14. you guys forgot to mention, this is why when foreigners watch Japanese anime, it will always be a different, and more than likely, inferior experience. Reading the subtitles, especially in an anime with a slightly complex plot, would depend on your reading comprehension skill and to put it bluntly, it’s harder for people to understand something from reading as opposed to listening. Plus you probably have to concentrate harder. When people say they are lost…it probably means they couln’t keep up, or just tuned out while their brains recover. In addition, subs only translate the meaning, most translators arent good enough to make it flow naturally, not to mention flat-out mistakes.

    Chef
    1. While I don’t agree 100%, the execrable subs being put out by Hadena are most certainly not helping. The four day delay before the TAN subs (which being based on actual scripts provided by the Japanese are about as best a translation as you could hope to get) is also a factor.

      Anyway, I maintain that the actual events depicted thus far have not been particularly hard to follow, and while I obviously haven’t read the Light Novels, I’m going to guess that early on in those, the complex backstory was less than amazingly clear as well.

      fencedude
      1. Quite a lot of things that are going on are meant to be mysterious and unknown. I think quite a lot of those being confused have actually caught on to the important parts, but thinks they are missing something that actually haven’t been shown yet.

        Znail
      2. Agreed (speaking as someone with minimal knowledge of the novel). Lots and lots of what has been going on but left unexplained is clearly setup for later, which is why I’m perfectly content not having all the answers.

        Fencedude
  15. i dont get anything really. it feels like i wandered in another dimension war-torned country and nobody wants to talk to me and explain what is happening! i cant even remember names, i got confused with characters and the plot, where is the story going?! damn 🙁

    ryuuzaki
  16. Those who can “actually” understand the story, I congratulate you. Those who can “vaguely” understand the story, I’m jealous of you. Those majority of you who are lost and confused, well join the party.

    Seriously, I don’t see the point of watching this show except for boobs. I might as well just read the LN…

    Oh and don’t tell me to “try” understanding the plot just by watching anime, the show itself is nonsense with dodgy subs to read like someone mentioned before.

    I’m not degrading the show, I like it, but its just stupid to trying to understand the plot. Like seriously? LN is like a phonebook and squeezing it into 24min episodes??

    Kanade
    1. As one who understands it I don’t see what is so difficult about it. There is a huge cast, but that can easily helped by looking at the character profiles. Else so have most of the events so far been slice of life type of events to show the personalities and powers of the main cast. There is only 3 main plots going on that I have noticed.

      1. Confession to Horizon/P-01s.

      2. Nobles being spirited away and nobody seems to know by whom or why.

      3. Power plant sabotage for some so far unknown reason. Not even the daughter of the one leading the attack knows what is going on!

      If you are aware of this much then you are up to date. The key here is that we don’t actually know that much about either 2 or 3 as they are meant to be mysteries so far. But they will obviously become clearer soon, but we will most likely have new mysteries in return.

      Znail
  17. I’m personally enjoying this series so far. Although there hasn’t been much action until recently, I think that all the characters are unique and that the show still has the potential to become very successful. I personally love complex plots that has me trying to connect the pieces after I’ve finished watching the show. If anything, it will make me want to rewatch the series long after it has been completed. On the other hand, when anime’s are very simple and straight to the point with only action scenes as it’s forte, it leaves me unsatisfied. I’m going to continue giving this show it’s chance as I really believe that it will find its own unique and interesting rhythm to follow.

    santoryu13
    1. It’s not hard to understand :/

      You just need to read some wikia for terminologies
      then your all set :/

      If you know the term they are using everything will be perfect

      too bad a lot of people didn’t understand it..though the story is actually quite good
      I’m still hoping/waiting for the announcement of season 2
      But it will be best if season 2 got 20+ epi :/
      Since another rush is T.T

    2. There is a forum on animesuki where you can get a lot of info from and a some things explained. Though I really hope Takaii is still blogging the show, it was the main reason why I come here. lol

      Atlaz

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