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「逃避行の果てに」 (Tohiko no Hate Ni)
“The End of the Exodus”
And just like that, the hand of Maeda Jun strikes. Charlotte’s seventh episode starts off with the immediate confirmation that Ayumi’s no longer alive, and things spiral rapidly downward as Yuu struggles to find meaning in his continued survival. A lot of things end up happening worth talking about as a result, but I’d be amiss if I didn’t first mention how most of this episode’s impact isn’t so much from the death of Ayumi itself, but the circumstances that result directly from it.
The nature of Yuu’s change ends up being the centerpiece here, and I’ll be darned if I wasn’t shocked at how quickly he changed and the things he did before it was all said and done. Not only did he just sit there eating cup noodles for a period, he followed it up with an uncharacteristic outburst to Shirayanagi of all people (was I the only one who forgot who she was for a moment?), ignored his classmates, and topped it off with a blatant abuse of his powers. The latter ends up leaving an innumerable amount of people with actual, physical injuries—some more brutal than others—and the fact that he almost indulges in drugs marks a drastic change from the Yuu we’ve come to know. The fall ends up understandable to a degree, but even grief ridden anger has its limits, and Yuu certainly walked a fine line this week—falling just short of flat out killing someone.
As such, the Tomori’s intervention ends up timely—both for Yuu himself and his potential victims—and even touching to a degree. Considering how Tomori tends to speak as if she doesn’t have much of an interest in many things, it’s a big step being able to see that she actually cares about something, even if it is questionable whether it’s actually compassion or just guilt. Make no mistake about it. There’s definitely something “broken” about her—for good reason—and it’s a potent reminder of the person she’s become when you consider how she was there the whole time, yet waited until the very end to make an appearance. The fact that she just barges into Yuu’s house and just watches him also shows a clear departure from way normal people interact with one another, even if it might have actually been the best way to observe and approach Yuu.
All in all, this was an extremely powerful episode—one that built off Ayumi’s death and illustrated the raw power of emotional grief and anger. It’s easily the best Charlotte’s had to offer to date, and it goes a long way towards fulfilling the expectations many of us have had on this show. The one episode resolution has me fearing that things might suddenly revert to the way they were before however, so I hope that doesn’t end up being the case. There’s a lot that can be done with the growth our characters showed here this week and with an obvious link being set up between Tomori and Otosaka—the fact that Takajou and Yusa don’t play any major parts is significant—it’ll be interesting to see how/if their relationship develops further, and the obstacles they’ll undoubtedly face. The fact that the original premise mentioned bits about “separation” and a “sacrifice following a fated encounter” only makes me more fearful of the potential outcomes here, and it could very well be that Ayumi may not be the only one who ends up losing her life…
Well that escalated quickly.
As expected.
what do you guys think of ayumi being dead? and do you think she is still alive at some point?
I mean why was the long-haired wet guy in the scene and who was that woman in the funeral?
as for that scene when the honor student came to visit i get the feeling it was a poor choice of words being used in the conversation but i guess that’s what happens when someone is really broken.
I believe her being actually gone would be best for maintaining the impact value of the episode, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she does come back at some point, having been rescued and changed by scientists or something of the sort.
No body, no death. Definitely would be more compelling if she was dead/stayed dead, but I can’t ignore my inner skeptic when there was no body shown on screen.
A part of me is hoping that the ‘evil scientists’ simply took away Ayumi and declared her dead to the public.
Also…how did Tomori eat and go to the toilet while she was monitoring Yuu? …Anime magic?
I’m interested to see how the story will progress from this point on.
Now that you mention that, it wouldn’t surprise me if Ayumi was still alive. I mean they haven’t really explained what water dude was doing at the end of last weeks episode.
o ye that lady that came after the building crumbled. That’s 1 lead on Ayumi still being alive.
There was a fridge moment for me with the long haired guy.
They used him to find Ayumi’s body.
That’s what I’m speculating too about Ayumi being alive, although the chances are slim.
With respect to Tomori, there’s really nothing to explain. Yuu was so intensely focused on himself and wandering around like a soulless lump; unless she intentionally went out of her way to make herself known, it’s not hard at all to imagine how she could’ve been following him.
Really though, don’t sweat the minute details. It’s anime after all.
It’s certainly possible she’s still alive, but I feel like the impact would be cheapened quite a bit if she were though.
As for Tomori, I’d think she actually wasn’t watching him the whole time, just when she could. She had to dig out the recipe at some point, after all.
I was hoping she was gonna make it before this episode aired, but it’d certainly feel like a cop out if she turned out to be alive, which I could sorta see happening towards the end, since it feels like they’ve sort of glossed over the details of her death (making it seem like those effing scientists are the ones behind it). But boy, was this a sad and rough episode, and her being alive would cheapen it – even if I hope she is somehow still alive.
Zeph Tachibana Kanade was shown in this episode on the TV
Yeah, I made sure to take a screenshot of that. 😛
Anyone remember Attack on Titan? And how a death is not confirmed until a body is found? I mean, considering we did not see a dead body (didn’t even see a morgue shot), and when a doctor (who could easily be part of a government organization) says that someone is dead… is not really substantial evidence. So it is quite possible that she is still alive.
Key has a habit of foreshadowing deaths well before they actually happen. Ayumi’s though was pretty sudden and personally, her death itself I don’t think had any emotional impact. Look at Misa for example. I’d assume Key would know how to handle this better considering their portfolio.
This was a great episode, even though the omelette rice–>Yuu coming back to his senses ending was obvious as soon as Tomori mentioned cooking.
I also think Tomori should have stopped him earlier, probably when he was first getting into fights, because it’s pretty difficult to stop yourself from spiraling downward once you reach that point.
Grief is a very difficult subject to handle, and though Yuu did seem to get out of character for a bit (the sudden addiction with violence upon seeing the zombie shooting game), I think this was a very interesting depiction overall, and I’m glad Maeda has delved into the darker side of the human psyche here.
Regarding stopping him earlier, that was a point I was thinking about too. I talked about it briefly above, but I feel like the fact she’d been bullied before by people who acted similarly to those guys Yuu fought ended up playing a big part in why she didn’t intervene, and it goes to show how at this point both of them are far from “normal.”
I think it’s more like Nao think that if she’s appearing before the point of no return (in this case Yuu want to use drugs on top of involved with rascals), Yuu will just simply ignore her like the other characters and stating he’s perfectly fine. I mean she already observed the other characters tried orthodox method of persuasion but fails.
Stepping in when he’s rather calm was a more reasonable move than stepping in when he’s in his rage mode. If she stopped him in any of these fights, they’d just end up fighting against each other and she would lost him – he’d never trust her again.
Also that second fight would end with both of them getting beaten, as there was 10+ guys who didn’t take part in the fight yet, watching what will happen with their boss.
Yeah, I noted how in the end it was probably the best method for her to observe and approach him, but at the same time it’s notable how abnormal it is because people would rarely wait until then to do so.
What. the. f*ck……
Wtf……..
Like….
I don’t even…….
Why….
Why poor little Ayu?
Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?
Someone ought to tell Tomori she ought to have intervened when he started turning people into pin cushions though.
Said it before in that the little sister was a walking tragedy waiting to happen. That ain’t gonna change even if she’s somehow alive, which part of me hopes she isn’t.
Pizza sauce heals all wounds.
I forget, but did the show ever say where Yuu’s parents are at? It seems strange for them not to appear at the funeral.
I’m pretty sure the woman at the funeral was his mom whom had abandoned them.
Sounded like Taiga, I mean Miki Itou.
U HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!
DO U HAVE SOMETHING AGAINST PROTAGONIST’S SISTER … U DID THE SAME THING FOR ANGEL BEATS …
AND DON’T GIVE ME THE EXCUSE “IT’S FOR PROTAGONIST’S GROWTH”, THAT IS JUST TOTAL BS!!
AYUMI BETTER BE ALIVE AND WELL AT THE END OF EP 13 OR ELSE I’M GOING TO “TAKAJOU-SPEED-RAM YOU TO HEAVEN” …
i no last week i said somehow she was gona be still alive but this week shes actually dead this was a big shock
Wow… That went too dark. And hell they really killed the imouto… I am sad because we will not hear ayumi’s de gozarus and nano desus (but I kinda admit a part of me tells that ayumi is not really dead… My own denial? Lol) Anyway, what happens in this episode is for me kinda sort of anticlimactic. What I want to say is there’s simply not enough suffering or pain so yuu’s denial and venting frustration (to others) is justified. Well just my IMHO…
Quote=”and it could very well be that Ayumi may not be the only one who ends up losing her life…”
If the OP is a hint, real climax may really involve tomori. And also Maeda’s story are often used in visual novels and most often the guy always end up with a girl. So if there is a major climax or even a romantic relationship in this story, it would most definitely involve tomori and yuu, since they are the MCs.
And 6 (or 5) episodes (if slated to run 12-13 episodes) left… Do they have enough time to reveal who are that 5 people group in the OP (in which that pink haired girl last ep and the wet guy are part of it, and that my guess is the person who helped tomori is the one in the middle and is also the guy in yuu’s dream)? And Shirayanagi appearing in this point? I feel she would have a significant role later.
Now prediction for climax – Tomori gets kidnapped by evil aliens err scientist and get experimented on and the remaining trio mounts a rescue mission LOL
I hope someone’s guess of ayumi possessing yusarin (since she got spirit channeling as ability) would become true. And as to yan (without the dere) girl, I would love to see her suffer… Because of her, Ayumi died.
I really wish that the psycho chick from last week will get punished.
Why do I feel that Tomori Nao’s Stundent Council team are the once who are being manipulated by scientist.
Could very well be that the benefactor isn’t who he says he is.
and lol he was watching Angel Beats in the net cafe
Glad I wasn’t the only one that caught that! He has nice taste in anime!
We never saw a body so I’m saying she still isn’t dead.
With all the previous plot setup of the secret scientist groups trying to abduct people with powers and the captured/tortured sibling theme already set up she was definitely rescued from the rubble even if barely alive and taken away to some lab to be rescued later on.
That’s a possibility. I just hope that if it does go this route, she actually ends up being turned against our group in some way. It’d be quite the twist.
That’s also what I expected, considering that we didn’t see any traces of her body, but with Tomori also being persuaded that she’s dead, I am not so sure anymore.
Watching this made me depressed for the most part. I wasnt the biggest fan of his sister but I never wanted her to die T_T
This episode would’ve been really good if it wasn’t entirely fucking pointless.
That is to say, 95% of this episode was good. As a single ep, it wasn’t bad. But in the grand scheme of things it was fucking terrible.
We just had Ayumi get killed due to the dumbest fucking anime character ever being used as a bullshit plot device. Nobody should forget the crazy 11 year old girl who went yandere out of nowhere for 10 seconds. Piss poor writing.
Then this episode. This part should’ve been put into 2 episodes. THIS right here is the exact reason I said the dumbass superpower of the week shit should’ve been shorter. And that’s simply because of the ending.
Most of the episode was good. Seeing Yuu in a realistic depression was good. The scene with his “ex-gf” was good. Saying he doesn’t even hardly remember her, doesn’t give a shit about her, if she’s not going to do anything then go home. Basically giving her a similar attitude she gave him. And I mean you could tell she was obviously forced into doing it, but it was still good.
All of the parts with him going on the run were good and fighting people. The episode literally went to shit the minute Nao showed up.
Dude was about to do a little drugs and she flips out saying he wont be human anymore? Bitch please, a little bit of whatever he had wasn’t going to make him non-human. Idk if that’s some sort of taboo in Japan, but any sane person would think that stabbing dozens of people with wooden skewers and fighting gangs makes you a lot less human than a line of booger sugar. She stayed invisible with him the entire time…made NO attempt to help him at all…but THATS where she draws the line? Give me a fucking break.
And then ending was also bad. 23 minutes of him sinking into a hole, and one bite of pizza sauce rice omelet and he’s sane and back to normal? Bullshit. What the fuck was this entire thing for then? What was the point of him running around the entire time just to change his mind in 4 seconds?
I think they should’ve started his depression this episode, carried it into the next episode, have him start do some ACTUAL fucked up shit that would ruin him, then have Nao come in. And when he changes his mind, have him do it reluctantly, not with tears in his eyes and a smile on his face.
Ffs, even when Shuu from Guilty Crown went all dark and depressed they made it last long enough to actually leave an impact.
Well anyway, finally the first episode I didn’t completely hate, but the ending sucked just as bad as the rest of the show and probably made the entire episode wasted effort…but we’ll see. I don’t have my hopes up though.
I won’t say the episode is pointless yet. Skipping this part would be unlike of KEY. But on the other hand if the show have as much background as Angel Beats! and with only 13 episodes the writers can’t dwell on this issue for too long. It’s a classic over-compressed due to the lack of time in shows.
I’m guessing the creators are trying to bring 2 messages across with this episode. Any other stuff is simplified as the show isn’t trying to show them. This is similar to Angel Beats! where the show try to convey important messages across while maintaining humor, but can have parts that feel rushed or too simplified as they are not related to the messages.
1) Only when you lost something you’ll learn of the importance of the lost thing. And things can be easily lost at anytime.
The part where Yuu remembered the last time he saw the omelette rice which he thought was embarrassing as an insignificant everyday occurrence, and started crying was what the message is about.
With this point, since the cause of her death is her powers being activated, what cause the activation isn’t that important thus those details are being simplified. Since it was already conveyed in last episode that her powers being activated can be fatal, if they wanted they could have use another reason to cause the trigger instead. If they used a fire, would you call using a fire cheap? As for the simplified character of that classmate, since the story of her isn’t that important and that her role is only leading to Ayumi activating her power the writers just need to pick a reason. Any more than that may be deemed negligible to conveying the message across and with the time allocation they chose to neglect it.
2) People can be fragile and broken easily. (And possibly people who are broken needs some form of help from others) Most of this episode is showing this.
As for the drugs vs violence, it just happen to the preference of the writer’s and those who approve of the script that violence to a certain degree is acceptable while drugs are a no.
As a viewer though, I understand the frustration of using simplified reasons and compressing stuff too often. If this show turns out as good as Angel Beats I hope KEY makes a visual novel that properly explain the details.
I agree that him coming to his senses after eating some omelette rice was way too quick, and what, he just returns to school like none of that ever happened? Plus using something like that which is such a huge emotional trigger for him is way too risky to pushing him over the edge. I knew she was going to serve him that and that’d “bring him back to his senses”, but that’s so simplistic of narrative device.
and the whole drug thing was groanworthy especially since he had already crossed a few moral lines using his powers in a malevolent manner even if he was getting attacked, since he went too far on a number of occasions. Now that’s tough to come back from.
Otherwise, I thought the episode was great…for what it was.
Oh yeah, one minor nitpick: Yuu should be fat as a house eating all those sticky sweet buns!
I agree with most of your points but I will not call it pointless though. As an episode per se, it stands good (I quite like the somber tone but not the drama bomb) and the execution feels something I’ve been wanting from Charlotte but it feels rushed if it’s connected with all other episodes.
Also, we cannot say that the pacing right now should be excused because freakin’ episode four was televised and it amounted to twenty three minutes of nothingness. Ugh.
PS: The fanboyism of Takajo is certainly not one of the good points of this episode.
Uhm.. It seems like I am kind of a whack for commenting on my post but I forgot to explain why it’s not pointless. Well, this episode showed Yuu’s devolution and resolve after his sister’s death after all, although it feels.. ugh.
I totally agree with you there. It’s hard to emphathize with any of the characters in this show.
In fact, Tomoya’s downward spiral in Clannad was told a thousand times better than Yuu’s.
As I noted in my post, it’s certainly abnormal for Tomori to have waited that long to act, even though it did end up being the right choice to stand back and observe for a little bit.
I think the distinction to be made here is that while he was around lashing out at people and abusing his powers to beat the daylights out of gangs, part of him is still aware of his actions. He’s still there mentally in a way, and I feel like at the end of the day he realizes there’s no real point to what he’s doing, and that’s a major reason why he looked for an alternative way to avoid reality in the drugs. The fact that he always stops short of killing anyone is also important to note here.
On the flip side, if he uses enough drugs, it could very well get to the point where he’s not even aware of what he’s doing, and ends up being someone who just abuses his powers to acquire drugs and other narcotics. One could argue he’d end up a true husk in that regard, and given enough desperation and possible withdrawal if he doesn’t find enough, he could very well end up killing someone for it. In this sense, he crosses the last line that makes him human, and this is a notion I’ve seen before in other shows as well, so it could be what they’re going for here.
As for the resolution, yeah, it’s certainly quicker than one would expect, and it’s why I do hope next week doesn’t resume things as if nothing really happened here. Going back to the “ability-user of the week type episodes” would be a terrible waste of the development we got here.
Tomori
My bet is they forcefully make him loose something and let him fall into madness only to make him into state of despair they can easily control. He is being brainwashed. That shooting game he played – it was actually training program. They are slowly turning him into a soldiier. I am just pretty disappointed how obvious everything is.
>] “We just had Ayumi get killed due to the dumbest fucking anime character ever being used as a bullshit plot device. Nobody should forget the crazy 11 year old girl who went yandere out of nowhere for 10 seconds. Piss poor writing.”
To be fair, we don’t know that Ayumi has been killed, at least not yet. We’ve only been told, so that leaves the door open for some other possibilities down the line.
Secondly, as for the yandere girl, I honestly don’t see that being much of a problem. Ayumi’s ability had to come out sooner or later, and unless you’ve a better idea as to how that could’ve been done, it’s all water under the collapsed school building at this point.
>] “All of the parts with him going on the run were good and fighting people. The episode literally went to shit the minute Nao showed up.
Dude was about to do a little drugs and she flips out saying he wont be human anymore? Bitch please, a little bit of whatever he had wasn’t going to make him non-human. Idk if that’s some sort of taboo in Japan, but any sane person would think that stabbing dozens of people with wooden skewers and fighting gangs makes you a lot less human than a line of booger sugar. She stayed invisible with him the entire time…made NO attempt to help him at all…but THATS where she draws the line? Give me a fucking break.”
Okay, let’s take a step back and try to see things from Nao’s perspective here. She didn’t stay invisible and keep watch over Yuu for all that time because she’s a heartless bitch; rather because that was a self-imposed punishment on herself for her part in what happened to Ayumi. You may not agree with it or even acknowledge it, but that’s what we’re meant to see as her way of taking responsibility.
That aside, it sounds like you’re taking Nao’s implication of “not being human anymore” too literally. Keep in mind that Yuu, despite sinking into the depths of despair, was at least still self-aware of what he was doing. So long as that held true, it was always going to be much easier to try and bring him back to himself.
Once he started down the path of drugs and self-destruction however, that would change dramatically. It wouldn’t be like some kind of instant, one-hit KO kinda thing that would change him overnight; nothing so simple as that. It would signify a shift from his simply running away from Ayumi’s death straight into the hell of depravity. And anyone who’s ever dealt with someone who’s used drugs (I have, as a matter of fact) knows how obscenely difficult it is to try and help someone like that. It’s nothing to be taken lightly, not at all.
>] “And then ending was also bad. 23 minutes of him sinking into a hole, and one bite of pizza sauce rice omelet and he’s sane and back to normal? Bullshit. What the fuck was this entire thing for then? What was the point of him running around the entire time just to change his mind in 4 seconds?”
To be fair, I actually do agree that Yuu’s redemption could’ve been drawn out into a second episode, but I’d rather wait and see what the following episodes have to offer before casting judgment just yet.
That aside, it’s not the pizza sauce omelet that changed him. It was the memory of his sister that he had been running away from all this time that brought him back.
Anyone who’s been paying attention to the obvious focus the pizza sauce was given since the first episode knew that something like this was coming. I’m not entirely sure why you seem confused about it.
btw, i saw somebody on tumblr posted something from reddit
https://36.media.tumblr.com/ba321a974051d836a2da2c052e93a104/tumblr_inline_nt5ug0gNiG1r663u9_540.png
i can’t find what episode
Wow, this scene really does exist the Angel Beats blurays. That was 4 years ago, my god Jun Maeda.
Jun is planning something fishy. Plus Shirayanagi appearing once again out of nowhere and I just saw that she has her own character description page in the Japanese website.
I mean if she’s just a side character, wouldn’t it be fair if baseball guy and thoughtography guy has a character description page too?
EP 6 at 12:46. Just checked it out, WOW
holy crap… so ayumi really died and went to angel beat’s world. and since SHE VANISHED IN THAT WORLD, IT MEANS SHE IS RESURRECTED AS SOMEONE else by now.
Oh, well then. That’s interesting.
The sad part about Ayumi death is: I don’t care.
My problem with Charlotte is that the character development as so shallow that I did not get any emotional attachment with any of the characters. At this point I care more about the guys dying in the background of GATE or Arslan Senki.
That was my problem too. As interesting as seeing Yuu dealing with loss is, the sad truth is that Ayu felt more like an empty plot device than an actual character. An accessory of Yuu’s character at best. Her death matters because it matters to Yuu, and that’s all.
Kinda agree with you. As much as I love imoutos, her death felt more lightweight than what Maeda wants to make us feel. Hence, this episode (which is actually good) feels empty because we did not feel anything for Ayumi’s death.
Yeah, I can see where you’re coming from, and this is why I noted that ultimately (for some), the impact from this episode isn’t so much from the death itself, but from the results we see.
I feel like a decent amount of people were more shocked at Yuu’s transformation more than the actual death, and part of me feels like it might be an intentional thing to set things up for her eventual return. Perhaps as a scientist modified/controlled puppet? We’ll see.
Darth Yuu…
Ehh… It felt like I missed something big between this episode and the death of Ayumi. As cold as remarks could be, this feels mehbecause the foundation (circumstances surrounding Ayu’s death) was not explored enough even if the presentation is quite good this time. Care to explain in the next episodes, Maeda-sensei?
I dunno…I feel like Ayumi was actually taken away by scientists and the whole “death” thing is just being used as a cover so Yuu and others don’t try to investigate. We still have six episodes left, and I just don’t see how they can go right back to the whole “powers of the week” thing for the rest of the series after these last couple episodes. I mean, if Angel Beats! was any indication (lol at the cameo), then even though one situation may have been “solved”, it’s usually a cover for an even greater conspiracy.
This also further illustrates how people can abuse their power for personal gain and why Nao and co. try to stop them. If Yuu were a lesser person, he could very well have killed all those punks he picked fights with rather than just hurting them to feel better.
What made me raging is the fact that creepy bitch who cornered Ayumi with a knife seems well and scot-free. If only Yuu knows the fact that it’s because of that bitch Ayumi died he will surely kill her in his crazed state.
The yandere girl might be MC only source of what really happen to his sister.
Right now, she probably keep her mouth shut about what happened or she was asked to keep it as the secret by the mysterious girl’s group as she’s the only witness of Ayumi’s power.
The Imouto love pizza sauce so much she became pizza sauce herself.
Sad story tbh.
Too soon.
https://randomc.net/image/Charlotte/Charlotte%20-%2007%20-%20Large%2013.jpg
https://randomc.net/image/Charlotte/Charlotte%20-%2007%20-%20Large%2017.jpg
https://randomc.net/image/Charlotte/Charlotte%20-%2007%20-%20Large%2021.jpg
https://randomc.net/image/Charlotte/Charlotte%20-%2007%20-%20Large%2026.jpg
https://randomc.net/image/Charlotte/Charlotte%20-%2007%20-%20Large%2030.jpg
THUG LIFE
https://randomc.net/image/Charlotte/Charlotte%20-%2007%20-%20Large%2039.jpg
Hey, who put onions in my pizza sauce :'(
https://randomc.net/image/Charlotte/Charlotte%20-%2007%20-%20Large%2018.jpg
Still waiting for Angel Beats x Charlotte crossover.
Just 5 minutes after Yuu griefing in tears, the retarded idol and glasses pairing came crashing in.
Way to ruin the mood, Charlotte
haha, yeah, that tonal shift was jarring to say the least.
little sis, no!!!!!!!
Only thing i wish for is that the psychogurl gets her ass beaten or killed idc, and about some effort she said she did had the same dream but why didnt they continue the dream ^_^
Im pretty sure ayami is still alive or was saved by someone.
This is the first anime i cried for(ayumi), if she isnt alive than i damnnn much hope someone with reincarnation powers will come to get powers and revive ayumi!
Only thing i wish for is that the psychogurl gets her ass beaten or killed idc, and about some effort she said she did had the same dream but why didnt they continue the dream ^_^
Im pretty sure ayami is still alive or was saved by someone.
This is the first anime i cried for(ayumi), if she isnt alive than i damnnn much hope someone with reincarnation powers will come to get powers and revive ayumi!!!!
Is it bad I still have slight hope she is not dead because the dripping wet guy and that mysterious girl were at the scene and we haven’t seen what they did after that.
Same here. Until its wasn’t show what those two did, I can’t completely set aside Ayumi’s death.
I really liked this episode but one bit nags at me. I feel like it was resolved a bit too quickly. I wouldn’t mind if they stretched it out one more episode if only to marinade and let the Yuu’s feelings of grief and “self destruction” sink in a bit more.
I’m glad to Tomori’s intervention and how she got a healthy dose of character development here. She was noticably absent when the rest of the SC arrived to visit Yuu. The coming of the original girl seemed a little off and I’m guessing it’s a flag for a later on development but let’s see.
Lastly, am I the only one who is wondering if Ayumi is really dead? The whole arrival of some well informed but previously unknown character last episode and the “Men in Black” this episode keeps nagging at me to the extent that perhaps Ayumi isn’t really dead but rather she was taken by the “scientists”. You can sure guess that military powers would be interested in her particular brand of power.
yuu remenber his true personality from the first episode and use his brain for good
tomori skill to hide don´t have a time limit? and if her was around with the punks, them should can see her standing there
Damn good point
She can simply waiting from quite a far, maybe behind a pole or something. They know their own power’s weakness and it’s common sense if they know how to deal with it, just like the one with speed power always used body armor behind his clothes because he can’t control it freely.
How come you never see a bone picking ceremony in anime?
Now THAT would mess you up.
I had a neighbor back in high school who’s brother was 10 when he died in a rollover accident. Wasn’t wearing a seat belt, the sister driving ran off the road and flipped the Jeep and Jeff was ejected. Mark did the same thing Yuu did, self-destructed. The parents ended up divorcing and sold the house. This episode hit the nail on the head with four months of my own life.
I don’t know what became of my neighbor 15 years ago. I think I will go see if Google can find him.
In the beginning of the series, wasn’t he dreaming of a brother he didn’t have… supposedly?
Compare to Hiro in Disney’s Big Hero 6, Yuu’s loss of his love one and his depression took a deeper and darker dive.
However, I will not be surprise that even if Ayumi physical body has stop functioning, someone in the student council club has the power of a medium to summon spirit.
This was honestly the best Charlotte episode so far and why is that? Because we got a full episode of the anime could have been had it remained consistent with the first half of the first episode, when Yuu was like a lite version of Lelouch/Light. Also because it had almost none of that dumb thing this show thinks is “humor”.
This time he abused his powers, he did what he wanted, he finally had agency! What was he in the former “x-man of the week” episodes? He was nothing, he barely had any presence, he just existed to be Nao’s yesman and to complain about the damned pizza sauce.
If only Charlotte had been like this, about Yuu being an egotistical dick using his powers for his own self-interest and the crazy hijinks that come with that. We could have had another Death Note or something.
Oh yeah and absolutely no mention of yandere loli. How surprising.
Clicked this blog to see what Tenshi picture was about, had plot-twist for an episode I haven’t watched yet spoiled for me… and this is why I should avoid blogs until I watch things… oh well.
Guess I’ve got some catching up to do.
This show is…interesting.
Ayumi’s death didn’t strike the same chords as the deaths (or supposed deaths) in Kanon and Clannad, but the rest of the episode still sucked me in quite nicely. It was interesting seeing how far Yuu would go. Power abuse like in the first episode, but he actually spilled some blood this time. Nice to see Tomori stepping in before he goes further down that path, guess she’s still as calculating as ever. Wished they putted that in the next episode though.
The pain of Yuu is almost real in this episode.
Having lost someone you lived with for years is an experience anyone will feel at some point in their life. Accident or not.
By far this is the most realistic life experience episode in Charlotte. With or without superpowers.
I kinda wonder if Shirayanagi was genuinely worried about Yuu or was just hired or forced to.
Most likely hired. She attended an elite school far away from Yuu’s school and news of Yuu’s case has nothing to do with her as Yuu was never close with her in relationship.
Tomori is probably the one who request Shirayanagi to heal his depression since Yuu had a crush with Shirayanagi before.
probably “hired” though I doubt if she necessarily knew that she was being hired. In all likely-hood she was told that Yuu needed help and she willingly came along without necessarily knowing the motives of the one who “hired” her.
Her pizza sauce antics annoyed the hell out of me.
errr…..there are 2 stuffs that feels out of place in this whole episode:
1. Shirayanagi re-appears. And why the hell do we even need her there in this story at the first place??
2. Err….where do they eat that omurice? Is it….nearby? I mean, I remember Yuu said he ran really really far.
And of course I don’t have to point out that the resolution feels too quick, but it is not something out of place though…
Those 2 stuffs I mentioned above, combined with how fast the decide on Ayumi’s death and how quick they resolve Yuu’s condition make me feels that there is really something WRONG going on.
Remember what Yuu said in the first episode?
“Why am I only myself but not someone else?”
“I think, therefore I am”
But he claimed that he actually doesn’t think about himself
Hmmm……may be this is all just illusion? Or may be this is something connected to his power? Mysterious!
Thanks for putting the salad btw, Nao. It is ironic that one with power to make others do not care about her is actually the one who cares about others the most, where the one with the power to become others is actually the one who doesn’t care about others. Nice morality, Charlotte.
I think the implication is the scientists sent Shirayanagi to check up on Yuu (plus she said something to indicate that it was unnecessary for her to show up), and then men in black came shortly afterward with the landlord.
I think they went to the the “teleporter’s” house, but how they got there, who knows.
But agreed, the resolution felt way too quick, but they are working with a limited number of episodes, so I guess that’s how it ends up.
…For this the author has earned my patented anti-Urobuchi Gen punishment: Somehow, somewhere, someday, I’ma track him down and break his kneecaps for murdering this girl.
I have a feeling his sister survived. The more and more I think about how they glossed over the details of her death/spent so little time going over it, it’s practically the opposite of a death flag (anti-death flag?), and it’ll be a way they tie in the scientists to the story moving forward.
Nao is an insufferable bitch and a reminder to wake up sheeple and not believe her lies
Awesome I have a power I should try using it
No sorry you can’t use it because it’s not actually a power it’s a disease and it’s a disease because my mum was a bitch who sold me and my brother so I now go round telling people that these powers are actually diseases and I tell people not to use them though I will use mine and so will my friends here so we can save you from this disease
Oh gee wow you are right this really is a disease thank you people I just met
Yeah no if I could fly I would tell her to fuck off
implying Charlotte will be remembered for anything other than the dumb waifuposting
Just feeling lots of “meh” about this series right now.
“Oh, it’s not edgy enough yet. Let’s kill off the little girl!”
Really? That’s the solution to the stagnating development of the series up until episode 6?
I have a better solution. Write better stories! Don’t waste an ep on baseball! OMG! Seriously WTF?
The premise was good! A rotten, unlikable character, the little sister who adores him, the school that takes him in. Okay, looks good.
Hints of darkness– evil scientists, human guinea pigs. Got it. Interest piqued!
But don’t waste so many eps on filler. And don’t suddenly air drop in a psycho-murdering loli in the second half of episode 6 with zero set-up, because “Oh crap, we don’t have enough tension in the series yet!”
As for killing off Ayumi itself, sure, killing off someone is shocking. And it can be a GREAT catalyst sometimes. And you can get away with it a few times as a writer, even, if the story is good enough.
But when it’s used as a crutch for a weak execution, now you’re “That Guy.” You know, “That Guy Who Can’t Express Anything Without Killing Off Likable Characters.”
Yeah, Maeda Jun is now “That Guy.” (Not that we didn’t already kind of know it. Really.)
Urobutcher can get away with it to a certain degree, but even he has to check himself. The only person who could get away with killing people every Sunday Night was Jessica Fletcher, and that got boring pretty fast.
What would I have done? I dunno, they spent ALL this time setting up the EVIL SCIENTISTS, so, you know, MAYBE HAVE THEM KIDNAP HER? Sure, it’s just as trope-y, but at least things move along, and we don’t have to waste 20 minutes watching MC skewer people with… uh… skewers.
Really, that felt like 20 minutes I’m not getting back. (Kind of like the 20 minutes I’m spending on this post, lol.)
meh.. i hate animes that play drama just for drama. i guess ill wait till the series is over to see if i watch it again. i would say “it been fun” … but it only “had its moments” .. not enought moments to keep watching weekly.
…mm. That was actually… semi-decent, on balance. I definitely liked the sheer visceral nature of Yuu’s retreat into himself and later rampage – it was brutal, it was disturbing, and it was pretty close to what depression can do to someone. And, along the way, it turned Yuu into a character again, instead of a walking audience surrogate – you’re reminded that Otosaka Yuu is not a nice person, and that even before Ayumi’s supposed death, there was something broken in him. In the same coin, it was also a strong episode for Nao as a character – whether out of personal attachment, the sense of responsibility she claimed, or some mixture of both, she bore silent and non-judgmental witness to Yuu as he sank lower, and lower, and lower, until he was about to jump off the deep end of ‘human’ – and that’s quite possibly one of the strongest and hardest things you can ever do for a person. And yet in the midst of it all you’re again reminded that there’s something utterly broken about her as well – it’s telling she didn’t bat an eyelash at his violent rampage, because she simply doesn’t care at all about the people he’s mutilating, just like she had no regard at all for the side casualties in earlier episodes. She’s straight-talking and harsh, unpretentious and shameless, caring in her own way yet utterly unsympathetic to anyone she considers beneath her notice. So this episode managed to reinforce the main duo, at least, as strong characters, with Nao especially probably being one of the best characters, in my opinion, that Maeda has ever written.
So if I just spent a long paragraph showering praise on said two characters, why did I only call the episode semi-decent? Because said strong characterization is quite literally bookended with narrative blunders. At the front end, you have Takajou being (again) quite painfully unfunny, and Misa dropping a clumsily obvious narrative hook for later for no reason other than the author wanted it there. And at the back end, the moment Nao mentioned ‘food’ and ‘one bite’ the resolution device was obvious, and, as feared, resolved entirely too simply and with classic Key-style emotional manipulation. That just left me feeling cold.
Honestly, this episode might perhaps have been better as two, or maybe one and a half episodes – and it would have been so easy to make space for it as such, simply by cutting out one or two of the formulaic power of the week episodes earlier on. In terms of narrative density, this series is extremely uneven. Madoka Magica, for instance, told a lot of story in one season because it managed to be narratively both dense and relatively even – this, on the other hand, has packed episodes like this that feel like it should have taken up space wasted on empty antics. The same problem Angel Beats had.
I agree with you. I wasn’t shocked at all about Yuu’s return to the dark side of his powers use. This is the guy that ran a truck at a girl to pretend to save her. Trashing tough guys was his hobby as well. He just turned it up a notch when he actually got physically involved in the torture himself. The thing I wondered was about whether Tomori was letting him bleed his rage or if she was “observing” him under orders. I also thought you made a good point about the pace. It does feel a little too crammed. I could have seen it being a two cour series and having a little more depth. They’d need more characters for that though. Other key works that people have been mentioning had more time for side characters.
“…he followed it up with an uncharacteristic outburst to Shirayanagi of all people (was I the only one who forgot who she was for a moment?)”
Don’t worry, you weren’t the only one who thought that Shirayanagi was a one-off character. It was nice that she showed up again, but it was still sad to see Yuu brush her off like that. Hired or not, I believe her intent to help him get over his grief was genuine. If she really didn’t care about Yuu anymore, she would have refused the request beforehand.
Also, I had a laugh at Misa borrowing Nao’s catchphrase (“Such a turn-off!”) when Joujirou went into “Yusarin fanboy mode” again.
And now for a different Key Visual Arts musical reference:
“Dango, dango, dango, dango, dango daikazoku…”
Time to call it now…Little sister is renamed as Charlotte.
100
Hegh’bat
He do Klingon ritual of suicide called Hegh’bat
Well we know the pizza sauce was Ayumi’s lifeblood all along – but if Yuu needs to eat it to accept her death, does that make him… a vampire?
More of my (serious) thoughts here: https://unnecessaryexclamationmark.wordpress.com/2015/08/18/charlotte-07/
It’s fitting that last week ended with Ayumi’s death and this week began with the consequences, with no return yet to the fateful day he dug through that rubble. It leaves a massive gap, that feeling of emptiness that really does mirror the feeling of losing someone you love. Maeda’s use of evocative omissions strikes again.
I must say. I was deathly afraid that they were not going to take the time to adequately deal with Ayumi’s death. Although it is incredibly sad, it is incredibly refreshing to see an anime not blow this death over. It didn’t fit some archetype of a cliched anime. It was beautiful to see an almost accurate portrayal of a person’s grief and it stages.
Pretty sure Jun Maeda’s fetish is killing little girls.
https://randomc.net/image/Charlotte/Charlotte%20-%2007%20-%20Large%2013.jpg
Lelouche is that you!?
I just can’t believe they just killed her off like that.Even after watch whole episode, Is it necessary ?
So sad.