「真紅の決意」 (Shinku no Ketsui)
“Crimson Resolve”

Woah, how long as it been since we’ve seen the great outdoors (well, anemic patches of grass anyway) on Subete ga F ni Naru? I’m not one to judge people for staying cooped up indoors with dozens of monitors, being little more than a nerd in a room most days myself, but it’s a nice change of pace after so many episodes just wandering around the claustrophobic murderlab. Remember the supporting cast we left outside? Neither did I.

A shift in setting like this, temporary though it was, also came with a change in mood in the way fireworks do. I don’t know if it’s possible to play sparklers for anything but nostalgia these days. The pause in the mystery probably signals a transition to a different stage of the story. Our detectives share a heartfelt moment thanks to the bonding powers of pyrotechnics, the wet blanket at last finds the resolve to tackle the case head on (y’know, as per the episode title). Yes, the pragmatic thing to do would be just to leave it to the police, but pragmatism never made for good television. That said, this is the sort of pragmatism practiced by a man who was afraid of sparklers as a kid, but as an adult is all fine with igniting endless amounts of lung cancer sticks. Compensating for some childhood deficiency? Speaking of compensation, Souhei is also willing to keep hush about the murders as long as he’s allowed his dangerous fun of investigation. So, strong ethical core when it comes to taking cash bribes, but weak against the temptations of childlike curiosity. And what about the rest of Souhei’s lab, who have already been treated to storytime thanks to the intoxicating effects of non-alcoholic drinks(???). Are they bound by the NDA too? For absolutely no quid quo pro? This is the shoddiest corruption scandal I’ve ever seen. Just take the money next time, Souhei. Keep it simple if you’re so bad at impropriety.

Well, despite the ethically questionable way we got here, the story has begun to pick up momentum. Characters become willing to point out some answers instead of questions leading to more questions. And since we’ve come to this important juncture in the story, it means: recap time! There’s always a point in a mystery story where we find ourselves with nothing but a big pile of clues and, for an anime, keeping track of them every week may start to become a chore. Thankfully, fictional detectives are always up for thinking out loud to tidy up the leads for the audience’s sake. Here’s the main ones worth keeping in mind:

– The room in the which the murder supposedly took place is surprisingly clean, even untouched.

– The messages left on the computer, including the cryptic ‘Everything returns to F’ (spoilers: it’s in the title it’s important)

Robots

The newest clue this week: all the books are in 15 volumes. How… deliberate? Hmm. I usually prefer to leave speculation to you, gentle readers, when it comes to mysteries, but I will note this: notice how the idea of Shiki’s sister Miki being used as Shiki’s double is quickly brought up and dismissed this episode. Ah, but multiple personalities—well, let’s leave it at that. So, is Subete ga F ni Naru eliminating solutions, or planting red herrings?

Somewhat more conclusive is what I still consider to be the more compelling part of the show, the continuing adventure of young Magata Shiki. We finally get to see the murder itself, and it’s an appropriately bloody affair, and the ascendancy of Magata Shiki from just creepy to homicidal. The important thing we learn is that, although Shiki is the more active assailant (curious, since she seemed to have been playing more the role of the temptress to that point), it was more of a joint crime, though understandably ambiguous to a horrified third party. It seems they’ve skipped over a key part though; what was the provocation that lead to this sudden action? Since the knife was only gifted on that day, it couldn’t have been wholly premeditated.

No matter the reason, it seems Magata Shiki and the one we will later know as the director are both murderers, and now they are both, apparently, dead. Curioser and curioser.

29 Comments

    1. Didn’t Souhei and Moe (more Souhei) come to a similar conclusion, although from the way I understood the subs, it was more to do with ‘Fifteen’ beginning with F when written out as a word in English. And given that Shiki had been in the room for fifteen years, I can’t imagine that it’ll be an entire coincidence. That being said, seven keeps getting mentioned as the ‘loneliest number’, so that has to mean something too….maybe this entire thing is one convoluted number puzzle.

      Aki-Chan
      1. I’ll be disappointed if it depends on 7 being the result of a number puzzle. The logic that Magata used to label 7 as the loneliest number only works if you stop counting at 10. If you instead take the numbers from 1 to 15 then 7 is no longer lonely and the new candidates for loneliest are 11 and 13.

        On another note. I thought we were told that the island had no communication with the rest of the world. How was Yukihiro videoconferencing with all those external associates?

        r3dking
      2. If you’re able to recognize some of the faces up-close, you’ll see several familiar people who were witness to the “walking body” scene, including the security guards, the 2 employees and Dr Yuminaga.

        Not to mention Dr Shindo’s wife and Magata Miki being on screen despite not being witness of the crime scene (look close in the 2nd/middle screen).

        Hence, Yamane is talking with the researchers residing in the Magata Research Institute.
        https://randomc.net/image/Subete%20ga%20F%20ni%20Naru/Subete%20ga%20F%20ni%20Naru%20-%2006%20-%2004.jpg

        Richie Kim
  1. I’m starting to think it’s as one commenter hypothesized a few weeks ago, that it might be that Dr. Magata raised a child in there she had with the Director, especially with the cuts to the toys in the room. It makes the most sense considering no one entered the room, unless of course there’s some sort of manipulation of the computer system going on, but barring that, only one way to get get inside without having entered from the outside. I’m also guessing this must be the point of the flashbacks, not just to show the murders or flesh out their relationship, but to show it was more than that.

    My other theory is, her sister is their kid. Someone went to the roof, though no one was seen using the elevator, (I guess maybe she hid?). The Director saying he was bringing her sister was a ruse, so she met him on the roof to make it look lie she just got there, and then helped to kill himself. This might’ve been the way for both of them to release her into the world with anyone knowing (kinda a stretch if we take birth records into account, unless they were somehow forged), and for them to atone for their crimes through assisted suicide. It would make sense only if the sister is around 15, i forget what her age is. Maybe they lied about her age to throw off suspicion as well.

    Again, just a far out theory with no solid proof…yet!

    Bamboo Blade Cat
  2. Also fifteen years ago she killed her parents, yet her sister wasn’t there for that. If she was her younger sister she would have had to have been there in all likelihood due to her being so young. Then again, maybe I forgot about a line explaining that clue away.

    Bamboo Blade Cat
  3. Shiki’s sister can easily impersonate Shiki, right? And she’s fine with that idea, correct?

    What if Shiki’s sister WAS Shiki and the person in the room was actually Shiki’s sister?

    Of course that still wouldn’t explain the number clues. But it would explain the director’s death. And why her hands had to be cut off.

    MarigoldRan
  4. As Bamboo says, THEY HAD TO WAIT 15 YEARS FOR THE KID TO GROW UP SO THEY COULD CHOP OFF HER LIMBS AND HAVE HER IMPERSONATE SHIKI.

    Only problem is this: it’s relatively easy to determine the age of a corpse.

    MarigoldRan
    1. Shiki wasn’t held against her will by the director. The situation became the way it was because she was put on trial and had to go to prison. The director suggested this compromise. And the two of them planned it so she could escape 15 years later, pretending to be Shiki’s sister.

      Unfortunately, the director gets double-crossed by Shiki, which is why he ends up dead.

      MarigoldRan
  5. So basically: Shiki and her secret daughter was in the room for 15 years. At the end of those 15 years, she chops off her daughter’s limbs and sends them out on a trolley. Then Shiki goes upstairs through the elevator while everyone is distracted and comes out pretending to be Shiki’s sister. Somewhere along the line she kills the director to hide this.

    THAT’S WHY SHIKI HAS A SEWING MACHINE. SHE NEEDS TO MAKE THE CLOTHES TO PRETEND TO BE SHIKI’S SISTER. AND THAT’S WHY SHE HAD TO WAIT 15 YEARS FOR THE KID TO GROW UP.

    Only problem: relatively easy to determine age in a corpse. Perhaps the cops won’t think of it. But any smart cop will immediately do an autopsy and make sure that body is actually Shiki’s.

    MarigoldRan
  6. whoa…
    so much happening
    1.for pete’s sake just get your act together girl and confess!
    2.nice play, chain-smoker… you pretend to accept to keep silent about Magata Shiki dying, knowing full well your students will not
    3.as I suspected last episode, Magata shiki was not the only one involved in death of her parents…
    4.actually, I dont exclude the possibility that Magata Shiki not only has fpreseen her death, but actively participated in preparations, for reasons for now unknown to us

    ewok40k
  7. Wow I haven’t commented on here on Random Curiosity in a couple years, but mysteries that I have no one else to discuss with exist so here I am.

    Anyways, my preferred theory is also Magata Shiki was pregnant and gave birth while in her room. For starter’s her relationship with the Director, backs this up as it seems she was particularly interested in sex and I feel it was implied she managed to have that kind of relationship with the Director. So the child (now dubbed Shiki-ko because I am creative) would have hypothetically killed their parents (like Magata Shiki did? Dead parents seem to be a theme). While the toys and sewing machine don’t 100% mean they were intended to help raise a child, but there’s also currently no evidence that they didn’t so… I won’t bother touching on it.

    Next, onto the computer “error.” It’s been established that Red Magic can’t get errors and any weird happenings must have been deliberately programmed in. Our victim runs Red Magic 6 while the staff are only up to version 4. I don’t think it would be any stretch of the imagination if Magata had programmed such an incident to happen.

    As for the three messages left behind… Shiki-ko would’ve been raised by them for ~15 years and I doubt that Magata wouldn’t be very meticulous in the type of child she wanted to raise. So Shiki-ko, raised by multiple parents would most likely be able to emulate how they each think, to some extent.

    As for motive… I think Magata was the culprit. If Everything Becomes F(ifteen?) then she would have had to begin planning her revenge 15 years ago. Her revenge against the Director that is. She wanted him to somewhat literally cut the bonds tying him back and live freely with her. Instead he went back to his wife and locked her into a room on an island. The one thing that Magata hated above all else was having her freedom taken away. She would kill for another’s freedom, so it wouldn’t surprise me if she killed for her own. The wedding dress could represent her love for the director and how she never got to be with him and her removed limbs would symbolize how she couldn’t move and live freely.

    Maybe her sister being there could be so she could look after Shiki-ko after their mother and biological father were dead? I dunno.

    “Do you remember when you’re parents died? I’m sure there was someone there with you…” Maybe Shiki-ko isn’t the only one doing stuff? I wonder if Deborah can move elevators on her own?

    Anyways I’m out of steam so feel free to point out contradictions or add on to it.

    TheFrostyKnight
    1. Shiki’s daughter got chopped up by her mom and sent on a trolley, while Shiki herself used the distraction to take the elevator upstairs.

      The director met her. Shiki and the director had planned to escape together or something, but in reality it was a planned double-cross by Shiki. Shiki kills the director and then pretends to be Shiki’s sister.

      The dead person on the trolley is Shiki’s secret daughter impersonating as Shiki and Shiki’s “sister” is actually Shiki.

      MarigoldRan
  8. Magata Shiki looks younger than she should, and she didn’t reappear to the public until 3 years prior to the present. Maybe the one that’s been making public appearances was actually the daughter? I believe 12 years is old enough for a female to have hit puberty. Only issue is whether the people in the lab actually saw Shiki in those 12 years, since I’m sure they would notice if there was a switcheroo at some point.

    I think the “doll” personality is actually Shiki’s child. If we assume she’s pregnant at the time of her parents’ murder, and they were adamantly against a relationship between her and the director, then she killed them in order to protect her child; thus, the “doll” killed her parents.

    SK
  9. Definitely not the smartest move on my part to watch this just before I went to bed. Nope, not a good move at all.

    Really though, what’s there to be surprised about at this point? As others have already noted, Shiki very likely allowed her daughter to grow up for fifteen years so she could kill her, mutilate her corpse and use her as a body double just so she could make her daring escape in order to commit yet another murder, this being the murder of her uncle/lover.

    Hell, why not? She’s already killed her own two parents, so what’s her own child and uncle to add to this ever growing pile of familial corpses?

    Stick a fork in me, I’m done.

    Ryan Ashfyre
  10. There’s also a high possibility that Shiki had relationships with TWO different adults. Which would make sense.

    The second adult killed the director AFTER Magata Shiki walks into the lab impersonating as her sister. That would fill the hole: that Shiki could NOT have killed the director because he was seen still alive as she left the helicopter.

    MarigoldRan
  11. These theories that involve a daughter raised in secret suffer from a serious flaw. They require that Magata Shiki’s overarching motivation to remain unattached and independent somehow leads her to arrange to become the sole caretaker for 15 years, in solitary confinement, of an infant. Ask any parent of a young child how much room that leaves for “unattached and independent”! [Cue vibes of the current first-run movie “Room”]. If you want wild theories based on a hypothetical daughter… the seduction resulted in a child who was bundled off for secret adoption at birth. Magata’s parents were killed because they wouldn’t go along with this. And how old exactly is Nishinosono Moe? Enough below legal age that Saikawa’s students don’t want to give her any beer.

    r3dking
    1. Initially I thought Shiki switched with her sister. I was absolutely certain almost from the first that Shiki wasn’t the dead body.

      Now with more episodes I’m pretty sure Shiki’s pretending to her sister and the dead body is Shiki’s daughter.

      MarigoldRan
  12. This series has its episode titles to be named after a certain color…

    EP1: White (白い-Shiroi)
    EP2: Azure = bright blue (蒼色-Ao Shoku)
    EP3: Red (赤い-Akai)
    EP4: Rainbow (虹色- Niji Shoku)
    EP5: Silver (銀色- Ginro)

    And today’s episode: Crimson = deep red (真紅- Shinku)

    Do these colours play a role in the main characters’ being connected one another?

    I’m guessing the next episode’s title will have “Purple” (紫- Murasaki) which should be focusing more on Moe’s past on how she dealt (and maybe moved on since she’s still standing in the current timeline) with her parents’ death. What were Saikawa’s words to her that she stays alive now?
    Only one or two episodes to find out soon.

    Richie Kim

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