Dimension W / First Impressions

「過去からの呼び声」 (Kakokara no Yobigoe)
“The Voice from the Past”

We interrupt this arc of your Dimension W broadcast with an extended flashback, finally lifting the curtain on Kyouma’s tragic past. And of course it’d be a tragic past, because Kyouma wouldn’t be a gritty anti-hero without one. Sure, it was possible that his backstory was that one time he stubbed his toe on a coil and now he hates them with passion, and while that would have amused me (for, deep down, I am both silly and horrible), it won’t really make for much of a story. Dimension W, evidently, has—inconceivably—a higher cause than making me giggle. So while Kyouma’s heartbreaking boy meets girl story is almost obligatory, it’s one that has to be told. It’s one thing to imply a dead lover, and depending on familiarity of genre conventions that may be enough, but it’s much better to see Kyouma’s past, as part of the general ‘show don’t tell’ preference. This is where we’re supposed to build more empathy for our protagonist, and elevate him from just a grumpy recalcitrant, so some episode—even half an episode’s time—should be well spent.

And thus Azumaya Miyabi (Ohara Sayaka), the dead lover archetype that haunts so many grim heroes (which would make Tsubaki an in-law; my bad on that one). Even if we didn’t already know that she was going to die, on account of already having seen her grave, her fate should have come as no surprise. She’s a childhood sweetheart, in a diabetically sugary relationship with a broody badass, and generally just too good for this sinful earth. While her end was somewhat more horrific than usual, she was fundamentally not the kind of character with long life expectancy; they magnetically attract terminal illnesses as a physical property. Unfortunately, happiness and fulfillment just aren’t great sources of conflict, but the blood of the happy and content makes for great story-fertiliser. Sadistic writers have hunted these rare creatures to the brink of extinction. We really need to start a breeding programme for them. If only mating was not almost always fatal.

While the turns of Kyouma’s backstory was predictable, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t good. Even though we know what will happen, that’s not the same as watching things play out, in the same way that we’re told from the outset that Romeo and Juliet are doomed but people still sit through five acts of it. There’s something to be said for effective execution, and I think Dimension W does Kyouma and Miyabi’s relationship quite well. It was cut succinctly, there was some interesting use of lighting, and the incredibly detailed camera made for easy symbolism. And perhaps it’s because we’re halfway through the series and have grown used to Kyouma, but watching his younger, clean-shaven self display emotional range has its own charm to it—even if the dominant emotions were desperation and despair. The comparison to the prickly and jaded Kyouma we’ve come to know makes his breakdown all the more chilling. I don’t think this episode would have been nearly as effective earlier in the series, or if you aren’t as invested in Kyouma as a character. Now we have an empathetic understanding of how Kyouma got the way he is, after a particularly bad day where both his fiance and all this mates are killed (save, of course, for the surfing sniper who’s probably too fabulous to die).

Of course, Kyouma’s past is not resolved so easily, what with the huge gap in his memory and the strange phenomenon on Easter Island. Considering that the coils’ creator had intended much more crazy things for Dimension W than just tapping it for electricity, and that Dimension W follows a more literal many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, there’s bound to be more to it when Kyouma steps into the Gate ‘nothingness’. I would be surprised if we don’t see Miyabi in some form again.

On the less personal (and therefore arguably less interesting) side, thing are heating up as well, signaled not just by Kyouma breaking out a bigger batmobile, but also by a sudden increase in stakes and characters. So many new characters. There’s no way I’m going to remember their names, and maybe you will have problems too, so feel free to assign these labels to them as you wish: the comic relief one, the funny looking one, the possibly racist one, the token minority one, and the one who will die first. Mix and match. I don’t really care about any of them right now, so even if they’re eaten by a black hole I’ll just chalk them up as redshirts. I doubt they’ll be killed off so quickly though, right after an extended introductory sequence, and at least Loser Greenhough-Smith were on the blimp, and they look important, so some additional survivability should be bestowed on the rest of the crew simply by proximity. What purpose will they serve? No idea. But there’s a lot to uncover on that island. The nature of the coils. The truth of the New Tesla civil war. Whatever shady thing they’re plotting now. There’s so much story left to plumb, potentially. I wonder how long this arc is going to be yet.

52 Comments

    1. Seconded!
      Once in a while, we should let you know our appreciation, Passerby your posts are simply great, the perfect balance between interesting and amusing. Stay with us as long as you can 🙂

      (p.s.: after I managed to stop laughing, I seriously considered how this show would be so unclassifiable if his backstory was he stubbed his toe …)

      Voyager
      Reply

      1. I’ll throw my name in the hat of Passerby congratulations!

        This was really a delight to read. Your posts always have a bit of a spark that’s lacking in typical critical or analytical work, and the tinges of humor are always quite succulent.

        Thanks so much for all you do!

        sivilyslare
        Reply

  2. It’s sad really, what we got so far? 1-3 Introduction, 4-5 the Water damm, and seems like 6-x this arc. how many episodes are there? 12?

    also, i heard that the Manga is finished. Seems like Funanimation money runs fast dry, or they save it more for the US Market with Dubbing and such…

    Worldwidedepp
    Reply

    1. https://randomc.net/image/Dimension%20W/Dimension%20W%20-%2007%20-%20Large%2013.jpg
      Hello, my name is SNAKE and i recruit special Members for my GRENDEL

      https://randomc.net/image/Dimension%20W/Dimension%20W%20-%2007%20-%20Large%2028.jpg
      My name is Shepard, and this is my favorite Anime

      https://randomc.net/image/Dimension%20W/Dimension%20W%20-%2007%20-%20Large%2024.jpg
      Hello, i am Steve Jobs (the 00 Guy)

      https://randomc.net/image/Dimension%20W/Dimension%20W%20-%2007%20-%20Large%2023.jpg
      An European (well the Steering Wheel is on the left) Car typ. Seems like they got an Sponsor

      https://randomc.net/image/Dimension%20W/Dimension%20W%20-%2007%20-%20Large%2034.jpg
      Perhaps they try to dig to deep into the Dimension W, searching for the Dimension’s Oil

      And i do not think our MC will find his Wife in another Dimension here, the Island and the Operation room was to far away.. Also, they buried the Body, but i bet the Head is still in another Dimension awkward alive…

      Also, like i wrote in reddit:
      The Body they prepared for our MC Wife, they used it for their own Daughter. So in a case our MC is the culprit that she exists.. But he do not realize it (or they cut this out)

      Worldwidedepp
      Reply

    3. I’m not following the show, but I did hear that the show has been picked up by Adult Swim. If it does well there, I can imagine this will probably be a factor in the show getting a second season.

      Lyfe
      Reply

    4. Lexus LFA is a limited production model and they planned to make 500 copies and the did just that.
      Over 200 of them were sold in Japan and all of them are RHD. They also sold the car in North America and Europe, and all of them are LHD.
      So apparently his LFA is an export model which got imported back later. Maybe he bought it when he was abroad as a special force soldier.

      Saburau
      Reply

  3. So many open Questions still left unanswered

    Why do Looser seek the Numbers? there is still one left? Do he want to open an stable Dimension Portal? something alike our Professor done at the beginning with this mini-black hole?

    no real progressing that our MC and the Android are become better, they just trow both into the Wild waters

    Worldwidedepp
    Reply

  5. I agree about Kyouma’s past. Just because it was predictable doesn’t mean it wasn’t good. Now his hatred for coils and his preference for an old-fashioned way of living all come full circle thanks to Miyabi, who also made a lasting impression on me for the limited screen time she had. She defined Kyouma for who and what he currently is while also being lovable in her own right, so it’s only natural that we feel for him after what happened to her. What comes after is how he will deal with his past going forward what he has now, including his job and Mira. Kyouma’s backstory showed us just what makes Kyouma Kyouma, while also introducing some new mysteries to keep us hooked.

    Now this is the kind of episode that I need to watch again in order to make a better understanding of what it’s trying to show. The horror arc showed the potential of Dimension W, so this Nothingness doesn’t surprise me that much. What I did understand is that this Nothingness is the product of the infinite possibilities that didn’t get folded into energy and instead became manifest. So now the question becomes: What makes a coil stable or berserk? What determines whether some possibilities don’t get folded and instead become manifest? Is there something that governs all this? And if so, how do you get to it? I don’t know what caused Kyouma’s memory to be wiped that disastrous day, but perhaps somewhere in that memory lies at least some hint to all this.

    I have a feeling this arc is gonna be the best yet.

    On another note, some people said the manga is already finished. I just don’t think that’s true as I found online that the manga merely switched magazines and it’s still being serialized monthly, currently at around chapter 70.

    yoloalchemist
    Reply

  6. Sadistic writers have hunted these rare creatures to the brink of extinction. We really need to start a breeding programme for them. If only mating was not almost always fatal.

    I wouldn’t blame writers, instead I hypothesize semelparity. As the typically sexual komodo dragon is on rare occasions known to reproduce asexually through parthenogenesis, some humans, with certain genetic predispositions tending to beget excessively altruistic personalities, paradoxically employ selfish, emotionally exploitative, semelparous reproductive strategies.

    As the rotting carcass of the salmon nourishes its young, both directly and indirectly through the enrichment of their ecosystemic cradle, so do these variant homo sapiens, in death, ensure that their young thrive. A combination of an impossibly saintly personality and genetically programmed premature death soon after childbirth induces within their mates perpetual feelings of nostalgic longing, guilt and grief- covertly emotionally coercing these mates into raising their offspring with the utmost care and effort. In Dimension W, crucially, Miyabi’s miscarriage was omitted from the narrative. The abortive pregnancy tragically activated her “death genes”- and so she became terminally ill with what seems to be early onset PMA or ALS before she could successfully reproduce. Saint or emotional black widow? You decide.

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Zen
    Reply

    1. If your hypothesis is true, Sir Professor Zen Attenborough Esquire, then happy people—or homo laetus—will never be able to populate. All the more reason that they require our protection. Too many happy people are lost to poaching by writers every year—the horn of a happy person is used in traditional medicine in Asia, and can fetch high prices or even a Nobel prize for literature on the black market.

      Passerby
      Reply

      1. Astute observations, Professor Passerby- it is akin to the persecution of albinos- Homo Albus– in Africa, hunted for their flesh and bone, supposedly infused with potent magical energies and capable of curing a myriad of ailments when ingested, ranging from infertility to cancer- a fantastical, erroneous belief perpetuated by unscrupulous witch-doctors and mystics of the region out of despicable greed. The imminent extinction of Homo Laetus is certainly a tragedy- but mere protection and breeding is no solution; it would only serve to postpone their eventual inevitable demise.

        A truly effective conservation effort must consist of protective measures and a breeding program involving germ line gene therapy. We need only identify the segments of Homo Laetus DNA responsible for their deleterious semelparous traits, removing these from donor gametes and/or zygotes, utilizing ultra-precise ζ-CRISPR techniques (Developed 3 years ago in 2201) to ensure minimal impact on neighboring genes likely responsible for Homo Laetus’ boundless capacity for altruism. And through this a new breed of Homo Laetus shall be born, an infinitely magnanimous Homo Novus, finally able to freely propagate without the restrictions of semelparity. They will inherit the Earth; and at long last, there shall be world peace!

        Zen
        Reply

      3. Lol, I was going to add a line about them getting out-competed by pragmatic Hi-Machs types but left it out to make things sound more optimistic. You basically did it for me, you magnificent cynic after my own heart, you…

        Zen
        Reply

  7. So Mira is in some way an amalgamation of Miyabi (or just her head on a robot body)? Maybe also a subconscious reason for Kyouma to “dislike” her and not cause “coils”?

    Bamboo Blade Cat
    Reply

      1. After the ghosts of the dead living in a limbo arc, Miyabi’s head floating in dimension W going “when will Kyouma-san come for me already, I’m so tired of waiting, I’m gonna give him a good scolding when he finally does” is not so hard to imagine, no matter how creepy that might sound.

        Jips
        Reply

  10. I loved seeing that; the Toyota 2000GT always gave me the warm fuzzies because it evolved into the Toyota Supra Twin Turbo. The Lexus LFA is godly, which was basically Toyota saying “we could still mass produce ultimate sports cars if we wanted to, but we don’t. Have a few of these instead.”

    They made 351 2000GTs and 500 LFAs. Kyouma has one of each. They’re showing another way that Kyouma’s a badass.

    flap
    Reply

  11. How did no one point out the Steve Jobs in this episode?

    I think that this episode is a favourite for me, for some reason, a lot of the plot weaves together rather nicely. Miyabi is a typical archetype but I’d like to think if not for the coil malfunction, she could have been cured from her muscle degeneration disease (it wasn’t that long ago that this disease was used, see Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso).

    That Kyouma despair yell burned so deep in my mind.

    With only 5 episodes left and no possible resolution save for connection to the main plotline (being Mira’s purpose and her mission), I think it might serve as the final arc.

    Azsurance
    Reply

  14. My Diesel-san Personality took over again, and had this Idea

    1.St
    The Base here is my speculation about her Brain Show Spoiler ▼

    https://randomc.net/image/Dimension%20W/Dimension%20W%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2006.jpg
    and this:
    https://randomc.net/image/Dimension%20W/Dimension%20W%20-%20OP%20-%20Large%2005.jpg
    No not the Ass, the Tail thing

    So, Speculation 01 ON:
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Speculation 02:
    In terms if you like my 1.st Speculation then read my 2nd, that build up from this
    https://randomc.net/image/Dimension%20W/Dimension%20W%20-%2004%20-%20Large%2024.jpg
    (No not her naked Body)
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Also to add some hints of my Speculation about her “brain”
    Show Spoiler ▼

    So, Brainstorm of my Diesel-san has ended

    Hope you like my ideas, feel free to reply or like it

    Worldwidedepp
    Reply

    2. Thx for the link, I was dead tired this morning after reading all the way to chpt 77 (from chpt 30 of course) in one go. (derp)

      Also, we’ll be seeing the Easter Island for the remaining of this cour (probably)…

      info600
      Reply

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