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The Plot So Far: 「FALLING」
「CALL & RESPONSE」
“What first walks on two legs, then on four legs, and finally three legs?
“You’re an accomplice, but you’re not one of us. If you make one false move, I’ll kill you. |
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「CALL & RESPONSE」Every action has a consequence. The question is, how far reaching will those consequences be? Depending on what you do, the aftermath of an incident could affect just you or the entire whole world. The scope of an action’s consequences depend on the action itself, and at least in regards to prototypical terrorists, it’s all about committing action that yields the biggest of impacts. In this regard, the successful demolition of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building qualifies as such an action, but the twist lies within the fact that it led to zero deaths, and it looks far from accidental why this is the case. Considering the obvious intelligence of our Sphinx protagonists, it’s clear they intended for this result to happen, and although we knew this from the start, it only hammers in that they are far from your run-of-the-mill terrorists. Rather than masterminding an event that maximizes casualties, Nine and Twelve actually end up doing the opposite, and it makes you wonder what exactly is their intent is. Two episodes in, this question’s shrouded in mystery more than ever before, covered by an impressive show of smoke and mirrors. Just when you think they don’t care about getting caught, you realize that they made sure the cameras were disabled when they placed their explosives. Just when you think they actually do care, they do things like letting Lisa return to her daily life, leave riddles that could actually lead authorities to their explosives… the list goes on. It’s as if their whole existence is contradictory in nature, and I’m not sure whether or not to believe they’re just playing a game, overly confident of their success, or merely intend to slowly escalate things towards a nuclear finale. In ways, it’s as if they’re asking to be caught, and you just don’t know because all of this could be part of their intent. Maybe they don’t intend to come out of this alive to come out of this at all. Maybe they’re doing all this just to expose some of the vulnerabilities or darker elements of society. Just like the riddles they’re use as a test bed for police responses, our protagonists are equally hard to figure out, and as it stands, it’s a fabulously executed show from this perspective—albeit not without its share of controversy. Make no mistake, Watanabe clearly references the 9/11 attacks more than once in these first two episodes—the footage from the beginning of this episode is identical to what we saw here in New York—and it’s an inclusion that’s bold, risky, questionable, and laudable at the same time. He’s walking a fine with an event that still resonates with many 13 years after the fact, and the jury’s still out on whether or not this ends up being a wise choice on his part. At the very least though, he’s clearly got the atmosphere laid out—I felt the chills run down my spine on those scenes—and it’s great to hear Kanno breaking out her trademark style with regards to the series’ simple yet powerful soundtrack (which notably, has already been released). |
Looking Forward:
- The police—everyone except Shibazaki and perhaps Kurahashi—are merely being strung along at this point, and it’s clear that Sphinx is more than just one or two steps ahead of them. The question is how long will this last? How much of this will be as intended on the part of our cast? And does Kurahashi know more than he’s letting on? There’s definitely a part of me that feels like he intentionally went along with the wrong deduction in order to draw Shibazaki back in the game…
- Lisa returns to what’s generally a normal life, but how long will that last? Her life’s clearly not all sunshine and rainbows, which leaves her stuck between a rock and a hard place. It comes as a surprise that she doesn’t end up joining our Sphinx group—once again a conscious decision on the latter’s part—but that could still change. Alternatively, will it be that she eventually conjures up the courage to report them instead? And would that actually be part of Sphinx’s plan as well?
- Considering their relative youth and seemingly charismatic nature, one of the biggest things to fear are those of a similar age identifying with Sphinx, which could very well be part of their intent. Give things enough of a push and I can see quite a bit of youth following them in a kind of “cool thing to do” movement—especially since their actions don’t seem to have any intent to kill—which could bode grim for the rest of the nation’s constituents.
I am so at the edge of my seat with this series! Every episode feels like part of a movie.
The beginning seconds were rather haunting; tell me if the bombing site in the beginning didn’t look like Ground Zero right after 9/11.
I am very surprised that no one died in the bombing, and from the way the kids are timing all of these, their objective is not to take lives but to breed terror and to send a message. I can’t wait to see what their endgame is too this.
So, what does the story of Oedipus have to do with the boys? I’m guessing since they named themselves Sphinx and are using riddles from that story, I’m thinking it has a deeper meaning but I wonder what it is?
I also wonder what they are going to do with Lisa’s character? She doesn’t do much of anything and the boys don’t seem to be including her in their plans at all. Her home life is very crappy though, I do feel sorry for her there. Twelve is seriously the creepy one, and I would definitely watch out for him if I was her.
I’m loving the police and forensic procedural. I learned about the thermite reaction and phreatic explosions, and being a chemist it is awesome to me to see that being put into play here. Also, they continue to leave the calling card of VON.
Does it mean “hope” like some are speculating?
I can’t wait to have the detective join in, though he does seem to have a dark past which caused him to stop being a detective?
All these questions! I’m so excited.
I suspected they would go with the “well-intentioned-terrorists” direction and make Twelve and Nine’s bombing a bloodless one because they have a much higher/bigger goal than randomly kill people, they are clearly after the government to spite and humiliate them .. with prejudice (surely has to do with whatever happened to the in that institute).
Shiba too has some interesting elements about him, what could possible send a guy like him to the archives department, how is he going to deal with Nine and Twelve .. etc etc, personally i will be cheering for him to catch them .. he got close this time to figuring out the riddle and bomb location .. but he is still playing their game and they are still few steps ahead.
And take my word for it, Lisa is going to bring down Twelve and Nine eventually .. as a character she seems like a late bloomer (as in a character that starts seemingly useless at the beginning of the story only to play a very big role later on).
The myth of Oedipus doesn’t really have anything to do with Nine and Twelve except in the Sphinx; both guys appear to be positioning themselves as the myth’s version of the beast, a malevolent decider of fate who uses insidious riddles to determine those worthy enough of the Sphinx to continue on their journey. Using this as a base then Nine and Twelve look to be making themselves out to be judges of the people they are “terrorizing”: those who can pass their tests (i.e. stop them before they can commit another act of terrorism) are worthy of whatever they are seeking, those who don’t are destined to purgatory (in a sense).
The real questions that need to be answered though are just what Nine and Twelve wanting out of all of this and what their actual goal is. Unlike the Grecian Sphinx both Nine and Twelve have something they are working towards.
I would think that, if the episode hadn’t gone out of its way to tell the legend of Oedipus. If they only cared about the Spinx part, they could have simply just gone over the two types of sphinx from Egyptian and Greek lore, and then talked about the riddles they told. They didn’t have to go into Oedipus Rex at all.
Some people are suggesting their using the theme of Oedipus, regarding the actions of adults that reflect on their children and how children respond to those actions, especially in getting (even unknowingly) retribution against the adults that wronged them.
@Irenesharda
now that you mention it, the abandonment of Oedipus in the forest is possibly symbolic of Nine and Twelve’s “abandonment” before their escape from what sounds like some sort of facility, maybe government supported, so they may potentially view them as their “father” who they must remove.
If the Oedipus myth is a central part for Nine and Twelve the explanation IMO would more likely be around the consequences of actions and the concept of fate. After all, Oedipus was ill-fated to kill his father and marry his mother, and no matter how much those around him tried to prevent this prophecy. To atone for what he did, Oedipus thus gouged his eyes, atoning for his transgressions.
Nine and Twelve are Fate (the Erinyes, loosely), here to bestow justice upon those who thought they could cheat destiny. Their enemy is Oedipus, the man who for so long avoided the consequences for his actions and was the harbinger of more (the ruin of Creon, the deaths of his sons and Antigone). If the Oedipus myth does have a basis for Nine and Twelve’s actions here, then both are saying (in effect) that no matter how innocent you (those who did this to us) may have been in your actions, there is a price to pay for them, and we are here to collect it. Relating the children of Oedipus to Nine and Twelve would be strange IMO because all of them except Ismene die, and it’s unlikely neither Nine or Twelve have any intention of deliberately perishing (well, that we know of so far :P).
that’s def a far better reading than what I mentioned!
the thermite reaction brought Breaking Bad and Etch A Sketches to mind!
The animation and direction here is fantastic. It doesn’t look particularly beautiful per say, but I’m in awe of how full every scene looks. It’s the little things that Watanabe adds to the backgrounds; beams of light shining through blinds, offices stacked with overflowing sheets and unpacked cardboard boxes, bookshelves in just the right amount of disarray, streets packed with moving people. It just looks busy, it looks lived in, and that makes the world here feel so realised and genuine. And it all just makes it so much more immersive to watch. Great stuff.
That’s was indeed one thrilling episode, got that on-the-edge-of-your-seat feeling one gets from a mystery/thriller done right (specially the 2nd half when we realize they were preparing the 2nd bomb all along from the start of the episode, well played).
I also like how they integrated Oedipus story into the episode from multiple points of view, once again i got the chills from Twelve’s clarification and threat to Lisa, surely he seems to be the most psychotic of the two and seems that whatever happened to him and Nine really messed them up .. so what is it that Nine and Twelve share that makes Lisa “not one of them” .. just their Spencerian or something more (specially that i don’t think the DNA facility brought up here was a coincidence).
I liked the fact that Skibazaki is back in the game, but i also have to wonder how exactly a brilliant guy like him ended in the archives, there is surely a story to tell here, specially if it’s connected with Nine and Twelve (but Shiba doesn’t realize that yet, and is it me or didn’t it feel like Nine monologue was calling for Shiba not just for the entire country/police force at the end of the episode, maybe it’s just me).
The only thing i didn’t like much is the whole “zero casualty” thing, i talked about it in my previous comment on the 1st episode, it seems like they really impressed the “good-intentioned-terrorists” mantle here, the thing is no matter how smart a terrorist/bomber is unexpected things could happen that they didn’t account for which eventually casuse casualties even if the planned that none fall … bombings aren’t a video game of a math equation where you can anticipate everything 100% .. that’s the only part that annoyed me .. and also makes me wonder how Nine and Twelve would react if their action caused really innocent people to die (as it is clear they are up against the government specifically).
As why they left Lisa, it seems they are smart enough to figure her personality from the limited time of contact they had, they knew that a person that would just stand there and take all the bullying wouldn’t dare report them, nor would she be able to do anything to impede their plans .. or so they think .. underestimating her could really be their Achilles heel (since we are in the mood for Greek stories XD), wait until Shiba somehow reaches her (or she reaches for him), we could have an amazing three way mind game where Shiba is trying to use Lisa to find Twelve and Nine, she trying to use him to save herself, and Nine and Twelve using her to reach him .. i’ll look forward to that 😉
So far it’s shaping up to be one of the best animes of the season if not a classic in the making (which reminds me, SHIROGANE NO ISHI ARGEVOLLEN is clearly suffering from repetition and a drop in quality, watching Zankyou episode 2 after Shirogane episode 3 makes the difference in quality so clear, probably going to drop Shirogane XD)
I agree. Earlier this year I read 102 Minutes (a detailed account of the Twin Towers attack via eyewitnesses and invesigators, highly recommended) and one big factor for casualties in the South Tower was that workers returned to or never left their offices after the threat was deemed “only” to be in the North Tower. People act on a “boy who cried wolf” mentality with fire alarms even though they should always be taken seriously. You would also have security guards trying to assess the problem caught in the destruction.
The “zero casualty” thing is weird. Even if a bomber planned everything out, humans are always a wild card since they can act in strange ways that the bomber could never have though of. So, I can’t see some people in the building not having been killed or at least some people who were outside when the tower fell. It bothers me on a logic standpoint, but I’ve already seen and read from others who are actually a little offended.
With the constant, deliberate, undeniable references to 9/11 in the artwork for the destruction of the tower and the aftermath of the bomb site that looks almost exactly like Ground Zero. Some are saying for them to have such a obvious reference and then say that in this bombing there were zero causalities and only minor injuries, is a little offensive and insulting to the actual event.
I’m not too bothered by it, but I can completely understand how some would be.
The official timeline established by the police is in conflict with the impressions we got from last week. It appears that the due bombed the building right after power kicks back in whilst the police state that the building was bombed some two hours after the power cut and one and half hour after the power resumed. Anyway, why the long wait? Just to let people out?
Also, the fire alarm mentioned in the police report. When was the alarm? When did the evacuation start? Right after the power cut? They started to evacuate the tourists on the viewing platform right after the power cut which is understandable. But there’s no-way they’d evacuate the whole building just because of a power-cut. Then we can assume that the fire alarm rang after our due initiate there devices. How much time do people in the office have between that and the building melting down? If there’s a large time gap in between, that means the “bombs” must have been burning for a while. Do the small amount of stuff toys have enough fuel in them to sustain such a long burn?
Anyway, plausibility aside, the whole non-casualty thing also do not work from a characterisation point of view. Why the two want to avoid casualty in the first place? Do they actually care? I hope they can give a plausible explanation rather than this just being an convenient excuse to wash our two protagonists white.
Anything that uses Greek mythology (especially Oedipus Rex, one of the few plays I held onto after a Greek mythology class) immediately gets a one up in my book. Need to be careful with that little history lesson given about Oedipus though, the police here seem to imply that Oedipus met the Sphinx after gouging his eyes out. That is false, Oedipus met the Sphinx in Thebes beforehand with his riddance of the beast giving him the kingship of the city and his mother as his wife.
Otherwise a much better episode than the first that nicely ratchets up the suspense and meets the hype Zankyou had beforehand. Especially liked the use both of real world technology in the form of Tor anonymous browsing (which IPs can actually be tracked through–with great difficulty–in certain instances) and thermite reactions (Mr. White is that you?).
The other interesting bit is the lack of casualties. Rather than being a coincidence it looks to be deliberate in each case IMO. After all the blackout in the first attack provided enough time to evacuate the building (with the resulting explosion also positioned to knock the building straight down). Second the attack on the police station relied upon the police to assume the more commonly known riddle was the correct one, resulting in the majority of all officials at the station leaving to respond to a national security threat. Why you want to avoidcasualties when committing acts of terrorism is currently up in the air, but considering how many motifs are present concerning 9/11 I would not be surprised if the reason has something to do with that. Not to mention it begs the question just what that depleted plutonium is going to be used for if not to kill a few million people.
“Need to be careful with that little history lesson given about Oedipus though, the police here seem to imply that Oedipus met the Sphinx after gouging his eyes out
I dont think the police were implying that; it only seemed that way because while the cop was in the middle of explaining the story of oedipus, the scene jumped to Lisa reading the part where Oedipus had his eyes gouged out. For the most part, the cop told the history of Oedipus in the correct order.
The nuke could be a bargaining chip they plan to use after they humiliate the government enough with the riddles and random bombings, if they use it right they can make people revolt against the government and pressure them into giving Nine and Twelve what they want (which we have no clue about yet), it’s highly likely they don’t really plan on detonating it .. at least not in a civilian packed city.
The nuclear material the kids stole cannot be used for nuclear weapon production. It is too low-grade coming from a nuclear power generation plant. Nuclear arms production is prohibited in Japan.
@SherrisLok
Not beign weapons grade still makes is usable for a “dirty bomb”
@sonicsenryaku
I agree, probably just a case of over thinking and awkward scene jumping. Doesn’t really impact things, but it’s still good to keep history consistent, even if it’s only a myth 😛
@Hunter Wolf
That’s interesting because I’m thinking that they actually do plan on detonating the fissionable material, just in an empty city. It would fit in with the avoidance of killing and what seems to be an (almost pretentious) attempt at moral terrorism, the whole “we’re not the enemy, they are” play. Revolution, at least the bloody Dictatorship of the Proletariat kind doesn’t appear to be what they’re after IMO, rather something more along the lines of Quebec’s 1960s societal Quiet Revolution.
It doesn’t take the NSA to track someone using Tor. You just have to find a weakness. Unless these kids are also computer geniuses, the government of Japan should have some resources to track them. At least try before giving up.
I got to give it to Lisa; she’s pretty quick on the uptake. I do not think it was coincidence (of the show trying to shove more oedipus history in our face) that Lisa was reading the manga on Oedipus. Maybe im reading too much into this but Lisa seemed to have been onto what nine and twelve’s riddle was, which was why she attempted to hide the manga when twelve showed up (or she could just be really shy and doesnt want ppl to see her reading manga…who knows). But yea, i think twelve caught on to that, which is why he got a little mean with her towards the end. I feel so bad for Lisa; she’s just soooooooo meek and submisive. You can see that she wants to hang in there but she’ such a pushover. Props to Atsumi Tanezaki for her voicework on her so far.
The plot deepens, and we are left with more questions than any real answers. Who are Sphinx? Are they really squeamish about killing or do they have ulterior motives for there actions? What is the Director not letting on about? Could he know that Sphinx are survivors of what appears from the flashbacks as a Japanese Human experimentation gone wrong? What will happen to Lisa? Will she report them or better yet silently become accomplice to there crimes?
All valid questions in my mind, that shows how well thought out this whole series is proving to be. The main characters are particularly well developed, these aren’t your typical one dimensional male main characters that seem stock and trade throughout anime, they are mysterious, intelligent and very sympathetic. Sphinx seem to be aiming to topple or at the very least make the government pay for their time as human guinea pigs (assuming the flash back is true and subsequent conversations are true). And the way there doing it may cause them gain some ‘fans’ which could be good or bad, but if there treatment of Lisa is anything to go by they much prefer to be a two person act.
The detective is an interesting character to see, on appearance he seems like a lazy, scruffy looking, window licking government employee doing exactly squat. Your tax dollars at work! Plainly speaking it seems like he was put in early retirement or he himself retired, due to what could possibly been a ‘his greatest moment of failure’ or ‘he accidently fucked something up’. Still he seems to be on a friendly terms with the director, and he certainly is intelligent enough to unravel the real meaning of the riddle. So it’s pretty certain that we found our hero antagonist.
And we shouldn’t forget about Lisa, she is definitely in a bad spot, even before she became an ‘accomplice’. Her dad seems to run out on her, leaving her with a mother that has issues to say the very least. Not to mention the bullying, her low self esteem and her crush? infatuation? awe? of the main characters definitely doesn’t help matter here. However at the same time she herself is conflicted, she knows what they are doing is wrong, and we can see it’s really eating it up inside of her. The question is whether this will eat her or she eats it.
“you can’t track IPs if they use TOR”
Seriously Japan? Are you kidding me?
And to think that they don’t know anything about Oidipus riddle is just mind-boggling.
def agree with the Tor issues and lack of Oedipus knowledge, though I wonder if that’s just due to the educational structure of Japan (although the fact that it was even in the anime may say otherwise). But overall, I give it a pass as a narrative device to get the plot moving. Certainly not the most graceful way to do it.
The IP tracking is something ive wandered myself (although that may be a thing with Japan’s security procedures which would make sense) but the Oedipus thing is not an issue because educational structures are different. It’s perfectly understandable that the story of Oedipus is not well known down there just as perhaps Japanese myths are not well known here…that’s absolutely within reason so i see no problem really though that might just be me.
My only problem with that, is even if you say their culture and eductional structure is different. Not one person does independent reading? No one knows how to use Google? Was the comments on the video disabled? And if so, was the internet broken too? Because the first thing they should have done was research the Sphinx and the riddle itself. They could have found the first answer of “man” in a couple a minutes, and found the second answer in a few more.
So, while I like the police here and they don’t seem incompetent, it still shouldn’t have taken them that long to find the answer to the riddle. At least the first answer.
@ireneshada
One person doing independent reading (or a few) does not support the notion that a whole country will be familiar with certain stories. Not to mention, the one cop talking about the myth knew the answer and felt confident that he was correct so he didnt need to google it. It is believable that he would not be aware of the second answer. Plus you’d be surprised how many people’s first thought isnt to google something they dont know..let me give you a hint…it’s a lot of people
@ireneshada
Oh and lastly, when the boys drop the riddle on the cops, there is no indication that the riddle they are referring to is of the sphinx myth. The cops have to extrapolate that association based on the information they know. For all they know, the riddle could have been referring to something completely different and abstract; technically they are going on a hunch, to which one can argue “well at least if they looked it up, they would have a lead to go on and use that to plan their next course of action”. The bigger picture is not the riddle itself, which i think many viewers are so fixated on; it is about how the riddle connects with where the location of the bomb is…that’s the real mystery which no googling could help with. The cops were having issue with making the connection, not with the riddle itself. And even in the US, a good amount of ppl only know one of the answers to the oedipus myth is. Point is, had they even googled the riddle and got the answer, that wouldnt have told them where the bomb was. The hard part was making the connection with the riddle and the bomb. But again, one of the cops clearly had knowledge about the Oedipus myth so no one in the force bothered to google it.
In my experience, and that in no way is a reflection of others, I learned about Greek mythology and a bit of Roman mythology outside of school at first. We certainly touched on it briefly in school, but if memory serves, we didn’t go over too much in relation to the riddle (I learned about that way before then). Maybe if you took a theater class you may have gone over some Greek tragedy, or some English courses in uni or college, that’s where I had semesters devoted to Antigone or Orestes.
The belief given here that Tor makes you safe from tracking is probably the show just using the myth to indicate the intelligence of Nine and Twelve. In reality all it takes is time and substantial processing power as the basis of Tor is encrypted server rerouting through random relays.
Japanese defense and intelligence agencies would likely have more than enough manpower and equipment needed to find the original IP address (after all, the US certainly does). Only problem of course is the possibility the culprits may no longer be at that location once you find it.
I have serious doubts about it. Even the US agencies have trouble finding the next incarnation of the Dread Pirate Roberts despite all the manpower they put into this and similar actions.
As for the terror kids, they are bold enough to use their own voices in the videos. They are confident that their own wits are more than enough to outsmart the police when the cat-and-mouse game escalates. And I think they are right.
and from somewhere they have upload this video…… tracking isp is easy
TOR operates using exit nodes. That is, you have a network of connected computers who can ONLY talk to eachother. In order for these computers to talk to outside systems, you connect using exit nodes, which are computers set up to mediate between TOR and the web.
Suppose a TOR user registers an email at an email service and now the cops want to identify this user. If they talk to the email service they will get the IP of the EXIT NODE. So now they have the exit node AND they have a date/time for the connection, but that gets them nowhere fast because they need, in order to trace users on TOR itself, to infiltrate the network.
A connection IP and the date and time of the connection is absolutely useless unless they have some way to trace the connection on TOR itself and they can’t do this without having infiltrated the network itself with their own nodes and exit nodes.
Your not follow the NSA secrets exposition. They could track TOR users, through a cookie or something like that. They manipulated some TOP Client Software and perhaps Server, too
If you can read German: http://www.heise.de/thema/Tor
I find the effort to avoid casualties a nice feature of the protagonists (along with them helping Lisa). But I am mystified about their motives… I will be enthusiastically cheer on Shibazaki’s effort to uncover the truth.
Shiba FTW 😉
another episode with 9/11 imagery, this time the skeletal rubble of the building. I wish they did something more with it other than what seems to be window dressing as it seems like a waste if there is no point or critique to it, so why include it?
anyhow, interesting episode, and liked the twist on the Oedipus riddle. Brought back some memories of greek mythology as a kid.
the animation remains great, and now that the detective is getting brought into this more directly should be a real interesting cat and mouse chase.
also, did we know last week that they stole plutonium?
and is it just me, or does this remind anyone of the Cowboy Bebop movie plot? not that there’s anything wrong with that, as I liked the movie quite a bit.
This scene really amuses me, LOL
https://randomc.net/image/Zankyou%20no%20Terror/Zankyou%20no%20Terror%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2017.jpg
I’m having trouble embedding images into my posts i tried all codes but nothing works [img]URL[/img] and [img src=”URL”][/img] (replacing “[” with “<" of course).. nothing seems to work, do some people have the ability to post images and others don't or is there something wrong i'm doing here (and do the images have to be from the images posted on RC for it to work).
You don’t need tags to post images. Simply copy and paste the URL of the image and it should show up in your comment. It’s a new feature that Div built in a while ago. =)
Yes – it has to be an RC image for it to work.
@Cherrie
Thanks a lot.
This is really giving off some serious Death Note vibes. That old school detective is going to turn into L i just know it (at least he better!).
Arata really feels like a less dramatic version of Light (especially at the end there with his creepy smile).
Still this overconfidence is bound to bite them in the but sooner or later. I agree with others about the zero casualties thing though. That part is quite B.S. If i had to guess there is probably nobody who was killed in the police stations bombing either. I’m sorry but you simply can’t calculate that everyone is going to be able to escape on time and be out of harms way before the bombs go off. That’s just stretching things. Humans can be very unpredictable.
Someone brought it up elsewhere but i think this is just an attempt to make the main characters likeable. Obviously if they were just going around bombing buildings and killing people there would be very little for the audience to like about them. But by them not having a single person die it makes them appear to look more “cool”. At this point until I know what their motivations are I can’t say i like anyone in the show yet but I still love seeing these scenarios play out.
That moment where you get sidetracked in the internet.
After seeing the ramen delivery scene, I googled around to see if the metal container had a special interior design that prevented the ramen from spilling during transit. Somehow, I ended up reading reviews about ramen shops like Menya Kissou for 30 minutes instead. Never figured out if the container was special…
learning about ramen delivery systems imo is time well spent! I wish we had ramen delivery here. 🙁
don’t you think Hisami’s Mentos Green Tea Cola bears a resemblance to that thermite reaction explained by the professor? =P
That’s becasue Twelve is Sphinx no.2 and he likes explosions, all types of explosions XD
First episode: I thought that Nine was the cold and not so nice one, and that cheerful Twelve was the friendly one.
This episode: Twelve is the sinister one , his cheerfulness is just a thin layer covering his cruelty. So perhaps Nine is the benevolent one of our duo.
Kinda surprised Lisa did not join them. I feel that may change soon though , considering her home life and her fascination with Nine and Twelve.
I’m sorry, but your pull-quote referring to the Riddle of the Sphinx is wrong. The riddle is usually given as: What goes on four feet in the morning, two feet at noon, and three feet in the evening? (First four, as a crawling toddler, then two, as an adult, then three, as an old man with a cane.) Haven’t seen this episode, so I’m not sure if it’s also wrong in the show.
I got the weird impression that Shibazaki might be Nine’s father?
Or at the very least, was involved in a case regarding Nine & Twelve?
Seeing more of Twelve’s cruel side made me super happy 😀
Love the fact they played Rock-Paper-Scissors to determine who delivers the bomb.
That explanation with thermite and the explosion resulting from superheating water is frighteningly realistic. It reminds me of the mythbusters episode thermite and ice here: http://youtu.be/w6cMmk8LZgQ
Attention to detail is what sets this show apart from the others this season. Usage of TOR as anonymizing IP is somewhat a little skewed here though, but nevertheless, good and thrilling plot!
Hey there guys. Now, I don’t know if ANYONE’s gonna listen to me on this but I HAVE to talk about these things I picked up on.
First off, episode 2 was, in a nutshell, brilliant. That is all there is to say.
But the main points that I would like to express and elaborate more on is in regards to the show itself. I remember reading the tagline of the show which involves the words “waking this complacent nation out of its slumber” or something similar to that. (I know it’s just part of the synopsis but it has truth to it)
Many of us have this rather bipolar love-hate relationship with Japan. I’ve met them, I’ve seen them, interacted with them, been there, read quite a bit on what makes them tick and their historical and cultural influences, so on and so forth; and, by putting together what I know and experienced, I was better able to understand the rationale and logic in the actions carried out by the show’s ‘extras’, if you may. From the crowd response to the evacuation, to how the cops thought of 9 & 12, to Lisa’s ’empty’ personality and her mother’s complete lack of self-esteem, the bullying, the everything. You can’t help but feel like it’s a massive but non-sarcastic satire of Japan, albeit one that’s serious. Also not forgetting the Japanese extolling the values of being indirect and subtle.
The fact that they’ve escaped from this ‘facility’ immediately brings to mind some of the things I’ve read regarding orphans and orphanages in Japan, but even as I say that there’s something about that scene from episode 1 that still throws me off. Perhaps, it was the clothing.
Next, there are these ‘messages’ that we’re getting. VON: someone said it meant ‘hope’ in Icelandic it seems. But in almost all instances, they’re marked in the color red. But why? Also, why the color red? Then, there’s this one other thing I picked up which is incredibly subtle but, if any of you carefully looked at the the title of the show, 「残響のテロル」, it appears that the first and last characters are in red as well. Initially, I thought it was, well, for aesthetic purposes, but as I started to think about it, I noticed that the two characters when juxtaposed together spelled 「残る」(Nokoru) which in Japanese, means “To remain/To be left”. The thing is, it’s in the passive which immediately led me to make a connection between ‘VON’ & ‘残る’. “Hope remains”? “Terror remains”? What remains? There’s gotta be something here bro, there’s gotta be something! If you try to find the meaning within the context of the title, then what remains is ‘Terror’, if you take into account the word ‘VON’ then it means ‘Hope is left’, or if you take into account 9 & 12’s history, it carries on an implicit meaning where 9 & 12 are ‘lost children’, the ‘children left behind’ or ‘those left behind’.
Then, the thing about the story of Oedipus. To expect the Japanese (the majority of 124,000,000 excluding the Nikkei population) to know the story or even the riddle the Sphinx gave is rather improbable given their historical and cultural background. Also, the thing about the Sphinx’s riddles is that, there were many riddles but few have been written down. And even then, the ones written down that have been considered ‘canon’ usually have a few extra variations. In modern times, there’s some spoofs of the original riddle. The one they used here was “What walked on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three at night”. 9 & 12 parodied this by stating before revealing the riddle, “Specifically to the police”, which Shibazaki later caught on.
When they showed the story of Oedipus, it kinda occurred to me that they were using that story both as an allegory to post-modern Japanese society, as well as implicitly referring to 9 & 12’s quest for retribution and possibly as a way to get the people to start standing up.
But since Japanese society is to be frank, a rather predictable one considering their cultural and historical circumstances, one possible and plausible reason why 9 & 12 deliberately planned for no casualties is so that the entire nation becomes engulfed in a huge hysteria and people start to take action into their OWN hands, or at least that’s what they hope for. In contrast to America where it is very plausible and rather probable people are gonna take things into their own hands anyway.
The allusions to 9/11 are a rather touchy matter, but I think the main purpose behind naming the characters 9 & 12 is more towards hooking the audience into watching the show and getting them to pay attention. Also, since 9/11 is still a touchy for Americans specifically, and not to the Japanese or several other nations in the world, it doesn’t have much of an impact. I AM HOWEVER, really, really concerned if they start to make allusions to the Aum gas attack back in the 80’s. Also, plutonium. On one hand, stealing it allows 9 & 12 leverage on Japan, but I am also starting to think that it’s also an allusion to the state of nuclear power usage in Japan as well.
Also, the targets of the attacks have been nothing but on ‘governmental institutions relating to authority’ so far. Which also leads me to think that they’re trying to prove a point about the Japanese and their relation to authority figures (once again historical and cultural context).
Man, that’s quite the wall of text. I don’t wanna drag this on, but those were some of the points that I felt really needed to be brought up. Anyways, good night everyone.
To those who thinks that the whole zero casualties thing is B.S.:
They’re not your typical American, who act like, well, yeah, American; regardless the situation -including bombing or disaster-
They’re Japanese, disaster drill is their everyday life, they’re relatively well prepared in such event, and can act more organized than the rest of us -who, when something like this happens, still act stupidly and ignores emergency warning-
To put it simple, just look at the Tokyo Greatquake several years ago.
Same explanations applied to the Oedipus story as well, which is not their everyday history.
Just like us the majority western commoners who don’t completely understand most of Japanese folklore.
This was yet an splendid episode to a splendid show so far.
I loved the way the explanation to the whole act of terrorism was smooth and not hard to follow in the least. Gotta say, those two are masterminds.
The animation was great in this episode as well, as I for a moment had a hard time making the scene in the front of my eyes displaying in the monitor as a real-life scene-shot or just a terribly good animation (I’m referring to the shot we got from the inside of the school Lisa was in, right before it switched to her class and her looking at the empty desk of Twelve).
When Nine & Twelve introduced us with the riddle, I immediately caught glimpse of how it was similar, but not the same as the one I’d heard from Oedipus’ tale. Man, the police are so gonna fall for this one, I thought.
Another thing that made me feel great while watching the episode, was the soundtrack playing when Nine put the bomb at Roppongi Police Station. I also like how the soundtrack where the explosions happen is not tragic at all, more like the kind you’d be hearing during a comic scene xD. Hopefully, we’ll get to see Nine & Twelve struggle somehow in the further episodes, as that will definitely add more to the excitement.
I can’t wait to see a great character development out of Lisa’s character. I have high hopes that she will be the one to end this whole act of terrorism.
2/3 eps in de summer season, several of my high hopes series have somewhat cooled down, also due to being Manga adaptations.
For now Zankyou no Terror tops my list of best series this season, only beating Barakamon because slice of live never tops the list for me somehow.
12 is bad news, 9 cannot keep him in check, as others have said, Lisa is going to be the breaker of balance. Wouldn’t suprise me if 2 out of the 3 are not going to see the end of this series.
But i’m buckled up for the ride, thats for sure.
This was what scared the hell out of me! Such facial expression!
http://tinypic.com/r/scw6jd/8
Oh geez, so that’s why. Then it has to be an RC image for it to show up. Too bad. So just click on the link then. XD
I’m getting a little Death Note vibe from it in my opinion…I LIKE IT! not just about action but more psychologically driven. love these type of anime.