Subarashiki Kono Sekai the Animation – 08

「エマージェンシーコール」 (Emaajenshii Kooru)
“Emergency Call”

The third game of Subarashiki Kono Sekai is underway in the eighth episode as Neku has an uphill battle to fight against the new gamemaster Konishi, who is more than happy to adhere to the unfair standards set by Kitajini. But when Beat rebels against the reapers to become Neku’s partner for this particular game, the rules continue to go haywire as seniority tries their damndest to erase Neku.

There is a fascinating, oppressive atmosphere to the third game since there are no buts about the situation Neku is in. He’s alone (save for Beat) and has only one task to undertake; find Konishi while every reaper in the game is granted an Emergency Call to erase Beat and Neku while wearing overpowered O-Pins that boost their powers at the price of control over themselves. At the same time, Konishi is no walk-in-the-park as she’s ready and willing to manipulate those around her to do her bidding or else face erasure.

Although the mood was heavy for most of the episode, it was still a good opportunity to play catch-up with Beat considering how long it’s been since he’s been on Neku’s side. It was funny to see how far Neku has come from here and how astounded Beat was that “Phones” wasn’t the pain in the rear he used to be.

Similarly, it was funny to see how startled Beat got when he was exposed as having been helping Neku out from behind the scenes during his fights alongside Shiki and Joshua. Even if this game proves to be a harrowing one, it’s at least nice to see that Neku and Beat have far better chemistry and at least are cordial enough that it doesn’t feel like Neku is stranded with no one but himself to rely on.