CHAOS;HEAD / First Impressions

Summary:

With the fourth New Generation incident, the whose-eyes phrase has become quite popular, but it still freaks Takumi out whenever he hears it. On his way home from the internet cafe one night, he runs into a girl carrying a sword on the street. When she realizes what he can see her Di-Sword, she questions him – causing him to experience a delusion of her trying to force a confession out of him by rubbing her foot against his crotch – and concludes that he was gathered there as well. She leaves him alone after asking him to tell her if he sees something called an error and after introducing herself as third-year student Aoi Sena. The next day at school, Takumi learns from Misumi that FES actually goes to their school under the name Kishimoto Ayase. Misumi tries to work his charm on her, but she largely ignores him and instead approaches Takumi. He experiences a delusion of her saying that she’ll become his bride, but what she actually tells him is to find a certain sword so that he can be saved.

Later that day, Takumi goes to the store and buys the Seira figurine that he’s been waiting for, but as he’s headed home, he gets stopped by the investigators on the New Generation case. Takumi panics when they start questioning him and blurts out everything he saw, including the girl who he calls a demon. The investigators are taken aback by this, but since he begs them to protect him, they play along and write down his cell phone number. After this, Takumi heads home and spends the rest of the day examining every part of his new Seira figurine. He’s surprised when Rimi suddenly shows up and panics because he assumes that she’s here to kill him for talking to the police, but Rimi claims to have only come to see the new Seira figurine. She takes it from him, and though he forcefully gets it back, his hand ends up on her chest. Instead of being angry, Rimi apologizes and heads out a little embarrassed and happy.

Takumi heads to the hospital the following day, but he finds out that the doctor he had been seeing had collapsed from overwork. He thinks that this is a conspiracy, and without anyone to turn to, he goes back home and laments his situation until he remembers what Ayase told him about finding the sword. Combining this with what Sena had said about the Di-Sword, Takumi researches and learns that it’s supposedly a sword of darkness that’s invisible. He finds a mention of it at a local store, so he goes there and buys it despite his suspicions that it’s a fake. Upon arriving home, he’s paid a visit by his sister who notices the bangle that he got for free with the sword. Since he doesn’t want it, Nanami takes it, but she then gets angry at his attitude towards her and throws oranges at him. This causes him to fall out of his chair and onto the sword, breaking it.

At school the next day, a shy new transfer student named Orihara Kozue arrives. As she walks past Takumi to get to her seat, he hears her voice say that he’s similar and that she’s glad to be in the same class. Her lips don’t move though, so Takumi isn’t sure that she was talking to him. Rimi later asks him about it and thinks that he might know Kozue from somewhere. She uses this as evidence that he might actually be interested in real girls such as herself, but Takumi takes this as a danger sign and walks off without responding to Rimi. Rushing out of school, he is soon overcome with stress over how he has nowhere to go. Before he knows it though, everyone out on the street disappears. Wherever he runs to, there is no one around, and Takumi initially tells himself that this has to be a dream or an illusion. He knows that even though he wants to live alone in peace, he hadn’t wished for a world without any people.

Takumi’s breakdown is interrupted by the sudden appearance of an old man in a wheelchair. This old man – who has a young voice – starts by noting that they’re finally meeting. Takumi questions him about what’s going on, and the old man claims to know, but he changes the subject to a message that Takumi should have received. Using the whose-eyes line, he urges Takumi to awaken quickly or else a lot of people will die. The old man then introduces himself as none other than Shogun, and as he wheels himself away, he tells Takumi not to forget and not to run away. When Takumi regains his senses, he finds himself surrounded by people in a busy intersection, and Rimi is trying to help him up. He screams at the sight of her and babbles until she slaps him and embraces him to get him to pull himself together because the traffic light has changed, so they need to get out of the busy intersection. Takumi is surprised that she’s not there to kill him and that she’s actually helping him, and her warmth and embrace affects the way he thinks about her. He follows her back onto the sidewalk, but he immediately lets go of her hand and turns to go home. She offers to go with him, and although he shakes his head in refusal, he does manage to thank her.

Preview

It was pointed out to me that the OP animation changed slightly this episode, mainly in Takumi’s facial expressions and in the backgrounds on a couple of the shots. He looked less desperate than before, but I dunno if that’s the meaning behind it or if this was just a touching-up of the animation. We’ll have to see if his expressions change again later as a reflection of how his character is developing. Speaking of animation though, the quality has been dropping a little and it looked even worse in the preview for next week. This isn’t really unexpected since it happens in most series, and my guess is that maybe they’re saving up for the really grotesque stuff, whenever that actually appears.

Story-wise, what’s been going on has me quite confused right now, especially the parts with FES/Ayase and with the shriveled old man who claims to be Shogun yet has that oddly young voice. Unlike before, it’s now less a question of what is/is not a delusion (though everyone disappearing was kind of weird if it wasn’t a delusion) and more a question of the meaning of all the mysterious things said. And what’s with Rimi? She sure puts up with a lot of abuse this episode, though she did finally slap Takumi. Either she really truly likes him or she has some ulterior motive like Yua did…or both. I’m leaning towards the former case or both cases since she has yet to show any signs of hostility toward him, and I’m still curious to see how she actually ties in with the New Generation incidents.

40 Comments

  3. For the series overall, or just this episode? The screencaps just came out, so not much time has been out. I for one, am enjoying this series immensely. I’m hoping Omni doesn’t drop it, or he’ll regret doing so. If he has the time, I suggest playing the Visual Novel for the game, after he’s completed the series so he’s not biased against it. As for Omni’s last comment after the next episode preview, there’s more truth to that last sentence than anything.

    Sinax
    Reply

  12. After this episode, I wonder did Rimi exist in the crime scene at Shibuya. She looks innocent and I can’t figure out which one is reality and which one is delusion. Prehap I have to find some time to play the game… A bit of side tracking: how long is this game?

    tylon
    Reply

  18. …I have the find this game. If only to know what’s going on a bit more since now I’m just too curious. I’m patient, but the plot just keeps getting thicker and more complex without any good hints as to what is real and what is the connection between everyone.

    MeowVX
    Reply

  25. “[…]maybe they’re saving up for the really grotesque stuff, whenever that actually appears.”

    Most of the violence in the game is not shown explicitly, so assuming the anime retains the same feel, I wouldn’t expect anything overly grotesque to show up. That is, unless they decide to animate every little detail of Show Spoiler ▼

    .

    Erilex
    Reply

  26. @Sailor Enlil
    i has not seen this episode yet, but from that picture i can guess that they used green delusion trigger. For you info in game you can on some places choose Takumi delusion by green (mostly eroge like delusion) or red (mostly something more or less violent delusion) trigger or continue without delusion.

    @Sinax
    i like idea of transparent Di-Swords because you can easily recognize its state

    @Erilex
    I’m not sure about what violence level they will use and i’m afraid they will tone it down bit somehow (as how they depict Takumi far less pathetic than in game). Anyway i’m looking forward to girls background stories because Show Spoiler ▼

    (not so big spoiler ;))

    Bambi
    Reply

  30. yes, a lot of people said that the takumi in the anime version is much more pathetic that the vn version, this was just after the first episode, now whta would they think??? i think they`re cutting a lot of interior monologues that portrayed takumi a bit more pathetic

    david
    Reply

  32. Well now i feel a little better knowing I’m not the only one confused. This is looking like one of those series that going to seem like a jumbled mess till mid point when things start coming together. Once again i eagerly await the next episode.

    Azar
    Reply

  34. I love the anticipation for each episode i get after watching the previous one, even if the main protaganist might be irritating as hell to watch since hes an anti-social 2d freak. its still interesting how the plot is going to all come along since im beyond confused at this point, id like to see who the heck is “evil” and who is actually good in the long run..great episode though, Rimi being groped like that was pretty funny but i question like omni what her true purpose to the story is.. well probably find out soon though 😉

    Precise Moment
    Reply

  40. I don’t see how you can deduce “animation quality” (which requires motion) from those still shots. If you mean the perspective distortion, that’s actually not inaccurate… it looks like a shot taken with an ultra-wideangle lens (or even a fisheye lens). So the perspective distortion is a dramatic effect used purposeful.

    tokugawa
    Reply

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