First Impressions / Grisaia no Kajitsu

「エンジェリック・ハウルIII」 (Enjerikku Hauru III)
“Angelic Howl III”

Why would you even consider doing pantyshots in a scene like this? And in a story about humans losing to their Id and succumbing to their base urges, too. Bah. Those of you playing the Grisaia no Kajitsu Unintentionally Ironic Use of Fanservice Drinking Game need to start chugging.

A miserable pile of secrets

So yeah, base urges. I’ve heard that there’s nothing quite like mortal danger to really turbo-charge those reproductive impulses, which may explain those strange auto-erotic accidents you see in police reports from time to time. What I do know is that when I get hungry I feel a powerful compulsion to eat. That feels pretty natural. Sex and food is about as primal as desires get, and maybe it’s fine to accept that the homo sapien is an animal like any other. But there has always been this lingering view that there is something more to the human condition, such that a slew of literature attempting to create a concept of a ‘noble savage‘—a fundamentally good human being untouched by civilisation—forms a large part of the Classical library. A different philosophy proposes that humans have an obligation to elevate themselves about common animals, and must constantly challenge itself on points of honour and morality in order to do so. ‘What is a man?’ is an age old question that writers of all stripes have attempted to tackle. Just watch Hamlet if you want to hear Shakespeare go on and on about it.

Obviously, Grisaia no Kajitsu is of a much more cynical, Lord of the Flies school, in which humans bereft of the necessary constraints of civilisation devolve into beasts. Kazuki, in fact, calls those who have crossed the social boundaries ‘demons‘, which is why she does not resort to cannibalism (that, and probably a fear of tricky prion diseases). That may be a bit harsh of her, considering all the suffering the girls had gone through before they got that way; Kazuki evidently draws bright lines when it comes to morality, perfectly comfortable with eating dog but strictly refusing the long pork. How justified the girls are in eating the friends I’ll leave for individual viewers to decide themselves. The point Grisaia no Kajitsu is trying to get across, I think, is simply a demonstration of how desperate people can get, how they can be broken in mind and spirit, and how humanity can be systematically stripped away. So it’s a bit more idealistic than Lord of the Flies; in that, civilisation fell away as a matter of course, while in Angelic Howl it had to be tortured out of the girls. Peachy.

Peeking outside the garden ~ looking ahead

And so ends Angelic Howl, but not the Amane route as a whole. Grisaia no Kajitsu has shown us how Amane got to be the way she is today, and now it’s time to do something with that character development. Character development is the reason why Amane feels like such a soft sack of uselessness in Angelic Howl. I must admit when reading the visual novel I got a bit frustrated with how much of a deadweight Amane was, but it’s for the purpose of showing growth. She also serves to soften Kazuki’s character; Kazuki was certainly capable of escaping by herself, but still chose to assist extra baggage like Amane. As cold as Holmes can be, he’s still loyal to his Watson.

Next week, I presume we’ll deal with the resolution of Amane’s psychological scars, make use of this creep, and generally bring Grisaia no Kajitsu to a close. I’m honestly surprised that we’ve spent this long on Amane; I guess the decision was to adapt one route fully, and leave the rest more abridged. The effect of the extra effort really shows. Even though the animation budget has gotten no higher, and I’ve already spoiled myself with the VN, I still found the escape sequence, and Kazuki’s sacrifice, pretty intense. A lot of it is due to an attachment to Kazuki and Amane after about forty minutes of Angelic Howl. The rest is probably due to the music; it was more dramatic than anything I remember from the VN, and probably fished from a later game specifically for this climax. I’m a sucker for melodrama. Seeing bright, blue sky again, even if accentuated by a derpy, hysterical Amane, was actually relieving. That extra time used to build up tension and atmosphere certainly helped; I just wish that the other routes had this much time as well.

Hopefully, when Amane will also finish on a relative high note, so that Grisaia no Kajitsu gives us at least one route we can look back on and feel relatively pleased about. Let us just feel good about Amane for now. She, at the expense of her Mihama classmates’ routes, has done it. She’s made it to a full four episodes. And she’s not just won herself a Yuuji; she’s won a lifetime supply of Yuuji. Amane: 2, Everybody Else: 0.

 

Full-length images: 02, 05, 10, 12, 19, 20, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34.

 

ED3.12 Sequence

ED3: 「Rainy veil」 by やなぎなぎ (Yanagi Nagi)

End Card

31 Comments

  1. Let us just feel good about Amane for now. She, at the expense of her Mihama classmates’ routes, has done it. She’s made it to a full four episodes. And she’s not just won herself a Yuuji; she’s won a lifetime supply of Yuuji.

    Oh, the irony of that analogy.
    VN backstory:———-> She survives at the expense of her friends.
    Anime story: ———–>Her story arc is the best at the expense of the others.

    Well, moving on now, there’s no such thing as too much Amane for me. 😉
    Apparently next week’s episode is going to be an anime original end, or so I’ve heard.

    Techim
    Reply

  3. K….I’ve seen quite a few horror anime and this was somehow more….chilling than the rest.
    Maybe I’m still haunted by the naked teacher plowing away then going all coo-coo bananas after Kazuki and Amane.
    I also hope Kazuki is alive….cause she’s awesome.

    Kabble
    Reply

  4. Even if it didn’t come at the right moment, I still got a Kazuki pantyshot. My life is now complete.

    Ahem. That’s right, Angelic Howl deserved the 3 episodes it got and probably more. It was a pretty barebones version of it compared to the VN but nothing got cut, not the sheer rawness of the mind torture, the absolute despair of the girls or the impact of the escape scene. Glorious.

    Helvetica Standard
    Reply

    1. Isn’t there another episode for this arc? This episode ended with a creepy old man foreshadowing his involvement with Amane and they’re still going back to the campsite.

      I’m still waiting for an explanation on why the government didn’t send help by backtracking through Amane’s map.

      flCer
      Reply

    2. amane’s route is really satisfying…
      they really made a good adaptation of “Angelic Howl 1-XX” from the VN… XD

      I guess they’ll combine amane’s bad and good end to make the anime’s original end…

      and HELV, you also post in here??? LOL
      see you at the SB at EG… XD

      holycrazy
      Reply

  5. Oh wow, why not put them on a Plane, and crash landed into the Chile Mountains? Someone took the “Survive” Film as an Heavy Inspiration + Lord of the Flies

    But then, why they stand near the Bus? The Weather conditions was good, some healthy ones could get some help. Or do they had Old Handy’s without GPS and such?

    Where rise the Sun? And where goes the Sun to sleep? What Sky direction is it? Some things should be told in the School

    WorldwideDepp
    Reply

    1. The VN has in-game actual date. Whenever a day passes you see something like” (x day, x month, 2009)
      So the story takes place in that year. The field trip occurred sometime around 2006 I think, I doubt GPS were integrated to cellphones back then and do they work without signal?
      Also no matter how small a country is If you get lost in such a dense forest you’re pretty much done for unless you have the survival skills, provisions and gear.

      Helvetica Standard
      Reply

      1. Most importantly the former, as demonstrated by Discovery’s “Naked and afraid”. No surviving without talent.
        http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/naked-and-afraid/

        That said it was an asspull for fiction’s sake that the search for them ended so badly. School trips are disgustingly safe, and everyone mother knows where they’re going. Chances of being found are extremely good, and best if you stay put where people can find you. Wandering off typically ends up leaving the wanderer dead. There a tragic story of auto accidents in the woods, and the father looking for help winding up dead in winter (but the mother + children survived in the car).

        Drasca
        Reply

    1. ‘What is a man?’

      A miserable little pile of secrets!

      Come to think of it though, everyone in this episode had their secrets.
      The captain & teacher’s relationship. The beyond redemption girls’ cannibalism.
      Kazuki’s stash. Amane’s past. Yuuji’s work.
      Show Spoiler ▼

      Techim
      Reply

    1. That’s not correct. The population is mostly concentrated on the plains and valleys, but a vast amount of the mountainous regions are fairly uninhabitated. Go to populationexplorer.com/ (activate “Show pop. density”) and you will see that the mountainous regions of central Japan have a population density of 5 or less people/km².

      ckuri
      Reply

  8. Amane. Eternally loyal to Kazuki. The rest of the harem is lucky Kazuki isn’t present because I suspect, if Kazuki knew what happen, she would gladly encourage Yuuji to stick with Amane as the choice.

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Andmeuths
    Reply

    1. Well if it can brighten your mood;
      Sekai Project has got the greenlight to officially translate the 3 Grisaia VNs
      + Mahou Shoujo Michiru VN spinoff to be released on Steam and other ports…
      Nice stuff to read.

      Techim
      Reply

  11. I always wonder why they just don’t follow parallel to the road to get back to civilization. They rolled down from the road, I’m sure they could of found a way back on it instead of walking away from it.

    SilentCid
    Reply

  13. Called it (the whole “survivors resorting to cannibalism” thing), but I’m not too happy about being right about that…

    If not for Kazuki, Amane may have decided to partake of that meal. Yes, it was a desperate, hellish situation, but I’m damn glad/relieved that she had the wits to listen to Kazuki and not eat that.

    Compared to the 1972 Andes flight disaster…
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Incognito
    Reply

  17. That was some dark and powerful stuff this arc has brought us. I’m really glad that they took their time in this arc, although I personally felt the other arcs weren’t as horrendous as other people claimed, it was definitely rushed and all arcs could definitely use one or two more episode to flesh out the characters and deliver an overall greater impact. But Angelic Howl was definitely by far the best arc so far, and it was really powerful to see how they broke down and started to lose their humanity. Overall, really satisfied with this arc and definitely looking forward to the next episode! 🙂

    Trap Masters
    Reply

  20. wow, that’s far beyond my expectation.
    Angelic Howl really is far better than the other arcs, especially in the pacing. Now, I just can’t wait for the conclusion of this arc.

    Guess I’ll wait for the vn arrive at Steam for more detailed for each arc.

    divinelite
    Reply

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