Fractale – 07

Alternately titled: Clain gets screwed over

I had to slip in some anime watching time in between playing video games with my almost unconscious friend (all-nighters make you very sleepy. It was amusing for me, to say the least) and letting my mom watch her basketball game. She’s the type who screams at the TV every time there’s a good play or a bad call from the ref. You would think this would be distracting background for writing a post, but I’m so used to her fangirling over her favourite team that it doesn’t make much of a difference.

Paparazzi-mode Clain is testing out his camera on all manner of things (of course, taking photos of panties to merit the obligatory “Ecchi!” joke). The only thing he can’t photograph is Nessa. I don’t know about you, but opening the episode to Clain lying in naked in bed next to some buxom bimbo right after made me feel very uncomfortable. Mostly to see Clain naked yet again in this show. Also, if you missed seeing ridiculous bounce physics, get a load of that doppel’s knockers. They each behave like a separate body of water, undulating like a vast ocean. Those things probably have a high tide and a low tide. Like, damn.

It’s a miracle and a blessing that 1. she can’t touch Clain and 2. Her boobs haven’t detached from her chest yet. She explains that she found Clain unconscious from – CUE FLASHBACK – a sudden crash of their airship once Nessa fell ill.  Meegan, the quintuple D cup, shows Clain around the city of Xanadu..which is quite the sight to behold. Sure, it’s all hocus-pocus and illusions, but it’s still bloody gorgeous. To make Clain stand out LESS, they dress him up as a girl. Don’t ask.

Meanwhile, the LM group is still at the crash sight, wondering where Clain and Nessa wandered off to. They come across a village of nice, non-Fractale users who give them shelter as they make repairs and look for their friends. Speaking of which, Clain is still looking for Nessa. Recognizing a picture of Nessa unconscious on a couch, she leads Clain to one of her artist friends who makes one-time use doppels. They’re attacked by armoured guards before being let in though.

Can’t you just use a doorbell?

Did I mention that this man, Collin, is voiced by Kamiya Hiroshi and teleports wherever the hell he wants? WELL HE IS. Collin lets Clain in to see Nessa, admiring Nessa’s ability to simulate touch despite being a doppel. He explains that Nessa either has a virus or is being hacked, hence her current state. The Temple may have something to do with it, since right after that they cut to the Temple and their plans to close in on the LM.

Did you really think anyone voice by Izaya’s seiyuu would be a good guy? Collin is intending on handing them over to the Temple for the reward money and even ripping off that jiggly doppel chick in the process. Perfect timing for eaves dropping, right Clain? Once he’s heard that Meegan’s already called the temple he makes a run for it. He grabs Nessa and dashes by the guards, high heels and all.

Meanwhile, Phryne faces some problems of her own. Being a whiny bitch is to be expected (boo hoo, I can’t be loved because of reasons which I won’t say!), but being clonked over the head with a vase is not. The locals are actually billionaires who live in Xanadu. Well, their doppels do. This is where their real bodies camp out. Phryne sees the creepy old man as a shadowy apparition (another mystery not explained yet) before Enri smashes a vase over his head. KARMA, BITCHES.

To be honest, I wouldn’t want to be straddled by either of those

Clain’s clean getaway doesn’t last very long. Meegan appears out of nowhere and attacks him with a virus that targets the Terminal in his body. As Clain collapses to the ground, Nessa panics and uses her powers to save Clain. It’s not like a subtle hacking, more like a GIANT EXPLOSION OF YELLOW LIGHT BLOBS. It ends up destroying the Fractale system in the whole area, showing the true nature of the city.

As the airship of LM closes in, they make it just in time to see Clain get shot by  Collin, the only one who has a droid that runs on its own individual system. To make it even more of a cliffhanger, the Temple appears in their airship too, ready to take Phryne and Nessa back.

Bonus Screenshots:

We go from this…

….TO THIS

Sex, cross-dressing, getting shot and tentacle rape all in one day.

Just checking my e-mail and shit. You know, chilling. OHAI, giant explosion.

 

End Thoughts: For all the moments where I get the feeling this show has no idea where it’s going, they manage to have a shining ray of a decent concept. What Fractale seems to be are many different islands with different concepts that are all sort of floating in one area, but rarely linked in a meaningful way. We get little patches of interesting Fractale topics like Clain’s dad, Alabaster, the guy on life support, and so on. If they can manage to stitch all of these patches together in the remaining episode, then this show will seem less…random…and more meaningful. Right now they’re just showcasing a cool thing about the Fractale system and the human psyche each episode. Which is cool, yeah, but not when an overarching main plot is being shunned.

With the cliffhanger of this episode, I am actually feeling a lot more optimistic about Fractale. This episode was another good one, and they brought back the main plot in the last few minutes. You cannot deny that Nessa going super saiyan and then Clain getting shot was the best thing to happen since that shooting during the system update. It was glorious, and unexpected. I like Clain, but I kind of hope he stays dead. More drama that way, lulz.

Also, OH MY GOD KAMIYA HIROSHI. YOUR VOICE IS LIKE SOFT VELVET, HONEY, WARM SUNSHINE AND FRESHLY BAKED COOKIES. Give me more of Kamiyan and this show gets a 10/10, I don’t care wtf happens. Speaking of which, I thought his character had a surprising resemblance to the Alabaster dude from the last episode…until we saw his real form. Derp. I really do like his character though, it reminds me a bit of a certain girl in .hack//SIGN who couldn’t walk in the real world, and could only walk on her own two legs in the game world. It was the only place she felt free. I’m avoiding spoilers here, so if you’ve seen the show, you know who I’m talking about.

So yeah. More Kamiyan, guys. That’s all I need. You can do laundry episodes until the end as long as I hear his sweet, sweet voice.