Mirai Nikki – 17
love is in the air~ (but it’s Mirai Nikki style so it’s more like *kiss kiss stab stab*)
The episode begins with a flashback, because God knows we can wait to see if the main character plummets to his death or not…Anyway, the flashback shows Seventh as children; Mar comes to Ai’s rescue when she’s abandoned, and all throughout high school she’s seen to stick to him. Despite his predilection for gangsta pants. GURL R U TRIPPIN?
Ninja’d
Unfortunately the rest of the school don’t like their relationship, and Ai is tricked into going to an abandoned factory where a group of boys are waiting for her. Mar is too late to prevent the rape but when he does arrive he’s so enraged that he kills one of the students. Later on that night Mar is horrified with what he’s done to the point where he nearly kills himself, but is stopped by Ai. The two agree to protect each other and thus the deadly duo of Seventh is born!
Back to the present and it seems Yuno won the grab-a-Yuki prize. His dad is snatched and they chase Seventh to the roof for another face off. Well, Yuno does…Yuki does the smart thing and hides. Yuno is equipped with a plan as usual and using the fake diaries used to fool team First in the last episode works in their favor this time around. This separates Seventh long enough for Yuki to distract Ai and for Yuno to slit her throat.
As the building starts to collapse Yuki’s Dad grabs one of the parachutes and runs off with it to save himself. He gets away but is caught by Rea who knows what a loose he is. Yuki and Yuno and a dying Ai are trapped in the rubble with Mar still outside trying to break in and save Ai. Mar also starts poking the holes in Yuki and Yuno’s “relationship” until he finally breaks through, revealing a pipe skewering his perfect abs. So Seventh admit defeat and give Yuki and Yuno the parachute while they remain on the tower to die. Once Yuki and Yuno land he’s given the unpleasant news that his Mother is dead.
END THOUGHTS
I really needed an episode to turn around how I felt about Seventh, and thankfully this did the job. The rape plot was handled with a whole lot more finesse than, say …Kamisama Dolls, and didn’t even fall into a trashy fanservice ploy. It was what it was supposed to be; disturbing. And led to some really nice character development for Ai and Mar. I buy their relationship now. The phonyness I felt they embodied when they first appeared was abolished and I actually started to care about them as a couple. Just in time for them to go and die. Isn’t that always the way! Still, these two did become one of my better liked “enemies” that Yuki and Yuno have faced – even if it took me a couple of episodes to fall for them.
Yuki’s Dad on the other hand is just a bastard! I mean, first he sells out his son…then he STABS his ex-wife? Bitch! Take some Prozac man, and and stroke a kitten! It was pretty disappointing that the cliffhanger from last time was immediately resolved with nothing much to say about it. At least the end of the episode brought Yuki and Yuno – hopefully – onto a new plain. Yuki actually imploring Yuno to give him a freakin’ reason to trust her for a change was great. She does actually need to prove herself if she wants to get anywhere near him. Surely even a stalker knows that?
I’m looking forward to Yuki’s inevitable mental breakdown next episodes – Oooooh, what will it be? Dispondent apathy? Voice-cracking, rage filled screaming? Moe-moe man tears? I can’t wait. I have a feeling Yuno rise to the occasion so to speak….she has a nasty habit of getting under Yuki’s skin when he’s vulnerable. It was quite funny that the news came only moments after he was telling her all his plans about getting his parents back together. Oh, Yuki, irony is a bitch.
PREVIEW
About Hime
Metanorn's resident perverted princess and porn critic; she covers the overlooked, the underrated and the down right stupid. No anime is safe from her critical eye, but throw something Jun Fukuyama related in her direction and she'll turn into a useless puddle of fangirl goo.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Amazing episode. Raw stuff, dirty till the very end. Boy, do all the characters in this anime have screwed up backstories. I wasn’t bad enough that Ai was abandoned but she was raped too. So far, 2 of the Diary holders were raped. She and Sixth are so much alike. Death and rape are the most disturbing yet dramatic sequences ever concepted…
I feel so sad Ai and Marco had to die but he died like a champ saving his girl. They went out Romeo and Juliet style. Seventh was an awesome guy for sticking with Ai for all those years. I didn’t like him at first because I thought he was just a poser with an act but now he has my respect and sympathy.
Yuki’s father is such a bastard. He’s betrayed him so many times and needs to pay, especially for killing his mother, moreover, it was the guy’s own wife. If Yuki knew who he really was, he should have let Yuno slice him up. I’d laugh so much if she did.
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 323 comments
I can’t believe you watch it till the end ~~haha LOL
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 338 comments
I am very upset…. I liked Mar and Ai…. and booo on Yukki’s dad! And Yuno is getting scarier by the second!
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 243 comments
…I literally have no idea why I’m still watching this series. Probably so I can be part of the cool kidz club that experienced the train wreck firsthand, in real-time.
Yeah, what we really needed in this show was MORE BLOODY RAPE BACKSTORIES. Someone tell these guys that some people do go through life without any traumatic rape happening to them. Christ, and don’t get me started on the cliquey schoolgirls in said flashback. Don’t like the cut of someone’s jib. ARRANGE FOR THEIR RAPE IMMEDIATELY. Yes, writers, that is how bullying works.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 144 comments
You obviously haven’t read GTO, because that is exactly how bullying works.
More seriously, I can concede that the rape was a little over the top, especially since it’s been used before. However, it also established a parallel:
Abandoned by your parents? Well it can only get better, right!
You got brutally raped? Well, it can only get better… right?
Your throat is slashed? It can… um… uh…
It doesn’t always get better.
Maybe it’s a bit base, but it was better than Sixth, both in believability and execution.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 243 comments
Nope. Sorry, but I find the idea that traumatic experiences eff you up more believable than the idea that they net you the man of your dreams. Hey girls, want a healthy relationship with that hunky guy? GET RAPED. BECAUSE OF TOTALLY REALISTIC BULLIES.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 144 comments
Well there’s two problems I have with that, and admittedly they both hinge on our viewpoints of events:
1) I didn’t think Sixth’s trauma was believable at all. I can accept she would hate the world having had the experience, but I can’t accept that the experience would ever reach fruition like that. Someone should have noticed something at some point. On the other hand, while raping Fem-Seventh isn’t the sensible way to bully someone, given what people are capable of, it’s also not out of the realm of possibility for me.
2) Fem-Seventh didn’t get the man of her dreams because she got raped. She already had him. It’s the reason the event occurred. The point instead was that they still accepted each other despite what happened. Conversely, Yuki and Yuno use each other, which is why Man-Seventh criticizes them. Whether or not they should accept each other, though, is an entirely different matter…
Not trying to change your mind, just trying to explain my own opinion. 😉
POWUH: 1000-1099 and Critique with 1024 comments
This show takes itself about as seriously as Deadman Wonderland so I wouldn’t put too much on its credibility. Sure, when the drama is legit and the emotion is there it’s good, but I don’t nessessarily think that’s what they are going for 99% of the time.
Rape plots are par for the course because this is a show that tries to be as distrubing as possible. It’s not really done for believeability, it’s done because that’s what you expect to see if this genre where everyone is a bastard capable of the very worst society has to offer.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 144 comments
Honestly, I wouldn’t have even thought to analyze it this much had it not been for this comment thread. Up to this point, I’ve more or less been along for the ride. So, point well taken. :]