Gokukoku no Brynhildr – 03-04
Cute girls and gore. What more could you ask for?
Proving again that people do not die when they are killed.
Derpity Derp
Those are some nice… moles.
Let me get this out of the way first since I figured it would continue to remain one of the mysteries of the show for at least a while longer. Yes, Neko is in fact Kuroneko. Yes, her moles did shift because she filled out healthily in certain areas. Yes, she does lose her memories every time she uses magic. And the moment all of this was revealed, both Neko and Ryouta get themselves cut clean in half only to be “resurrected” thanks to magical convenience and now have no recollection on the matter. Yep. Ignoring the eyebrow-raising convenience of Saori’s time reversion ability, I am dismayed with the apparent direction the show will be taking of keeping the involved parties in the dark while we are in the know. There is not as much novelty to keeping us hanging on when the two will figure it out again in comparison to the original mystery itself. Not to mention the annoying situation is very evidently getting dragged out considering Ryouta missed the many hints and opportunities that cropped up after the laboratory incident to piece it all together again. All of this, because of Neko’s previous insistence that she is not his childhood friend.
Being distracted is an infuriating yet very believable excuse.
On that matter, I do find it a bit strange that she could so firmly state that she is not Kuroneko since she is clearly aware that she has missing memories. The easy rationalization is that she just didn’t want to get Ryouta involved since he would then be put on the baddies’ hit list. But now that they’re all aware that he’s willing to take that risk and is more than likely already going to be killed if they get caught (surely his involvement in the laboratory raid sealed the deal), what’s stopping her from coming out and saying that she isn’t actually so sure that she isn’t his childhood friend? Is it some stupid reason like she doesn’t want him to be hurt by the thought of his obsession friend not remembering him? Or perhaps something equally boring like he just hasn’t brought it up again so she’s keeping mum?
Aliens and Stuff
Did someone say nape fetish again?
Despite my reservations on the writing, I did find some of the consequences from the raid particularly interesting. First off, it appears that there is something to be said about how magic affects magic. Kana’s prediction that Neko and Ryouta would die never did change. And sure enough, they died once. But at the end of the day, they are still alive and well as opposed to ending up as chunks flesh and pools of blood. Perhaps this might suggest that some forms of magic can fundamentally undermine others? While we’re on the topic of magic, there is also the revelation that one of the three buttons on the magicians’ harnesses supposedly leads to a fate worse than the death by melting that one of the other buttons causes (the last one disables the magician’s abilities). Not sure what that entails but no doubt we will find out soon enough in full gory detail.
Just passin’ through.
Next is the matter of aliens. I always thought Kuroneko’s talk of aliens in the flashbacks was just the ramblings of a child with an overactive imagination. It’s undeniable that there is something living in both the harnesses and the magicians that wear them though, so I suppose I should have taken her words as one big Chekhov’s gun. Whether these creatures are extraterrestrial in nature is not explicitly confirmed, but that might as well be the case at this point. Whatever the case, it would seem that the alien symbiotes are the source of the magicians’ abilities (the pills merely keep them alive) and are not doubt invaluable to the mysterious council of evil for their nefarious plans of world domination or the like. It certainly doesn’t look like they plan to use them for more constructive means.
Kazumi isn’t happy with her own “worth.”
Lastly and not directly related to the raid is the revelation by the newly introduced Kazumi (a wily magician with “hacking” abilities) that Kana is actually pretending to be immobilized. For the time being, this seems like a rather unimportant detail. I don’t know what effect it has on anything since her abilities don’t really require her to be mobile, and in the grand scheme of things her being babied by Neko doesn’t mean much more than a minor inconvenience. But Kuroneko’s claim of the existence of aliens turning out to be true and with serious implications has me suspicious that there might be more to this. Plus, it is rather curious why Kana has deceived her close friend when they ostensibly trust each other with their lives. I can’t imagine that she has any malicious intent, and moreover it appears she stands to gain nothing of real importance by putting on the act.
Overall, Gokukoku continues to be an intriguing show held back by some questionable writing and liberal use of generic tropes. Since comparisons to Elfen Lied abound, I will say that Gokukoku is shaping up to be considerably tamer with both its graphic and explicit depictions, mainly through the application of censoring and convenient camera angles. Anyway, it looks like next week the gang will have to deal with another hostile magician. I doubt they’ll have too much trouble though, because the opening and the official art betray that they’ll be able to befriend Kotori without incident.
A new challenger appears!
About Sumairii
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Any takers on what the Junk Fee will exact?
I think the comparisons to Elfen Lied are apt, at least in the general sense. String a series of obfuscated, gory, weirdly sexual moments of WTF together, add drama. Cooking into a froth. But then I have to admit I only made it into about thee episodes of EL before it just got to angsty.
Specifically, I think it leaves it all behind in just the stuff. I rather like the alien buggers in the harness. The fate worse than death thing is a bit arch, but what are you going to do?
As for Kana. How much does she remember that Kuro forgets? That could lead to why she is lying about her condition. As for now, early days.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
ack! Spammy refuses to let me rescue myself.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Seeing the girls deteriorate slowly into a bloody mess is a grotesque sight to see. That picture of Neko bleeding out at the head of the post reminded me a lot of that “invitation” scene from Let The Right One In.
I’m still skeptical. Until there’s undeniable proof, I’ll be leaning on two theories: Either that’s the real Kuroneko and she was modified with memories erased or she’s a clone created from her remains. If she was really alive, why was Ryota lied to for the longest time after the fall from the dam instead being told she was in recovery like him? Up until now, indication the witches were born has been non-existent so I’m thinking they’re test tube babies.
That’s the problem with most OPs. The suspense for the story gets dulled before it’s had a chance to blossom.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Speaking of the OP, it’s really nice that they’ve stuck with that instrumental OP. I don’t know how well a longer version will work, but the OP for the show works very well.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
Elfen Lied never had a long version of the OP, so I wonder if Gokukoku will follow suit.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Reminds me of the red vs blue pill of Matrix…
Neo, you are the one…
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Uwaa, I really hope the case isn’t closed so easily on Kuroneko actually being Kuroneko. That would just be too simple and disappointing. There has to be a catch somewhere…
Anyways, there are some good twists in there. As you mentioned, it was pretty neat that although Kana still had a vision of them dying, the time-travel magic nullified it. The alien slugs are also pretty neat. It’s creepy to think that a little slug is writhing around in Kuroneko right now…and maybe even controlling her. I don’t know. It’d kind of ruin the moe vibes to find out all these cute girls are actual slugs piloting fleshy bodies lol
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
And them bleeding all over from their skin spontaneously cracking doesn’t already ruin the moe? 😀
I was kind of annoyed not at Neko being Kuroneko, but at the cliched “Find out and then be caused to forget” device. Almost as bad was the ‘Convenient clothing slash’ part of the fight. That’s like three non-contiguous cuts to make her shirt fall apart *just that way*.