Gokukoku no Brynhildr – 05

Slurrrrrrrrrrrrp

Alright, Gokukoku, you got me. Turns out Kotori isn’t the AA+ magician sent after the gang by the laboratory. Or is she?

Friend or Foe?

Kikako is a’ firin’ her lazer!!

From the previous episode, it looked like Kotori was the “hit man” that the laboratory sent to mop up the escaped magicians’ sorry asses. And from the opening (and ending), it looked like she would fail to do so and instead get befriended in typical tropic fashion. But then apparently this was pure misdirection and instead the real threat is a laser-spewing magician who goes by Kikako. Given the supposed need to keep magic and aliens a secret (hence the disposal of witnesses), I’m a bit skeptical of the lab’s decision to send out a one-trick pony who can only shoop da whoop and cause massive collateral damage in the process. Surely there could have been some more covert and/or effective choices. But I guess it doesn’t matter since the guys at the lab seem to have no problems with taking as many lives as they like to cover things up. And clearly they have some sort of military backing so they can always pull the “authority card” to pull a fast one over on the common populace.

Is this the face of a cold-hearted killer?

Anyway, despite all this I’m still not convinced that Kotori is as harmless as she appears to be. The first thing to note is that all the escaped magicians seem to know each other to a certain extent. Yet, none of the gang recognized Kotori at all. This casts a lot of doubt onto her claim of being a fellow escaped magician in my eyes. Sure, her apparently diminutive powers might suggest that she is indeed a lower-caliber magician who would have been slated for disposal. But as the gang astutely noted, it’s entirely possible that she’s hiding her true powers for the time being to gain their trust. Ryouta further observed that she could have easily killed them without joining the club in the first place, so she probably isn’t after their lives after all. But I don’t think that kind of circular logic really proves anything. At the end of the day though, the most solid evidence of anything remains the opening and ending, which both betray that she will turn out to be a friendly one way or another.

Premonitions

Today’s forecast: DEATH.

With that out of the way, the big mystery of the episode is the matter of Kana’s forecasts. Ryouta is convinced that they suggest either he or Neko will die, but not both. Assuming this is true, that makes it highly unlikely that the deaths will be dealt by Kikako or some other pursuer. Neko was tied up nearby in the vision of Ryouta’s death, so there should be nothing to prevent someone someone skilled enough and bent on killing the escaped magicians from moving on to off Neko next. That being the case, it’s more likely that the deaths in question are the result of some unrelated incident or freak accident. As for Kotori standing behind the body with a smile on her face, it’s evident from her screen time that she always has this dopey grin on her face regardless of the situation so perhaps she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I wouldn’t put that past her given her klutzy behavior. That’s not to say she’s in the clear just yet though; I’m still suspicious that there’s more to her than the ditzy underclassman with big hooters.

Forgiving the bipolar switching between grim mystery-suspense and light-hearted slice of life as well as the awkward fan-service moments (I guess those are hallmarks of Lynn Okamoto’s writing), Gokukoku has been doing a pretty good job of holding my attention. Oh wait, that’s because every single episode so far except for the premiere has ended on a cliffhanger. But I digress. This episode did legitimately feel more enjoyable than the previous ones, most likely thanks to Ryouta’s slow development from obsessive creep to marginally intelligent lead. I appreciate the show so much more when he’s not swooning over his memories of Kuroneko. Also, his blunt rebuttals to Kazumi’s provocations are rather amusing.

Just a flesh wound.

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