First Impressions – Subete ga F ni Naru: Perfect Insider
EVERYTHING GETS F’ED
This has been one busy Thanksgiving weekend! Now that I’m emerging from my turkey tryptophan-induced coma, I’m in a much better mood to write about Subete ga F ni Naru.
This seems like quite a difficult show for me to pin down and dissect with words, so being in the right mood really is important here. The premier is very slow, to the point where it’s almost being defiant in wanting to lay out all the groundwork first before anything heavy happens. It’s usually a pretty horrible idea to have nothing but talking in a single room for anything other than a slice of life show, but I feel that Perfect Insider pulled it off quite well.
Most of the episode consists of Nishinosono loitering around her teacher’s office in a vain attempt to court him while other characters walk in at various moments. Furthermore, most of the conversations sound like something a philosopher major would say at a party to really let you know what he majored in and how mysterious it is. It borders on the edge of chuunibyou nonsense sometimes. But all this talking (and there’s a lot of it) serves a purpose in getting you to know all the characters without someone explicitly telling me a list of character traits. It’s very clear from Saikawa’s ramblings that he’s a very self-serious guy who says “never let people read your true intentions” and yet he’s read like a book by Nishinosono. His mood, his emotions from his intonations, she’s got her finger on the pulse of all of it just by lurking in his office for an extended period of time. Plus, anyone claiming to be a dark, brooding philosopher might want to look into getting rid of the cartoon elephant shirt that says “ELEPHANT” on it to pull it off.
Pouty stalker aesthetic vs composed genius aesthetic
Saikawa is potentially an annoying character better suited for a Monogatari episode, but he works well here. Paired against Nishinosono who is genuinely smart and more interested in things like getting real results (and roll cakes), he gets put in check quite often. Because of the inconsistencies in Saikawa’s character (emo philosopher look yet the dumb elephant shirt, claims to be aloof yet is excitable and easy to read) mean that the director is fully aware this dude is kind of lame. He says cool things some times, but for the most part he’s a total dork who is trying way too hard to be edgy. These are all things that are never explicitly said, but there’s so much we learn from the topics that characters don’t talk about or things they imply in other ways.
A doting student, again, is usually a recipe for a get-me-the-hell-away-from-this-anime cake. However, Nishinosono is actually quite innocent in her advances to the point where I wonder if it’s not love and just misplaced admiration. Without her, conversations with Saikawa would be unbearable because he’s so serious about the silliest of things. Sometimes you need to think about roll cakes! Plus, Nishinosono is the one who ends up interviewing Dr. Magata, showing a much more mature side of her than what we usually see with her interactions with Saikawa. In fact, there’s a marked difference in how she treats every characters that approaches her or Saikawa, which makes me excited for the rest of the cast to reveal themselves more.
Final Thoughts
It’s too early for me to figure out what’s going on with Dr. Magata Shiki, but I’m certainly intrigued enough to keep watching. Perfect Insider is really stubbornly going at a turtle’s pace, and I expect the entire show to be a bit of a slow burn. But the pay-off for these kinds of shows is usually immense. I tend to get wrapped up in characters moreso than plots, and I’m liking these characters. They’re very unique and they all seem to have something very poignant to say. There’s a lot of talking this episode, but most of it seems to be meaningful – either to flesh out characters or to give hints at things to come. Come to think of it, most of the show is rather special and difficult to describe. What is it exactly that appeals to me? The art style that makes everyone look not quite attractive yet not quite ugly? The mix of Saikawa spouting stoner BS and actually saying meaningful things every now and then? The way the mystery of a prodigal doctor killing her parents was evenly woven into the story, raising a million questions in the blink of an eye?
I don’t think this will be a “mystery” show in the same way Sakurako-san is, but it seems to be the type of show to leave a lot in darkness until the right moment. I think this will be a series that genuinely surprises people. One of those series that will have “one of those moments” that people talk about on twitter and tell people who haven’t even watched the show to google youtube clips of. It’s that promising. It may just be a tiny seed now, but I think this series has so, so, SO much room to grow.
About Overcooled
A neuroscience graduate, black belt, and all-around nerd. You'll either find me in my lab or curled up in my rilakkuma kigurumi watching anime.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I kinda liked the first half of this show. It had a great rhythm between the two leads, that even two interlopers couldn’t de-rail.
I did get the feeling, kinda like you did, that her feels for him are perhaps a bit misplaced. But, if she has a feel on his pulse, and won’t let him get to far down his own personal rabbit hole perhaps that’s just our reaction. We don’t quite get what she see’s in him yet.
But, I liked the back and forth between them, it felt natural. Even with his end of the discussion going off on tangents, I never quite got that it was “written”, they were able to capture how two people like this would speak.
But for me, the real elephant in the room is the word “genius”. It’s a pet peeve of mine in fiction, geniuses are often shown to be about as dumb as a box of rocks, and not in that “god with a feet of clay” kind of way. Just written that way, cause of writer wish fulfillment. That talk of genius felt way to pretentious.
But it didn’t kill the show for me, and I’m looking forward to more.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
You know a show has good writing when you can just have two people talk in a room and still be interesting.
We still have a lot to see so I’m sure they’ll give us a more solid basis for why/how her affections developed in the first place. And if they continue to the end of the series…which I kind of doubt. But for now it’s fun to see the two talk, and Nishinosono’s attempts to flirt are pretty amusing since they go nowhere.
Ah, true, Magata may not be an actual genius in the true sense of the word. I can see how that would be a possible pet peeve for sure.
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
I came for Subete ga F ni naru because I was reading one manga (Umibe no Onnanoko [it’s +18 if anyone’s willing to read]), and I discovered that he was to work as character designer in this thing here and I thought it would be cool to look at his work in an anime. I think the characters look great, and I’m mostly satisfied with what he did here.
I’m still wondering what this is all about, but if all the character has the same depth as Nishinosono, it’s probably going to be good.
Is no one going to comment on the “a doll killed my parents” thing? That’s creepy as F.
Also, Nishinosono looks like a child, wears childish stuff (stockings with different colors is the cherry on the cake). It was so mind-boggling when she just entered a F-ing Alfa Romeo to go to college. F this sh*t.
Oh, now I know why the name.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
You wouldn’t happen to be thinking of Chucky right now, would you? 😉
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
Never watched any Chucky movies actually. The one doll movie that really hit me is Dead Silence. That really creeped the hell out of me.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I never saw the movies myself but I knew his reputation. Plus, just looking at him makes my skin crawl.
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
Can’t deny. Creepy.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I too was shocked by seeing an Alfa Romeo 4C (especially since seeing Alex Dykes review of it just recently). That was a bonus for the show.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Oh, nice! I quite like the designs and I feel like I’m only going to like them more as we see more characters in depth.
Yeah, I didn’t write about that at all because I really don’t have any comments worth reading about a mystery that we’re so far away from solving. I’ll be blogging this weekly so I figured I’d talk about it when it became a bigger point of discussion (outside of the plain shock value). But that’s also the bonus of comments to fill in the blanks I missed!
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I like the show a bit, but we’ll see if the talking becomes interminable. I am torn on the characterization of Nishinosono as a jealous teenager. On the one hand, it’s kind of annoying. But on the other hand, I feel like she’s supposed to be that kind of character: a rich smart girl who can spend her days just hanging around with some cerebral professor, use the money and leverage of her connected family, and have this puppy dog crush on him. I’m certainly going to continue watching for now.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I have similar reservations about her. The jealousy thing is just ridiculous and it makes her treat everyone else like dirt (not cool!). But at the same time, I think the directors are purposely doing it as well. It’s a role she’s supposed to fill, like the way Saikawa says all this self-important stuff only to be easily shut down by a young girl in multi-coloured tights changing the subject to cake. As long as the show remains aware that these are faults of the characters, we should be golden.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Regarding the “doll” that killed Magata’s parents, that seemed less a horror reference to me than some state of mind that Magata actually physically did it, but was somehow not in control of herself, or some other kind of thing like that.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Yeah, she’s projecting for sure. But that’s also a moment that I kinda lost interest in the character. Why must these “genius” characters always be nut-cases of some sort? Balance?
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
That’s what I thought as well, but it’s just such a weird way for her to refer to herself…I wonder just how nuts she’s going to be?
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I think they might be going for “all the nuts”, but I hope not…
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
I watched the first episode and was like ehhh, this is all they give us? But of course, it’s the first episode and things can go anywhere. This is going to be a slow cooker but hopefully with amazing results!
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Yep, definitely a slow one but I’ve got a good feeling about the results!
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Definitely a slow burner here though it has intriguing elements. The first time seeing the PV, I had a feeling I’d like it and my assumption was on the mark. The can pass as long as the conversation is engaging and so it was. I personally liked how Nishinosono can basically predict her senpai’s behavior. She’s spent her time closely analyzing him.
Dr. Magata Shiki is quite a mystery. Obviously she’s one of the biggest reasons that will have me staying with the series. The quiet ones are always the most unpredictable.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
The PV was really well-done. Didn’t give too much away either.
Guess I’ll be covering 2 mystery shows this season!