Subete ga F ni Naru: Perfect Insider – 07
GOTTA GO FAST
I went through so much agony picking which ridiculous screencap to use as a header image. The visual imagery for this show has been pretty boring aside from the character designs, so I was glad to finally see some bizarre-o hallucinatory action. Now that there’s no more stalling for time, Perfect Insider is back in top form.
Cheeks make good stress balls
Shimada sure is one hell of a character, isn’t she? Her typical otaku line about not being interested in 3D people was already weird enough, but she just kept climbing that “creepy” scale as the episode progressed. I hope we see more of her making Nishinosono uncomfortable with her brand of bullying with a smile. It’s rare to see the confident Nishinosono shaken up in that way by anyone other than her precious Saikawa. However, the “real” purpose of bringing out the giant nerd from her hiding place was for her to show us the sleek, futuristic brain-scanning pod.
The device is described as being able to show what you’re thinking. They don’t explain much else, such as why a swimsuit is necessary aside from making a certain subset of fans watching the show happy. Just “showing thoughts” sounds redundant since you can already see what you’re thinking in your head, so I’m guessing the device actually does a little more than that. Perhaps it not only shows you a clearer, visual image of your train of thought. That could get messy real fast since people tend to think of tons of things at once, jumping from subject to subject at the drop of a hat. Showing a real-time video feed of your thoughts would likely just be a blurry smear of ever-changing images. It’s more likely, in my mind, that this device shows something more akin to dreams. There’s a choppy nature to the scene changes in dreams, but nothing like what you get during one’s normal thought process. Perhaps your current thoughts can influence the general tone of it, and so can subconscious issues you’ve been carrying with you for a long time. Nishinosono’s frolic with her love interest took a dark turn incredibly quickly. Was this because the conversation she had with Dr. Magata was so traumatziing she keeps subconsciously returning to it or because Michiru forecefully came to her through the system?
This show brought to you by: LEGO(tm)
Things have taken a markedly weird turn here. The brain-reading pod things were already strange enough, especially since it feels like something that would be created wayyyyy into the future. But this world doesn’t seem to be all that technologically different from ours, so I was surprised to see such a complex invention. That aside, “Michiru” appearing to talk to Nishinosono was very strange. It imples that either Dr. Magata wrote a clever code to mimic putting one of personalities (or all of them) into Red Magic or that we’ve straight-up entered Serial Experiments Lain territory and Dr. Magata is living inside the program.
The latter feels a bit too sci-fi for how this series has been so far, but it would certainly be an interesting twist. The release of Red Magic version 6 happened after Dr. Magata died. Dr. Magata does not treasure physical forms, and living inside the confines of a program would be the same as living inside the confines of a human body. This seems to tie in to the conversation Saikawa has with Miki about how dolls and human bodies are essentially the same thing to her. I can now see Dr. Magata being totally unconcerned with her own death and perhaps even planning such a thing herself so she could move to a digital realm instead. I’m not convinced things have gotten quite this weird yet for this theory to be true, but it’s a cool kind of AU for me to think about. Maybe I need to lay off the sci-fi.
Whatever the case, it’s endlessly creepy to have Dr. Magata still have such an immense pull on both Nishinosono and Saikawa. She is still ruling over their lives, taking over their thoughts, and making them doubt themselves. It amazes me how much she’s still the star of the show despite facing the setback of being…er…dead. Yet despite this nearly universal fascination of Dr. Magata, no one here knows a thing about her. Not even her sister.
Miki’s conversation with Saikawa was sweet. Come on, those accents were adorable! Okay, so I would have definitely preferred it in Japanese if I had the choice and it went on forever. But cute accents! Anyways, accents aside, I liked their heart-to-heart. Even though Saikawa was speaking to Miki, he only was able to talk about Dr. Magata. He seemed to realize his obsession during the conversation as well, especially when Miki flat-out asked him why he cared so much about her sister. Dr. Magata is an inspiring person, but Saikawa hasn’t even met her.
NIshinosono (two), MIki (three), and SHIki (four)…all wearing or identifying with purple. I’M WORRIED.
I like how this mystery is getting deeper and deeper. Why is Miki wearing a purple dress as well? Is she lonely? Why was Saikawa there with Nishinosono when her parents died and why didn’t she remember it? Why does young Nishinosono look so freakishly like the Magata family? AND AGAIN, WHAT IS UP WITH THOSE BRAIN PODS? Seriously, no one is gonna try and explain the need for swimsuits? Well, maybe next week…
Wait, wasn’t she supposed to be super rich? Is this Saikawa’s house?
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: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I think the reason for swimsuits is because they were in water in the pods, probably to help reduce sensory input from lying down.
I have to say that I thought there would be a lot more interaction between Shimada and Nishinosono when they were in the two pods. What’s the point of doing it together if you’re not doing it together. And speaking of doing it, that’s what I thought was gonna happen, the way Shimada was seeming to be after Nishinosono. She certainly seemed like a shark…
I really liked this episode. It was weird, it was out there, and it was tv that they were taking chances with. Like that long conversation in english, and the super weird experience by Nishinosono. I loved that image of Saikawa she had with him prancing around. And his shirt with her face on it was just great.
Can’t wait for more of this show. 🙂
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Oh, right, I’ve heard of those sensory deprivation “spas” where you lie in water in the dark.
Guess Shimada was more interested in doing it with Saikawa and Nishinosono is just her toy. Although, yeah, it does seem a bit odd to both be doing separate things at the same time if the whole point was for them to play together. Guess she just wanted to show off how cool their lab was.
I wasn’t expecting an episode with this many weird visuals. It was risky, but it paid off really well.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I think the brain pods are a kinda of sensory deprivation chamber, and that the otaku just doesn’t know how to describe them, or she’s lying, or holding back information. I guess I’m still seeing this show as a big mind screw in the making; I don’t trust any of these people to be honest at all; which makes what they aren’t saying that much more interesting.
But if the brain pods are advanced, perhaps they have a way of looping or feeding the right type of feedback to the senses?
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I guess it’s better she doesn’t explain everything because then we’d know exactly how Miki wormed her way into the fantasy. Takes away the mystery a bit. But the neuroscientist in me wants to know!!!
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I’m sure the neuroscience in you would have issue with whatever system they devised. Just like my engineer dad had issues with the AoT 3D Gear…
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Almost certainly. It would be fun to see what they tried to make up though!
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…it runs on quantum things….
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I had thought that it was Michiru that was talking to Nishinosono while in the pod, not Shiki. That seemed like a very important point to me.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
We just traced the calls, they’re coming from INSIDE THE POD!
POWUH: iLurker with 12 comments
So this guy is running up the side of a building, being chased by a shapely girl wearing a tiger-stripe bikini?
I sure hope that was a dream!
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Wow. He is overcoming 9.8m/s^2… Most impressive.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
So an Urusei Yatsura reference? They’re kicking it old-school!
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
A Lum is fine, too…
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Yeah, Shimada’s creepiness gnawed deep. To me, she was looking at and treating Nishinosono like some kind of doll. The same manner I felt Shokugeki no Soma’s Hinako Inui was looking at Megumi Tadokoro.
The swimsuit, in my opinion, is just an option of clothing for the user (and eye candy for certain viewers). Apparently, water is a necessity for the model of the pod and I doubt anyone would knowingly go in wearing regular clothes. As for the function, probably just as we see it: Interacting with the contents of your mind instead of simply seeing it, since you’re the one creating them. The very idea feels like you’re putting yourself in a loop. The movie “Inception” comes to mind.
The Michiru encounter during Nishinosono’s time in the pod caught me off guard. Shiki’s room should have another go-over to see if there’s a similar machine that helped create Michiru. Since Shiki had years of time on her hands, it wouldn’t be farfetched to assume she planted part of her consciousness and given Red Magic version 6 got created after she died, it wouldn’t be a shock if that AI had enough free will to create it on her own. But this is all hypothetical.
That line of thinking is the complete opposite of Shogo Makishima‘s perspective on humans. Valuing the physical over the digital. Quite the conversation he and Shiki would have if they ever met.
What I’m getting out of the whole Nishinosono/Shiki development is Shiki is in some way trying to tell Nishinosono that they are alike in some aspect.
I’ll give points to the english language oriented conversation between Saikawa and Miki. Stiff and lengthy but their pronunciation made a passing grade. It would be a benefit for the voice actors practiced the language often. So far, I only know that Yuu Asakawa (Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works’ Rider, Akame ga Kill’s Leone) is a fluent speaker.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Guess if you’re stepping into a pod full of water then a swimsuit is a must. Especially a bold, tiger striped one.
They should look at her room over and over because surely there’s something missing. If I were there, I’d try asking the locking robot Michiru a ton of questions, because it may be able to provide some hints.
Oh man, true, Makishima and Shiki would not get along. Then throw in the season 2 “villain” with all HIS multiple personalities and you’ve got yourself quite the dinner party.