Subete ga F ni Naru: Perfect Insider – 11 [END]
My reaction exactly
As explained by the above picture of Nishinosono’s face, episode 10 and 11 really were not my cup of tea. So much like what I did for Gatchaman Crowds Insight when I started to dislike the direction of the series, I thought I’d look back at what I wrote about episode 1. I brazenly stated that Perfect Insider would be a slow burn up until it reached a dazzling, climactic finale. It turned out that all of my enjoyment came from all the small talk in the beginning and middle and that the finale would be a total flop. Welp, remind me to never make bets on what I think of first episodes.
What made Perfect Insider impressive for me was the willingness to let characters sit down and just talk things out. It takes a profound confidence in the script’s strength to have a show that is just 90% talking. Furthermore, the entire series was base don just one locked room mystery, which meant they were also confident in Dr. Magata’s ability to keep our interest piqued for 11 episodes. I honestly felt like I was in great hands and that this mystery would have a huge pay-off at the end. The writing in the show seemed to be artful and intelligent, showing Saikawa as a brilliant man with no sense of practicality and Nishinosono as a practical but impulsive thinker. A lot of their theories were not even close to the truth, but it was fun to watch the process of Nishinosono and Saikawa bounce ideas off of each other. Their differences lead them to very different conclusions most of the time, and often created tension as their personal feelings rose to the surface. It was a delightful show that had much promise in all the secrets swirling around this murder case.
But then the most important part of the mystery – the reveal – was the undoing of the series.
The uncle sure has some weak-ass genes
Basically, everything vaguely interesting that could have been a part of the mystery ended up being insignificant. The uncle didn’t do anything. Nishinosono’s ominous lost memories amounted to just being a random event to get her closer to Saikawa. None of the lab members did it, or played any important roles at all. Dr. Magata’s multiple personalities had no purpose other than to make her more difficult to relate to (as if that wasn’t already hard enough). The murder was just Dr. Magata killing her own daughter and then escaping because…why not? All that time spent watching characters pore themselves over intricate theories of how someone could have killed Dr. Magata and it was just her all along.
The most frustrating part of all this is that her motive is impossible to comprehend. It’s not satisfying for a mystery to end in a way where we don’t even know why the killer did something aside from the fact that they’re crazy. Why tell a story about Dr. Magata if there was nothing meaningful to convey to the viewers about the murder? Dr. Magata went from being a mysterious entity to just being a sigh-inducing blend of “mad genius” tropes trying to pass off as being original. At this point, I’m fully convinced Dr. Magata paid someone to write her PhD for her and she’s actually just an escapee from a mental asylum.
I thought it couldn’t get any worse after the reveal, but episode 11 somehow made me sour on Perfect Insider even more. I liked the concept of Dr. Magata meeting with Saikawa and parting with one, final handshake in the “virtual” world. That’s kind of romantic. Here, she has a whole follow-up meeting to give him (and the audience) closure in the most painfully detailed way. It’s like they just want to remind us that Saikawa and Dr. Magata can never love each other. Much like a monster in a horror story, the less we see of her, the better. It keeps up that air of her being this unreachable genius. Having her there in the flesh shattered that image and just made me realize what a dull, pretentious woman she is. When combined in conversation with Saikawa, who might as well be muttering in his sleep based on how half-baked his philosophizing sounds, it’s unbearable. Normal people do not talk like that and even if some weirdos out there do, I DON’T WANNA HEAR IT.
Don’t smoke, kids.
I always thought the director was aware that Saikawa sounded like a jerk spouting pseudo-intellectual gibberish, but it seems like that may not have been the case. Saikawa became progressively more irritating, talking down to Nishinosono for demanding very normal things of him. I still can’t believe how many times he made Nishinosono cry when he seems to like her. The way he treated her in the final episode was no exception, and I’m starting to think Nishinosono should just give up and find someone else. I can’t believe after all this drama Saikawa still refuses to either accept or deny her affections in a direct way. What was the point of that entire ending scene with him and Nishinosono if only to show how he keeps leading her on? It just made me more bitter towards Saikawa for not resolving things with her.
So that’s it, Perfect Insider is over. The finale is unnecessary filler that feels like someone explaining all the boring parts of a good movie. I didn’t need more closure with Dr. Magata, I needed it with Nishinosono! Honestly, the best parts of the show were idle conversations between the two…but that’s not how it should end. The status quo remains the same, and where is the excitement in that? Why am I being shown Dr. Magata and her kid riding on a camel instead? Did anyone writing the final dialogue here ever interact with another human being ever? I’m really upset at how the finale managed to not only be a giant fart in the face, but something that has tarnished my view on the past episodes of the series in general. Everything I originally thought was so clever it was over my head turned out to be the ravings of a madman disguised as being poignant. Perfect Insider begged you to try and solve the mystery alongside the characters, then blindsided us with a nearly impossible to predict outcome. As a mystery, it utterly fails. As a neat little look into the conversations between a sassy rich girl and her emo professor friend, it’s incredibly solid. The finale may have me seeing red, but I won’t soon forget all the times it made me smile.
At least Nishinosono is still 10/10.
She’s ready for his eggplant
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 Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
A slow churning, thought provoking, enjoyable ride for the majority of the run so it’s enough to gain a positive outlook from my perspective. The montage at the end went over my head but not so much as to deter me.
Aside from putting together the “why” and “how” that ruled the most part of the story and had one pondering non-stop, what kept me coming back, like you pointed out, were the philosophical talks between the characters. Like I’ve said in the past, talking is more than welcome provided it’s worthy enough to gain my attention. Even better that the conversations were not bogged down or restricted by those I’d call “morally uptight/addled” because I find it’s rather delusional to assume everyone to have a rightly tuned moral compass due to various upbringings. Our Dr. Magata is proof of that. Whatever was on their mind, it was said freely.
As impromptu detectives, Nishinosono and Saikawa played the game fairly well. Even if Nishinosono would lose to him from time to time because she’d let emotion and personal feelings cloud her judgment. Pretty daring to do so considering the circumstances as there was no guarantee the culprit would’ve let them stay alive long enough to get as close as they did. Lucky for them it wasn’t someone impulsively violent and who wouldn’t plan ahead. After everything, it’s more or less evident they’ve both reached a better understanding of one another. Good for them.
From the developments, I was surprised Shiki escaped but part of me felt that I shouldn’t have been. Throughout the series, she was practically portrayed as a force that can never be tied down by laws made in the world of humans. In a way, to me, she didn’t even feel “human”. As though there was everyone else around and she was a totally different species. A truly haunting presence. Surely it wouldn’t come as a shock if Saiwaka admits anything along those lines and if it was that aspect that drew him to her.
No, this is good. We don’t need anything messing up that beautiful genetic makeup. If I had to pick among various female character designs, I’d mostly go with that young Shiki/her daughter. Goes well with their enigmatic personality and very alluring. A similar case with Sakurako Kujou.
@Overcooled: Remember how the word/name “Shiki” literally translates to “Corpse Demon”? Safe to say it’s well suited here. Since Shiki’s killed a number of people, we can say she’s a demon that leaves corpses in her wake.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Usually the “show, don’t tell” rule is important for visual mediums…but all that goes out the window when you’ve got dialogue that’s so captivating it can carry the whole show by itself. It worked well!
I was surprised Dr. Magata wanted to escape, but I suppose everyone has their limits. She really was one step ahead of everyone the entire time…right to the end.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
This show started out so great promising an intriguing mystery to solve and delivering some great conversations between Nishinosono and Saikawa. Then we got the last few episodes, which bombed.
The secret pregnancy and hidden child destroyed my suspension of disbelief. Those combined with Dr. Magata being the killer meant we were denied the clever way someone snuck in and killed her and their motive for doing so, and whatever that motive would have been would have been more interesting than Dr. Magata killed her daughter because she’s insane.
Then there’s all the nonsense psycho-babble we got. Since Dr. Magata’s crazy we can expect to hear nonsense from her. But hearing it from Saikawa was too much for me. That’s the kind of initially deep-sounding but shallow crap you’d expect to hear from a college student, not from a professor, even a philosophy professor, who should be long past that stage. Questions of reality and existence are fertile grounds for philosophy, but we got crap supposedly dealing with those issues.
And what are we supposed to make of Dr. Magata and her daughter riding on a camel through a desert? Are their minds supposed to be in the computer, now freed from physical constraints to wander about?
Overcooled said enough regarding the relationship between Nishinosono and Saikawa and my opinion is pretty much the same.
After such great promise this show turned out to be a total dud.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Aw man, I totally feel you. It’s such a disappointing ending to a series that was doing so well. I can’t believe all that talent was wasted at the end. It could have been such a great finale! Instead we get a hard-to-believe outcome, a bogus motive and…camels. =A=
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
Spammy.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Same issue.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I’m in the opposite camp I guess. I liked the show from the beginning to the end, from prevaricating Saikawa to petulant Moe Nishinosono, from the english conversation between Miki and Souhei to the Japanese conversation between the same two: Shiki and Souhei.
I thought it was a very good wrap up to the murder mystery, and showed the brilliance of Shiki Magata to deal with the constraints put upon her, even as she had a huge advantage in coding Red Magic. I don’t see where the lack of “cloak and dagger” sneaking around diminishes that at all. She brazenly pulled off all of it, even her final bamboozle on Saikawa.
I enjoyed the show very much, and really liked the OP as well.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I wish I could appreciate the ending but it just didn’t do it for me.
Oh man, that OP was amazing though
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
There’re still more adventures in store for Saikawa and Moe. Author Mori Hiroshi wrote 9 more mystery novels featuring them.
Together with Subete ga F, they form the S & M (Sohei & Moe) series.In fact, Mori’s written over 30 novels now, covering a wide variety of genres such as romance, poetry, and adventure. He’s well known among his publishers for his punctuality, never missing a deadline.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Write good material, be on time, and be pleasant to work with. Those are the three rules of freelance art; and you really only need two of them to count. You can be an absolute arse, so long as you have good material and are on time. Bit late? Better be nice about it, and it better be good. Material not so good, well at least it’s on time and it’s always nice to hear from you…
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I remember Irenesharda noted that this whole arc was like…2 drama episodes. I wonder if they’ll ever adapt more of them to anime format. Guess it depends on how well this sells.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I wonder if that fact is kind of what you chafe at, that you perhaps don’t think the time invested was worth the payoff, and if they had made it a 5-episode arc (rather than twice that), would you feel different about the conclusion?
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Yes, I think a shorter arc would definitely have helped. It’s kind of what I felt for the Sodachi Riddle arc of Owarimonogatari: lots of build-up, no pay-off (for me)…but at least there was something else afterwards to get my hopes up for.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
…speaking of Owarimonogatari…. (after three or four weeks of little to no comments, I get lonely)
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Thanks for the reminder! I’ll watch the finale soon. I’ll stop just lurking on your posts haha
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
F’s author claims his financial success is largely due to royalties management, as revealed in a new book.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2015-12-12/the-perfect-insider-author-reveals-details-of-royalties-in-new-book/.96407
He talks about royalty figures he earns from multiple deals, that it’s very important a writer be savvy in promoting their books, and actively negotiate royalty fees. Tricks he uses to increase sales include putting in a gradually unfolding love story to lure readers into buying sequels, updates his writing progress via blog and guarantees personal responses to fan emails.He now says he’s so financially secure, he wants to try writing a book he really wants to write.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Unless you have had lightning strike and you have an exclusive deal with a single publication giant, then you will be henpecking your royalties. There is another trick that is both kinda nice and kinda naughty. If you see your book on a shelf, then sign it. One, it has your signature and some people might like that. Two, it won’t count against your royalties if the book is returned for not being sold from the shelf.