Musaigen no Phantom World – 11
Squeeeee!!!
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This was a damn fine story and it was told using both superb animation and Phantom World’s already established characters and elements to really bring it all together… |
The Phantom Hunting Mom
Good beginning to the story…
We start off very simply. It looks like Haru is trying to resolve the ongoing, “what they heck is that piece of technology he picked up in episode two going to be?”, only he gets sidetracked into the real story; funky driver thingy, you’ll just have to wait! Soon we are deep into his trip down memory lane, and reliving his childhood in a very literal fashion. Along the way he manages to capture all the girls hearts, which is a lucky break considering how my KyoAni has been teasing us with harem tropes all along – it could have been cliched and dumb, but they played it straight and cute. Actually, along the way the defenses he’s built over a period of time start to fall away. But, that’s just to take him to the right place, to the right person, who’s defenses might need a bit of falling away as well…
But the relationship needed time to evolve….
I’ve always thought both Haru and Mai had more in common, and that they had a better chemistry than he has with the other two that are his age; Kurumi knows she’s the mini-moe it seems. Koito still has a bit to go in her character for a relationship to be believable and Reina is a bit too, shall we say, sudden with her reactions to the accidental male lead. Ruru is a Ruru, and that was covered last episode so that leaves us with Haru’s sempai. She’s hardworking; with school, club life/phantom booting, after-school job and whatnot, so it’s natural to have her babysit the new situation…give the busy people more stuff to do, they know how to accommodate better.
I’m really thankful that this wasn’t a Freaky Friday thing…
But sometimes I do wonder how much how and why children are allowed to grow up so quickly in Japan for this sort of thing to become a recognizable and much used storytelling trope; not taking the time to enjoy childhood. Now I’ll say we do live in a very fast paced world now, so I’m sure this type of story is probably very universal in some form or another, so we’re seeing just one version of it here. For narrative thrust it’s quite a good trope as there is pretty much an already installed arc to deal with.
Busy people…
But it’s rather easy to pick what you want to say and say it. It’s a challenge to put that with your cast of characters and make it work as well as this one did. I’m not certain if this is anime original or not – it has the feel of it -but how well this worked is up to where it appears in the series. If they had tried this earlier in, it might have had less impact. That is to say, if it were to close to Kurumi’s story, then it would have felt like an imitation. It would have felt too much like a simple deconstruction had it come close to Reina’s. The same can be said for being nearer to Koito’s, with now to be as good a time as any to mention how far she has come since she was first introduced. So that’s it for why and when it all occurred…
That connection…
There is another facet I appreciate as well; that is how they regard the change. It wasn’t hard to solve by the end, and solving it really didn’t mean much as the answer was apparent given enough time and information (and I love how it was done with the question in act one and the answer in the conclusion). It was what they learned from it, of course. Mai was busy, but she was busy living and along the way that sweet bit of happiness came in, and she shared it unabashedly. I love that it was bittersweet in the end, and that Mai made a choice to swing that more towards the sweet side of things. Yes, she may be alone in the memories that she could have shared with Haru, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. She understands him better, and that is a good thing.
Demure girlfriend or motherly look?
Let’s Play Around for a Bit….
There were also some very nice touches here and there that gave a great deal of value to the story. The first was the lack of the now much ballyhooed cold open exposition….actually it was still there if you think about it. I very much enjoyed how we could see that knowledge is something that Haru started to rely on when his mother left; that he found a love for study and kept strong at it. It could have been a club to hit the audience over the head with but they wound that up with exactly why he reverted in age, to get away from those books he’s surrounded by. Also, picking up on how much Koito has changed from her first episode up to now has been interesting as she is slowly but surely trusting herself and her friends in all of this. I loved how when Mai was squeezing Haru’s cheeks, you could see Ruru imitating the action; so much to the point that I thought Ruru was being a puppet master….
She smiled!!!!
Well, this really is an episode I could gush about endlessly, but I’ll wrap it up and put a stopper on all the enthusiasm. Suffice it to say, this was one of Yoshida Reiko’s great scripts, and that paired up well with Ishidate Tachi’s wonderful story-boarding and episode direction. I appreciate how disarmingly simple they made it look. This is exactly what contemporary fantasy is capable of, using it’s bare motifs to tell a very human tale of what we can value, how we value it, and how it can change in time.
Next Time it looks like Mama gonna play…
About skylion
All around nerd that enjoys just about any anime genre. I love history, politics, public policy, the sciences, literature, arts...pretty much anything can make me geeky...except sports. Follow me @theskylion
POWUH: 400-499 with 445 comments
some flaws aside, this was definitely a better ep than most offerings from musaigen. We definitely get to see a bit more character from mai and it turns out haru is actually more interesting when he’s a kid. I liked how natural haru and mai conversation at night time came off when haru pretty much confesses that he feels alone and mai tells him she does as well (is it implied that mai’s mom is dead; she speaks of her in the past tense). Mai seems to have a spontaneous connection with haru that the others dont and that is ever so clear when she is the one able to break down chibi haru’s walls. And i think the icing on this whole cake is mai reading haru’s letter and her being brought to tears; not because haru didnt remember their day, but that she was actually able to give him the thing he wanted most, so desperately that he had to make it up, and yet once again, fate ends up being cruel by not having him remember any of it; now that was well executed. Looks like next week, haru is going to meet his “mom”. Mai might have to get involved again, especially since she knows what haru is going through
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
I feel the show has gotten much better as it has gone along, and it actually benefits greatly from a re-watch.
I also feel that Mai’s mother has passed on, and the photograph this episode displayed seems to indicate it; but I’m keeping that she could be “departed” in the back of my mind, there are lots of ways to be absent in a world with phantoms and fantasy come to life….So maybe we’ll get a few more clues for that next episode, just like you suggest…
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Much good that will do since the next episode is the last and I very much doubt there’ll be any sequels. From the beginning, Phantom World felt like a one-shot deal.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
…and speaking of money/production from my last reply…
You never know what is going to stick to the wall. I mention the episodes writer and director, and they are one of the big talents that KyoAni has and both of them are involved in the next two “movements” in Hibike!Euphonium’s line, as well as a new feature film based on a hot property that is said to be a sure thing. But you never know. If Phantom World gets to be more popular, and despite fans rabidly posting deets on pre-orders, anime does have a marathon style shelf life, then they could do more….
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
All that comes down to a game of “Hit or miss” 50/50 on either possibility but I’m not sure where to place my own bet.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Scratch what I said earlier. I checked it out on MAL. Phantom World has a total of 13 episodes. So we still have 2 more left over. The final episode is on March 31st.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
…good to see…
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Now you won’t have to say “goodbye” so soon.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
It seems mothers have a particular focus this season if ERASED and Assassination Classroom are anything to go by.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Interesting turning Haru into a child and seeing his behavior. There’s indeed a difference in a person’s personality as they get older. Too bad for him he doesn’t remember what he was missing or he’d be embarassed to death if he did knowing Mai was more or less glued to him. It can be said that thanks to the incident, Mai’s gotten some early parenting experience.
Agreed that Koito has gotten better since joining the group. She used to irk me in the earlier episodes with her previous attitude. Justified given her backstory but still rough to deal with.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
I would love to give the screenwriter/scripter (and the show as well…) more time and money to come up with Haru’s “embarrased to death” reaction to Mai being “more or less glued” to him. But, alas, I am no producer with a well of money…
As for Koito, I’ve seen that sort of sullen teen/happy teen routine before….I’m can deal with it better than most, I guess….
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Such is the fate of those who are not part of the staff.
It’s about how thick the routine is being laid and there’s the viewer’s patience with said routine.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Well, I’ll even withdraw my real life experience, and my memories of being a sullen teen myself. Fiction does rather give us a narrative buffer, and in that particular zone, they’ve handled Koito far better than lot’s of other creators have handled other “laid thick’ sort’s of characters.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Others tend to go overboard with that.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
A Shota Is Fine Too.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Tsk, I forgot to get your meds. Dont worry, I won’t forget next time. 😉