Episode 3 – Bone Work
Summary
Under Mei’s eyepatch is an artificial eye, green where the other one is red. She says she usually keeps it covered because it can see things that should remain unseen. She also explains that the dolls are hollow, which puts them close to death. But hollow things long to fill their emptiness…
They go upstairs and Mei tells Kouichi the story of Class 3, including how Misaki appeared in the class graduation photo, and that there are conflicting stories about her death. She reminds him that she’d warned him not to get close to her but is now worried it might be too late.
When Kouichi and some classmates discuss their high school plans, Kouichi says he’ll be able to return to Tokyo and go to school there. Akazawa promptly expresses an interest in going to high school in Tokyo too. One guy doesn’t seem to like that and gives Kouichi a threatening look.
When he tries to ask the others about Misaki they refuse to tell him anything. Finally, his classmate Teshigawara warns him it’s dangerous to get involved with things that don’t exist but promises to explain everything in a month. His aunt Reiko is no more forthcoming but does admit that his mother was in Class 3 in grade 9, and the nurse calls him again to clarify the dead girl’s name – it was Misaki Fujioka.
One day during exams, Kouichi finishes early and steps out to talk to Mei, who also finished early. He mentions Misaki Fujioka, whom Mei says was her cousin. He wonders why everyone avoids her and she tells him exactly why – she doesn’t exist.
A teacher suddenly runs to the door of Class 3 and hurriedly talks to Sakuragi, one of the class reps. She grabs her umbrella, panics when she sees Kouichi, and runs the other way. She trips on the stairs, dropping her umbrella, and its point punctures her throat.
Commentary
Whoa, shit just got real! Except we didn’t know anything about Sakuragi, so the whole thing was more of a surprise than anything else. Not that she deserved to die or anything (that we know of), but it just doesn’t have the same impact it would if we’d had a reason to care about her. Plus, what kind of umbrella has a point sharp enough to puncture someone? It kinda dampens the believability of the whole thing. I know, I know, the supernatural is probably involved, but still.
Wait – isn’t Sakuragi the first one Kouichi asked about Misaki? Hmm…Plus, it’s unclear if she saw Mei or not, but the latter was standing right next to Kouichi, and she’s never freaked out at seeing him before. I wonder if she’s the one who killed Sakuragi?
Whatever’s going on, I’m getting the impression a toll is involved. Someone from Class 3 must die every year. Or when someone pries too closely into what happened in 1972; the former does feel a bit drastic. This is so gonna make things worse for Kouichi…
Akazawa – what’s this girl’s deal? Is she stalking Kouichi, or can that guy who glared at him not take ‘no’ for an answer and that talk about going to Tokyo was trying to send him a message?
On a more (another?) disturbing note, A) Reiko says she graduated from Yomi North fourteen years ago, which makes her twenty-nine. B) Kouichi is fifteen. I wonder if Reiko’s the younger or older sister, and by how much, because I don’t like where my thought process is going with this information. I really hope I’m overthinking this.
And speaking of Kouichi, wake up dude – you see dead people! He doesn’t, and shouldn’t, know he’s in a horror anime, but you’d think someone who likes horror novels so much would be able to spot some of the obvious signs that things don’t all make sense around here, even without suspecting that it might be supernatural. Did he think Mei’s pasty white and never interacts with anyone else because she’s anti-social and plays video games in the dark a lot? And since the Misaki from last time was a red herring, she is now obviously the 1972 Misaki again, haunting her classroom for the past 26 years. And her soul is totally in that doll that looks like her. Just sayin’…
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