Reread of the Hawk: An Update

Due to outside time commitments, Reread of the Hawk will likely be a bit sporadic over the next few weeks, but actual updates will still follow the rough 'Sunday or Monday' schedule.

Anime Quick Thoughts: Another Episode 5

Not so 'quick' this time. Maybe I need a new name?

Build Limbs

Summary

Kouichi checks the 1972 yearbook in the library and spots his mom in the Class 3 picture. The librarian recognizes her and obviously knows something he’s not saying. Akazawa tells Kouichi he’s been summoned to the faculty office and apologizes for what’s about to happen next. After the police question him about Mizuno’s death he finds the classroom deserted. From the hall the teacher tells him Akazawa has been chosen as the new class rep, and reminds him to follow the class rules.

He walks home with his classmates Mochizuki and Takabayashi. Takabayashi decides he doesn’t like Akazawa’s methods and agrees to answer Kouichi’s questions. He immediately has a heart attack and dies when Kouichi asks him if Mei Misaki exists.

The next day, no one will acknowledge Kouichi’s existence. He finds a letter in his desk from Mochizuki telling him to ask Mei about everything, and a copy of the class roster with her name crossed out. He meets her in the doll shop basement and she shows him an elevator hidden behind a curtain that takes them up to her apartment. We learn that Mei’s mother, who uses the pseudonym Kirika, makes the dolls in the shop.

Mei confirms that yes, she’s not a ghost, and is only non-existent to Class 3. The curse takes effect when the class gains an extra member. The new student is actually someone from the class who died in the past, but they have a physical body and their own memories, and all records and everyone’s’ memories change, making it impossible to tell who the extra person is. Changing classrooms, or the class name from 3 to C, didn’t work. Eventually it was determined that the only way to prevent the curse was to pretend someone didn’t exist, returning the class to the proper number of students.

Commentary

Hunh, so Mei isn’t a ghost (in all fairness, I probably should’ve thought of that when there was a pencil and eraser on her desk the day Sakuragi died). Still: pasty white, has an artificial eye that sees “things that shouldn’t be seen”, has the same name as the girl who died in 1972 – she is clearly not normal. She may not be the ghost of the 1972 Misaki, but since someone who’s dead (or undead) is in the class, either a) she’s still the 1972 Misaki, that is, her reincarnation, or b) she’s a red herring and the series really is going to pull a ‘dead all along’ (OK, ‘undead all along’) with Kouichi. The issue with the latter theory, though, is that everyone remembers him joining, so I highly doubt it; everyone’s probably ignoring him now because he’s acknowledged Mei’s existence after he wasn’t supposed to.

And on that note – seriously, why did nobody tell Kouichi about this sooner; that’s right Mei, “costly mistake” indeed. I know I’ve mentioned this already, but I thought there might reasons why, or at least why it had to be Akazawa who explained things, and so far there’s been nothing to suggest they couldn’t have told him when they visited the hospital ‘oh, by the way, if you see a girl with an eyepatch around the school, don’t talk to her – people will die if you do.’ Yeah, I’d probably assume they were actually bullying her like Kouichi did initially, but are these deaths not reported in the local paper? Wouldn’t the town library have old copies of those they could show him? Surely after a while Class 3 would’ve thought of keeping track of deaths in some way in case of situations like this so they’d have proof for newcomers, or is Kouichi the only out-of-towner in the class in 26 years? Well, maybe; last episode the conversation between Akazawa and her friends suggests that putting new people in Class 3 was avoided in the past and only happened here because the principal is new and doesn’t fully believe in the curse.

Yeah, there’s really no good reason why no one’s told him until now, and it’s really not good for the series. It doesn’t feel like there’s something unexplained going on or that there’s a race against time to find out the truth before something terrible happens – everyone’s seems to have more or less figured out everything, and already knew from Episode 1, except for why Misaki died 26 years ago, and why everyone pretended she hadn’t. No tension, just everyone refusing to tell Kouichi what they already knew from the beginning. And now four people are dead because of it. Way to go, Class 3 – those deaths are on all of you.

And wait-a-minute, doesn’t the curse claim one person a month? Because both Mizuno and Takabayashi have died in June – Mei even mentioned “the second June death.” The same thing happened with Sakuragi and her mom. A bit inconsistent there, or is one student and one friend or relative allowed to die?

In other musings, I wonder why it never occurred to anyone that at the start of the next school year there will be a new Class 7 and no Class 3. Apparently the curse affects the students in Class 3, so what if there was no Class 3? Couldn’t hurt to try, I’d say.

Anime Quick Thoughts: Bodacious Space Pirates Episode 5

Prepare for broadsides!

The Final Battle is at Midnight

Summary

Marika modifies the Odette II’s flight plan so that they’ll turn around sooner and fly closer to the sun, where the extra radiation will limit the enemy’s options. The new course brings them close to Sands of the Red Star sooner, meaning the final battle will be at midnight on the third day, when Kane and Misa will be asleep, putting the fight in the club’s hands.

With ten minutes to go the girls assemble on the bridge while Kane and Misa secretly prepare to listen in from Kane’s quarters. Right on schedule the enemy ship jams their radar and successfully hacks the dummy system, unaware of the deception because the club members feigned the actions two oblivious high-schoolers on night duty would take. Thinking they’ve taken control of the Odette II, they turn on their transponder, revealing themselves to be the Lightning II, the ship that tried to hack the Odette II at the space station. They send a message demanding surrender, but the vice president uses this to hack into their systems and begin a counterattack. On the verge of success the Lightning II turns off their computers, foiling the attack but leaving them with power and optical targeting to fire their beam cannon. Things look desperate until Marika realizes they can turn the ship’s solar sails to reflect the sunlight onto the Lightning II, blinding it. Two ships arrive, the Bentenmaru and another pirate ship, the Barbalusa. Chiaki uses this opportunity to reintroduce herself – Chiaki Kurihara, daughter of Kenjo Kurihara, former captain of the Barbalusa. The Stellar Alliance military arrives as well and presumably apprehends the Lightning II.

Safely back on Sea of the Morningstar, Marika tells her mother she’s made up her mind – she’s going to become a pirate.

Thoughts

That’s more like it – ship-to-ship combat on the high seas! OK, ship-to-ship electronic warfare in the depths of space, but this was still a fun episode. It wasn’t space piracy, but if the next episode preview is anything to go by there’s plenty of that coming up, so no worries.

Regardless, it was nice to see Marika and the yacht club as a whole show just what they’re capable of. They definitely know their stuff, and if the Odette II (AKA the Original Seven ship Hakuchou) really does have some fight left in it as Kane and Misa’s shipmate suspects near the end, I’m sure it and the yacht club will be putting that to use at some point.

That being said, I’m kinda surprised the episode ended without revealing who was after Marika. Given their conventional tactics and weak security you’d assume they were some small fry who had a grudge with the Bentenmaru (but the low skill-level may just have been because they thought they didn’t need to be more sophisticated with a bunch of high-schoolers, so perhaps not). I guess they’re either so unimportant they’re not worth giving details about, or connected to something bigger the narrative doesn’t want to drop clues about yet.

Well, it was obvious Chiaki was connected to some group or other, but I didn’t expect she’d be another pirate captain. Or that we’d find out who she was with so soon, but that’s pretty awesome, so whatever. At least if anything strains hers and Marika’s friendship in the future it won’t be her allegiances. And the latter definitely has an ally she can count on now.

Point of confusion – why is the Stellar Alliance Military in the Tau Ceti System? I thought Sea of the Morningstar was its only habitable planet, and they broke away. On the same topic, is the Colony Federation the government of Sea of the Morningstar? I would assume so. Eh, this’ll probably become clearer later.

Anime Quick Thoughts: Bodacious Space Pirates and Another, Episode 4

Things get better; things get annoying...

Bodacious Space Pirates

Episode 4 – The Final Battle is At Midnight

Summary

The club president tells Kane she ran an omni-directional scan to test the ship’s electronics and picked up three ships whose transponders – which broadcast the ship’s identity, location and flight path and are required by law to be continuously active – weren’t transmitting. One flew by at high speed, the other two just disappeared. Misa tells Kane one (presumably the one that flew by quickly) is the Bentenmaru and promises to warn them about the other two.

Marika and Chiaki are paired again for night duty. Everything they can detect checks out, but Chiaki says weather reports from the relay station and broadcasts to and from ground control have been cutting out intermittently. Using the ship’s fire control radar to conduct a scan they identify the culprit – a Colony Federation battleship called the Alcyon, which vanishes on a second and third scan. There’s just one problem – the Alcyon was destroyed in battle 120 years ago and never salvaged. When they report this to Kane he says they shouldn’t worry – ghost ship sighting are common but no one’s ever been downed by one.

Marika reveals her identity as heir to the Bentenmaru to the club, although the president and vice president – a rich girl and an amateur hacker, respectively – already knew about it. She devises a plan wherein they will create a copy of the ship’s systems to divert hacking attempts, while they try to hack the enemy ship themselves once it attacks them, probably on the other side on the sun from the shadow of the planet Sands of the Red Star.

Listening in from the infirmary, Kane and Misa agree that Marika’s plan relies heavily on luck and is full of irrelevant details, but the basic idea is sound.

Thoughts

Yay, something’s happening! It’s not space piracy, but at least it’s a bit of high seas adventure (In Space!) complete with nautical music and a ghost ship, even though the latter’s been identified as a small probe replicating the signature of a battleship. No matter, I get the feeling there’s still a surprise or two in store. But, even with Kane and Misa wondering who was behind the hacking attempt on the space station, it’s hard not to keep seeing this as a test of Marika’s abilities engineered by the Bentenmaru.

Not that that’s a problem, because if that’s the case she’s rising to the challenge just fine. Her plan is basically her abilities in a nutshell – inexperienced but holds a great deal of raw potential. And given that the next episode is called ‘Marika Makes a Decision’, I think she’s about to realize this and what she can do with it.

We also get more interaction between her and Chiaki, and I really do hope the latter sticks around once she becomes Captain of the Bentenmaru because they really do make a great team. Marika makes the decisions and act on them while Chiaki serves as the voice of reason and reminds her of the important details to consider. Not that Marika entirely needs help thinking of things – she did a good job of accounting for things when scanning for their pursuer, remembering to scan for any nearby battleships before using the fire control system to conduct a scan (which a warship would have interpreted as a sign of hostility). But it’s Chiaki who noticed the problems with their transmissions and warns Marika about the risks of what she’s about to do, even if it was unnecessary. She’s seems much more cautious and grounded than Marika, who’s shown a tendency to jump into things. They play off each other really well and I think it’s only a good thing that they’re going to, inevitably, become friends.

Reread of the Hawk: Berserk, Volume 23

What Happens

Winter Journey, Chapters 1-2

Protecting Casca from Interstice spirits night after night is wearying for Guts, especially when he remembers how she used to be. After going to sleep one morning he dreams about the Beast of Darkness, who asks him if Casca is really that precious to him, or just a reminder that lets him fuel his hate? After all, she’d be the perfect sacrifice to bring him closer to Griffith. He wakes up with a start and assures himself that could never be.

When he stops Casca from crawling away one night a spirit briefly possesses him just before the sun rises and she’s able to sense what the Beast of Darkness talked about. She becomes distrustful again and he starts leading her along by a rope, insisting to Puck it’s the only way. He starts to wonder if the burden of protecting her like this is too much.

Scattered Time

Casca escapes and is found by bandits after Guts accidentally dozes off. They try to rape her, but that triggers flashbacks to the Eclipse, and Guts finds her standing over their dead bodies holding one of their swords. She tries to lunge at him, but he forces her to the ground and starts kissing her.

Fangs of Ego

As Guts kisses Casca the Beast almost overwhelms him but he pulls back in time.

He and Puck had split up to look for her, and the latter spots Isidro running away carrying an armload of food he stole from Farnese and Serpico. They catch up after Serpico trips him with a thrown stick (is that his signature move?), then Puck checks and yep, Farnese can see him now. She faints.

Puck takes them back to Guts. Isidro demands that Guts train him as repayment for his earlier help but is ignored. Farnese asks Guts to let her travel with him.

Anime Quick Thoughts: Another Episode 3

Things start to get dangerous. If only we cared...

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’…

Reread of the Hawk: Berserk, Volume 22

Tuesday's...kinda like Monday, right? Eh, here it is. Volume 23 is still on track for next weekend.

What Happens

The Rent World

Guts and Casca return to Godo’s home and find Erica at his grave. She suggests that everyone stay and Guts, whom Casca is now less uneasy around, seemingly agrees. But he’s also disturbed that he felt no urge to kill when he saw Griffith at St. Albion’s.

Erica tells him Rickert has a visitor, who says he’s an old friend. Long white hair, looks like a girl, all Prince Charming-like, maybe someone Guts knows too…

Reunion on the Hill of Swords

At the grave of the Hawks, Guts tries to do exactly what you’d expect but Rickert stops him, shocked that he’s so angry; Griffith remarks that he never changes. Guts demands to know why he’s here, and Griffith says it’s to see if he feels anything seeing Guts again; he doesn’t. Guts throws Rickert aside and lunges at him, but is parried by Zodd.

Beast Swordsman vs. the Black Swordsman

Guts and Zodd fight. Rickert is astounded by their skill. Griffith feels some faint stirrings and ascribes them to the homunculus, who became his vessel.

Unchanged

Zodd decides to get serious and switches to his Apostle form, but Guts evades and sends him crashing into Godo’s ore cave. Drawn to the scene by the Brand, Casca is almost crushed when he bursts from the cave but is saved by Griffith, who calls off Zodd and climbs onto his back.