[Dawnstorm]

Originally Posted by Kirarakim

I am not sure if I entirely understand how an anthrax attack wouldn't activate the death feedback and I always wonder if the novel explained this type of thing better?

My only thought is anthrax is a living organism doing the killing for you (perhaps that is stretching it though).

They think it might not trigger death feedback, and they're pretty sure it won't trigger soon enough to prevent usage of the "psychobuster". My hunch is that the deciding factor is: death isn't instant. You get infected, and at some point you succumb to the disease.

I'm thinking that death feedback is just an extreme version of your usual kill inhibition. Remember episode 19 where the four people in the boat fried all those bakenezumi with their cantus? The woman was physically sick afterwards. Saki was slightly affected. Satoru and the man were barely affected, if at all. I don't think that's death feedback; I think that's just a natural reaction to having witnessed death. There's individual variation in how you respond to that.

Even without deathfeedback, killing isn't easy. Messier killing methods are harder to pull off. Smash someone's head in with a hammer > running someone through with a sword > Shooting someone > dropping a bomb on a house from a plain. It also depends on the amount of imagination and empathy you have.

I'd think death feedback works like this. Thus killing someone with a delayed method you don't yet sub-consciously associate with killing should be relatively save (not necessarily safe, but safer than killing with cantus, which necessatates imagining the results to even work).

Still I'd like to believe he is a noble guy who does care about Saki and Satoru.

I don't know. I'd rather not have him play the magical-negro role. That would undermine (though not ruin) what I think is great about the show.

Note that it's possible for Kiroumaru to be on their side without falling into that role (or at the very least serve as a deconstruction of the trope). For example, assuming that the "fiend" can't kill bakenezumi for fear of death feedback, imagine a scene where Kiroumaru, with that battle bloodlust of his, kills the "fiend". He's saving them, but what they see is a bakenezumi slaughtering a scared and helpless human child.

I hope with all my heart that the show is going to undermine Kiroumaru's "nobility". That doesn't necessarily mean betrayal. In fact, unyielding loyalty can be even creepier if played well.