Now
that was a fantastic episode.
Here is where, in my view, Ikuhara reigned in his surrealist tendencies a bit in order to present something raw, real, poignant, and
powerful. Just absolutely superb character drama while the plot thickens with key revelations carefully and shrewdly executed.
For emotional investment, for good use of every important cast member, and for creating great plot intrigue, this was my favorite episode of MPD so far.
Kanba, Shouma, Himari, and Ringo, and the relationships between them, were all developed impressively well here.
Most importantly, I'm relieved to see that Shouma's "manning up" wasn't left until the last or 2nd last episode - That it is happening
now. While I knew that he was no physical match for Kanba, it was still
electrifying (to borrow Sanetoshi's favorite word
) to see Shouma finally stand up to his brother and truly try to stop him.
Now I can fully embrace Shouma as the
main main protagonist of this work, should the anime continue to take him in that direction.
At the same time, Kanba now works well (I suspect) as a highly sympathetic yet misguided
antagonist of sorts. The pain and tragedy of Himari's overall position is laid bare here. Ringo grounds it all by, ironically, being the most normal and sane character of the entire main cast - She's the cast member most able to stand up for and deeply sympathize with the Takakuras without being made insane herself by their internal conflicts. With this in mind, the one scene between Ringo and Himari in this episode was truly adorable, and made for such a wonderful contrast to the darkness that permeated the rest of the episode.
The drama and suspense in this episode was downright
Godfather-esque, that's how good and rich it was. The flashbacks, the confrontations, the dialogue, the way characters were dressed, it all came together so beautifully, and with such scintillating Directorial skill.
Ikuhara's writing had lost me a bit before, but not now. Now it is all coming together, and I can't wait to see what comes next.
10/10 for Episode 21.