[Forsaken_Infinity]

I am late but let's get going ._.

First off, from what I gathered from the various off-screen sources (spoilers) from previous episodes that are safely past at this point, and I still only bring this because the discussion is pertaining to it and because the information was all mentioned in discussions for the past episodes and such, that is neither a hypnotic suggestion nor a split personality. Rather, she connects with Shun's own thoughts (soul, if you will) floating around in the collective consciousness that these "psychics" tap into to gain their power. She still has to interpret them and "he" can't tell her something she doesn't know etc. but she isn't suffering from a very rare mental disease and Shun didn't do anything magical to her either. They just had/have a strong connection and they both tap into this endless infinite stream of collective consciousness or something.

Think something like Lain. Better still, if you have seen Ghost Hound, think of what the physicist does after burning his house down. If you are into Oriental philosophy then one consciousness is a staple. And that is increasingly the case if you are into some interpretations of modern physics. Still, it remains a bastardization of the observer effect. Just not as bad as some others. The anime just hasn't done much explaining and because they chose to cut on the dialogue, a lot of pertinent and important information has been removed. For instance, I am told Satoru was going to present this as the competing theory to the theory that hypothesized that their power hails from the Sun. He also pointed out (this is in the anime) that there is essentially no way it's their internal power as human metabolism doesn't create enough energy for that. There would still be ways for a human to wield such powers but that would require some rather literal interpretations of the mass energy equivalency and I suspect that is a bastardization of degrees worse than this one is of the observer effect and collective consciousness.

That also explains the nature of their power. They kind of have to form a conscious mental picture of what they want to harness the power of the collective consciousness. If they can do that, most anything is fair game. If they can't, for whatever reason, including but not limited to exhaustion, fear, pain, numbness from medication etc., they can't use the power. That's probably why there's so much on and off going on although I would still attribute that largely to just ignorance from the anime staff. I highly doubt the novel author went to the trouble of detailing Saki's reaction to slugs to such detail that he mentioned how she walked over them, crushing each one a crunchy whole.

Now onto Saki and her character retardation of sorts.

I agree that Saki hasn't really shown the best composure lately and also that she showed much more promise as a child under stress. I don't necessarily condemn her just for being more expressive than the rest of her party. Women (human ones at least) are innately more expressive than men and in my book, that's one of the few places where their gender is clearly superior. That doesn't mean they are better off as a whole as being stoic has its own uses and thank God Saki is surrounded by some fairly "badass" men to handle that part of the bargain. Saki has made some pretty tough choices and while she may not have been "heroic" per se, she had a set role to play and she is doing her part fairly well. Part of being a leader is knowing that you are more valuable than others and trying your best not to fall unless otherwise inevitable, like some freakish accident, an injury that impedes others, or just plain old assassination.

However, I do think she hasn't, at least in the anime, displayed even normal composure that would be expected of somebody who has been through all she has and supposedly has the best mental stability. Rather, the anime has tried it's whole best to sorely point out that she is still deeply traumatized from ... well, everything. WTF. I don't mind her being scared of bugs and rather petrified in the face of an unknown mortal danger. I mind what the anime did with those insertions of Maria and how much of a moodkiller the stupid ending song is. For all my anime-viewing life, I have been a strict proponent for openings and endings and yet I get palpably angry when this stupid ending rolls in episode after episode after the character who is singing that is long dead. I blame the anime for this.

Even in this episode, they do their best to cue in her trauma over Shun. While I understand that Shun was an important influence in her life, and that he is still a central character, I don't understand why they have to portray Saki as weak and mentally unstable to make room for his entrance. She could be perfectly fine and strong-willed and still moved by remembering Shun. Heck, I would prefer that and if child Saki is anything to go by, it was certainly possible to portray such strength in tandem with emotional intensity and expressiveness.

Oh well. This anime had a strong start and some really impressive showing here and there but by and large, it missed the ball. Both in terms of where they could have marketed themselves better and where they could have done better with what they show on screen for a mature audience. I don't think pandering is bad per se, and I think it's telling when an anime manages to pander to specific groups without detracting from it's value and even better, from innovating creative ways to make the pandering have value even for those who would rather not have any such thing. But I really hate pandering of the sort where it's just a random, and very distracting, insertion. And I hate it more when it happens in an anime which didn't even attempt to be creative and utilize other valid opportunities to market itself to niche markets. SSY could have easily offered lots of things for essentially all the different markets there exist in anime fandom. There is that much room in the plot. And budget is a non-issue because making things work with low budget is the hallmark of good production.

I really wish I could say that I still consider the show a very good one and such but I think it's about time I take a lengthy break from anime as I am getting increasingly disoriented by "minor" things. In all fairness to SSY and the crew behind it, it's a good enough show that I am going to see it to completion even when I have stopped with nearly every other running show and don't plan to start new ones. But it's not the cynic in me that derides this show as a failure, it's the fan who has been heavily let down.

And yes, another point I really hold against the anime is it's treatment of Satoru. They totally didn't have to distance him from the spotlight to make room for Saki's relationship with Mamoru and Shun. And his being heroic and constantly maturing would have taken absolutely nothing away from the magnificence of Shun either. SSY the anime should look at Chihayafuru. Taichi is constantly evolving and always the savior and yet Arata retains his grace. Whenever he is on screen, the effect that he had when he was a prodigious child still makes itself obvious. And Chihaya's relationship with either men doesn't deteriorate. Rather, they are complimentary. And from what I know, that was the case in SSY the novel as well.

Btw, the episode itself was okay. Not nearly as good as the last one but something better than some other episodes.

Oh and about Kiroumaru, the show mentioning the possibility that he is a setup makes things more interesting but I am thinking it's either a red herring or that Kiroumaru's going to betray them but then side with them when it matters, due to a change of heart (possibly from his encounter with Saki?) or as he had always planned or whatever. I doubt he is going to be portrayed in all out negative terms but I won't complain should that be the case either.