(CR) Gokukoku no Brynhildr

[apotheosis]

Was not expecting that level of fan service - but no complaints!

They also managed to weave it right into the episode, so the plot didn't really feel left out for too long. The scenes actually established the hacker girl's personality as well. A shame most anime can't do it that way.

If we are going for Kill la Kill parallels, then this is the 4 minute onsen 'episode' instead of Kill la Kill's 4 minute recap 'episode' Just as much impact as some full length bath eps & far more relevant.

[Utsuro no Hako]

Originally Posted by frodonk

Sadly, we know they won't become suspicious, and we also know that if it's an enemy at first, she will eventually join Our Heroes because she will be won over by our protagonist, as stated in the Rules™ of Harem Anime.

I don't think the Rules of Harem Anime apply to anything from the creator of Elfen Lied. Unless he took a bottle of goo home from the factory, he certainly didn't add this week's girl to his harem.

[apotheosis]

Originally Posted by Utsuro no Hako

I don't think the Rules of Harem Anime apply to anything from the creator of Elfen Lied. Unless he took a bottle of goo home from the factory, he certainly didn't add this week's girl to his harem.

Ok .. maybe that's so.

But .. but ... he did break her heart!

[GundamZZ]

Broke which girl's heart?

If they follow the harem anime model, one of the girls living with the main guy will become his wife.

If those JPN researchers going to rank girls by their abiliities, they are most likely to introduce a SSS class.

[~Yami~]

I feel bad for that Saori girl

well, this episode is a calm before another storm...
Kazumi as additional character is a good thing because this anime so far is too gloomy

anyway, Kotori is too fishy although it is implied in the song that she would join as ally soon

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by lightbringer

In the first place, what's an "Austrian national academy", anyway? Although there are some academies in Austria, most are only involved in research, and the few that teach are not involved in secondary education.

national academy sound like a stuck up description of a public school to me, I might be wrong though.
The way she was dressed it might have been a cloister school.
National sounds more like being state property though. No idea how many years of school people got to pass through in japan - its at least 9 for us though.(4 grade, 4 middle, 1 something) everything above that is voluntarily (parents orders and things not counted)

[GundamZZ]

Originally Posted by AC-Phoenix

national academy sound like a stuck up description of a public school to me, I might be wrong though.
The way she was dressed it might have been a cloister school.
National sounds more like being state property though. No idea how many years of school people got to pass through in japan - its at least 9 for us though.(4 grade, 4 middle, 1 something) everything above that is voluntarily (parents orders and things not counted)

So, you are familiar with Austrian school system? Freut michi? I don't recall she says she's from some academy. Maybe I miss some part. Maybe it is typical anime plot. Japanese teens go to Europe to sudy classic music.

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by GundamZZ

So, you are familiar with Austrian school system? Freut michi? I don't recall she says she's from some academy. Maybe I miss some part. Maybe it is typical anime plot. Japanese teens go to Europe to sudy classic music.

Only a bit - already out of compulsonary education for a while

She said 'national academy' when when explaining the MC how perfect her plan to transfer in is.

National Academy is a bit far stretched btw
The way she used it makes it sound like public high school; I'd use it more for something like a sports/music/business academy.

I remember her also referring to her current school as a prep school though, so it sounds more like she meant a high school by national academy... - thats why her remark seems a bit off to me, since it doesn't look like the MCs school is specialized into something.
Again, I might be wrong though.

[apotheosis]

Originally Posted by GundamZZ

Broke which girl's heart?

The AA witch Saori, in the laboratory, with a random piece of scrap metal.

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by apotheosis

The AA witch Saori, in the laboratory, with a random piece of scrap metal.

...

*walks away*

[~Yami~]

It also implied that Kana might have secondary ability.... maybe if she walks, something epic would happen and it is a kind of SS-rank ability

It's little irritating that Ryota can't remember that Kuroha is Kuroneko
we're trolled hard in previous episode then

[jhpace1]

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

I like how Ryota has the random-piece-of-sharp-metal combat skills to sneak up on the witch from behind and inflict a wound that he knows will be fatal but not instantaneously so. Makes me wonder if they're just going to handwave that or if we're going to find out later that he's got some kind of unrevealed background in violence.

Ichijiku...one thing I've never really understood about all these mad scientist types is, they invest all this time, expense, and government funding into developing these witches, and yet here he's enthusiastic about snuffing out an AA one at the least sign of failure. I mean, I can see why he'd want to execute the escapees--they're slated for disposal anyway due to their lack of power, and they've indicated their willingness to rebel, so get back their harnests and stick 'em in someone else, I get that. But going all "You have failed me!" on potentially valuable resources seems really shortsighted. Especially since he's apparently answering to a bunch of Ominously Vague guys for a Grand Scheme to Be Revealed Later.

This has all the earmarks of The Secret Society or Breakaway Civilization told about in (allegedly) RL UFO circles. Someone discovers or is given a technology on free energy, antigravity, life extension, etc. and keeps it for themselves, hiding it under governmental "deep black" projects and inner-circle initiations and such. See Area 51, Deep Underground Military Bases, etc. The 1990s "X-Files" plot how the 1940s US government was given both genetic samples ("Purity Control") and technology to prepare the planet for invasion by "superior" UFO forces in the 21st Century.

What we appear to have is a extra-governmental, extra-legal department of the Japanese government not answering to the Japanese government but able to use its' military (and police?) for laboratories, soldiers, warehouses, etc. They can abduct children (always girls?) with ease, subject them to various experiments and torture, and dispose of them when the experiments don't work as expected. That implies UFO technology, or biological material, as episode #4 has shown.

In the (allegedly) RL UFO situation, everyone but the inner circle of 3 to 12 people has a "handler" assigned to them. For life. The handler knows what the technician or expert does, their family, their appointments, their lives - in order to ensure the person doesn't break away from the department. If the handler dies, the person gets another handler, but the person has a handler for life. If the person does anything not in The Rules, they are first warned and then murdered, no second chances. There is no going to the press or defections, ever. In return the technicians literally have any machine part or supply given to them at a moment's notice, supercomputer facilities, unlimited manufacturing, etc. But each person is put into a compartmentalized section, where they do not know why they are working on a piece of the puzzle. A vague promise of a rich bank account for retirement (if ever).

So in Gokukoku no Brynhidr I can see even the technicians and administrators working under a death sentence from the Inner Circle. No mistakes. Do it right the first time. Get the expected results - or else. Very narrow goals without explanation. They can't leave the facilities, or do under armed guard. Their facilities changed every so often to prevent locals from interfering. It was one of these transports-to-another-facility that appears in the flashbacks, I believe.

So the administrators might be living under the "if one escapes, you die" kind of threats. The test subject girls are hybrids of the alien(s), or implanted with alien technology, or both. Although the "death suppression pills" and "melt upon ejection" is new to me. The Breakaway Civilization sees the girls as less than human, either as failures for the alien DNA or powers. And being extra-legal, if the girls escape and the rest of the world finds out about the department, then the entire department, including the Inner Circle, is exposed, which cannot be allowed to happen.

[MCAL]

It's kind of surprising how this show can be so incredibly bipolar, but still be half way decent. One of those rare shows that come once in a while.

Also, "harnest" equals "her nest." How hilarious is that?!

[supermegasonic]

Originally Posted by ~Yami~

It also implied that Kana might have secondary ability.... maybe if she walks, something epic would happen and it is a kind of SS-rank ability

It's little irritating that Ryota can't remember that Kuroha is Kuroneko
we're trolled hard in previous episode then

and than ryota see's the moles but get punched in the face hard enough to suffer pinpoint memory loss

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by supermegasonic

and than ryota see's the moles but get punched in the face hard enough to suffer pinpoint memory loss

Actually he died and time got rewound to a moment before he saw the moles, because he managed to leathally injure the AA

[DezoPenguin]

Originally Posted by jhpace1

Spoiler for Quote under spoilertags for space purposes:

This has all the earmarks of The Secret Society or Breakaway Civilization told about in (allegedly) RL UFO circles. Someone discovers or is given a technology on free energy, antigravity, life extension, etc. and keeps it for themselves, hiding it under governmental "deep black" projects and inner-circle initiations and such. See Area 51, Deep Underground Military Bases, etc. The 1990s "X-Files" plot how the 1940s US government was given both genetic samples ("Purity Control") and technology to prepare the planet for invasion by "superior" UFO forces in the 21st Century.

What we appear to have is a extra-governmental, extra-legal department of the Japanese government not answering to the Japanese government but able to use its' military (and police?) for laboratories, soldiers, warehouses, etc. They can abduct children (always girls?) with ease, subject them to various experiments and torture, and dispose of them when the experiments don't work as expected. That implies UFO technology, or biological material, as episode #4 has shown.

In the (allegedly) RL UFO situation, everyone but the inner circle of 3 to 12 people has a "handler" assigned to them. For life. The handler knows what the technician or expert does, their family, their appointments, their lives - in order to ensure the person doesn't break away from the department. If the handler dies, the person gets another handler, but the person has a handler for life. If the person does anything not in The Rules, they are first warned and then murdered, no second chances. There is no going to the press or defections, ever. In return the technicians literally have any machine part or supply given to them at a moment's notice, supercomputer facilities, unlimited manufacturing, etc. But each person is put into a compartmentalized section, where they do not know why they are working on a piece of the puzzle. A vague promise of a rich bank account for retirement (if ever).

So in Gokukoku no Brynhidr I can see even the technicians and administrators working under a death sentence from the Inner Circle. No mistakes. Do it right the first time. Get the expected results - or else. Very narrow goals without explanation. They can't leave the facilities, or do under armed guard. Their facilities changed every so often to prevent locals from interfering. It was one of these transports-to-another-facility that appears in the flashbacks, I believe.

So the administrators might be living under the "if one escapes, you die" kind of threats. The test subject girls are hybrids of the alien(s), or implanted with alien technology, or both. Although the "death suppression pills" and "melt upon ejection" is new to me. The Breakaway Civilization sees the girls as less than human, either as failures for the alien DNA or powers. And being extra-legal, if the girls escape and the rest of the world finds out about the department, then the entire department, including the Inner Circle, is exposed, which cannot be allowed to happen.

The thing is, that scenario lays out a very good reason, as well as a preventative structure, for why there would be a zero-tolerance policy for betrayal (or even against the warning signs of betrayal in those in a position where that betrayal would have immediate, critical consequences, such as the witches). When involved in extra-legal projects, when the threat of revelation is imprisonment or death as well as the destruction of something important and meaningful to the person in question, it's understandable why such actions would be taken.

(Note: this is not meant to say that I condone such things, only why it makes internal, logical sense. For example, a failsafe that if the beacon mechanism was removed from the harnest, it immediately ejects the witch. Or why civilians found with an escaped witch are also killed. These are evil actions, but actions which logically support the goal.)

What I do not understand, and what my initial complaint was about, is why there is a zero-tolerance policy for failure. Humans are flawed. They make mistakes. Demanding absolute perfection in all staff and operatives is a poor motivating technique (in that no amount of motivation will allow anyone to exceed an absolute limitation, and increased anxiety leads to decreased performance), and eventually leads to either the following exchange:

"Why am I surrounded by idiots?"
"You killed the competent people who used to fill these positions."

(Come to think about it, there's an Evil Overlord List item about that...)

or to fomenting rebellion because if people are convinced it's only a matter of time before they're killed, then rebellion becomes the only possibility to save their own lives.

Basically, killing Saori makes Ichijiku out to look like an evil ass solely for the sake of being an evil ass. That is to say, he's not just driven by the extra-legal nature of what he's doing, or the extremist nature of his project, but because he's a bad person. And, well, I like my villains to be less likely to do petty, individual-level or ego-obsessive jerkass evil.

[DezoPenguin]

Originally Posted by AC-Phoenix

Actually he died and time got rewound to a moment before he saw the moles, because he managed to leathally injure the AA

Yeah, basically the problem is that he saw the moles, but the time in which he saw them was erased from existence and replaced by the new time. So from his perspective, it's not that he "forgot," but that he never saw them in the first place. So now we, the audience, know that Kuroha is Kuroneko, but Ryota's still wondering about it.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

Ichijiku...one thing I've never really understood about all these mad scientist types is, they invest all this time, expense, and government funding into developing these witches, and yet here he's enthusiastic about snuffing out an AA one at the least sign of failure. I mean, I can see why he'd want to execute the escapees--they're slated for disposal anyway due to their lack of power, and they've indicated their willingness to rebel, so get back their harnests and stick 'em in someone else, I get that. But going all "You have failed me!" on potentially valuable resources seems really shortsighted. Especially since he's apparently answering to a bunch of Ominously Vague guys for a Grand Scheme to Be Revealed Later.

I think there's an understandable fear that these witches might team up together and try to collectively rebel against their handlers if they're not kept on an extremely harsh and short leash.

So you have to put real, palpable fear into them - Fear of doing the slightest thing wrong - In order to keep them divided and working for you instead of allying with each other.

Suppose they had a more lenient policy towards failure. Kuroneko might have been able to beg and plead her way to getting Saori to take pity on her and let her run away with some pills after a brief skirmish done just to make it look good for the security cameras. But with Saori's life riding on her being successful in this mission, that's not going to happen.

And the thing with "you fail, you die" threats is that if you don't make good on them the other operatives will eventually notice that, and they'll become entirely ineffective, maybe even something your operatives joke over.


That being said, I don't understand why the one desperate snitch was killed. It would have been smarter to keep her alive, and use your choice to do so to trick her into thinking that you've become a kinder/gentler boss that's willing to forgive the escapees if they all return of their own volition. Then send out the snitch to try to sell this good news, and talk some of the rest into returning in desperation for pills.

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

That being said, I don't understand why the one desperate snitch was killed. It would have been smarter to keep her alive, and use your choice to do so to trick her into thinking that you've become a kinder/gentler boss that's willing to forgive the escapees if they all return of their own volition. Then send out the snitch to try to sell this good news, and talk some of the rest into returning in desperation for pills.

The fact that he answers to other people as we were shown in this episode should answer that. They're demanding that he have killed all the escaped witches already, and aren't interested in reasons why he hasn't succeeded. If he catches one and then lets her go again, no matter what the reason, said Mysterious Evil Council of Evil Mysteriousness™ would respond to any explanations on his part as excuses and say "you've gone soft. You have failed us" with the usual consequences for that sort of thing.

[kache]

04

God, why am I still watching this crap?