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While intellectually I find Mio's story quite interesting I must say that the anime team is making a fine job at disconnecting me emotionally from what could be yet another emotional roller coaster from Key.
There's just absolutely no subtlety in this episode. Absolutely none! There's at least half a episode where the main character was supposed to be growing more and more suspicious of something that's not quite right and yet we get a bunch of "oh, that's right" moments with virtually no buildup whatsoever. It's killing me because I actually want to like this show, I feel like the stories it wants to tell would be enjoyable for me but the constantly subpar presentation keeps detaching me.
The constant monologues, the color palette that seems to be composed of only "bright" colors even when the mood requests otherwise and the jarring scene transitions just keep on pulling me out of the experience.
There are two scenes in particular that left me feeling like this on this latest episode. The most jarring one to me is when Riki is sitting bellow the tree supposedly looking grim over the fact that Mio has been replaced. He was supposed to look grim but the scene around him is so colorful that it becomes jarring. I had no qualms at first with the bright look of the show but when you have a scene that is supposed to be somber looking like a bright sun shining day it kind of feels out of place.
The other moment that pulled me out of the experience was when Riki says that it would be nice to sit under the tree and read a book. I was expecting at least a bit of dramatic pause or something to let the feeling of discomfort over that strangeness sit in but the scene hardly has a few seconds to rest. It kills the mood.
And I won't get much into the revelation scene on the beach where the "camera angles" got me more confused over what the hell was it trying to show me rather than what the revelation itself was. When the reveal of the lack of shadow came from Midori it took quite a while to actually see it for myself since the scene took its time to show it. It killed the drama and bit.
Don't get me wrong though, this was one of the few episodes that had me on edge to learn more (the last time I felt this was during Komari's arc) but I hardly felt anything emotionally for the characters due to the art and scene directions.
Note: I have not played the game yet.
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