(L) Wonder Egg Priority

[BWTraveller]

What had me surprised and confused is the Accas seeming to suggest that they're personally at fault for the suicides. Makes me wonder just who/what they are.

[HandofFate]

uh oh, is it time for Wonder Egg to go Kyubey

[serenade_beta]

So one more episode for each of the remaining two girls, plus a finale episode?

[BBOvenGuy]

The poem quoted at the end is by 19th Century Frenchman Charles-Pierre Baudelaire, and was quoted by Eugene O'Neill in his play, Long Day's Journey Into Night.

Spoiler for Length:

Be always drunken.
Nothing else matters:
that is the only question.
If you would not feel
the horrible burden of Time
weighing on your shoulders
and crushing you to the earth,
be drunken continually.

Drunken with what?
With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you will.
But be drunken.

And if sometimes,
on the stairs of a palace,
or on the green side of a ditch,
or in the dreary solitude of your own room,
you should awaken
and the drunkenness be half or wholly slipped away from you,
ask of the wind,
or of the wave,
or of the star,
or of the bird,
or of the clock,
of whatever flies,
or sighs,
or rocks,
or sings,
or speaks,
ask what hour it is;
and the wind,
wave,
star,
bird,
clock will answer you:
"It is the hour to be drunken!"

"Be drunken,
if you would not be martyred slaves of Time;
be drunken continually!
With wine,
with poetry,
or with virtue,
as you will."

Make of that what you will.

Meanwhile, I have no idea where they're going with this story, but I'm really eager to find out.

[Ragashingo]

A couple of thoughts from episode 9:

1. Parallel worlds exist? Neiru’s friend Kotobuki sure seemed to think so!

Our parallel selves are alive.

After being happy that Neiru found new friends, Kotobuki says:

It’s fine. You made new friends, right? I’ll make friends with those girls in another world-line.

Presumably, Kotobuki went poof at the end of the egg dream which is why she was said to be really dead afterwards. Still, I’d assumed the various Wonders were... passing on to the afterlife. Could they instead be moving on to a better world? Maybe that is the afterlife?

2. Something might be pulling the Wonders away from a traumatic death.

At stage four Thanato there was a sweet smell like honey. I felt like an insect preyed upon by a carnivorous plant.

It sounds like Kotobuki was doing her near death experiments and went too deep. Something tempted her to fully die. If she had died, it would have been traumatic because of that adult researcher who wanted to use her body for research. But then, she was saved from that trauma?

Temptation of death? Not a temptation. More like my mind and body were abducted.

Is that the point she was put into her egg?? And what was it that pulled her away? Innocent Sorrow, we’re told...

3. So, I have a theory... I think maybe the Accas are some sort of force for good or at least a neutral force of death. They do say that they are the root cause for girls’ suicides, but look at what they are doing:

- They are running the Wonder Egg system that appears to help those that died to suicide move past their trauma.
- As part of that system, they are “abducting” girls away from the temptation of death with the promise(?) of innocent sorrow as opposed to being consumed by a horrific trauma? Think of all the Wonders and how they are sad but not traumatized when they ask to be remembered before going poof. That’s Innocent Sorrow, isn’t it?
- The Accas are somehow the root cause of girls’ suicides but are working against the worst aspects of those deaths? So much so that they are using science and technology to investigate why girls commit suicide?
- And the big one, they appear to have arranged for Kotobuki’s egg to come to Neiru so they could both have closure. And they did so so that Neiru would fulfill Kotobuki’s dying wish that her still living body not be experimented on by adults. This appears to have been an act of kindness by Ur-Acca, who is the same one who previously opened up the arcade or the girls.

So... could the Accas be some sort of metaphysical force of death... but a benevolent one working to make suicides less traumatic?

...of course, it won’t take much to push my perception of the Accas back into pure evil territory. A hidden bad motive for the Wonder Egg system, for instance...

[Ragashingo]

Whoa. A good Momoe episode. Lots to think about and possibly allusions to chase down because of the ending, but here are some initial impressions:

• It was great seeing Momoe finally get to save someone who recognized her for who she is! That blush and secret near the end was great!
• Most if the rest of the episode is pretty heart wrenching. From the bad date to the identity issues. I felt awful for Momoe multiple times throughout the episode.
• Ai and her teacher is moving to an end. So far, he’s given all the right answers. There could still be a turn to creepy, but I like that I don’t think it will... and that there’s still a possibility.
• I need a better look at that character and to track down name references.
• That ending!!! Oh no!

My theory on the Accas being good looks more confirmed, but was also somewhat incomplete. But only due to a lack of available information, so I’m feeling pretty good about it. Too bad girl talk got in the way of more answers.

Overall, another good episode! Here’s hoping the plot and staff can hold out to the end!

[BWTraveller]

So Love is the opposite of Death. I'm guessing it'll set up the "seduction of death" as something tangible committed by some sort of being, either a literal god of death or something that's calling itself that. And I'm guessing that Death doesn't like giving up his captives; perhaps that's why Panic died: taking a life for the life that was taken from Death. In any case, it sounds like there's supposed to be some sort of big enemy to fight.

[serenade_beta]

Spoiler for ep10:

-To be honest, the alligator has not been around for me to care that he's killed. Frankly, just like the rape, it felt like the anime was trying to be as gruesome as possible, but it failed because what is equivalent to randomly being told "Oh hey, this animal is killed!" doesn't evoke any emotions.
Also, Momo is definitely getting the short end of the stick, since she's the gender identity character and has to deal with the entire spectrum of the rainbow, instead of just a creepy teacher and yandere friend or bad mom. Also for some reason, only her friend revives and her pet gets sacrificed to the story.

-Wow, the secretary is working with the two mysterious accounts! What could this mean?! Who could they be?!
Oh, just normal humans in the digital world.
...Uh well, sure...?

-So apparently the girl has revived...? And when a character is revived, a super-OP boss monster appears...?

[BBOvenGuy]

Wow, that was really something. A few thoughts...

"Eros" and "Thanatos" are Greek gods, yes, but they're also terms used by Sigmund Freud, beginning in Beyond the Pleasure Principle and further elaborating in Civilization and Its Discontents. Eros is the life-instinct, which produces creativity, harmony, sexual connection, reproduction, and self-preservation. Thanatos is the death-instinct, which produces destruction, repetition, aggression, compulsion, and self-destruction. At least that's what the internet says, and we all know the internet is never wrong.

It's said that the death-instinct is necessary for the life-instinct to flourish. Life needs something to push against. Perhaps killing Panic was something that was going to happen all along, to give Momoe something to push against, and the same fate awaits the other three critters as well.

Strange that Sensei only told Ai about his exhibition, and didn't tell her mother, who he professes to love with all his heart. He seems to be on the up and up, but what happened to Koito is still hanging out there waiting to play out.

Similarly, the two dummies (hey, they called themselves that first) don't really look especially good or evil to me. They're a couple of dudes pursuing their own interest. Just with really good tools. But there's still time for that to change as well.

Someone on reddit is theorizing that Momoe is really a transgirl. I didn't buy it until that last conversation, after the evil kendo teacher was vanquished. Maybe...? If so, she had a really good doctor helping her transition. Really, though, that might be one big twist too many. I'd still call it a remote possibility, but I no longer think it's zero.

Others around the net are hoping for a second season, claiming the story can't be wrapped up in two (or possibly three) more episodes. Oh, it most certainly can. They're pulling the triggers at all the right points to wrap up this particular storyline in fairly short order. That's not to say a second season is impossible, but it would be an entirely new storyline.

[BWTraveller]

Well, there's at least one reason he might have refrained from asking the mother to come. He and Ai's mother previously sought Ai's permission to date, and while she started with "permission" she went on to make it clear that she'd hate them both for it. Given the mother's effort to gain her daughter's approval, it could very well be that she and Sensei have put their relationship on hold until they feel Ai has become more open to the idea. If she's that opposed to the relationship, asking her mother out could backfire, but asking her to see the exhibition and use this as an opportunity to directly convey how sincere he is about her mother may seem a better path to her acceptance.

[Ragashingo]

Yeah. I want the teacher to be innocent. And they’ve done a great job of not showing any actual guilty hints (no maniacal laughter, no creepy looks, no suggestive evil comments) while still maintaining plenty of doubt!

It does feel odd that the mom wouldn’t know about a painting of her daughter given she and the teacher have been in pretty close contact throughout... What do you bet Ai’s question isn’t actually addressed until like the last few seconds of next episode? They seem to do that a lot... like having the girls ignore the Accas...

[BWTraveller]

She might know about the painting. I just suspect she doesn't know about the exhibition, or maybe knows but also felt that it would be better for Ai to meet with him alone.

[HandofFate]

damn, I feel really bad for Momoe. Just about everything smacking her in the face.
And not only did her 'child' die, the thing forcefully feeding it to Momoe? Yikes.

Surprise, not surprise, that Neiru is in on everything?

[serenade_beta]

Originally Posted by BBOvenGuy

Someone on reddit is theorizing that Momoe is really a transgirl. I didn't buy it until that last conversation, after the evil kendo teacher was vanquished. Maybe...?

The anime hardly has time left to spend another episode on her (and the other girls only got one episode too), outside of resolving her trauma with the weird superboss thingy, which probably connects to the final conflict (thus why they would spend any more time in the first place).
I don't think that's the case.

Also geez, just because she's already faced the wrath of lesbians and gays, doesn't mean she also has to complete the B and T part too.

[BBOvenGuy]

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

The anime hardly has time left to spend another episode on her (and the other girls only got one episode too), outside of resolving her trauma with the weird superboss thingy, which probably connects to the final conflict (thus why they would spend any more time in the first place).
I don't think that's the case.

There was another suggestion that Momoe is intersex, i.e. her body has both male and female characteristics. To me, that actually explains more of what we've seen about her than either being cis or trans, and we've already seen an intersex character in anime fairly recently (Luca Esposito in Astra Lost in Space).

But ultimately I think you're right that there isn't enough time remaining to devote to the subject, so I expect they'll just leave it ambiguous.

[BWTraveller]

We haven't seen anything that I can recall to suggest at all that she's anything but cis. Isn't it enough for her to be struggling with the fact that so many people essentially think she's a boy without her being anything but a cis girl?

On a different note, I can't help but wonder whether there'll be any backlash for having a trans boy among a group that's been clearly established as "only girls".

[Sides]

I love this show, it keeps on giving.
As for Momoe, sometimes kids are indirectly being forced to play a certain role by their peers. Peer pressure can make people do hilarious things.
The thing I notice about momoe is, everytime she is hanging out in this group, she is probably the most feminine character out of the bunch. It is only when people expect her to be a boy, she behaves like one and dislikes it, from my observation, but she is willingly to play the role to make others happy.

[alex_drian]

Ai got to deal with the bullied, Rikka with the cultist(?) and Neiru with the...weirdos? but poor Momoe have to deal with Special Victims Unit shit. That seems the worst of the bunch.

Also. I'm worried for Rikka. She is the kind of character in this stories that tries to go against the Boss only to get herself killed and increase the stakes...as Kakyoin. Also, I don't think she is going to take well some attack against the turtle. I'm hope I'm wrong in this.

[Alchemist007]

It's kind of odd to have such a heavy subject dropped literally in middle of one of these fights and then it ends with a happy parting of sorts a minute later.

[Last Sinner]

Episode 10 certainly picked things up after....'time issues' seem to be the reason for 8 being pure recap. 9....certainly progresses the scenario, but...as some others have said, it feels like key moments/significant development gets heavily compressed. Someone else I know who wanted to like this show but didn't said they felt this was trying to be edgy for the sake of it. I don't quite believe that, but...I think they have a point.

This title is more straight up. Without the smoke and mirrors other titles like it have, you really do focus on the characters and their raw emotions. At times, it gets monotone, because each fight follows a similar pattern. Rika overcoming her issues felt like the only significant variation. I'm also getting worn out by every male in this show being scum or it's insinuated they are.

I still like this more than anything I saw last year. But...if this is really going to wrap things up in 2-3 episodes, it will feel like something is missing. For a while, it felt like this would be two seasons, but the way ep10 went, seems headed for the endgame.