Chaos;HEAd, Episode #04: Will the real Shogun please stand up?

Of course Phantasm made "whose eyes are those" into the latest craze.

The trouble with series that have overarching plots is that unless the story is a complete nuisance, they are hard to put down! There is no turning back now. I've got to know what happens to Taku next at all costs. It's time for me to strap myself up and get ready for the long haul, because I just felt the opportune time - the time when I could have gracefully dropped Chaos;HEAd before becoming too involved - brush gently by and slip away for good.

But don't get me wrong. I'm not griping because I want to drop C;H. Quite the opposite. I am lamenting the confusion this episode left in my hands, and trying to figure out how to endure another week without answers to my burning questions. This wasn't quite a troll episode (Geass has got a monopoly on those), but at the same time it forced me to toss out a lot of my hypotheses about where C;H is headed, mostly guesses about who the good guys and bad guys are. Is it harem versus Taku? Harem plus Taku versus New Gene murderer? Bah. Hell if I know!

The appearance of the 'real' Shogun threw me for a bit of a loop. That scene in the empty metropolis reminded of Ichigo's psycho-spiritual encounters with Zangetsu in Bleach, so I don't know whether to assume that Shogun is a personality 'within' Takumi (like Seira) or an altogether separate character. Aside from that little tidbit, the harem is my main source of confusion. They have all neatly congregated in Shibuya, but as to their intent... who can say?

The 'boy falls on top of girl and puts his WHOLE HAND ON HER BOOB by accident' scene is an anime classic! This might be editorial material.

So shall we start with the good news or the bad news? Since there's more good here than bad, let's start with the lame. The first thing I'm going to complain about is the animation quality. We all know what Madhouse is capable of, but it looks to me that they are not living up to their reputation in certain patches while putting full energy into others. The result is that the characters look really sleek in some scenes, and clank around like a badly-drawn doujin in others. I wanted to scream during one scene where FES's hair was sticking half off of her head like a cheap wig. Taku seems the most difficult to do justice, though. His face gets fatter and thinner, eyes look too narrow, too droopy -- it's a mess! Did they invite guest animators to do their dirty work while they went out for coffee one day?! Oh well. We all know it well get better again, and as Crusader has noted himself, I can endure a little bad animation as long as the story is good. A little. T_T

The other bad thing is not really so much of a bad thing come to be as it is a mystery egg that seems equally inclined to hatch an ugly ducking or a swan. Taku may be at his wit's end looking for answers, but for the audience, though we have just as few answers, some of the steam has been let out of the pressure cooker now that we know where things might be headed. We know this much: 1) there is a cataclysmic event to be avoided, 2) there HAWT harem with crystalline swords hunting for some ass to kick, 3) there is an otaku with the ability to predict the future(?), 4) there are bizarre murders happening in Shibuya. Beyond that, not a whole lot more can be said with any certainty. We don't know who is on whose side, nor how the prophesied event connects with the murders, nor the source of the crucifixion and vampiring. When the truth unfurls and the real fight begins, it could be a bone-busting explosion of awesomeness... or it could be another cliche with a grandiose lead-in.

∫øø7 ∫3715#.

Despite being a filler, this episode had its gleefully insane moments and a token 'critical plot development' reserved, predictably, for the very end. Taku's delusions are becoming so kinky that it's mildly disturbing, even if appropriate situated in dark harem show. Sena's foot job was the best (worst?!) by a long shot and I swear it won't be long now before the writers to break out the S&M. But the strange thing about his delusions is not that they are perverse - come on, people are guilty of far worse than foot fantasies - but that their sexual aspect is tangled up with their clairvoyance. Think back to the Phantasm concert. During that intense moment when their eyes locked, if Taku received some kind of telepathic insight into FES's purpose, why was it necessary that the imaginary FES mash her mammaries into his torso? It's as though alongside all the psychic meaning, he interprets any and every expression of interest from a girl as fundamentally sexual... even his little sister. EWWWW imouto-complex! Ecchi! Ecchi!

Most of the rest is all business. A lot of little loose ends are, if not tied, then tidied up. FES and Taku have a post-concert rendezvous, and she tells him he needs to find "the sword" to attain salvation, probably the same "Di-Sword" that Sena referred to earlier. Detective Suwa was huge n00b and couldn't handle a simple task like finding a high school student, so with big daddy Yasuji's help they FINALLY locate Taku and throw a few questions at him. Rimi pays Taku a surprise visit and cranks up the rabu rabu after he tackles her (and her boobs) to extract his new Seira figurine from her clutches. Taku checks himself into the mental hospital again to find that his doctor is on a leave of absence ("conspiracy", you say?); he returns to the shipping container to search for the mythical Di-Sword that might guard him from the chaos.

HA HA imouto broke Taku's Di-Sword!

The best is saved for last. Watching the so-called Di-Sword get snapped like a twig during imouto 's orange-flinging rage was even more hilarious than Taku swinging it like it could actually cut something. Really, it was kind of funny and pathetic at the same time, sort of like watching someone take five boxes of Benadryll to get rid of that 'mysterious little itch' and then sobbing when it returns with a vengeance in the morning.

Besides that, I'd say three important events are yet to come. The final member of the harem, telepathic Kozue Orihara, makes her debut in Taku's class under the much-abused guise of transfer student. Following that, Taku experiences a low-grade mental breakdown when he realizes he has no retreat from the chaos, from which he raises his head to greet the most intense delusion yet -- one where all of Shibuya's denizens have disappeared. He runs through the deserted metropolis, desperate to find someone, anyone. A withered little man sitting in a wheelchair is eager to oblige; he introduces himself as Shogun (dun, dun, DUUUN!) Last but not least, the sound of Rimi's voice jars Taku back to consciousness. A concerned slap, a gentle caress, and Taku is all but ready to throw himself at her mercy, eager to forget the deceptions that lay at the edge of the previous romances. We'll see how things work their way back to that scene in episode one, eh?

Next Episode:

Abunai!