Zankyou no Terror Episode 8 Notes – What We Stand to Lose

Last week was rough, no Zankyou no Terror, no Barakamon, but here we go again. Last episode was “Seat of our pants” thriller, with non-stop music that kept things racing, and a sort of “Bizarro-world” plot, where the “good cops” have to join forces with the terrorists to stop an airplane from exploding on a terminal full of people, and a Die Hard 2 rescue scene for Lisa.

It was enjoyable, but now it’s time to see how people pay. The game between Five and Sphinx is only starting, now that we see Five will stop at nothing, and Shibazaki once again disobeyed orders in order to do what is right. However, in Greek tragedies (Ala Oedipus’s story), the choice of being true to your rules (Law of the Gods) or the dry law (Law of the People), is one that you don’t make, but follow your nature and your preordained choice, and pay the price.

Thoughts and Notes:

Screenshot album.

1) On Social Positions:

1) “My Fair Lady”, what an interesting episode title, a reference to the classic story of Pygmalion, another Greek figure. So, we have a lowly commoner and we transform her to appear as royalty, we take a mannequin and make a person out of it. This can be Five and the other kids due to not being “entirely human”, or Lisa, who will finally become one of the group.

Zankyou no Terror Episode 7 Notes – Hard Choices, Obvious Decisions

(Note: Episodic notes are still mostly to be found on the Episodics Notes’ page. For those who don’t know, I take the notes as I watch the episode, and merely re-order them afterwards.)

Two weeks ago we’ve had the best episode of the series to date, full of smart writing, showing how everything’s connected, and addressing the appearance of both plot elements and scenes. Sadly, last week might have been the show’s weakest episode to date. It wasn’t terrible, or “randomly bad”, but it was an intermission episode, which is what you get when you try to stuff 10 minutes’ worth of content into 20 minutes

Why did they do it? So that this week’s episode would get to start with a bang, and get to continue full-steam ahead, without the episode-break coming at an inopportune time. Well, let’s see how they managed. I expect a pretty brisk episode.

Thoughts and Notes:

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1) Adult Problems – Kept in the Dark:

1) Considering that my biggest complaint with last episode is how much of it felt stretched, that up to 4:12 minutes into this episode it’s all content from last episode aside from the OP feels like adding insult to injury. You make that content take even more time, eh? Well, I guess it fits with how they need all of the content shown to fit into one episode, and were wary of splitting it up. Show me what you’ve got, show-makers.

Zankyou no Terror Episode 6 Notes – An Uneven Playing Field

(Note: Episodic notes are still mostly to be found on the Episodics Notes’ page. For those who don’t know, I take the notes as I watch the episode, and merely re-order them afterwards.)

So, last episode was in my opinion the best episode in the show, and it didn’t even have to do with plot, as much as it was with how deftly the writing handled everything – mention a complication, so we in the audience can think of what it means, and then the characters discuss it. Question why certain scenes keep appearing aside from for the sake of procedural drama (such as the briefing in the police), and then we’re given a reason, so we’d see the chief get pulled outside for clandestine dealings.

Why do we keep getting riddles, they don’t seem to be the real deal – and just when we’re about to tire of them, we see the characters mention they are indeed not the real deal, and what the real riddle is.

And of course, on the plot-level, we get another rival to Nine and Twelve, and just like Shibazaki, the rival is defined not by differing from them, but by being similar to them, in a true suspense-thriller fashion. The stakes are raised, and the past, always the past, looms overhead, as is always true for Greek tragedies.

Thoughts and Notes:

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1) Loops and Ladders, Winners and Losers:

1) The chief of police is also kept out of the loop. This is political, now.

Zankyou no Terror Episode 5 Notes – Pulling the Rug

(Note: Episodic notes are still mostly to be found on the Episodics Notes’ page, but up to a couple every week will have their write-up appear on the main page, when I think they warrant it. For those who don’t know, I take the notes as I watch the episode, and merely re-order them afterwards.)

Last episode made it pretty clear, the riddles don’t matter as much in and of themselves, it’s the same situation as House M.D. – the riddles are there to create tension. Shibazaki is a mirror image of Nine and Twelve, he wants to be like them, but he already is – both sides only gain validity via the other.

Nine and Twelve used Shibazaki in their riddle, they’re reaching across, they’re connecting. And likewise, Lisa is making contact as well.

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Thoughts and Notes:

1) Homecoming:

1) Here’s something I didn’t think about last week, Lisa asked Twelve if they’re going to destroy the whole world, right? I didn’t think about which answer she’d rather hear, this ostracized girl with no connections.

Zankyou no Terror Episode 4 Notes – Playing a Game Requires Others

(Note: Episodic notes are still mostly to be found on the Episodics Notes’ page, but up to a couple every week will have their write-up appear on the main page, when I think they warrant it. For those who don’t know, I take the notes as I watch the episode, and merely re-order them afterwards.)

So, where are we going? We’re heading towards a conflict. Nine wanted a rival, and he got one. They even gave him a face. It’s been made personal. Lisa left home, her ties are all being severed – “But for you who have been abandoned, love does not exist,” was it? But it doesn’t matter if you’re truly abandoned, or only consider yourself so. Perhaps it’s even sufficient if you’re the one who abandoned others.

Three sides. Order and chaos, and Lisa in the middle. Now it remains to be seen how this thriller will keep playing out.

Screenshot album. A few too many, also because I tried for subtitle-less for some shots, and they’re hard-subbed.

Thoughts and Notes:

1) Call-outs:

1) Every episode begins with Lisa. Last episode did not end with her, unlike the first and second episodes, but we still begin things with her. It’s her journey, leaving society, cutting her ties, that frames this.

Zankyou no Terror Episode 3 Notes – Game, Set, Go!

(Note: Episodic notes are still mostly to be found on the Episodics Notes’ page, but up to a couple every week will have their write-up appear on the main page, when I think they warrant it. For those who don’t know, I take the notes as I watch the episode, and merely re-order them afterwards.)

Last episode had a very distinct purpose. It was there to show us that Nine and Twelve are taken seriously, and to introduce to us what every Thriller Mastermind needs – a mirror, someone on the other side who can understand them, provide an adequate challenge, and will provide said challenge. That’d be Shibazaki.

Now the only loose ends is what will the show do with dear Lisa. Well, let’s find out.

Screenshot album.

Thoughts and Notes:

1) Callbacks and Call-outs:

1) Like last episode, this one as well opened with Nine or Twelve talking to Lisa. Same as each of the previous episodes ended. Both times the message is, “You can’t go back, you have nowhere else to go. It’s just you, alone.” – I think they’re priming her, or at least making her even more similar to themselves, even as their similarity is what drew them to her to begin with. No connections, except to one another, though right now they’re making her feel her separation from them as well.