Alright, back on steadier ground. This wasn’t a great episode, but there was good material here, and after last week’s episode I’m just happy to see the show isn’t falling apart altogether. The Hirakawa material reflected fairly well on the show’s progress so far, the big Gotou fight was actually pretty engaging outside of the stupid shounen dialogue, and I’m still enjoying seeing a far less mopey Shinichi. Looks like we’ll be getting out of this with dignity intact!

My full ANN post is available here. Took a bunch of notes this time, and they’re all below!

“When it comes to killing, nothing on earth can match the human race.” Still where we’re at

“The tools you have should be put to a far greater use. They should be used to protect the balance of the biosphere.” This stuff is much less interesting cackled from a villain than it was when Migi was stating it matter-of-factly to counter Shinichi’s ideals

“The crime of pollution is far greater than the crime of manslaughter.” Why is he being so dark and stormy about this? Just say your piece, dude

“You should place greater value on your predators.” I do like that single line as an explanation

Mayor Hirokawa. That’s his name

“Someone on earth had a sudden thought. ‘Life must be protected.’” Aw shit the line from the beginning of the show for some reason

“Prioritize the prosperity of all life over that of the human race.” It would really be better if the parasites had actually been shown caring about this more directly earlier. I don’t feel sorry for this dude because he’s always been a cartoon villain

Though I guess what he hates is the hypocrisy, not the values

“That is what should make you superior.” Another nice line

“Humans are the real parasites”

Now they fire

The mayor was a human awwwww shiiiiiiit

That’s great. The second example of parasites and humans coexisting, and it’s this guy

Tamiya Ryoko was of course pro-Hirakawa. But things fall apart

I like the underlying tragedy of this plan. It’s just the execution that’s really the problem

I like the pacing of this episode better

Uragami kills his caretaker, unsurprisingly

“I live only to fight” okay mega-parasite

Migi’s feeling fatalistic about this whole situation

And Gotou’s the super-parasite

Nice Gotou confrontation

Now that they’re actually just treating this like a shounen battle and keeping it simple, it’s better. Uragami and the police’s terrible plan did a lot of damage last episode, but this episode’s cut the crap

Some decent, if extremely short bursts of animation. It’s fortunately using the strength of Shinichi’s schoolyard fights, and not dragging things out

STOP EXPLAINING HOW YOU DODGE BULLETS

Yeah, the speed of these exchanges is great

Gotou promises to kill Shinichi, to bring himself closure

So Uragami probably escaped as well

“I forgot to go to school. …heh, school…” Nice moment

This music’s a bit much, as always

Shinichi being crazy-terrified here was not built up at all. This is bleh

I like the brief moment of Murano feeling conflicted, shaking off those feelings, and then acting positive and casual for Shinichi’s sake

A couple indications this episode that Migi can pretty much read Shinichi’s thoughts now – the dream, hearing him while Migi was asleep

“When you feel your life’s on the line, your true nature surfaces”

“I want to live” contrasted against the scenes with Murano

“I’ve called Migi cold-blooded, but I don’t have any right to say that. In the end, I’m trampling on those around me in order to live.” Contrasting Shinichi’s realization on the personal level with Mayor Hirokawa’s general condemnation

“I’m going to live. No matter what it takes!”