Perfect Insider was back in top form this week, with an episode that mixed the compelling personal contrasts of the first couple episodes with the more plot-centric mystery focus of the last couple. The show is charting a very tricky course, and could probably topple into self-indulgence at any moment, but for now it’s nicely demonstrating how mysteries and character stories can work together if you make the mystery into the character story. The mysteries here are not just related to Magata’s death, but also Magata’s past and overall identity – and the show’s framing and dialogue is making sure to consistently tie Magata’s identity to Moe’s, meaning all the pieces fit together very gracefully so far. I don’t know if the show can pull it off for another six episodes, but it’s been walking this tightrope for half a season now, so it’s certainly got a chance.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below!

Opening with Magata’s past – her “lover” talks to her about desiring perfect freedom, away from society. She wonders what prevents him from claiming it

Cut to Moe waking up, still haunted by Magata’s words about her parents. “I was alone, always alone.” Purple’s significance becomes clear – she was wearing a purple dress when her parents died

Souhei tells her she needs to be someone who can stand alone at times like these

The link between Magata and Moe keeps being raised

The director was Magata’s uncle

“Shiki was covered in blood and holding a knife.” Her lover mentioned a knife, saying it was the only thing he’d need out in the wilds

“I won’t let you do this,” Magata’s father had said. And that sparked something in Magata

Kurimoto Kishio is one of her personalities, and also her brother

Apparently he was her twin brother who died right after her birth

One of her other personalities was based on her maid in America, who died in an accident. Her death caused Magata to return home

“The inside of her head may have been too big for just one personality.” Loneliness again – even in her head, she craved company as her world was isolated

Magata Michiru, her third personality, was the doll

A rare step outside – a woman who’s seemingly Magata walking around in a hat and shades, free in the sun, enjoying food. Against directly contrasted with Moe, who’s enjoying the cookies in captivity

A ship is coming tomorrow

“They needed her right hand to open the door”

“We need to take her body back to her room.” Permanent captivity, immediately contrasted with the free Magata

“Then what if they were in that room before the security system was installed?” A bold question from Moe

She was the doll and the one alone, because she was the only one with a living body

“Magata Shiki may have been unable to forgive anyone who would trespass on her own freedoms”

“A person who can do anything must experience great pain when they’re told not to do anything”

“I think about freedom a lot, too. I want to escape the university.” “Why haven’t you?” “To put it simply, I’m tied down.” “If you want to quit, you should quit!” And yet another scene extremely explicitly linking Moe to Magata

“You think I’d tie you down?”

“I don’t care if you tie me down. I think it’s love that causes a parent to restrict their child’s freedom.”

“No matter her motivation, that means there was someone lacking in her as a person.”

“No, something’s lacking in us. That’s what makes us follow rules like human nature, like love and ethics.” Souhei’s quite a fucker

“No one is as pure as Magata Shiki.” His logical nonsense

Souhei thinks her multiple personalities are the most “pure” state of humanity

“You don’t know anything, Sensei. I wouldn’t kill my parents, no matter what happened.” And here the significance of the “was there anyone else with you when your parents died” question becomes relevant. Magata also saw something of herself in Moe. Did Moe kill her parents, or did a person within Moe do it?

And then we see Magata again, and learn it’s the flashback to the night she killed her parents

And we learn it was her uncle, the director, who was her lover