The adventures of Nishijou Takumi continue as Chaos;HEAd proceeds to its 6th episode and thus reaches the halfway of its run. Earlier I expressed my concern about Madhouse spending too much time adding more mystery and plot elements – well, looks like we’re finally getting down to business. I apologize for being so late with this post, but a sudden hard drive failure and a bunch of other things complicated things a bit.
As we remember from the previous episode, another New Gen murder has happened and Takumi got a link to a video taken from the scene by the perpetrator, whom he identifies as Shogun – the wheelchair riding horror from his delusions. As the incident, named Group Dive, is reported in media, it also becomes known that the video was uploaded from Takumi’s favorite internet cafe.
At school our protagonist can’t get his mind off what Shogun told him at the end of episode 4. He interprets Shogun’s words as a threat to not run away or he will lose his life. Takumi is also as obsessed about Di-Sword as ever, now that Ayase has confirmed its existence. Not that it was much of help though, as Takumi has even less clue about how to obtain one.
However, he remembers what Sena said about electrical substitution of basic senses – that a blind person will be able to see by the means of video camers hooked up with his or her brain. Realizing that this can also work the other way around, at least in theory, Takumi comes to a conclusion that by this mechanism delusions can also be made real – by recording a person’s thoughts and projecting them into reality. Is this what the Di-Sword is about? I think our main man is finally on to something here.
Before he has a chance to indulge too much into his cleverness, he notices Yua leering at him at the door. Undoubtedly remembering what happened at the net cafe earlier, Takumi decides to scram as quickly as possible. Of course, running is bad for a nerd’s health, and so he has to make a stop at the school yard to throw up. While he’s coughing and begging someone to save him, Rimi appears to comfort him and finally manages to win his trust. She promises to hang around with Takumi as much as possible to help him from being scared of loneliness.
Takumi finally spills the beans about Shogun to Rimi as they have a cup of coffee together on the way back home. However, she doesn’t believe that what he saw was actually reality, since downtown Shibuya rarely is completely empty as it was when Shogun appeared. Nevertheless, Takumi is absolutely sure about Shogun’s existence in the real world. His internal monologue is cut short though, as he notices a bunch of protesters marching down the street shouting stuff like “Destroy the demon” and carrying around signs, one of which says “Sono me, dare no me?“. A bunch of lunatics or citizens concerned about New Gen? Who knows.
Back at the container Takumi is doing some frantic googling on his theory of realizing delusions and finds out about a secret project of the US military on a device with similar properties – possibility to read minds. If the system could realize what it scans on a person’s mind, then it would confirm his theory on delusions becoming reality – such as the school swimsuit Ayase who seemed to appear as a real life person in the previous episode. There’s just one problem – Takumi doesn’t possess any top-secret devices as far as he is concerned. But what if he has a natural ability to do the same?
Deciding to try it out in practice, Takumi grabs the blade of the broken toy sword he bought from Town Vanguard and attempts to realize it into an actual Di-Sword with his mind powers (Trace on?). However, Rimi quickly interrupts him and tells him to throw the sword away, while looking awfully serious about it. Is she aware of what’s going on? Images of the crucifixion scene with blood-soaked Rimi flash in Takumi’s mind. However, before he has a chance to get suspicious Rimi quickly puts up a smile and tells him that it’s just childish for a person in his age to have a lame toy sword.
In attempt to make an excuse of some kind, Takumi happens to reveal that he knows two girls at Suimei Academy who possess real ones. Following in Yua’s footsteps, Rimi expresses interest in him in a way that even an oblivious nerd can understand. Of course this is where Takumi’s next illusion butts in and we get some very nice views of Rimi wearing a bit less clothing…which ends in a rather hilarious line on Takumi’s part. Of course, she isn’t actually running out half-naked but startles Takumi out of his delusion while raiding his fridge for something to drink. However it seems that Takumi’s Coke reserves have ran out and Rimi decides to go on a supply raid, leaving Takumi to savor the memory of Ero-Rimi. Seira-tan does not approve.
While spending some time alone in the container Takumi gets more IM messages from Grim, telling him that another New Gen murder has taken place. The victim’s brain had been removed without killing him (hell, is that even possible?) and the guy died after a week from emaciation. After checking out a news article, he discovers that the victim was the same doctor he visited for help in episode 3, Dr. Takashina. Thinking that Shogun is onto his tail and try to provoke him to take action, Takumi gets a major panic attack and begs for Rimi to show up and save him. As expected, she conveniently appears and calms Takumi down.
We leave Takumi and Rimi for a bit to see what Sena is doing. The whole scene is kind of ambiguous here since not much is explained, but what I can tell, Sena encounters a fat nerd at some park gathering and asks him about the wereabouts of someone named “Hatano”. The dude denies knowing anything and picks the last person in the world to be an ass to. Sena draws out her Di-Sword and apparently makes it to appear in the real world so that the people can see it, and attacks the nerd, slashing open his backpack. On the inside we see a computer board of some kind, with a chip with a text “N.O.Z.O.M.I” on it…something we’ve already seen before.
On the following morning Rimi shows up at Takumi’s place to accompany him to the school. Looks like the two are getting closer and I’d be surprised if we didn’t see the Rimi-end…wait, that’s what we saw in the very first episode right? At school Takumi runs to Ayase and asks her for a hint for his hunt for the Di-Sword. However all he gets, expectedly, are the words “It was there when I noticed it. At first I wasn’t aware of its existence“. Misumi is amazed by how Takumi had a conversation with Ayase, because apparently it’s the first time she’s having a normal conversation with anyone at school. As a wannabe-womanizer, he is of course interested in finding out a way to woo her…not that he had a chance though.
While on the way back from school, Rimi asks Takumi about what he talked with Ayase about and he spills the beans about her possessing a sword. Rimi’s reaction to the news is, not very surprisingly, rather suspicious – she obviously knows what’s going on, although she quickly covers her surprise. At the park where Takumi likes to stop by for a brake he tells Rimi about his theory of having the power to realize his delusions. Rimi desperately tries to convince him that the whole thing, including the accident that took place in his childhood, is a delusion. However, befores she has a chance to stuff any more propaganda in Takumi’s brain, he sees a delusion of rather disturbing-looking Yua standing on the other side of the lake.
Next we take a peek of the police investigator visiting someone who seems to be an outsider consultant on G-Errate phenomenon explained in the previous episode. Apparently there is a connection between the gravity and human behaviour – changes in gravitational field can influence the actions of an individual. Full moon can cause some differential patterns in this behaviour, but now it seems that the G-Errate phenomenon, gravitational amonalies that are especially abudant in Shibuya, is going to cause effects several times (6800 to be exact) the power of a full moon alone. To make things even more complicated, it appears that the victims of the New Gen murders were scientists who attempted to appeal to the public about the G-Errate – someone obviously doesn’t want the people to know about the nasty stuff, or the “hive mind” created by the phenomenon is behind the murders to cover up the tracks.
Back at the container base Takumi is reading through the latest rumors on the net – apparently FES’ personal information as Ayase has been released, revealing that she has been admitted to a mental hospital before. Takumi begins to doubt whether he can trust her advice on finding the Di-Sword or not, but he is interrupted by a cellphone call which he thinks is from Nanami. However, the number is unknown and Takumi quickly puts the pieces together – it’s gotta be Shogun. He takes Seira-tan’s advice on ignoring the call, but suddenly the call tune changes into a siren of some kind which only increases in volume accompanied by a sudden earthquake. Not only at Takumi’s place, but apparently the phenomenon is taking place all over Shibuya – people all over are covering their ears from the noise. As suddenly as it appeared, the noise disappears. At school Yua gets a mysterious phone call after which she joins the students gathering around the windows. Shibuya is covered up in fog. Whatever it is, something nasty is definitely going down.
This week’s Chaos;HEAd was a pleasant surprise. Madhouse is finally ready to get down to business and the series is entering its intense parts. This episode was a cliffhanger like no other and I hardly can wait for the continuation. Keep this up and we’ve got a winrar.
