Okay people, here’s the deal. I wasn’t feeling too good last weekend and with the last week of my semester at the University is pushing on with its tests and thesis presentations, I couldn’t bring myself to start writing a detailed description of the episode as I have done thus far. I apologize in case there actually was someone looking forward to this but right now I’m prioritizing whatever energy I have left to finish the semester in a decent manner. However I realize that I shouldn’t leave the blog just hanging either and as such I will present you a brief run-through on what the last week’s episode was about.
The episode starts off straight from where the previous one ended. Rimi finally spills the beans and we learn that 1. Takumi’s entire past, including his house and family, are fabricated memories, 2. the crucifixion scene he witnessed when he first met Rimi was a delusion and 3. Takumi himself is no more than a delusion, created by the real Nishijou Takumi. Also, Takumi apparently possesses powers that are cut above the rest and Rimi wants to stop him, even if it means killing him – the more he uses his powers, the more his “real” self will weaken. Yup, there’s little doubt about his true identity at this point – all bets on Shogun. Meanwhile Ban and Momo-chan have hit a jackpot with their Gero Kaeru-research and find a direct relation between their sales and a governmental entity willing to silence the media about GE-rate. Soon Ban gets a call from his subordinate who sounds like he’s hit trouble at the city hospital. However from the looks of it he’s totally fine, at least enough for a little skinship with a nurse.
Takumi tries his best to ignore what Rimi told him and decides to establish his existence as a real person by calling his old buddy Misumi. Too bad this backfires as it becomes apparent that Misumi doesn’t remember anything about being friends with him in the past. Ban arrives at the hospital and the suspicious nurse from before points him to the roof. As he goes on his way we get a look at what the nurse has been doing on her pastime – chatting with Takumi! But things are only getting started as Yua enters the hospital as well and meets her twin sister Mia, who is supposed to be dead. Takumi finally gets a chat response from Grim who is indeed the nurse and she lets him in on some information on something about to happen downtown – obviously the next experimental run of Noah II. While Takumi is screaming for someone to kill him at the top of his lungs someone bangs on the door – it’s Nanami, and she seems to be alive and well! What the hell is going on? At the hospital Yua catches up to her sister and confronts her in the stairwell, only to have her own identity questioned. It is implied that Yua was in fact Mia and had her sister murdered out of envy, after which she took her place. She is lead to the roof by her twin, where it becomes rather apparent that Mia wants her to experience the same fate of diving down onto pavement as she did.
Meanwhile on the roof of another hospital building Ban meets his subordinate Suwa, only to find him without a scratch and in no danger whatsoever. Before he gets to ask too many questions though Suwa pulls out a revolver and shoots Ban in the stomach. Revealing that he was indeed working for someone with a conflict of interest with Ban, Suwa finishes him with another shot. Incidentally the sound startles Yua out of her trance and as Mia resorts to violence to get her to commit a suicide, she pulls out a Di-Sword and a quick slash from her shatters Mia’s form – breaking the delusion and revealing a NOZOMI’s Porter. Soon another Di-Sword is thrown to the Porter’s backpack, destroying the Noah II amplification equipment, and Ayase appears. Yua might be saved; but back at the container Takumi is going nuts, begging his little sister to kill him. I guess it’s a usual topic in the family since Nanami appears to completely ignore him, instead talking about losing a bangle she had gotten from Takumi as a present and pretty much hitting on her own poor brother. But where did Rimi go? To NOZOMI’s place of course where she finds the Noah II device. However it seems that she’s been expected for a visit.
Yeah, it’s Norose and he has Nanami. But wait. Wasn’t she supposed to be trying to get it on with her brother in the container house? In any case, she is released from her binds and starts crying about losing her bangle. Well, bangle isn’t the only thing she’s lost – part of her right hand is missing! Norose feeds her with some nasty delusion which leads her to believe that Rimi stole her bangle, causing her to awaken and summon her Di-Sword. At the container house Nanami convinces Takumi that he can’t be a delusion since they have memories together from childhood. Realizing that this might be his one-way ticket out of the nasty mess cooked up around him, Takumi embraces his sister and uh…she vanishes, not that it was very unexpected. Back at NOZOMI’s lair Norose confronts Rimi and doesn’t seem to care if she takes Nanami back with her – apparently her sample has already been taken. As a parting gift though Norose does something as ebil as switch off the lights, which is enough to scare Rimi helpless. From the looks of it she used to be a guinea pig for NOZOMI and her original personality was destroyed in an experiment involving long periods in a completely dark room.
In town things are going rough as random fights are breaking loose all over. In his all-time low Takumi has decided to take Seira-tan along and go check out the event Grim told him about on IM, completely disregarding whether it’s going to lead into him getting killed or whatever. As poor Seira-tan gets trampled by the crowd Takumi wishes that someone would come and kill him, but instead he meets his old pal – Shogun. It is clarified that Shogun isn’t the one behind the entire mess, as he tells Takumi not to die since he’s the only one who can stop the real perpetrators. Meanwhile the situation is getting worse and guns are fired – according to Shogun people are being fed a delusion of being attacked by someone. Takumi holds the key to stop things, but he’d rather curl up and die. The world needs saving but where are the heroes?
The face I’m making while writing this. Or watching Index.
Okay, this didn’t really turn out to be quick at all but at least I could slack off with the screenshots. The animation quality is as terrible as ever in episode 10 but the plot is steadily headed towards a conclusion. Mystery elements are coming together rather nicely and there’s a good possibility of the ending being very surprising. Despite the weak graphical work it’s been hell of a ride so far and I place my hopes on Madhouse to execute the ending in a satisfying fashion. In the other news, Anime Blog Awards ’09 is going to be in action soon and it’s nice to see that some of the issues its predecessor faced are taken into serious consideration this time over. Best of luck to our buddies mellow, Impz and Akai.
