Recap: The populace grows tired of the monster’s constant attacks, as does Flamenco Girl. Just as things are falling apart for Hazama, King Torture issues a direct challenge, with the life of Mari hanging in the balance.

Am I the only one getting weird terrorism allegories from this episode? I found it pretty hilarious that one week after monsters started popping up that people just accept it as a part of life. No one even stops to take a picture of the giant fish-headed guy who apparently just wants to ruin your senior yearbook photo. It reminds me about how sensationalist news has made the horrible events that can take place in our world seem all too common. On 9/11 many people were paralyzed with fear, but as terrorist attacks became less common and less successful, they were pushed back into the afterthought of the American psyche. In the same way, Guillotine Gorilla seems to be the only monster anyone cares about because he was the only one to have actually ended lives. Each unsuccessful monster simply makes people not want to take King Torture as a serious threat, and honestly I don’t see any reason why they should.

…At least until the episode break. Once again I’m surprised by the brutality of what’s been shown in this anime. Torture is a touchy subject in any culture, especially towards women. Few anime would go so far as to show victims of torture after the act like they have here. Every scrape and bruise on the news producer and Flamenco Girl was well drawn and it made a horrific effect.

Things are moving awfully fast considering this show is still three episodes away from the end of the season. I can’t imagine King Torture will be axed so quickly into his revelation, so I’m sure this is going to be one of those “WE’LL MEET AGAIN, HERO!” kind of fights. While Mari is by far my least favorite character, nobody deserves what she’s been put through. Since it seems King Torture makes his monsters out of broken men, lets hope nothing worse happens to her than it already has.