Recap

As Lisa struggles to cope with her new situation and the police struggle to trace the bombers, Nine and Twelve plot their next attack

Zigg’s Thoughts

I continued to be mightily entertained throughout this episode, though it’s hardly a laugh riot. I wasn’t super thrilled to see the boys begin a game of riddle-based cat and mouse with the cops, considering that the whole idea has been done to death numerous times. Still, they go pretty deep with the mythological references here, which a history geek like me appreciates, and the writing by and large is very good. There’s admirable tension to many scenes and it helps that the police response is by and large sensible, measured and realistic. It helps with the believability of the conflict when both sides are competent.

What really struck me in this episode though was the snippets we get of Lisa, and how deeply they disturbed me. I think it’s because there’s a longstanding (and worrying) trend in anime of brutalising female characters for the audiences pleasure. Lisa has so many of the classic warning signs – blackmailed into an unwinnable situation, emotionally abusive single parent, socially outcast at school – that I’m sort of worried that a large part of the show is going to be about breaking her for gratification, something I definitely do NOT want to watch. With that said, there’s encouraging signs Watanabe and his team recognise this and are in fact actively playing into it. The ‘coke and mentos’ moment for example seems almost deliberately set up to be a potential date rape, yet is harmlessly subverted. While they boys’ battle with the police is intriguing, it’s what’s going to happen between them and the girl that will make or break this show.

Random Observations

• The police conference near the beginning of the episode is an excellent example of how to do an exposition dump correctly – it makes sense in universe, is broken up into several different characters delivering information and remembers to inject a certain amount of personality into the explanations.
• I have a pretty solid familiarity with the Greco-Roman myths but I’ve never heard of the alleged second version of Oedipus’s riddle.
• Getting a pretty strong V For Vendetta vibe from the setup – terrorism as revenge for a personal grudge, most likely involving human experimentation.
• Yoko Kanno’s terrific music continues to add a great deal to the thick atmosphere of the show.

Marlin’s Thoughts

Overall this was a pretty solid episode. Having another incident so soon seems a little audacious for any terrorist group, but we have to keep the ball rolling and this really was the best option. I’m a little worried by these riddles. I’m hoping it’ll stay less Riddler and more Se7en, but it would only take a little bit of narmy writing to turn this show from thrilling to comical.I could see a bit of a Death Note vibe too if they start having a back and forth between the terrorists and the grizzled detective. I could see this going good places if they make it a legitimate battle of wits. However, it has to be careful to recognize that no matter what the ultimate goal is, the boys are villains. It would be interesting to see a plot where the terrorists win, so to speak, but so long as they punctuate that with the gravity of their crimes.

One problem I do have is that, so far, these terrorists seem to be committing acts of nonviolent bombing. I’m wondering if it’s simply a way to make us like the characters better despite what they are doing. I don’t think it’s the right way to go about this kind of story, though. These kids obviously have a beef to pick, and it just seems so out of focus to have them threaten Lisa’s life last episode and yet make pointed efforts to make sure their bomb targets are cleared out. These guys are using something inherently deadly, and the show would do well to not shy away from the grisly aftereffects of their actions.

Iro’s Thoughts

For the most part, Terror manages to keep up the same unsettling atmosphere as the first episode. With every passing minute, you can’t be sure if the next is going to bring something terrible. The best example of this is when Twelve drops something into Lisa’s drink, and you’re terrified for about half a second until it turns out to be a mentos & diet coke gag.  That said, having both of Sphinx’s bombings so far be devoid of proper casualties is a real strain on the suspension of disbelief. I have to wonder if the lack of actual deaths was an order passed down by the anime executives (which is sadly quite plausible), and either way I can see myself growing tired if Nine and Twelve never kill anybody ever. The entire riddle bit is also somewhat questionable, seeing as how I can’t seem to find any evidence of this alleged second version of the Oedipus story. Still, even with these issues, Terror is still the most intriguing show this season and I hope it can ease my misgivings.

Gee’s Thoughts

Terror continues to be a solid show with some trappings and cracks in it that have me skeptical of where it’s going. This episode basically served as a well-executed infodump, though if the show continues to be Nine and Twelve bombing buildings as the police fail to catch up, it’s going to get old very fast. Cat and mouse stories are at their best when both are equally formidable. While the police haven’t been shown to be explicitly incompetent, I would hope they could actually put the heat on our two protagonists enough to make things more interesting. At the crux of the matter for me though, is still Terror’s insistence on having us sympathize with two terrorists. The most egregious form of this is their supposedly non-lethal bombings. I can’t tell if this is intentionally a part of their plan or merely a cheap way to make them more palatable for the audience. We should never forget, Nine and Twelve are not good people. They are terrorists, they have broken the law, and they have threatened innocent people. The idea that just because they don’t kill people should make them the good guys is utterly unacceptable. I can only hope that as the story develops, Terror will recognize Nine and Twelve for the irredeemable criminals they truly are.