Recap

Nine and Twelve plant a bomb on the subway, but soon come to realize that the police won’t be able to find it in time to evacuate. Unwilling to become mass murderers, they rush to take down the bomb themselves, but someone is getting in their way.

Aqua’s Thoughts

Talk about a twist that puts your entire premise on its head! With the launch of another riddle, Nine and Twelve soon find themselves in trouble as the police seemingly fail to remove their bomb, placing dozens of lives at risk. Any doubts regarding their code of honour are swiftly wept away as Sphinx are faced with the prospect of actually making casualties, and are forced to put their wits to use to heroically defuse their own bomb while a mysterious force gets in their way from behind the keyboard. It’s the sort of role reversal that proudly ushers in a new status quo for the show; not only have Nine and Twelve revealed themselves to be not as unsympathetic as they originally appeared, the destruction caused by Five’s intervention has turned them from the hunters into the hunted. Furthermore, the episode neatly highlights Nine and Twelve’s increasing humanity by displaying a nice balance between their more likable and more unlikeable traits — from Nine’s coldhearted treatment of Lisa to his risking his own life to save the sleeping girl — in one and the same timespan. With the odds turned against them, exploiting Lisa’s unwelcome presence to outwit Five would be the most logical step to take for the two. Yet with the strangely endearing side they unveiled this week, I wonder if they’d even be capable of such a feat.

On the other side, the mysterious Five’s uncompromising tactics are turning the police office upside down, though it’s hard to call her an asset when she refuses to tell Shibazaki and co. the truths she already seems to know. Furthermore, she doesn’t appear to be fighting for justice either, trying to gas Nine and Twelve out of hiding by prodding their consciousness, only to put countless people at risk. Either she wants to catch the Sphinx boys so badly she’d gladly sacrifice dozens of civilians just to show off her superiority, or she’s trying to berate them for not staying true to the terrorist’s cause by finishing the job they lack the guts — or rather, moral depravity — for, and I honestly have no idea which is worse. She hails from the same facility as Nine and Twelve, so it wouldn’t be too far of a stretch to think she wants to tear the government fat cats involved down just as much, but even then, why would she be working against Sphinx? Nonetheless, it goes without saying that her all kinds of yandere relationship with Nine will play a major role in subsequent episodes. I wouldn’t be surprised if she ends up as the main antagonist of the series — for what that term’s even worth in this show — but the question remains who’ll turn out to be the protagonist.

Sadly enough, it certainly isn’t Lisa, who remains as underused as she is endearing. Somewhat inappropriately, Terror in Resonance even does her the dishonour of demoting her to comic relief in this episode, yet while the overall change in vibe conveyed by her scenes seems a bit grating, this does mark the first time we see her not be horribly depressed. Throughout the episode, she tries to make herself useful as to not incite Nine’s ire, though seeing her at ease would probably have been a lot more heartwarming if it weren’t presented through bathing scenes, clumsy cooking and potentially dangerous curiosity. With some goodwill, one could interpret her actions as a twisted plea for affection from someone who has never known it, but in light of the minimal attention she’s been given in previous episodes, you should forgive me for assuming the worst. Lisa’s subtle development and Atsumi Tanezaki’s splendid performance give the character more than enough depth to be more than just a love interest or token cutie, so if she really were nothing more than a prop, would there even be a reason for her to be in the show? I trust the crew of Terror in Resonance to give her the role she deserves, but the wait for it to finally arrive sure is aggravating. Maybe next week? A man can hope.

Random Observations

• I might as well go ahead and rename this site “The Official Lisa Mishima Fan Club”, right?
• Why the hell would the USA send over a special FBI investigator for a case of domestic terrorism that didn’t even kill anyone?
• The surprisingly great (spoken) English in this episode almost makes up for “WHAT’S A SHAME” last episode.
• I wonder if Lisa’s eating disorder will be mentioned again. It’s a dramatic plot you rarely ever see in anime, and the revelation she was struggling with one — pardon the unfortunate implications — marked the point where I got truly interested in Terror in Resonance as a character-driven show.