This Ugly and Beautiful World ep.7

May 19, 2004 | 1 Comments

Thankfully this episode is a bit better than the last one. The supposedly wacky hijinks part of the episode is actually funny unlike the ones that were shown in the previous episodes. Having said that, I still think that so far the series has failed to show me what is 'beautiful' and what is 'ugly' about the world that these characters inhabit. To me the world that the characters inhabit looks very bland and fake. If I compare the 'slice of life' part of this show to the one from another show, I'll say that NieA_7 does a better job in showing how a simple life can be both beautiful and difficult. Oh well, at least there are some intriguing scenes and questions scattered all over this episode. It especially helps that Evil Hikari rears her pretty head again. She is definitely the reason why I watched the show to begin with and why I still keep up with it now.

The episode begins with Hikari watching a movie on a television and becoming fascinated with the snow and the sea that are featured in the film. Takeru tells her that they all are going to the sea tomorrow so Hikari can see it with her own eyes. Unfortunately for her, the sea in reality is not as clean as the one featured in the film. Hikari, however, seems to be enjoying herself and decides to help out Takeru and his friends to run a beach shop that is owned by Takeru's uncle. All sorts of mischief and fan service then happen in the shop, especially after everyone sees Ryo licking Akari's face. Hikari wants to be kissed by Takeru as well but Mari tries everything in her power to ensure that does not happen. After a couple of failed efforts, Hikari becomes depressed and wonders what she actually means to Takeru. Not long after this, Hikari seems to be in trance and when Takeru approaches her, it is obvious that she has transformed into Evil Hikari.

When she sees Takeru approaching, Evil Hikari tries to kiss Takeru but he instinctively takes a step back away from her. Evil Hikari taunts Takeru and asks him what is it that he's afraid of. Meanwhile, Mari pathetically tries to swim to the area where Takeru and Evil Hikari are located so that she can stop them before they kiss each other. Her attempt, however, is thwarted by a big storm wave coming her way. It is quickly revealed that the storm wave is actually caused by a Mako Shark-like monster, which attempts to kill Evil Hikari. Upon seeing the monster, Takeru tries to take the now unconscious Evil Hikari away from it but he can't hold onto Evil Hikari's hand and she ends up falling into the sea. Because of this, Takeru decides to jump into the sea to save her and eventually manages to grab her. However, for some reason, Evil Hikari has now turned back to normal Hikari.

Takeru and Hikari are then thrown out of the sea thanks to some big waves and ends up kissing each other while the two are on the air. Mari, who sees the kiss, looks obviously disappointed much to my enjoyment. At the same time, the monster eventually succeeds in making a grab for Hikari and tossing Takeru back into the water. While he's underwater, Takeru's injury ends up transforming him into Devilman Takeru. Devilman Takeru quickly runs back to save Hikari, who is about to become the monster's lunch. When it looks like Hikari and Devilman Takeru are about to get away from the monster, Hikari hears Akari screaming at her asking for help. Hikari and Devilman Takeru immediately realise that the monster has somehow managed to capture Akari and about to eat her instead.

Akari, however, looks concerned about the monster, who is now being chopped up into pieces by Devilman Takeru. Having said that, it looks like Devilman Takeru is not fast enought in doing this. As a result, Akari now finds herself in front of the monster's mouth. Just when things look dire, Ryo suddenly unleashes a mysterious power, which manifests itself in the form of strong wind that pushes Devilman Takeru faster into Akari's direction. Devilman Takeru manages to save Akari and destroys the monster's head from its inside. The monster eventually falls into the sea along with Devilman Takeru as well as Hikari and Akari. When Takeru wakes up, everything is all right and to top it off, somehow snow starts to fall even though it is summer. Beneath the sea, however, a tiny life form manages to escape from the monster's dead body.

There are some interesting elements that the series presents in this episode. First thing first, Evil Hikari seems to be triggered every time Hikari goes into some kind of depression or is sad about something. A state of unconsciousness or shock, however, seems to revert her back to normal Hikari. Similarly, anger seems to be the trigger that Takeru needs to transform himself into Devilman Takeru. It's also interesting to note that the monster that appears this time looks a bit battered and bruised before it even got into a fight with Takeru. Is it possible that the monsters are actually the inhabitant of previous planets/eco-systems that were destroyed by Hikari? Or are they simply the manifestations of Earth's will to get rid of both Hikari and Akari before they unleash something devastating to Earth and those who live in it? I also wonder what does the tiny molecule that escapes from the monster's dead body actually represents?

It is also worth to note that even though the monster attacks Hikari and Akari, it doesn't seem to have any desire to harm Mari or other humans in the area. It seems to me that the other humans become casualties of the fight simply because of their close proximity to the fight and not because the monster specifically targets them. Hikari and Akari, on the other hand, seem to be specifically targeted and obviously it has a lot to do with their origin. Because of this, I wonder if they are entities similar to 'Kamui' and 'Dark Kamui' from X. In that series, it seems to me that both 'Kamui' and 'Dark Kamui' resides in one body, that of human Kamui until he makes the decision to protect the Earth and eventually the 'Dark Kamui' factor is transferred to that of his best friend, Fuuma. Although it doesn't seem likely that the dark side of Hikari will somehow got transferred into Akari, one must wonder what sort of role will Akari has in this story especially given the fact that the monster seem to want to harm her.

© memento 2003