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ローゼンメイデン 
I think the show is on a roll at the moment because I've been enjoying every single one of the last three episodes. This episode itself contains a rather surprising development that I think will make the show far more dynamic. At the very least, this will give the show an angle that a fugitive show such as The Nowhere Man, never attempted. Having said that, I hope that they can make the pacing a little bit faster. There are occassions where the camera lingers on for far too long on a particular scene to the point where I have to use the fast forward button because the suspense was killing me. Yeah, I'm a bit impatient but when the storyline deals with a life and death situation and I'm forced to look at a shot of a house for a long time before I get to see what happens to the characters, I can't help but feeling this way.
Continuing from the previous episode, the woman who runs the orphanage explains to Tenma that Kinderheim 511 was an experimental lab used to turn children into perfect soldiers through psychological conditioning, brainwash, and divide and conquer politics. The orphanage intentionally encouraged hatred between each children and then monitor their progress to see if they can create a cold-hearted individual who feels no compassion. The woman also reveals that although it appears that most people died during the fire incident at Kinderheim 511, one person involved with the orphanage is still alive. And not surprisingly, the person is none other than Hartmann. The episode then cuts back to Dieter, who is happily laying in his bed and playing with the soccer ball that Tenma gave him. But his happiness turns out to be short lived because the nurse informs him that a man is there to pick him up and reveals Hartmann behind the door. At the same time, Tenma finds out that the fire incident at Kinderheim 511 began when the Director of the Orphanage died an unnatural death.
According to the woman who runs the orphanage, everyone at the Kinderheim 511 died one night after each individual made an attempt to kill another. Upon finding out about this, Tenma decides to return to the hospital to pick up Dieter but is shocked when he finds out that someone else has taken the boy. Realising that Hartmann is the only possible suspect, Tenma races back to Hartmann's apartment but finds no one inside the place. When he goes through Hartmann's drawer, however, he finds some photographs of him with a couple of children. The most interesting photograph is one of a young Johan and an unknown man posing in front of Kinderheim 511. Tenma decides to go back to the burnt down orphanage to see if Hartmann has taken Dieter to the place. When Tenma enters the orphanage, he finds Dieter sitting in a chair looking bloody and bruised, while Hartmann stands next to him holding a shotgun to his head. Upon seeing Tenma, Hartman tells him that Dieter is sitting at the very place where Johan was sitting the night the orphanage got burnt down.
Hartmann reveals that the only thing Johan did to cause the killings was to say some words that make the already divisive group of people became murderous. Hartmann seems to be pleased with Johan's ability to manipulate people and is disappointed that Dieter can't do the same. He then tries to persuade Tenma to leave him and Dieter alone by giving Tenma a piece of information on General Wolf. Tenma, however, refuses to budge and tells Dieter to get away from Hartmann. He assures the boy that he will shoot Hartmann should the man tries to do something to the boy. Upon hearing this, Dieter comes down to Tenma's side and tells the desperate Hartmann that he no longer believes what Hartmann has to say because Tenma has now given him another perspective about life. The two then leaves Hartmann to commiserate his failure to control Dieter. After they got to the highway, Tenma then tells Dieter to go to the orphanage that is run by the kind woman he met earlier. Dieter, however, refuses and wants to follow Tenma.
Impression:
This one turns out to be quite a chilling episode. The revelation about Kinderheim 511 was quite expected but never the less, it still managed to creep me out. The idea that children were encouraged to hate each other is sickening. Double this with the kind of physical abuse that Hartmann clearly has dished out on Dieter and this one becmes a powerful and yet disturbing episode. The ending also turns out to be quite surprising. I never thought that Dieter will turn out to be one of the supporting characters in the show. And yet, judging from the ending, I think this is now quite a big possibility. I find it hard to believe that Tenma will have the heart to reject the boy's request to follow him. And since he already saved the boy twice, Tenma will feel that he is obligated to take care the boy from now on. If this is true, then I'm quite excited about it because it means Tenma will find it hard to hide from the police when he has a little kid he has to take care of. Besides, I really like the father and son dynamic that comes from the two of them and want to see it developed further.
Note:
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