Mayoiga: The Lost Village Episode #10 Review

If you lose your Nanaki, you lose yourself.

What They Say:

A shady bus tour of young men and women are headed to an elusive village called Nanakimura. A destination where people can partake in a utopian existence, free of the world's obstacles... or so goes the rumor. Heading deep into the mountains, the bus is carrying 30 different individuals, each harboring their own expectations and troubled hearts. What they had arrived to was an uninhabited village with lingering, faint scents of life. It was falling apart. Just what is the secret of Nanakimura?

The Review:
Content: (Please note that the content portion of the review may contain spoilers)

I was right -- the mystery man was Reiji. I mean, I'm sure that I'm not the only one that thought that...but I can still flaunt it in my critique, right? Anyway, things get a tad weirder in this week's episode. Hell, I still can't even figure out if half of what happened actually even happened. Nonetheless, we've got a decent amount of ground to cover.

First and foremost, Mitsumune wakes up (Or does he?...) in an abandoned hospital-looking thing with his father next to him. Mitsumune's father, who is visibly shaken up by the reunion with his son, goes on to detail what happened while Mitsumune was away. Apparently, his mother put his disappearance on her, stating that she, "...killed another one". Papa-Mitsu then goes on to tell his son that they were so close to making her normal again and that they wanted him to come back home. This scene is actually one of the most powerful ones in the series so far. There's a shot where Mitsu's father is scratching off the names of his children on their house's nameplate and it's almost heartbreaking. Almost. The upsetting part is, from this point on, the episode begins to fall flat.

Out of nowhere, Yottsun shows back up (Or does he?). As if that wasn't weird enough, we learn that Yottsun is now friends with God. And by God, I mean a guy that he calls God -- his real name is Kamiyama or something. As it turns out, Kamiyama is a professor/theologist that has been studying Nanakimura for years now. After doing research on the psychological scars of various people from different backgrounds, Kamiyama took it upon himself to visit the village as well. In turn, this lead to him meeting the Nanaki (Which is the confirmed manifestation of psychological scars) and ultimately getting sent back to reality after he loses it. The thing is, ever since he lost the Nanaki, he has started aging rapidly. That part still doesn't really make sense to me.

Meanwhile, the best-girls and Nanko begin questioning Reiji after he brings them all to his house. This is, in fact, Masaki's Reiji -- though he doesn't particularly feel this way. According to him, Masaki has always had a thing for him but he honestly just doesn't care. In fact, he doesn't really seem to care about anything. Reiji states that he was living with several others...but that they just randomly vanished along the way. After a long argument that results in Maimai losing her temper and hating men again, Reiji takes the girls to a cliff that overlooks Nanakimura where he suspiciously states, "It's changing shapes." Dude, what? Oh, we also get to see Lion's past for thirty seconds. She looks cute in a dress. That's all I got from it.

Finally, we are re-introduced to Jack as Eyepatch-man shows back up at a mysterious shack in the middle of the night. After the two punch each other in the face for messing up their duties, their boss shows up. Aaaaaand it's Koharun...Greaaaaaat.

In Summary: 

Despite episode #10's well-written start, the episode loses steam as it drags on and winds up being a jumbled mess. Too much information is thrown at viewers in too many ways and it ultimately shapes a sporadic and unintimate viewing experience. While it was nice seeing things that may or may not have actually happened in Mitsumune's household after his disappearance, things like the thirty seconds of Lion's backstory and a rushed science lesson from a rapidly aging man wind up being...just dumb, really. The Reiji thing was predictable -- the Koharun thing was predictable. Essentially, Mayoiga has a lot of work to do if it wants to craft an ending fitting for the rest of its relatively solid outing.

Grade: C-

Streamed By: Crunchyroll