What They Say:
Kazamatsuri, a modern, well-developed city renowned for its burgeoning greenery and rich Japanese culture, is home to Kotarou Tennouji, a high schooler least privy to the place's shared values. Content to fill his pockets with frivolity, the proud and nosy boy whiles away his time pestering the self-proclaimed delinquent Haruhiko and indulging in his amorous feelings toward the oddball Kotori.
Equipped with the superhuman ability to permanently rewrite any part of his body to multiply his strength or speed, Kotarou is naturally drawn to the supernatural. One special meeting with the lone member and president of the Occult Research Club, the "Witch" Akane Senri, leads to Kotarou reviving the Occult Club by recruiting Kotori and three other members: the clumsy transfer student Chihaya, the strict class representative Lucia, and the unassuming Shizuru. As Kotarou unveils hidden secrets of each member of the Occult Club through their shared adventures, he will inevitably encounter a fate that only he might be able to rewrite.
The Review:
Content: (Please note that the content portion of the review may contain spoilers)
In this episode of Jurassic Park...err, Rewrite...the blonde guy with the snaggletooth and the red hoodie has traded in his dogs for a cool new dinosaur that he plans on killing essentially all of the main characters with. That being said, as soon as this penultimate installment of the series kicks off, we're immediately thrust into a situation where no one has any idea what the hell is going on. Almost immediately after things begin, Kotori's druidic realm in invaded and she is forced to utilize every single one of her monsters to just temporarily fend off the dinosaur. In addition to her monsters, however, she also uses...her parents -- which we discover are actually just their corpses reanimated with the help of Kotori's magic. Weird. One thing I want to mention about this scene is that, on paper, it would have been phenomenal. Hell, even the initial "Mom! Dad" shot when Kotori begins to cry out is mesmerizing. But it's all over too quickly. I'm sure this is a lot more impactful in the visual novel, but it feels like it was just casually tossed into the mixture for the animated series and, honestly, I'm a little disappointed.
Okay, moving right along, the battle with the dinosaur winds up coming to an anticlimactic close as several members of Guardian show up and essentially take the thing down I guess? I'm not really sure how this battle ends to be completely honest. As soon as the monster is about to eat some guy with a battle-axe, the scene just freeze-frames and the dinosaur controllers is just like, "...So this is the end of the line, huh?" and then his arm disappears and he vanishes. This is a completely normal way to die and affects millions of Americans each year.
All while the dinosaur is slowly being subdued, Kagari is beginning to lose her grip on humanity. It's apparent that her consciousness is fading away and that she's becoming more of an object than an actual person. Even with this, though, Kotarou does not give up hope -- talking to her as if she were the same way she normally is. This all stops, however, when Kagari speaks her only words in this week's episode, "I couldn't find any..." Of course, that's extremely cryptic and no one understands what she means. So when Kotarou retorts and asks, "Couldn't find any what?" she says, with tears welling up in her eyes, "Good memories of humanity." Just seconds later, she erupts into an emotional screaming fit and throws up a barrier of her ribbons around her as everyone sits back and tries to figure out what the Hell is happening.
Meanwhile, back at Gaia's headquarters, Akane's adoptive mother (Sakura Kashima) is inching closer to death every minute. Following another exchange between our isolated heroine and the apparent antagonist of the series, Sakura decides that it's time to visit "The sanctuary." As she proceeds toward a helicopter with Akane and several guards, one more member of Gaia shows up and proclaims that Obachan has lost her mind as he accuses her of trying to end the world. Of course, she doesn't let this fly and sics a raptor on him from literally out of nowhere. This is also a completely normal way to die that affects millions of Americans every year. Immediately after the man is torn to shreds, Sakura summons a portal in the sky that tears Kotarou and the others out of their new alternate-realm, which is actually a Gaia summoning pit. They are sent straightaway back to Kazamatsuri where a colossal tree has sprouted right in the middle of town. How the hell are they going to explain this?
In Summary:
While things actually happen in this episode for the first time in a while, there still seems to be something missing. The most emotionally provocative moment of the installment (Kotori's parents sacrificing themselves) is incredibly underwhelming while it could have gone on to be reminiscent of the good old KEY feels-train we all boarded back when Air was a thing. Apart from that, though, we do get a decent amount of screen time for essentially all of the characters, with Kotori and Kotarou once again being the primarily highlighted ones. Akane continues to become even more interesting as she becomes locked in a mental bout between her and the spirit of the "Saint," clinging to the little control she has left over her body. With only one episode to go, something big is almost certain to happen. What I'm worried about, however, is that the series finale won't be big enough. Needless to say, a lot of time has been wasted in Rewrite. The question now is whether or not that can be rewritten.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
On Midou's death, perhaps the anime didn't made the point clearly enough, but it's lightly mentioned a few times in the narrative: monsters function through consuming the life force of their user. It was especially taxing for Midou, who happened to control two overwhelmingly strong familiars. Which was why Kotarou's group just stalled him and ran away -- he was really bound to die soon. ((On a side note, the only reason why Kotori managed to control so much monsters on her own is because of her access to the power spot, the source of the Key's life force found in her secret base.))
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