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Okay so this is an english pun, but there isn't any english in the vocals. So now I just have questions, as somebody who doesn't know japanese. Is there some equivalent pun involving a deer that miraculously works in both languages? Is this some very deft thinking on the translator's part to shift puns? Or are japanese audiences expected to understand the multilingual pun?
SV is one of the few works I really trust with meta elements because it is one of those rare stories that I think actually does understand the complex emotions between an author, reader, and work.
I was going to just post this with a caption "yuri" but then the scene directly afterwards has Niikura turn to the camera and talk about how Nagumo was the one who gave her life meaning. So like, really hoping AO3 has at least something about them.
It's interesting how I see the detective very differently now that I know her past. The detective outfit and cigs added to the intimidating aura when she was a mysterious and ruthless hunter. But now that I know that its cosplay and her dads old shit from a 10 year long mental breakdown she just seems so pitiful.
I was going back and forth on if that was intentional or not but her very next scene a few minutes later has her contemplating suicide. So I do think the series is altering its framing of her, emphasize the parts that aren't just the dedicated to killing.
Even near the end of the episode, when she gets into a fistfight with Akkun, the way the story shows her is a little different. She's still as powerful and violent as ever during the actual fight, winning handily against a skilled vampire. But then the camera keeps following her as she makes her exit.
And she's completely tired and out of breath jogging away from the battle. Because unlike vampires, with infinite youth and stamina, she has to deal with human limitations.
In previous episodes, she had been shown from the vampire's perspective, as their own personal horror movie monster. If the fight this ep had been shot with the same effect in mind, ending the scene with Akkun trapped and her leaving menacingly, it would have seemed the same. But now that we've peeked into her perspective, the audience sees the struggles that go into it from her point of view, the moments of weakness and vulnerability like this one that the previous framing couldn't show.
I do kind of think that in fiction at some point impressively large numbers overflow and are no longer very impressive anymore because the audience just has no way to comprehend them.
Star Rail keeps trying to make a big deal about how Phainon and Cyrene had the willpower and determination to never give up throughout 33 million time loops. But like, that is a lot of millions. I don't think humans can understand a number like that. If you google "33 million years ago" the results talk about the Eocene–Oligocene extinction event - that's so long ago that not only had humans not evolved yet but the conditions for them to exist weren't even present. (And these are 1000 year time loops! So it is actually way crazier than that!) These are numbers where when I hear about the characters pushing through it I no longer think "wow they're so cool." I think "Okay, these aren't human people, they're magical creatures from Shounenland. Suffering for thousands of times the length of human history is basically enrichment for them."
And it is almost funny because in this very story patch we actually have a counterexample that I think proves my point. When we get to March's flashback, we learn that for 97 days straight, she was in complete isolation, forced to run and never stop to evade Lygus. And somehow this feels like it has more emotional impact on me than the previous. Because, you know. 97 days is a lot of time to be in constant fight or flight, I don't think that I would be able to do it, but I can imagine trying to do it, it isn't a number completely out of my imagination. It feels like a human being pushed to her limit, rather than just an arbitrary amount of Time. Big numbers aren't always better, I do think it is a good idea to keep a bit of restraint for stuff like this.
Niikura has an interesting duality where she is simultaneously genuinely interested in her artistic endeavors, but also cannot help but see them as primarily a source of financial gain. It happened both with her photography hobby at the start of the show, which she began to feel was pointless if she could not win a competition cash prize; and now again with her youtube channel, which predictably makes no money for her.
She treats these activities like get-rich-quick schemes, things she has no attachment to except as a low effort cash source, but as seen in the second picture, she quickly becomes genuinely attached to them. But she can't accept simply doing it pointlessly, for fun, it doesn't cross her mind to continue on with these projects simply for personal enjoyment even after realizing she won't be making money off of them, and thus holds herself back.
Mixed feelings on this gag because like. It is really funny how many anime fans insist that their series main characters must have no romantic or sexual experience and I like that they poke fun at that. But it does strike me as a bit cowardly to make that joke right after establishing that Nazuna does indeed have no previous romantic experience, and in fact that she is the one unique super special vampire born loveless. Would have had more bite to make that joke after actually establishing past romantic ties for her.
I like that Kou's life affirming words here are a callback to the more comedic scene with Nazuna half a season ago. The detective's speech about having wasted her life and having nothing left going for her was really emotionally affecting for me. But part of the show's repeated messaging is that there isn't any one point where a life is irrevocably set in stone. Kou, who started the series by completely reinventing himself, has no hesitation in telling Anko that if she thinks her life has no meaning she can just go find some. It's surprisingly touching.
