My last show of the week. Let’s… do it… ugh. Technically, I still have the “Everything Else” post to finish up, but that’s relatively painless. Anyways…

— For some reason, this guy is still barely alive. I guess it’s perfectly possible to succumb to your despair before you die. I mean, if you’re going to die anyway, you might as well become a Herald.

— I thought that by stealing Grandpa’s blood Sagawa had some grand designs in mind, but he’s merely expelling the old man from Stasis. Everyone is convinced that they’re useless without his teleportation ability. I guess I don’t feel as though I agree. Certainly, it has been immensely useful, but it is also completely unpredictable as well.

— They also keep talking about how they need to get the Stone back in a hurry, but they’re all just walking at a leisurely pace. Grandpa’s heart is behaving oddly, but he also displays very little urgency. Even the show doesn’t find itself very compelling. It’s just odd to see. This show has featured a lot of slow walking.

— Grandpa says that if something happens to the Stone, then they’re all stuck in Stasis forever. Majima eyes Juri, but I don’t agree with her. Even if Juri expels everyone from Stasis, if she’s still stuck in it, then time never continues. I mean, I thought that’s how it works. Can she expel her own jellyfish?

— Grandpa then falls to his knees as his jellyfish threatens to abandon his body. Luckily, the jellyfish points everyone in the right direction. That’s convenient. It’s also remarkable how close by everything is.

— Majima says it’s too late to help the old man, but as if Juri would ever give up. She ends up convincing him to use whatever energy he has left to teleport them both to the Stone. But then what? Does she even know how to stop this process? I bet she’s going to break it. That previous conversation about them being trapped in Stasis was too convenient in its timing.

— Yep.

— Something falls out, and it is apparently the critical piece of the Stone. It’s… it’s soft and mushy. What was it?

— Sagawa and Shiomi show up, but all of a sudden, the former attacks the latter. Uh… what? Shiomi then wants to switch sides. Again, what? I guess Sagawa knew that his right-hand man would only be loyal so long as the possibility of leaving Stasis existed. The whole scene still feels a bit jarring, though.

— Grandpa’s real torn up about the Stone, and Sako freaks out about them being trapped in Stasis. Majima assures him that the rest of them can escape, but Juri couldn’t. Our heroine then goes and tries to use her own abilities on herself, but it doesn’t work. But I’m just like holy shit… what if it had worked? What if she just accidentally expelled herself and everyone else was stuck in Stasis? Doesn’t it seem like she made a potentially foolish gamble? Even Sako agrees with me.

— Elsewhere, that guy at the start of the anime is still in the process of changing into a Herald. It happened pretty quickly for Majima’s family. I wonder why it’s taking so long for him.

— Sagawa’s weakness is that his Specter might consume his body. That’s about it, I guess. Shiomi reiterates that Sagawa wants to become practically immortal. He wants the ability become one of The Stalled in the normal world. He would then just release himself at any point in time, and it would feel as though he had jumped forward in time. The sad part is that this feels like an innocent enough desire. Juri can’t help but ask if that’s truly all that Sagawa is after. Like, doesn’t he want to conquer the world or something? After all, I, too, wouldn’t mind being able to live forever and observe the vast history of mankind. It doesn’t feel like I would need to harm anyone to do so. Likewise, I don’t understand why Sagawa instantly turned to evil. Surely, he could’ve tried a less antagonistic approach before resorting to murder.

— I don’t know why Shiomi has to go on a spiel about the appeal of immortality. Look, most of us are curious to know how things will unfold for mankind. We just don’t bother talking about it because it isn’t remotely possible. Man, how awesome would it be to live forever? Sure, there are some logistical problems to resolve… In any case, this scene is unnecessary.

— Juri’s just as confused as I am. What is the point of this conflict? If Sagawa just wants to fuck off to the future, then go fuck off to the future. Why are we even fighting?

— Sadly, Shiomi explains that Sagawa wants to fight, because it’s all just one big experiment for him. Dumb. He’s such an uncompelling villain. The banality of his evil doesn’t make him frightening like say the bad guy from The Vanishing (and I’m referring to the superior Dutch-French version). He’s just lame and boring.

— We briefly swap to Takafumi and Makoto for… comic relief, I guess. Oh yeah, they also get to bump into the newly-born Herald. This one seems a bit evil, though. I mean, why is it chasing Takafumi right from the outset? I guess he’s kind of messed up but still… Oh well, at least the shamed patriarch is brave enough to at least try and protect Makoto.

— And then we find out that Makoto has special powers too…  in fact, he can control the Heralds. Good lord. Takafumi takes credit for the kid’s newfound ability, and Makoto is too naive so he goes along with it. Great, now everyone thinks Takafumi’s useful.

— I honestly think this is my least favorite show out of everything that I’m blogging this season. Yes, I’d rather watch Killing Bites over this. Takunomi is boring, but at least it’s short. Even Toji no Miko edges it out in my mind. Yep, no doubt about it.