Kiznaiver Final Episode (12): Well, that was a lot of tension for nothing

Nope…totally not suspicious. This is why I don’t take random flyers.

Haha what’s going on here? Sonozaki talks as though she’s offering people some big opportunity, but then these guys are basically forcing people into it. Sounds like a great deal!

Also, random side note: Without seeing the chicks on the heads of the black version Gomorin, I would never have noticed that those were eggs on the heads of the white version.

Eh…I’m really not a fan of this explanation. It feels like such an arbitrary reason to make Sonozaki different from everyone else. Especially since I feel like she couldn’t possibly be the only person that feels this way (for example, why doesn’t Nico trigger the same interaction?).

I seriously hate these two. They’re clearly throwaway characters, but they’ve been put into the series just to explain to the main characters what the antagonists are planning.

Random lens flare. Also, “cell phones don’t work in a crisis” cliche.

Thanks, Maki, for acting exactly the same way you did before your big character growth arc.

This entire scene looks important and all, but when you take a step back and analyze it, you realize that the entire scene is establishing that these guys are already friends. They established this last week…come on.

Does she really think the only reason those kids were friends was because they were connected by the Kizuna System? I honestly don’t know how to feel about that.

Uhh…run that by me again, Nico.

There’s something…off…about the way this scene plays out. Doesn’t it seem too easy that Sonozaki turns?

Feelings!

Haha!

This is the part where everyone gets upset about Nico losing, right?

I agree…a pure relationship.

I feel like I got cheated somehow. It felt like all of this tension was built up with the idea of “Sonozaki is going to start bonding with everyone”, but she ends up bonding with basically no one. What was even the point of the black Gomorins and the surgical masks? I don’t understand. Oh well…another series over, I guess. And at the end of the day, I still don’t understand how the Kizuna System was even supposed to work…sigh.

Kiznaiver Episode 11: Katsuhira with the initiative

Being Sonozaki is so much suffering…

Oddly enough, I agree with Nico here. Come on, Katsuhira…stop using amnesia as an excuse!

I can’t tell whether I’m supposed to take these guys literally or not. To be fair, taking this literally means that getting the Kizuna System removed from them has blurred their memories of their summer together, which is kind of a dumb thing to introduce in the final episodes of the show. So I’ll take the optimistic route and interpret this as the standard “we used to be so happy, but now that just feels like a distant memory”. Because, you know…that’s way cheerier!

Maybe it’s weird, but I tend to like stuff like this…the announcer on the TV declares “thinking time” to relate to Katsuhira’s real situation. Then, Katsuhira stands up as if he’s thought of something when the announcer declares that the answer is correct. I honestly can’t get upset at this.

Normally, I wouldn’t mind something like this at all. Katsuhira’s character change is clear after meeting his friends and it’s decent progress for him. But he’s apologizing to Chidori and that’s somewhat annoying…for some reason.

Holy crap finally! Granted, I still believe that the scene with Tenga could have very easily happened at the start of this week’s episode (it might have saved the use of the flashback), but this realization is finally happening!

Not a single thing going on right here is weird…nothing at all! Just two bros hanging out, am I right?

Even though we started the series out with Urushibara saying something like “I only care about Nori-chan”, it feels like Yamada does a much better job of actually following that principle.

I was confused by this a bit at first, but then Katsuhira referred to himself as “gudon” when he returned to class. Isn’t that the sin of the “new seven deadly sins” that Sonozaki assigned to Katsuhira in the first episode of the series?

The power of friendship!

Ahh…the awkward scene where everyone finally realizes they were true friends all along. Not bad, I guess…might be a bit cheesy, but I’m dead inside, so can I really complain?

What exactly is the plan here? Is she going to take on everyone’s pain, so she can connect them all through the Kizuna System?

Well, next week finishes it up. Let’s see where this all goes. Time to save Sonozaki with the power of friendship!

Kiznaiver Episode 10: Think of the children!

Hey, Hisomu…that’s my line! I don’t know whether to like this guy because I agree or hate him for stealing my lines.

This series expects me to believe that Katsuhira can tilt the can at this angle and drink everything inside. That can is the size of his face…yeah, right.

I don’t know what to feel because their tattoos actually disappear just like that. This has to be a trap.

This guy knows how to mess with people. I can respect that even though he’s being a dick.

Let’s get back together, guys! It’s not super surprising that Nico would be the one try and get the Kiznaivers to be friends again.

Well played, Hisomu.

This is a bit drastic, don’t you think? Also, this series will try to make me think something bad happened to Sonozaki.

Screw you, anime. She clearly fell forward. And you’re telling me the pain from a fall this minor was enough to bring Katsuhira to his knees?

How exactly does this work? I get the idea of a “center” that spreads the pain out to everyone, but I don’t see a reason why pain would be amplified. It would make more sense if the center just felt the full pain of anyone connected to them. It would only be five times the pain if they were all experiencing similar pain at the same time. Or are you just saying that over time, with everyone constantly transmitting pain back to you, you start feeling like it’s five times the pain? Because I can see that.

Aww yeah! Totally called this last week! Now Katsuhira has to deal with the realization that his indifference towards his own pain was actually hurting someone else, someone he cares about.

Feelings! Well, that’s the reaction I expected Katsuhira to have, but not for the reason I thought. Come on, man! You were supposed to be upset by what you were doing to Sonozaki! I guess seeing the life drained out of your friends works too…I just feel like I would have done it differently.

So another decent episode for Katsuhira’s character. Now we just wait and watch as the power of friendship overcomes the Kizuna System!

Final side note: Did Chidori have any business being in this episode? Her scene with Tenga seemed all kinds of pointless…

Kiznaiver Episode 9: It hurts?

Oh yeah…this show was about sharing pain. Thanks for reminding us, masochist guy! Also, Maki’s face in this scene.

Come on, Yuta! That’s my job! I totally would have noticed that. Fine, I’ll go with “how the heck to do they hear Katsuhira so clearly if there’s no microphone near him?”

Well…sucks to be Chidori, right? Also, Chidori’s emotional pain triggers and Katsuhira (who is normally very receptive to emotional pain) doesn’t notice it. How does he not realize he’s being watched?

This terminology…”get back your pain”, “I am within you”…does that mean that Katsuhira’s pain is locked within Sonozaki? Has she been feeling his pain every time he allowed himself to get hurt? That would actually be a pretty interesting development because Katsuhira would be forced to re-evaluated everything.

This…is actually reasonable.

Oooohh pretty colors…

Wait…is Katsuhira remembering his first encounter with Sonozaki? Or did she give him that speech when they were kids as well? Because he should have still had his pain back then, right?

And then Chidori walks in.

Haha! Got it! They all left at different times, so Tenga was able to calm himself down long enough for Chidori to get there and see this.

We interrupt this brokenhearted Chidori scene to give you…brokenhearted Nico!

Upgrades again! I’m curious about Sonozaki in this scene, though…the way she describes their experience. Perhaps Chidori’s descent is mirroring something that happened in the original group of friends. Maybe Sonozaki fell for Katsuhira and started transmitting her painful thoughts constantly to the children, causing that memory that Katsuhira just saw.

The fact that everyone’s thoughts are starting to leak out seems to suggest otherwise. It’s still possible that our main characters are still mirroring what happened to Sonozaki and Katsuhira, but probably not for exactly the reason I guessed. Maybe something like this happened to the kids and Sonozaki took all of their pain away to save them.

Not even Maki and Yuta are immune!

This is starting to look more like the memory. Take their pain, Katsuhira! There’s also the revelation that Katsuhira can’t actually feel all of the pain everyone else is feeling. Does his position in the Kizuna System mirror Sonozaki’s position? Is there a leader in it? Or is it just a continuation of his lack of pain perception? Remember that right before everyone gathered in the rain, they all felt the emotional pain of Katsuhira, so he theoretically should be capable of feeling their pain.

Final thoughts: The drama level in this episode was exceptionally high, but what do I really expect? I think the mirroring of Katsuhira’s limited memories of his childhood with the events of the present day are very interesting from a speculative standpoint. I’m glad they decided to go “screw the pairings” and just jumble all of the love targets into a mess…makes things more interesting.

So what’s the general consensus? Are we blaming Chidori or are we blaming Katsuhira?

Kiznaiver Episode 8: Such a romantic, stormy evening!

This is not creepy at all…not even in the slightest. The screens look pretty monochromatic, so how are they able to talk about the color that was activated?

Also, I’m assuming PEA is phenethylamine, which I believe is a neurotransmitter that acts like an endorphin (which cause euphoria), but it’s clearly put here to act as technobabble to the regular viewer.

Looove.

Okay, I’m starting to regret that I said I liked this scene because they KEEP SHOWING IT TO US.

It’s almost like you’re in an anime!

This scene gets my hopes up that Nico has been removed from the group.

Also, random note about this entire scene: I actually noticed the rain sound effect throughout the scene…is that normal in anime? It actually sounded somewhat correct.

Uhh…okay. Thanks for that? I don’t fully agree with this statement, but sure…go with that.

I also agree that sharing pain is much easier than sharing emotions, since pain is easier to isolate in the brain.

I really hope I don’t sound like this when I’m rationalizing. Also, Katsuhira should have figured out by now that he’s one of the original Kiznaiver test subjects, right? If the rest of the subjects are alive, does that mean they’ve been the Gomorins? Part of the committee?

I…can’t disagree with this statement.

Wait…they’re going to split them up into romantic units? But what about the fan pairings?

Well, this one was obvious, so that’s not fair.

SHE KNOWS!

I’ll just leave this here.

Freaking “positive emotion” casuals, am I right? Hisomu might actually be an interesting character if he continues to be the perceptive “odd man out”.

Smooth, buddy. Real smooth.

Dramatic thunder and lightning before something important!

Okay, I get that Sonozaki is supposed to be the ultimate cock block for Chidori, but how does this scene make any sense at all? With all of the rain and thunder, you expect me to believe that Katsuhira was able to hear Sonozaki’s footsteps from underground? And then what? He just decided he needed to run to her? The other explanation is that Katsuhira’s memories of his childhood were just randomly triggered, which also doesn’t make any sense because there was no clear trigger.

I’d say this week’s episode was a weaker one than the recent episodes. Most of it was the researchers effectively confirming all of the fan pairings and talking way too much about the previous experiments. Anyway, it looks like next week’s episode will finally explain Katsuhira’s past with Sonozaki. The fact that she has the Kizuna System tattoo seemed like an important reveal this week even those we already pretty much knew that she had it. So…what will they make of it?

Kiznaiver Episode 7: Final Messages

You know, part of me wonders if this is more Kizuna System sharing to start off the episode, but the other part of me is going “NOPE”.

I’m not a father that’s lost a child, so I can’t really make definitive judgments, but this giant portrait on the wall feels a bit much…just saying.

Wait…Ruru’s mother is blaming Maki for overworking their daughter? Pfft…I’d blame Ruru.

Also, I’m curious. Did Ruru have a curable disease that was exacerbated by overwork or was she going to die naturally in the next couple of weeks anyway? Because everything up to now points to the latter.

The power of Tenga headpats is TOO STRONG!

This is basically my blog in a nutshell.

We all know where this is heading…

The “demonic” voice effect they add here is perfect. I’m curious, though. Why was this the last chapter? Did Ruru know/suspect that she was already close to death and decided to end it that way? Everything up to then had been a “realistic” portrayal of Ruru and Maki’s lives together.

Whoa, whoa, Katsuhira! Don’t be crazy! If you do that, how will I ever be able to use the “you never asked” quip?

*Excuse me while I shift my gaze at Chidori and Katsuhira*…totally not friends.

Join us!

So the rain starts and we’re shown all of these stock photos and random scenes. If I were more trained in literature, I’d be able to tell you why this scene is incredibly symbolic and deep. Unfortunately, I’m not, so I’m gonna go with “skip!”

Oh, Maki didn’t read the last chapter? Interesting, that means it’s possible that Ruru wrote the last chapter differently as a final letter to Maki. If that’s the case, it’s possible Ruru actually orchestrated letting Maki quit writing in the last chapter so she could give her message to Maki. Or am I taking it too far?

Also, the reason I took this screenshot: this book is clearly sitting out here in the rain and will somehow be readable after that.

Wait…tell me what to feel! This scene makes it look like she just read the last chapter and it turned out as she suspected. What am I supposed to think?

Haha this scene!

Woohoo! I know what to feel now!

Power level up!

Again…I have no complaints for the general stuff in this episode. STOP DOING THIS TO ME, KIZNAIVER!

Kiznaiver Episode 6: Insert bad save the cheerleader reference here?

Hey! They did this on Mayoiga too!

I can tell whether Ruru is just trolling Maki or she’s laughing because she just proved Maki cares or something. The first option seems more interesting because it could be the precursor to Maki resenting her and “killing her”. I’m glad they didn’t decide to have Ruru fall there and reveal that as the reason Maki said she killed her…that would have been silly.

Interesting…this scene seems to suggest that the Kizuna connection evolves as the users will it. I suppose it’s an interesting implication since emotional pain is usually more “in your head” than physical pain. How would you even detect that? Brain scans? They did mention something about potentially reaching “mind reader” status in the future, so I suppose it’s plausible. Still, can a single human brain process 7 people’s worth of inputs? I’m not saying it can’t…I’m actually just curious about the answer.

I was worried my prediction from last week wouldn’t come true since Chidori seemed to get over some of her insecurities involving Katsuhira…glad that was put to rest.

Actually a pretty good question. The answer definitely should be “no” because emotional pain can’t really be categorized as pain, but still…not a bad question to ask. (He says “no”, by the way)

And this is the moment she officially joined the team!

Presumably this syringe has something to do with the tattoo around Sonozaki’s neck and the memory of her from Katsuhira’s past.

Yuuta feels the emotional pain from the Kizuna system and looks outside to see Maki conveniently walking by the restaurant…how did he even know to look out the window when he felt the pain?

Yuuta also happened to know it was Maki’s feelings he was experiencing? Wow, he must really like her.

Wait, really? Then what triggered Maki’s pain? Why didn’t the emotional pain trigger when she saw the editor or when he mentions the movie in the cafe? Instead, it activates when she happens to walk past the restaurant where Yuuta happens to be?

Does it count as a foot fetish if Yuuta can identify Maki from her ankles? I think it does!

So, there are two ways that I would think this story goes. The first possibility is that Maki feels responsible for the moment in which Ruru succumbs to her illness (or she euthanizes Ruru, which would be interesting). This is a pretty common development, though. The other possibility that I can think of is that Maki believes she has “killed” Ruru by stealing her work or something…some sort of metaphorical death.

This guy actually gives away her identity? Who does this? Heck, if this were America, she’d have already threatened to sue him by this point. Though, to be fair, that would give away her identity, so maybe she’s holding that card.

 

He’s so hip!

Ahh…good ol’ cyber bullying. Always works.

Uhh…this is actually a pretty rational and decent way to look at this situation. I…couldn’t make fun of this line if I tried.

This scene too…we’re seeing initiative from Katsuhira.

AHHH! The “I’m not angry, just disappointed” line! No, Dad! I’m so sorry!

But seriously, this ending is pretty strong too. Katsuhira expresses his disappointment that Sonozaki gives them a mission that is completed so easily. Presumably, next week, they will truly “save” Maki and Sonozaki will pull some crap like “that was my intention all along”. That would probably annoy me. But as it stands, I quite liked the episode. This series has been doing pretty well for me so far.

Kiznaiver Episode 5: The other type of pain

She has her priorities straight.

This joke feels a bit forced…I get that we’re displaying Tenga’s immaturity, but it’s still awkward the way he keeps repeating Maki’s name.

I actually have to agree with Tenga here…how many people do you need to prepare a bath?

Have you ever tried to cut raw chicken? Because I have and the only way this works (and makes a crunching sound) is if the chicken is frozen. Thaw your chickens out, man!

And so the yandere train begins…

No context needed here, right?

This guy doesn’t read manga, does he? This behavior just gets other people thinking you’re the one who’s interested in the girl.

What’s going on here? Why the zoom on Nico? Did she notice something?

I can’t tell if this is Maki’s personal damage or someone just messing with her. If it’s the latter, are the committee members going to mess with everyone like this? Also, the scene randomly cuts to black after this…definitely surprised me.

Classic misunderstanding scene. Given that Chidori felt the slap as well, I’m guessing she thinks Katsuhira made a move and Sonozaki rejected him? I’d say it’s uncharacteristic of him, but he said he was trying to change.

…uhhh…

Haha! Busted!

I get the feeling that Katsuhira will cause another misunderstanding soon by calling her “Nori-chan”…

 

Nothing abnormal here…

Katsuhira’s face here makes the scene.

I get that you’re trying to stay away from the door, but why put your back to the only window in the room? That would be a logical place for him to check when the door fails.

Once again, looking at Katsuhira’s reaction.

This is interesting. I was willing to ignore Katsuhira grabbing his chest the first time because I wasn’t sure what to make of it, but it’s more clear here that he feels the pain in Chidori’s heart. By why does he seem to be the only one who notices it? Is it because the Kizuna System works differently for him? Or does everyone feel the heart pain, but they’re more used to it? Maybe they don’t feel it and think it’s anything new.

Well, that answers that question. I guess everyone was just too distracted to notice the first time?

Whaaaaaa!

This scene is pretty nice, marking some strong character development. Katsuhira didn’t mind losing his money before because he couldn’t feel the pain, but when he realized that he was causing others pain, he’s willing to stand up for them. The Kizuna System has basically given him the empathy he couldn’t have before because he literally couldn’t empathize with the pain of others.

I just realized Sonozaki was in pajamas that whole time.

So ominous!

I actually felt like I didn’t have much to say about this episode…it had solid character development and decent entertainment. So…on to the next one?

Kiznaiver Episode 4: Summer trip episode

I guess this is further reminding us that this girl from Katsuhira’s past is actually Sonozaki?

I was curious whether we were shown the Kiznaiver tattoo in the first episode, so I re-watched that first scene. The tattoo is visible, but I noticed something more interesting. In the first episode, Katsuhira runs out of the facility and sees the girl, watching helplessly from a distance as she jumps from wherever she’s standing. However, in this episode, he is shown climbing up to try and stop her.

See? Either this is a different scene with her standing at the same spot or an inconsistency with the opening scene (because no one actually pays attention to the opening scene, am I right?).

Yup…see? Further reminder. They’re really beating it into our heads…

I guess this is a fair question. It means that he won’t be the kind of character that takes even your insults as pleasure like a certain annoying character that we all remember from last season…

I would be more curious about whether his brain just interprets pain incorrectly or he’s the kind of person who has developed a warped view of pain, but that’s the scientist in me talking. I’d be really worried if a character in an anime actually asked that.

Same here…

You don’t know why you’re all Kiznaivers? Obviously, this guy missed the “seven deadly sins” speech.

So this is how Japanese guys woo a girl? Uhh…

Oh come on, Chidori. These two were actually having an interesting conversation.

First off, lol this teacher. Secondly, the caption said “a few days later”, but it was apparently enough time for Katsuhira to recover from hitting a truck and falling into a car.

Well, Yoshiharu is technically not a transfer student, so I can give him a break…that being said, he gets the magic seat, so who’s the real protagonist in this series?

Uhh…what? How does no one react to this earlier? Most of them were looking in that direction and there’s nowhere she could have hidden to approach them without notice. I understand Tenga’s surprised reaction, but everyone else should have seen her coming unless she dropped from the sky.

Wait…why is this called a “competitive” eating challenge? It would only be competitive if there was another party that they were trying to beat. And they have to work together to finish the rice, so it’s not a competition among themselves.

GASP!

Please tell me this is one of those “Chinese food always makes you hungry again quickly” jokes. I thought it was pretty funny, but maybe I’m reading too much into it.

It’s only awkward if we make it awkward, guys!

Ahh Shiritori…a translator’s nightmare. Some translators try to get really creative with this, but I’m actually fine with what is done here.

So mysterious!

And so their fates were sealed…

Am I supposed to be worried about the fate of these two?

Something that’s been on my mind…in the first episode, everyone was kidnapped and the Kizuna System was implanted into them. The reason that was given to them was in an effort to save Katsuhira who had been “gravely injured”. However, at the time when Katsuhira was pushed down the stairs by Sonozaki, he didn’t have the Kizuna System yet. So how could the system have saved his life if he couldn’t redistribute the pain yet? Remember from a previous episode that they proved that ongoing/recurring pain doesn’t trigger the system, so he would have had to have the system installed when he took the initial damage.

Kiznaiver Episode 3: The team is assembled!

“I killed someone…nah, just kidding!” Man, I thought my sense of humor was weird. You don’t honestly expect us to believe you were just kidding, do you? Though, I’m willing to believe that she killed someone in the same way most “tragic character” believe they did…some random fluke of fate that you traced back to your own actions.

This doesn’t jolt everyone (I get the feeling I’m going to be saying that a lot about the stuff this girl does).

Uhh…what?

We’re bros!

This can only end well.

Tenga was saying earlier that he wanted to watch over Katsuhira to make sure he didn’t trigger the Kizuna system with his pain numb state, right? This is that “irony” thing they taught us about, isn’t it?

Based on what I’ve seen so far, my hypothesis would be that there’s a threshold of pain that triggers the system. This statement from Katsuhira just sounds wrong. Have you ever had a sprained wrist before? Yes, there’s residual pain, like an aching sensation. However, Tenga’s pain just now was caused by Chidori as she tied the handkerchief too tightly. That should have caused a jolt of pain similar to getting slapped. That’s why I’m sticking with my original guess that the pain has to reach a threshold before transferring.

Katsuhira, the smoothest talker.

Yeah, Yuta! How many kids are we gonna have??

Yuta and Tenga are holding their head, but Maki is clutching her stomach for some reason.

Wait…you’re telling me that the show with heavy references to the seven deadly sins in the first episode has a surprise seventh member of the team? Gasp!

I’m not too sure what to make of his entrance. It looks like he might be a thief based on the alarm, but who would rob a store like that in broad daylight? Maybe he’s just someone who gets into fights easily like Katsuhira and got thrown into the window.

Nico’s punch (tap) to the head was registered on the system, but not the pain from Tenga’s wrist? I guess that disproves my threshold theory. There’s no way that this punch causes more pain than having a sprained wrist squeezed. Still, I feel like Nico falling on her behind at the start of the episode should have registered as well if this kind of punch would register. This series needs to figure itself out.

Smart??? Anything but that!

Do people actually do this? There are much easier ways to con people, right?

What’s up with the way these people run?

Sure!

I’m willing to believe that getting hit by a truck is enough to trigger the pain transfer, but why wouldn’t falling into a car seat trigger a second shock? Have you ever felt a car seat? They’re not cushioned at all.

Yeah, that’s not surprising at all.

Next week’s episode is going to be amazing, right? Think of all of the new missions they can tackle as seven instead of six! But seriously, I’m trying my best to figure this Kizuna System out…help, please.