Happy Friday, fellow anime enthusiasts! As you can see from the title, 3 out of 4 of our weekday round-up series finished their seasons! Some endings were cute, others were The Promised Neverland, while Wonder Egg continues to be the anime that keeps on WTFing us each and every episode.
Let’s get to it!
Tuesday, March 23
Wonder Egg Priority episode 11
Where to watch:Â Funimation
CW:Â Mentions of suicide, child abuse
Before I dive into this episode I need to share this thread I found that really cleared things up for me because WOW I was confused about what was going on:
Wonder Egg Priority episode 11, An Adult Child. Or, my dissection of Ura-Acca and Acca’s creation of Thanatos.
This will be a direct analysis of Frill as a character and what meaning she holds, I will bring up other episodes in this thread. pic.twitter.com/Or9tQUZVkV
— Starisa: Neiru Nation (@CapnStarisa) March 24, 2021
All right, let’s dive in.
The episode starts with Rika freeing Chiemi, who fades away the same way Haruka did with Momoe. Rika’s turtle, Mannen, is killed by Dot, a creature similar to Hyphen (the creature who killed Panic in the last episode). While we don’t see the full outcome of what happens after this, we can assume Rika’s probably out of the picture the way Momoe was in the last episode.
Ai shows up in a completely dark dream world alone but notices that the porch light is on to the house that I, honestly, hadn’t paid much attention to since the Accas are always sitting outside. As she looks around the house, Ura-Acca finds her, and he tells her the story behind the photos and the notes scattered about. The Accas (back when they were human) were researchers under heavy surveillance because of the work they did. In an attempt to blow off steam the two decided to … um … make a child? A daughter, to be precise, who would forget that she was an AI unit and who had all the traits of a girl.
At least according to the Accas.
“Being uncontrollable is the essence of femininity,” Ura-Acca says as even more alarm bells go off in my head about the whole thing.
This girl is Frill, by the way.
The Accas were satisfied with Frill, who became a positive in their lives. Trouble started when a woman named Azusa Hoshina entered the picture. Azusa and Acca grew close and ended up getting married, Frill pointing out a lot of truths that Ura-Acca didn’t want to hear, like how he was also in love with Azusa (or, potentially, in love with Acca, as she makes a comment about hating the husband who cheated or the woman who seduced him). As Azusa becomes a more permanent fixture in their lives, Frill asks if she can make more girls (this ends up being Hyphen, Dot, and an unknown girl). Things take a turn when Azusa gets pregnant, Frill killing her because she feels like she’s going to be replaced by the new child. The baby ends up surviving, and Frill is locked away, treated as an AI that can be discarded.
This is the child abuse I’m referring to in my warning because while Frill may be a programmed creation, she was treated like a child AND CREATED to be so real that she herself would forget that she was AI.
The Accas end up raising the baby (Himari), but she starts exhibiting traits similar to Frill as she gets older. When Himari jokes about being with Ura-Acca when she grows up because she’ll be like her mother, therefore, he can finally be with the woman he loved/missed the opportunity to be with, he turns her down. Himari laughs it off, but that night, she dies in what looks to be a suicide. Ura-Acca is certain that Frill has something to do with it, and he and Acca have been investigating the cause of suicide in girls ever since. This also pushed them to create the Wonder Eggs in an attempt to stop girls from dying when they didn’t have to.
Wow.
Here are my thoughts that honestly should be their own entire article that I might write up when the whole series is over:
-This is an extremely symbolic interpretation of parents having children for all the wrong reasons. The Accas created a child out of stress, and honestly, to see if they could. They weren’t really willing to do all the heavy lifting that comes with being a parent. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have set her aside when they got busy with work, and they sure as hell wouldn’t have locked her away. They enjoyed Frill for all the, well, frivolous things, the fun times you video record to show everyone how cute your daughter is. They never bothered to discipline her or instill any real values in her beyond “she’s cute when she hugs you while you’re trying to cook.” Any sort of conflict they had with her they reasoned was her being a girl. Speaking of:
-This is also an extremely symbolic interpretation of how men are just so off-base when it comes to women. The Accas programmed a girl with what they THOUGHT were components of being a girl, components they felt any father would be proud of. They purposely put in difficult elements because they thought that’s what being a girl was all about. Frill is based entirely on data created by two men, and when Frill actually followed through with her programming, the Accas noped out of it. Men should not have control of a woman like this, especially a young girl. They designed her body and her mind, so much so that they purposely put in flaws, yet were still shocked when it turned out the way it did. That being said, even after all of that, they’re STILL using girls to fix the mistakes THEY made.
-The whole part with Himari talking about marrying Ura-Acca when she got older, because she’ll be like her mother, reeks of what’s going on with Ai and Mr. Sawaki, though in the case of Mr. Sawaki, I truly think he’s setting Ai up to feel like that. Him painting a portrait of her when she’s older doesn’t sit right with me, especially after this episode and the “adult child” narrative.
-Neiru is involved somehow. She comes from the same organization the Accas do and she knew they were the founders. There’s something going on with her.
–Ai is eerily close to AI, which I never realized until this episode and Frill being an AI that was created by the Accas.
Will this be wrapped up by the last episode? I have NO idea.
Thursday, March 25
The Promised Neverland season 2 episode 11 – SEASON FINALE
Where to watch:Â Funimation
CW:Â Suicide
After watching this episode I thought maybe I’d be a bit petty on main and share a bunch of screenshots and not actually write a damn thing. That would still be more effort than this finale.
But I’m a writer, so I’m gonna write.
Full disclosure: I didn’t think the ending would be good. The season itself hasn’t been good. You can only call something rushed so many times, you know? But then we got The Promised Neverland Slideshow and all I could do was laugh in disbelief.
Before we get to that “turned in the 20-page paper by jacking up the font size” montage, I suppose I should talk about the nonsense that happened beforehand.
We get word vomit from Peter Ratri about how he and his brother discovered the promise made between humans and demons. Peter actually thought the promise made sense (leaving some humans in the demon world so the demons could eat them), but James had a major issue with it. That’s because the children at the farms were actually descendants of the Ratri family, which prompts James to take on the name Minerva in an attempt to help the children escape.
Peter kills his brother and takes his place, leading us to where we are now.
Despite this, Emma (being the pure bean heroine she is) still thinks there’s a way they can all be free. She doesn’t even blame Peter for what he’s done, considering him another victim of what this promise has brought. Peter refuses to accept that the world can be changed and kills himself.
Now you might be wondering how the Lambda kids react to seeing their tormentor kill himself. HA! Next scene.
Peter’s death is reported to the royal demon family, who we finally get to see in the last fifteen minutes of the FINALE! Meanwhile, Emma and the kids decide to continue toward the doorway to the human world and Emma INVITES ISABELLE TO COME WITH! Because everyone forgives her now. EVERYONE. Emma says it’s because, this entire time while they were away from home, they’ve only thought of the good times and-PFFT! HAHAHAHAHA WHAT?! On top of the fact that the entire first season was them trying to escape home, there have been moments in THIS SEASON with the kids being HAPPY to be away from Isabelle. In fact, Ray bitterly laughs at the awful irony of them needing to return home to get to the doorway in the first place.
Whatever, Isabelle’s forgiven, everyone heads to the door together. But then Emma’s like, “Oops, I should stay behind to deal with this promise with demons.”
And Phil’s like, “Emma we JUST found each other again WTF?!”
And I’m like, “Isn’t the solution Mujika? I thought we figured this out? Also, is Sonju still trying to eat wild children or…”
And Emma’s like, “No kids it’s cool imma stay here, ISABELLE WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU I TRUST HER NOW.”
And I’m like:
By the way, there’s like, five minutes left? And this is the finale? So my wife and I are watching together and wondering how are they gonna wrap this up?
Simple.
Set screenshots to music.
I’m not kidding.
Screenshots of Phil and the others living in the human world. Screenshots of Emma and those who stayed with her working to fix the promise.
Then everyone’s reunited.
The end!
Congrats, your The Promised Neverland season 2 punchcard is filled. You win dissatisfaction and the ability to go and read the manga.
2.43: Seiin High School Boys Volleyball Team episode 12 – SEASON FINALE
Where to watch:Â Funimation
Let me be the first to say that I’m stunned that Seiin won this game.
I thought this was gonna be one of those sports anime where the newbie team makes it far, but they still have a lot of growing to do so they don’t win the day.
But Captain Short King blocks Subaru’s shot and wins it for Seiin. Color me surprised. Congratulations, boys! Chika is so exhausted from the match that he nearly passes out, the team immediately coming to his aid.
Subaru tries to pretend like he isn’t bothered, even deciding that he’ll just continue volleyball when he gets to college (after he has surgery, so he’ll have to sit out for a while). Mitsuomi isn’t falling for his act, though, and goes to cry with him so Subaru doesn’t cry alone. Subaru still insists that he isn’t crying, but that all changes when he sees his entire team crumble. While I am glad that Seiin won, I feel really bad for the Fukuho boys.
Later on, Chika wakes up at his place, the rest of the team showing up and bringing him a gold medal. The entire team got one for winning the match as they are now the representatives for their team for the upcoming Spring Tournament. Despite such a monumental win for Seiin, Chika still isn’t fully feeling it, like there’s something bigger that he wants but he can’t quite put his finger on it. Yuni notices his off behavior when the team starts talking about their upcoming matches and how tough their opponents are going to be. Chika doesn’t seem excited at all even if he was the main one insisting that they would make it to the center court in Tokyo.
Back at school, both Chika and Yuni overhear Shinichiro and Misao talking. It turns out that they kinda think that the team winning the Spring Tournament, even so, Shinichiro has a new goal: playing volleyball in college. Just because it’s his last year and the team (potentially) won’t win their upcoming tournament doesn’t mean he has to give up volleyball. Can I just say that I appreciate this series having high school kids who don’t act like their last year is THE END of all the things they enjoy. Shinichiro loves volleyball, so there’s no reason why he couldn’t play in college. Subaru does the same thing. Just because he lost doesn’t mean volleyball’s over, furthermore, just because he has to stop for a bit doesn’t mean he can’t go back to it.
Shinichiro ends up asking Misao if he’ll continue to play with him, knowing that this was gonna be Misao’s last year because he’s not as invested. Misao doesn’t give an answer, but the little smile on his face kinda hints that he’ll keep going for Shinichiro.
Shipper goggles are firmly in place here.
After Chika reveals to Yuni that their recent win doesn’t feel like enough, the team gets to do a joint practice with some college players. We don’t see the match, instead, we see a conversation between Chika and Subaru. As they talk, Subaru brings up even bigger goals that would lead to playing volleyball on a much bigger stage (aka: the world). This is exactly what Chika needed to hear, and he rushes to tell Yuni that he very much wants to take on the world when it comes to volleyball. Yuni agrees because, well, insert sports volleyball duo who are bound to each other for the rest of their lives.
The season ends with the team heading to their match in Tokyo. I’m not sure if there’s another season that shows them playing in the Spring Tournament, but there almost doesn’t need to be, and I’m fine with it ending on an uplifting note of Yuni and Chika playing volleyball together forever.
Heaven’s Design Team episode 12 – SEASON FINALE
Where to watch:Â Crunchyroll
What a wholesome way to end the season!
First, gotta wrap up the plot about God coming to Hell. It’s not actually God, but Ueda arriving with God’s personal ride, the majestic bird Garuda. God couldn’t make it, but they did send a message via Garuda.
By the way, the series uses they/them pronouns for God, which I missed in the last episode. The message first congratulates Hell for having its own sales team followed by a request to make a creature that can surprise angels and travel between Heaven and Hell. The message also points out how Neptune was supposed to be sick, and despite being lied to, God is happy that Neptune is okay.
Also, the rabbit is approved. Yay bunnies!
The crew tries to come up with a creature, showing off different ones like a frickin’ T-rex, but Ueda is very hard to surprise. Shimoda, on the other hand, isn’t happy about reenacting that scene from Jurassic Park with the dinosaur peaking around the corner as the children hide in fear.
Venus ends up making the Superb Lyrebird who can perfectly mimic any sound, which definitely catches all the angels off guard.
The second half of the episode has Shimoda finding an old sketch of an adorable mascot character the team created a while ago. The team has him try and guess what the mascot ended up becoming. Shimoda proves that he’s been retaining a lot of the information the team has told him over the course of his time there as we cycle through old designs like “lion with wheels” and “deer with trees for antlers.” In the end, it turns out the mascot character was meant to be Shimoda! The team came up with an assistant that they all loved, and soon after, Shimoda ended up showing up after God created him. Shimoda has become the team’s lovable assistant, one that they all care for and rely on as they continue taking on jobs.
D’awwwww!
—
That’s all for this week! See everyone on Monday for the Weekend Round-up, which will include the season finale to Jujutsu Kaisen and the early premiere of Moriarty the Patriot’s next episode!
(Image: Funimation)
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