Gen'ei wo Kakeru Taiyō - 5

With background knowledge pertaining to Seira's vendetta against the Daemonia being gradually revealed throughout the course of this episode, one comes to understand that despite her headstrong demeanor, she is very brittle in the face of emotional conflict. Again this week, I presumed 'Ah dear, Daemonia of the Week, this is going to be boring...'. Having predicted most of the events that would take place, I went in fully dismissive. What I got was wholly unexpected, amid the series finally picking up the pace, and far beyond the scope of any initial expectations I had. They really outdid themselves in this episode, the production studio really outdid themselves. The Scriptwriters? Well, not so much...

I watch this series for the Astralux

Tying in with the overall plot (rather than making a disposable side character), Minori and Hanae are introduced. At first, I'd suspected Minori to be our Daemonia of the Week, since she was a vulnerable girl who didn't talk much. Well, it came as a curveball when Hanae sells her soul to the Daemonia in a Faustian pact, designated to save Minori from her chronic heart disease. All really tragic, but one has to question the convenient, and lazy writing. All these coincidental meetings, phones being left in someone else's bag, and chance heart failures when everyone was conveniently gathered... Even then, I enjoyed the significant developments in Seira's character as a result of these affairs, so credit is given where it's due.

'Come to the darkside, we have cookies!'

The most important aspect of this episode was the aforementioned development. It’s no surprise that another Daemonia needed to hit close to home for her to rethink her way of doing things. I’m just glad that it wasn’t quite so…painful as the last one. That sound is still echoing in my head... The horror of the story is amplified by Hanae (who felt worthless compared to to Minori) sacrificing herself to allow Minori to get her operation. Seira had to kill someone who did the wrong thing, but for noble reasons. Also, there is no solid explanation for how Minori got her donor. Was it Hanae's victim, was it Hanae herself, or did Cerebrus hold up their end of the bargain? I felt this episode explained Akari’s actions more concretely. She is recording the last words of the Daemonia afflicted but still understands that they have to be destroyed. Acting with both empathy and resolve.

I don't think I winced that loudly so far in this season

Etia's tarot powers are possibly time manipulation, or foresight. Scrap that, they are most certainly some form of time related power. Her tarot, 'The World', is the very same as JoJo's villain, Dio Brando. He could stop time for 10 seconds, so maybe there's some sort of correlation between 'The Word', and the essence of time. Anyhow, these coincidences seem to be colluding, especially how  Etia asked Seira to fight with her current team one last time. There is definitely a grand mastermind behind all these events, but the question is, who is it? (Maybe the cat, or the crow for all I know). Gen'ei can be COMPLETELY brutal and cruel in terms of what can happen to characters, and this was compounded by Manami's death. Hanae's Daemonia was screaming in agony, screams which ripped through me. Supposing this was a cheap shot at tugging the audiences heart string, consider the job done.

You know, that's just blatant plagiarism

Although I revoke my statement claiming Gen'ei to be a poor man's Madoka, there are many crippling issues which make the series weaker by extension. Akari doesn't have the appeal Madoka gave across, something which I can't quite pin down. Despite being based off a similar archetype, Seira lacks the assiduity Homura had, which made her convictions far stronger, as well as convincing. Mami was more assertive than Luna, and Kyouko makes Ginka look tame. The Magica Quartet from PMMM had more chemistry going on, and their characters worked will in conjecture with each other. Seeing the disputes being settled paves way for a new hope that this may happen in Gen'ei. Nonetheless, I highly doubt I'll see the level of maturity seen in Madoka replicated in Gen'ei. I believe that is the shows greatest weakness in its attempts to surpass PMMM.