Kagerou Day Update ~ Mekaku City Actors

Konnichiwa~

On April 12th, Mekaku City Actors episode 1 was broadcasted. That night I went to the LA Kpop Festival with Ms. Lee Min Ho, so I didn’t get to watch it that night. But the following day I watched and had to use all my strength not to freak out too badly in front of my family. A new episode comes out every Saturday, the series currently on episode 9. This is supposed to be a 12 episode series, which worries me because I wonder if they’ll be able to effectively end the series with only 3 more episodes. But I’m reassured with how much they’ve been able to do so far. The pace is fast, but it doesn’t feel rushed or messy. The quick, heartbeat-like pacing suites the Kagerou Project well. Everything that has happened so far takes place over of the span of one day, which surprises me each time I remember the fact. I’d find it odder if the manga wasn’t the same. With the flashbacks, it’s easy to forget that the day hasn’t ended yet. And flashbacks are common; there have been a few episodes that have been 90% flashback, which is fine because the history of the character’s is essential. The past has always played an important role in the Kagerou Day series.

Momo's flashback was amazing. It looked beautiful
Once again, the style of the series hasn't been
lost in the anime

The music selection and the animation are perfect for it as well. The only time it got weird was the beginning of episode nine, it become very odd and I really didn't enjoy it. It was only once so far though, the rest of teh time its awesome, it makes it feel like the anime is another one of Jin’s AMVs. And the anime has made use of many of the songs, incorporating them into the episodes seamlessly. I’m a little disappointed that they

won’t be able to use all the songs though. Maybe they will and I’ll be proven wrong, but I’m skeptic about it. I know that Imagination Forest is going to be used next, I hope that Shounen Brave will incorporated somehow as well. And I really want to see Yonbanshi Deceive, but I highly doubt that there will be room, there are only 3 episodes after all. Anyway, the anime has allowed the KagePro fans to learn more about the story. It has especially taught us more about the members of the Mekakushi Dan and their relationships with each other. For example:

1. Momo was given a beautiful episode that allowed us to see her childhood and understand why she developed such a power. 
2. We got see Hibaya and Hiyori’s friendship, not to mention Hiyori’s arrogant personality. 
3. We learned more about Ayano and her relationship with Shintarou. She really is adorable when she gets embarrassed about her crush on him. We also got see her friendship with Ene and Haruka.
4. Ayano’s special relationship with Kano. I knew that he really looked up to her, but seeing how attached he was to her is far more powerful than reading about it

 Anyway, you also learn more about the conflict of the story and how the heat-daze was created.  Azami created a new world, but she ended up there alone. I originally thought she was trapped there because the world was too unstable and caved in while she was there. But this was not the case. One of her snakes had a mind of its own. This snake convinced her that she should leave her family and live in that world alone. That snake left though and possessed Kenijirou Tateyama.

Alright, this might get confusing, I’ll do my best to simplify it. Each episode of the anime presents two stories. The first one is of the Mekakushi Dan and the other is of Azami, Mary’s grandmother. Azami was a lonely monster until she met Tsukihiko, a human. They fell in love and began a family together. But when she realized that their life span was far shorter than her families, she used the power of her snakes to create a world where they could be together forever. But, she ended up in this new reality alone. The members of the Mekakushi Dan all entered this world at some point and were possessed by a snake. What we didn’t understand before was why the snakes were possessing them at all. He isn’t aware of it, the snake has a mind of its own and acts like his second personality. It takes over his mind and plots. What is it plotting? It

The snakes gather around their queen
Shintarou doesn't have his snake yet though

wants all the snakes to leave Azami’s reality, the heat-daze, and come over to the world. The snakes can’t enter this world without using a body though. When Kano, Kido, Seto, Momo, and Hibaya fell into the heat-daze, they were bodies the snakes used to return to the queen snake.

The queen snake is Mary. 

Kuroha called her the queen in Outer Science. I thought he was referring to her power to combine the snakes, but she truly possess the queen snake that all the other snakes wish to return to. Alright, so Kenijirou is possessed by a plotting snake that tore Azami from her husband and child, tricking her into stepping into a world where she would be alone once again. Now this snake wishes to gather all the snakes into the world. That’s why he sacrificed Haruka and Ene, he needed both of them to die and come into contact with the heat-daze to bring over two more snakes into the world. I’m sure he also wanted to do a little experimenting, Konoha and Kuroha are definitely results of it. Through the anime, we learned about another aspect of the heat daze.

 Kido died with her sister

Kano died with his mother 

Seto died with his dog

 Mary died with her mother 

Momo died with her father

 Hibiya died with Hiyori

Shintarou being bold!

 Apparently, the pairs fell into the heat-daze together, but only one of them escaped it. Kido, Kano, and Seto created the Mekakushi Dan as a way to help others who have been possessed by the snake. They also want allies who could help them learn more about the disappearances and who would work hard to help them rescue them. The anime has really cleared up many aspects of the story and has made me fall in love with it even more! I won’t do another Kagerou Day series update until haven’t I’ve finished the series. I don’t know if am going to do one full of spoilers, or one trying my hardest to avoid giving any. 

 Anyway, chapter 23 was scanlated. Well that’s all for today, bye-byeMomo rejected Kano’s offer, which made Kido sad because she was excited about having a new member. Shintarou and Ene really didn’t understand what he was offering Momo though, both of them thought Kano was hitting on her. It was cute seeing Shintarou act like a good older brother and tell him to stop bothering his little sister. I love seeing their brother-sister relationship, they seemed annoyed with each other all the time, but it’s they really do care about each other. Last time I was curious about why Hibiya hated Konoha so much and this chapter explored that a little. It seems Hibiya has hated him and treated him brusquely long before the accident. I guess it is purely jealousy. ~Nadeshiko-chan