(Episode 4: Nobody Knows Your Mask)
Spooky Boogie. Just because it’s fun to say. In your best Japanese accent. Go ahead. Say it. Spooooky Booogie. Just me? Damn…
Anyway, this episode is another favorite. I love the intriguing advancement in social networking that they have in near-future Japan. The avatars and the amusing screennames. And the idea of CommuFields (took me forever to realize they are “communities” hahaha). It sounds fun and yet, by the end of the episode it starts to sound really freakish as well, lol. Avatars are kind of a big deal. And apparently if you don’t play your anarchist cat character well enough, lunatics with no lives show up and strangle you to death with their bare hands. Which is actually not something many people can accomplish. It takes a desperate amount of strength and persistence and evil energy. Clearly this guy took it personally that Spooky Boogie was not doing her job “correctly.”
Add to that the methodical patience of chopping someone’s body up into pieces tiny enough to flush down the toilet. What the hell? Where are your parents? Didn’t they teach you a damn thing? *shiver*
Why did they tie her hands behind her back after they strangled her if they’re going to dismember her anyway? No seriously, I don’t get that part at all.
And I guess points for graphic imagery with her tongue hanging out and her lips swollen. Gross…
I was moved by Masaoka’s statement (to Akane) that “To understand Kougami means to think the way he does.” Which of course you don’t wanna do, right? Not unless you’re okay with becoming just like him. That’s often the frightening key to catching criminals though, if any of you guys watch crime dramas. And Kougami basically employs the same technique later (which is why the comment jumped out at me now). To me it poses a sort of dilemma. It’s not so much about whether or not we want to think like that person (or a criminal) but can we bear the consequences? Are we strong enough to face their dark thoughts? It’s clearly this sort of risk that distinguishes Enforcers from Inspectors…
Final question I gotta ask. Why the tomatoes?
If they’re going for symbolism, yeah, I appreciate how tomatoes splatter like blood but… you still have to link the tomatoes to the story in a practical way. You can’t just blend tomatoes in a blender because they look like blood but otherwise serve absolutely zero purpose. Otherwise it’s not really symbolism, is it? It’s not even irony. Unless he’s making some V8 juice for energy before he gets to work. Gotta get all his vitamins in.
Bad joke.