"Greyland is in the House"
Well of the two rape scenes this season, I have to say this one was the far better executed. And there wasn't even any rape involved in the conventional sense.
Of the three series I'm hurting most saying farewell to, Dansai is undoubtedly the one I'm most reluctant to let go. I may not be pining for a second season the way I'm doing with
Hataraku and
Valvrave, but I do feel extremely conflicted. On the one hand, I'm very satisfied with the finale despite it not being a finale in the real sense. On the other, I desperately wish we weren't given those
preview teasers at the end. As I've seen with series like
KamiDolls, those teasers tend to hurt a hell of a lot more than they deliver, and honestly I can't see this gorgeous little work ever getting a green light for a second season. In fact, I'm really rather surprised this got adapted at all in the first place, so more than anything I'll have to agree with my fellow bloggers that this is probably advertising the manga rather than further work on the anime, and that makes me quite melancholy indeed.
In any case, this finale certainly doesn't let one stop to breathe. Personally I much preferred the first half of the episode compared to the second, and Iwai is a huge reason why. She's never been an action driver in the way Kiri has, but she's never fully embraced a damsel in distress role either, and her place in this finale is somewhat as ambiguous as it has been all along.
Werescissors Kiri is definitely as terrifying as always, but I like that Iwai isn't afraid of him the way Emily is; she has no fear of death when confronting the horror he's become. Instead, her fears are of a different kind. Iwai isn't afraid of dying at Kiri's hands so much as she's afraid of losing the one she loves. She's scared of him becoming Greyland, of his losing the individual personality that makes him himself and the person who's always loved and protected her. It's what makes the moment in which he gropes and brutally rips through her hair as visceral and horrifying as a true rape scene; he has violated her love and trust in him in ways that far exceed anything she imagined. Her hair and the Crime Edge have always been symbols of their bond, and in
using one to hurt the other, Kiri has irreparably terrified and hurt Iwai more than he could have done otherwise.
The second half of the episode is less poignant for me. The conversation between Emily and Iwai is certainly interesting (and says buckets about Iwai's character), but the
Witch definitely takes the spotlight here with Kiri. I'm still not entirely sure what she's after, nor am I sure why she does the things she does (the kiss aside, why warn the enemy how many Order Mades are left if she's trying so hard to see the Hair Queen dead?), and I'm sure we're not supposed to know yet. As much as is left to see, there's no where for the plot to go without more material, so at the very least I'm happy to see the show end exactly where it started, between Kiri and Iwai. Whatever Greyland's presence has done to their relationship, it isn't as apparent as the strength of the bond they've created all this time, and to see them
partake in their ritual together after all that horror is definitely more satisfying an end than I've yet to see all season.
N.B.: Thanks to Ivan for the screencaps!
Epilogue
No comments:
Post a Comment