Cruel Angel Theses

This episode proved to be an outstanding one, with exceptional expositional dialogue that made me grin triumphantly when I realised where everything was headed halfway through; it was one of those Eureka, feel-good moments that you can’t help but pat your back for. It’s a niche, to be sure — different people will value different things, but what I value the most above all is good writing. Show, not tell. Never spoonfeed the viewer. Don’t assume that your audience is mostly dense (even if they are), because there will always be those who will get what you’re trying to say, even if you’re not saying it through normal means.

character designs like this would have robbed the show of its seriousness

Naturally, I was one of those who got it. For it starts the moment the episode begins; the writing is so finely honed that the opening scene foreshadows what will take place in the rest of the episode, with not a single minute wasted. We begin with Tamaki and Murasaki watching a TV drama of some sort, and the very first line that Tamaki says, “These kinds of women do it knowing that they’re being deceived”, is rather apt, as is the episode title, “The Fraud’s Face”.

Which fraud’s being referred to in the title? Shinkurou, of course. Which women are Tamaki referring to? It would have to be the women in Shinkurou’s life, as Murasaki proceeds to reply, “Even though they know it?” The dialogue here is significant for immediately confirms what we’ve already known in the past two episodes, even if it’s not articulated: Shinkurou leads a double life. A good director never wastes a single scene, and the way in which a simple conversation like this proceeds to flesh out the 20 minutes is amazing.

Tamaki’s words are illuminating yet ironic; when she says “They’re thinking, “I’ve got to be with this person,” and “If I’m patient enough…”, she isn’t just talking about Shinkurou’s lovelife, even if it applies to them first and foremost; it also refers to Murasaki’s late mother, who was, like Ginko and Yuuno, in a relationship that involved closing one eye, and hoping everything would work out through the deception. It’s ironic, for as Murasaki’s probing and innocent questions slowly reveal, her attitude towards relationships isn’t any different from her meta-fictional counterpart.

I’m trying not to make a Real Doll joke here

Consider these two lines: “But you know, you just kind of want to treat them well.” (in reference to how she feels such women should be treated) and “I’m looking for a man who’ll treat me well.” (in reference to how she wants to be treated in a relationship) hint at the cyclical nature of such farcical relationships — all that the man can do in his subterfuge is treat the woman well, and all the woman wants in that situation is to be treated well; a relationship of convenience, in other words. This is further confirmed when Murasaki asks, “Are there even men like that?” and gets the reply “There’s one who’s surprisingly close.” from Tamaki, before the scene cuts to Shinkuro at school.

This concept is re-iterated many other times during the episode, and Tamaki’s role here is significant in how she articulates the subtext, making it clear by means of hints that Shinkurou is that “convenient man” that she wishes she could have; aside from that, she also justifies Yuuno and Ginko’s roles in Shinkurou’s life, giving them depth and character by stating the premise on which they stand before their respective scenes.

Yuuno is one such person that suffers for this — despite apparently being in a relationship of sorts with Shinkurou to the extent of making lunch for him daily, she doesn’t know all of him. He won’t tell her what he does at work as she’s previously noted, giving lame excuses like how he doesn’t want to bore her with the details; he even lies to her as to the nature of his current job, in an amusing parallel with that of the proverbial cheating spouse.

maybe it’s just me, but I think she’d be a lot more pleased if he spent less time on the phone

Ginko gets the short end of the stick, too; we see her using her job as Shinkuro’s informant as a mere ploy for her to get closer to Shinkurou, forcing him to divert his attention away from Yuuno in a calculated phone call. It’s here that it’s revealed that they’re childhood friends — not in that puerile way that usually involves childhood promises (even if there is one), but in a perfectly natural manner that lets us know more than she does herself; be it a romantic love or just a fond attachment, she resents how she doesn’t play that important a role in his life anymore, and resents him for it.

The significance of the kindergarten here is in its duality. Aside from being a suitable assignment, it also reveals to us the nature of Ginko and Shinkurou and their relationship; while Shinkurou’s all but forgotten about his promise to Ginko and how he was going to take over the ramen shop with her, we can see that Ginko hasn’t, and still holds on to that, refusing to budge from the past. When he says “It’s not something that can stay around forever” and she replies with “So, you’ve become a person who can say even that.”, Ginko is expressing her disbelief at what he’s become, a revelation further underscored by Shinkurou’s nonchalant “Depends on the person, I guess.” that implies that he’s not the same guy that she used to know.

Whether intentional or not, the scene in the laboratory with Murasaki and the anatomy figure seemed overtly allegorical to me in how it mirrors Shinkurou and his condition (again, the theme of different sides come into play here) and how she naturally feels that it’s in pain, just as Shinkurou’s dark past and nightmares have hurt him. It’s telling that in the scene before this Ginko says “Are there people who would think that you’re strong after looking at you?” before it cuts to Murasaki asking the figure if it’s alright, since it looks like it’s suffering.

ditto this one, too

What’s even more obvious is that the conversation between Murasaki and Shinkurou that follows once again tells us what the characters themselves cannot: Shinkurou himself cannot identify what Murasaki is trying to describe, in an allegorical representation of how he’s blind to the extent of the burden he carries, and how by trying to show different sides of himself to the different people in his life he’s changed so much that he doesn’t even realise who or what he’s become.

Since practically everyone else has written about the infamous three-way dialogue to death, I’ll skip that part and save you what you already know. What follows later is more significant, though — it brings the exchange at the beginning of the episode full circle and reconciles Shinkurou’s predicament with Murasaki’s past, in addition to informing us about how everything that happens in the episode ultimately relates to the both of them in a cohesive manner; Shinkurou with his raison d’etre, and Murasaki with her keen perception.

who you gonna call? SOMEWHAT RELIABLE!

The first question would be Why does Shinkurou look after her? By not wanting to show his other side to her in the way he refused to use his fighting skills on the train, he protected her both physically and emotionally; aside from how he’s obviously kept her out of harm’s way, he’s also protected her from the side he doesn’t want her to look at, the dark and violent side that manifests at night when he goes out on a job. In other words, protecting her innocence. He’s the “real martial artist” that Yuuno talks about; the judo members are but sportsmen compared to him.

The second question is Why does Murasaki say what she does? It’s not a question of being over the top, as some quarters have accused her character of — rather, it’s a result of her not wanting Shinkurou to walk down the same path of self-deception that her mother did, and her outburst is a plea of concern about his wellbeing. Even children will know a lie when they see it, and Murasaki’s precociousness isn’t the result of the author being fantastic — it’s a result of her character being realistic.

Shinji would have been reduced to tears

It’s only been the third episode and I’m already blown away. Is there anyone out there at all not watching this for some reason? If you like intelligent anime that doesn’t dumb down for its viewers, you owe it to yourself to watch this gem, and if you happen to disagree with everything else the show stands for, then watch it only for the dialogue. It’s that great.