Since the main cast of the series are now complete, I would say it is about time to give some depth into the story. Episode 5 brought this into the table and things are starting to get spicy.
The four now are basically not strangers to each other anymore, and therefore talked more about their personal lives and their statues' lives as well. Notable details about the teacher's involvement with Ai and Koito were brought up and their corresponding theories behind it. It was suspected at first that they have another relationship other than being a student-teacher, but flashbacks showed, it could only be a one-sided one. Momoe, who is his niece, disagreed with the theory as well and insisted, her uncle is not that type of person. I guess, there is more to what have been shown so far.
Speaking of Momoe, she also shared more about her flashback with Haruka. It turned out, Haruka is bolder than just what happened in the previous episode's flashback. Momoe was just a victim of Haruka's aggressive approach, and again, would naturally be confused on what to do.
After four episodes, it was until in this episode, we got to know more about Neiru. Her dream map is a bridge, and I am wrong with my guess in my previous post. Her weapon is a sniper rifle that can blow enemies from a distance, which can morph and used as well in a close quarter combat.
Her fight scenes were quite dark and serious compared to the vibrant ones for the other three.
Her second fight's issue is so far the most intriguing if I understood it right. Is there a relationship factor between narcissism and suicide?
Going back to her map, it was a bridge because it was where her younger sister jumped to her death. Following this reason, Ai and Momoe's maps would make sense, but not for Rika. It was not mentioned yet where or how her statue died though.
Everything above did not happen chronologically in the episode, but just wanted to summarize the shared information from each girls. What made this episode spicy is when Rika broke the ice, when she simply mentioned about stopping saving Wonder Eggs.
She further added, that they have already friends in real life enjoying each other's company, so why bother for the dead ones? Why do they have to risk their lives for those people, which they are not even sure if they still want to live?
Rika might be an unlikeable character in the surface, but this time, she asked the questions that mattered the most to everyone else. Adding or justifying each one's purpose in the story give us a glimpse of the series direction from each character's perspective aside from the common idea of just saving Wonder Eggs.
Among them, it was Neiru's purpose that struck me the most.
She is just dealing with the pain of her scars, which was caused by her younger sister's morbid act, and fighting in the Wonder Eggs realm seemed like a therapy for her.
Neiru is or might be currently in a cold state towards her younger sister, but I have a hunch, this will change later on. After all, this will not go on forever, right?
One more thing that I just noticed in this episode is the mannequins. Aside from the fact that their place is also an amusement arcade center, their roles are showing bit by bit, especially when the girls asked for more time to play in the arcade, but both disagreed with each other's decision. Are they like acting like a conscience or the id-superego-ego psyche?
Now that reminds me of Trapeze or Kuchuu Buranko, which also deals with the same concept as well. But going back, I am happy that we got to know more about them because they are still a puzzle left to be solved, together with the Wonder Eggs existence.
Honestly, I do not know where the series is heading aside that it is breaking slowly but not entirely from the formulaic format of the previous episodes. But I hope, there is something bigger than this, that will connect everything into one single point. Nonetheless, Ep 5 is another great episode that added depth to our story.
What do you think of this episode?
Do you have some guesses in which way the series is heading to?
Please share your thoughts as well.
Thanks for the visit and keep safe!
P.S. Episode 4 "Sexist dialogue" had to be explained in twitter by the director. I would agree, they could have explained it further, rather than leave a misleading gender-biased view especially if taken out of context. Suicide gender paradox as mentioned in the previous post would back it up, but not conclusive at all but instead, only based on statistics and studies.