One week left. Just one week…
Episode 10 of Terror in Resonance (Zankyou no Terror) continues to press this ambitious story forward at breakneck speed. In twenty-something minutes, we get Nine’s arrest, Twelve’s rescue, Shibazaki’s confrontation of Mamiya, Five’s killing of her handler, and Five’s suicide, enough action to fill two episodes. But somehow, Watanabe is able to keep the series clarity, and it all works to create a tone of desperation and anxiety, a literally explosive ending is on the horizon.
What I found most interested in this episode was how the show, which has mildly asked us to ask who the villains are all along, really hits that question hard in this episode. Some villains are clear, like Mamiya (though perhaps many will find his motive patriotic and honorable, if his actions were reprehensible). Others are more difficult to put a finger on, like Five, who while killing without abandon and putting innocents at danger, is herself a victim of the worst kind of childhood abuse.
But more than that, we see this fine line between good and bad examined in three of our leads: Nine, Twelve, and Shibazaki:
- Shibazaki shoos away his protege so that he can visit Mamiya alone. He later states that he possibly intended to kill the man as apparently an act of revenge on the parts of both the children of the Athena Project and for himself.
- Twelve gave up the location of the bomb last week in his rescue of Lisa, and now feels depressed because of the act of betrayal toward his best friend and partner in crime.
- Nine, as the mastermind, still give the audience pause. After many episodes of seeing him clearly as an anti-hero, we’re led to wonder if he really is that at all, as he’s stated that he plans to unleash an atomic weapon upon Tokyo.
Truth be told, these thin lines between good and evil, right motivations and wrong, are only bigger reflections of what goes on in our own hearts. Humanity is capable of so much good, but any person is also capable of great evil, as demonstrated through genocide and other travesties. Our heart, it seems, is a minefield, where most of it may be safe, but portions are dangerous and vile.
And the thing is this – if we’re so easily turned aside toward doing that which is wrong, what does that say about us? Like a an apple with a worm hidden in it’s core, it tells us this: while we can be beautiful, there’s something rotten on the inside. And no matter what we do or how we present ourselves, we’re still rotten apples.
It’s a depressing thought. But thankfully, as is the same with Terror in Resonance – that’s not the end of the story.
Hi, guys, this was an awesome article! I discovered your blog a few weeks ago and it’s nice to see an anime blog related to religion. I’m a Muslim, but I appreciate the way you find God and His message in anime.
Thank you so much for following along with our blog, and especially thank you for the kind words!!