"Poor Haru" sums this episode up pretty well.
While I wouldn't say that we've hit the low end of this plot yet (that monsoon still hasn't hit, after all), the danger that Enoshima faces is incredibly clear. The stage is set, and with three (two?) more episodes to go, I'm ready for more twists and turns to come out of this finale.
Let's talk about DUCK first. Man, this show really went out of its way to show that despite the manpower and resources that they have at their disposal, DUCK will ultimately be completely ineffectual. On the one hand, they roll into Enoshima with an army of tanks. On the other hand, their hazmat suits look like rabbits, they squeak wherever they walk, and are distracted when Kate offers them sweets (I can't really blame them for that last part, though). They've been portrayed as silly for a while, but now they're a full-on joke. We already know before it even happens that they won't be able to do anything to the dragon.
In contrast, the dragon gets even more hype this episode. We still haven't seen the thing--which makes sense since revealing its true form will also reveal what Haru truly is--but now it's clearer how dangerous it is even to it's own kind. Even though Haru and Coco decide to take the thing head-on, they're one-hit K.O.ed. I'm not sure what to make of Coco's "death"--I use quotation marks since I'm not completely convinced that she's gone, since this never seemed like the kind of show that would lead to character death, but I could be wrong. Regardless of what Coco's fate, however, that was a really powerful scene since we saw Haru snap.
He doesn't "snap" in the sense that he becomes a yandere or get possessed again; rather, when I say snapped, I meant he finally got serious. He (potentially) lost something that was important enough to him that he decided that he wasn't going to screw around anymore or hide. If he can't stop the dragon, then he can at least protect the people he cares about who are left. If that means acting like a jerk, feigning hatred, and breaking his promise to not use the mind control water gun to get people off the island and away from danger, so be it.
Of course, the major flaw in this plan comes from what Akira has repeatedly stated throughout the episode; the dragon is responsible for the Bermuda Syndrome. This is not something that will blow over with time. It'll keep happening. Even if Haru does manage to get a lot of people away, the core of the problem will main unresolved. That's where I think Yuki will come in. They'll probably have to use fishing to catch him after all, especially since the show has spent so much time underscoring that there's just something about Yuki and fishing, just like how Haru naturally makes friends.
There was an interesting turnaround in this episode (or maybe just epic translation) when I saw in the subtitles that Yuki's reaction to what Haru was doing was "I don't understand him." I immediately thought of when Yuki accused Haru of not understanding him towards the beginning of the series (further implying that he wasn't trying to understand) and the reversal struck me. I don't know how that will play out in the upcoming episodes, but even with the ending bearing down on us, I don't think that this show is anywhere near done with what it wants to say about friendship.
Images from Crunchyroll.com.
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