Shibazaki was a good antagonist. I say antagonist and not villain because, of course, he’s not a villain. He’s just a cop who’s trying to stop some terrorists. You can’t blame him for that. The moral conflict lied in our protagonists, not Shibazaki. Sure, they were mistreated by a government-run organization, but does that justify destroying public property and endangering people’s lives?
Which is why I already hate 5’s presence on the show. She laughs when the police say they can do things. She gets mad at her own subordinates and forces them aside. She endangers innocent people for petty personal reasons. She is evil for evil’s sake. Now, we’ll side with the protagonists because no matter what they do, they’re less evil than 5. Lisa’s decision to join them now seems uninteresting, as an angel may as well have come down from the heavens and declared 9 and 12 to be in the right.
Had 9 and 12 not decided that the 72 people injured in the explosion wasn’t their fault, there might have still been an interesting dynamic going on. Have the good guys act a little sad when the bomb they made and planted hurts 72 people. It’ll do a lot for your story.
Admittedly, 9 did show Lisa that picture of the victims and say “This is what we do,” but even in his admittance that he hurt people, he’s still being a good person. He’s doing it to avoid harming Lisa. So, you see, our terrorist duo has somehow transformed into uninteresting, one-dimensionally good protagonists.
I do appreciate that Lisa’s actually getting a decent amount of screen time now. That bonding scene between her and 12 was just original enough to be elevated above a cliche, which is all I ask for. 9 at first refusing to Lisa help was cliche, but I’m just glad that Lisa’s doing something instead of sitting in the bathroom stall feeling sorry for herself.
Nonetheless, her character’s still hurt by the fact that choosing to be a fucking terrorist is no longer an interesting decision. I can’t deny that post-5 Lisa is less interesting than pre-5 Lisa.
And the next game is going to be chess. Hey, I used to play chess, I can follow the logic behind the game. I just don’t know how they’re going to make it interesting for everyone. Even if I enjoy the chess game, I’ll resent the show for making a game that only seasoned chess players can follow.
Mo[r]e Anime 