Hmmm… I’m just going to start a count of how many times she has a gun pointed to her head. 2
- Last week, we were introduced to our main characters Ai and Hambart and learned a little about the world they lived in. We also learned that only gravekeepers can truly help somebody “die”.
- Summary: With her entire village slaughtered, Ai has teamed up with Hambart to roam the earth in search of a meaning to her existence. She claims that she’s now going to go wherever the world needs a gravekeeper. However, things turn violent as Hambart is shot by an old acquaintance named Julie “Tiger of Koto” Dmitrievich. It’s revealed that Julie wants revenge for Hambart killing his wife roughly six years ago, but it’s difficult because Hambart isn’t able to age or die. After the confrontation, Ai and Hambart are on the run as they know Julie is hunting them down. Things settle down, and Hambart reveals that the living stopped dying and people stopped being born 15 years ago, obviously contradicting Ai’s young age of 12. This is the reason there are gravekeepers; to grant people’s wish to fully be able to die. But that doesn’t explain how Ai’s existence is even possible.
Are you kidding me? 3
- My Take: We’re starting to learn more about the world that these people live in, which is nice. The fact that “God abandoned the world and now people can’t die” is pretty neat, and gives a new and interesting twist on the zombie genre. I actually really enjoyed the explanation of how the people who die don’t initially die, but gradually go through state a mental decay. From the back story in this episode, it seems there is a chance that this series will become a zombie survival show, which although clichéd nowadays would still prove to be a nice twist on the genre.
- I also enjoyed the philosophical and theological discussions had in this episode. In a show that already establishes the supposed existence of a deity (at least for the viewers), it’s nice to see the characters debate and offer their own insight as to what is going on. There’s a point where Hambart and Ai are discussing why people are no longer able to die, and Hambart gives his theory that God just lost interest in the world and left it to fend for itself (sort of like the short lived series God, The Devil, and Bob, only without destroying the universe). In scenes like this, the exposition is disguised so naturally as actual dialogue, so the story writing is very well done in my opinion.
So. Much. Bloom.
- At this point in the series, I can say that I really like the character of Hambart. He reminds me a lot of Anton from the film No Country for Old Men wherein he does bad things, acknowledges that he does bad things, but he fully believes that he has to do bad things. It’s an interesting perspective, especially since we aren’t fully aware of his motives. Now that more characters are being introduced who have more knowledge of the situation this world is in, this show can go in any direction. Julie has very fascinating motives for his revenge, and I can’t wait to see what happens to him and how he interacts with our heroes from here on out.
- At this point, I don’t like Ai. I just don’t. She serves no purpose other than to get an explanation about gravekeepers from Hambart. Other than that, her dialog consists of obnoxious moans and whimpers. Every time she’s on the screen, she tries to do something to be all “cutesy” and adorable and it just comes off as filler and shameless pandering. If they can give a great amount of depth to all the characters around Ai, then why don’t they do the same with her? Why do we get stuck having to root for the horribly undeveloped character when any other properly written character in her place would give us a greater investment? I know people will say that she hasn’t been developed yet, and I do agree that the writers very well may have something grand in store for us in that department. But development happens gradually, and surely something is needed to be given to Ai by the second episode to get us to sympathize with her. It just pains me to think that they added such a character to a show that can be so serious at times, and it kills the immersion. Basically, Ai is in an interesting situation, but she just isn’t an interesting character.
But I thought all secondary characters were destined to die meaningless deaths!
- In short, episode two is in many ways a nice follow-up to the first episode. For me, the show has become a guessing game in which direction it will go, like will it become a zombie survival show? A show where our characters are being hunted? Or something entirely different? I’m very interested to see where this show goes from here. I just want some more character development though, please!
