Parenting done wrong.
- Last week, Ai and Hambart were confronted by Julie, a man who wants revenge on Hambart for the killing of his wife. Then we learned how for 15 years, people in the world can’t die but simply go through a state of mental decay.
- Summary: After the events of last week’s Valley of Death Part II, we pick up with Ai and Hambart sticking together as Hambart explains who he’s looking for to Ai. He then explains that his whole meaning for life at this point was to figure out a way for himself to die, as he thinks being the last human would be unbearable. Suddenly, he pushes Ai off a bridge into a river to protect her from an oncoming ambush. She then gets saved from the river by Julie and Scar, and the three of them proceed to track down where Hambart has been taken to. The find out that he’s being held hostage, and is being tortured by a man obsessed with Hambart to the degree of emulating his look with a desire of killing him over and over. After Ai, Scar, and Julie eventually find him, we learn that Ai is actually Hambart’s daughter, and the woman he has been looking for all this time was Ai’s mother, Hana. After Ai, Scar, and Julie proceed to subdue all of Hambart’s captors, Hambart dies.
- My Take: I actually really liked this episode. Although some things were left unexplained, it doesn’t matter; the characters have gone through enough arcs and development that now it feels like a real show. The characters seem real, the situation seems real, and even the ending to this episode conjured up a little bit of emotion from me. Just the simple image of a man being reunited with his daughter, only to have to leave her forever a short while after is pretty heart-wrenching. But it is a more comforting image than if they weren’t reunited at all, right? I love the mixed emotions that arose inside of me at this ending.
I can see where this is going.
- Even though I did like this episode very much, I can’t help but point out that Hambart is supposed to be an immortal, but he finds a way to die. It’s sort of explained (he says he wants to die with his family around him, and he died in the presence of Ai), but it’s not a very solid explanation for me, although it’s passable. Putting all of the technical details aside, I have to say that I am in no way happy that he had to go. I did enjoy the character of Hambart, and I really wanted him to tough it out to the end. But isn’t that the sign of a good character? When you like a character so much that their deaths or departures leave you feeling empty or emotional? I think it is, so that’s one point I’ll give to the writers.
- Let’s be honest; who didn’t suspect that Ai is Hambart’s daughter? It was pretty obvious even for a person like me who doesn’t have any knowledge of the series whatsoever. The puzzling aspect for me is how Hambart didn’t suspect that Ai was his daughter until right before he died! I mean, the man has spent that last couple of days with the girl, and not once noticed the resemblance between Ai and Hana? Looking at their designs, they look identical. Take into consideration how Hambart took note of her age of 12 years old (he even stated that it’s impossible because people stopped being born 15 years ago) and the fact that he’s looking for a woman he romanced after “God left the Earth”. And the fact he’s immortal and his partner was a gravekeeper. And that Ai is half gravekeeper. Momentary lapse of reason? I guess so.
No, sorry. I don’t see the resemblance.
- I noticed while watching these three episodes in the Valley of Death series that the pacing in the show is actually rather slow, but with good cause. In any other show, all three of these parts could have easily been rolled up into one episode, but it wouldn’t have had such an impact. It wouldn’t give the audience time to digest everything that’s going on. Contrary to popular belief, atmosphere is an important element of any show, and a slower pace is sometimes necessary for setting a specific tone. Ambiguity is sometimes necessary, as it demands audience participation and perception to make the show worthwhile, and Sunday Without God does that to a fairly well extent.
Fanboys to the extreme.
- Honestly, I can’t think of anything else to say about this episode. It all the critical marks it should have; it solidified the characters, it had emotional turns, and it further expanded the story. Even though Sunday Without God started off pretty rocky for me, it has now given me a little more of what I wanted to see, and has now become my front runner of the summer season.
