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Rating: 9/10

Putting the Pieces Together: (no spoilers)

So after watching this, you probably have a few questions regarding what actually happens in this arc. Well let’s see, we can determine quite a bit with the material we’re presented with this arc, combined with the first season. Don’t worry, there will be no spoilers…(btw, these are just my own speculations, they may be wrong).

1. What was Rena’s message?

Well, first of all, Satoko’s ‘image’ of Rena running away from the grey-uniformed men is only her own imagination. There is no chance that she could have seen Rena running away at that time. Satoko simply uses what Oiishi tells her to conjure up her hypothesis of what happened. And Rena’s message? Simple: That she was murdered. The blood gives it away. This is important because it justifies that there is a conspiracy behind everything (though the viewers would already have realised this).

2. Why was Rena in such a strange spot?

She was probably going garbage hunting. Why was she away from everyone else? Because of her dysfunctional family…(see point 3) As for the other 20 people who disappeared, I have no idea.

3. Why was everyone at school when they were dead?

It looks to me like there was a parent-teacher meeting. There are parents there and no one is in their school uniform…though I hardly think this is of much importance at all anyway.

4. Who the hell are the grey suited men? And who are they working for?

Well telling would be a massive spoiler, so I’m not going to do so. But with the current information, you can make a few assumptions. The one connection between the grey suits and any other character can be deduced by who actually survives…This arc is highly similar to Tatarigoroshi-hen–one of the similarities is Takano, Tomitake and Dr. Irie. In Tatarigoroshi-hen, Irie commits suicide while Tomitake dies—the same happens in this arc. And both times, Takano mysteriously disappears. In Tatarigoroshi-hen, Takano has Tomitake’s bike in her car…hmm, suspicious isn’t it? And this time, Tomitake dies but Takano is nowhere to be seen…get the idea? Oh, I almost forgot—episode one in this second season contains a lot of information on Takano and what’s she been doing…

5. What’s up with Rika’s death and the Disaster?

Well I’m pretty sure anyone can tell that they’re related. Whenever Rika is Watanagashi’d, the Disaster occurs. And with Rika’s acceptance of her death, you can deduce that this has happened to her many times before. Well doesn’t this answer a few questions regarding how Rika dies in most of the arcs in the first season? (Apart from suiciding and getting killed by Mion).

6. How does Satoko die?

This is plain obvious—she’s killed by the same faction who hunted Rika down. This also reveals how Keiichi really dies in Tatarigoroshi-hen (no, not a heart attack).

Impressions:

Anyway, general comments: heart-wrenching, thrilling and plain awesome. Verdict: I loved this episode. The only bad thing I have to say is the transition from Keiichi and co. being alive to being dead. Both Rika and Satoko get a lengthy transition period to get ready for the tragedies to come, though for Keiichi and the others, one episode they’re healthy and having fun—the next, dead. But with this arc focusing on Rika and Satoko, not much else could have been done anyway. Anyway, the next episode begins a new arc, and it seems something big is going to happen…

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