+ | N o v a s t o r m | +

Impressions:

I don’t get it. It’s as simple as that. I just don’t get it. The story is very interesting with all the killings and such, but there are things which I simply don’t understand. The one major thing that’s been getting at me is this elder Misaki guy. I was sure he was being buried by the scientists, but he reappeared twice afterward: once as he was dying in bed beside Mikuriya and the other when he approached Naoto and Naoya. Did they really happen? The first appearance might have been someone’s flashback about when he did die, and the second appearance might just be in the brothers’ minds. I’m not saying that I don’t like mystery – I do, as it is an element that is excellent at getting and keeping my interest. However, that does pose a problem when I try to blog about it. There are also cases where I might skip a little detail because I think it is insignificant, but turns out to be quite important. Or, I might interpret something wrong and screw up the whole summary.

From these two episodes, it seems that the plot might be Naoto’s and Naoya’s struggles to get used to the real world and eventually start using their powers to help others on a regular basis. Personally, I think that possibility would ruin the show. I wouldn’t want to watch something as boring as that. But there are still man mysteries in the show, which can make the storyline spiral in to all sorts of crazy endings. Any of those is fine, as long as it is original, interesting, and most of all, answers most of the questions presented in the series. Questions so far: Who or what is Shouko? Who or what is elder Misaki? Who or what are the Ark, and do they really exist? Why do Naoto and Naoya have these powers? While I’m on the topic of the brothers’ powers, I must say that it is far too extreme. Their powers should be more subtle. Mind reading, divination, seeing spirits and such; they’re believable for people who make use of their ‘Night Head’ (the remaining capacity of the brain which most people cannot use), but levitating things, tearing up rooms – how’s that possible? Supernatural things and mystery goes well together, but when the supernatural side is exaggerated so much that it borders on fantasy, that’s when it gets out of hand. What’ll be next? Mind control?

Episode 3:

Brief Summary:

Miki is being questioned by investigators about the disappearance of Shouko. She says that Shouko often disappears but returns immediately, so she thinks that it’s not a big deal that she’s missing. She also explains how Shouko saved her life, as she had warned her about going to a certain place by car. There had been a pile up recently, and if Miki and her family had gone, they probably would’ve ended up in the wreck as well. In the end, Miki had persuaded her father not to go.

In the confinement centre where Naoya and Naoto had been imprisoned, two scientists are burying something (that elder Misaki guy? The one in the wheel chair?). Another scientist approaches Mikuriya, who is overseeing the burial, and informs him that Nishikido wishes to speak with him. Mikuriya returns to the building and makes the call. Nishikido tells Mikuriya about an incident at the bar just up the road from the institution. An injured man was admitted to hospital, as well as four other people who have some symptoms. They all claim that a man with supernatural powers is responsible. Mikuriya receives a photo of the scene, where there are two blue shadows, which he interprets as residual energy. There have also been recent killings, where the culprit has not been caught and all the victims were wearing purple. After the call, he asks one of the scientists look into all the women that have been murdered in the city.

In some place (I think it’s the grave where the scientists were digging earlier) an unseen force resonates from the grave. In space, Shouko’s spirit or something is watching the events happening on Earth.

In a hotel in the city, Naoya is squirming on the bed, trying to get the visions out of his head. Naoto tries to comfort him, but he is still seeing visions of the woman from last episode, who had knocked him as she was leaving the bar. Naoya can see that the woman is a killer, as visions of her committing murders are playing in his head. It seems that all her victims are women wearing purple. Naoya starts seeing things as well, imagining dead people around him in the hotel.

In a short flashback, Naoto and Naoya are still kids. In the institute, they had seen an old man outside their rooms (elder Misaki).

In the night, the killer (called Reiko) starts seeing floating eyes and thinks that ‘they’ are trying to get her.

The next day, Naoto and Naoya do some research in the library, but only find four murder accounts in the newspapers. Last night, Naoya had said he saw five murders. Naoya starts explaining about Reiko’s reason for these killings. She has convinced herself that people in purple are out to get her. He also starts to see ghosts of the murdered women (I’m not sure if they are real or just figments of his imagination, since seeing ghosts might be one of Naoya’s powers).

The following day, Reiko starts seeing things again. She is so paranoid that sees eyes everywhere, watching her. Naoto and Naoya are spending the morning in a park. Elder Misaki suddenly appears in a wheelchair. He seems to be dead but is somehow moving. He points upward and describes a certain flow – the Minus Energy? He starts talking but his lips don’t move. Naoya suddenly finds himself present at the murder of the fifth woman, though no one else seems to notice him.

Episode 4:

Brief Summary:

Naoya is in the hotel where Reiko has knocked out and bound the fifth woman. Reiko tells Jiro, her boyfriend/husband/brother, to put the woman in a suitcase and head up to the roof. Naoya calls out for someone to help him, but no one hears him. On the roof, Reiko is planning to show ‘them’ that they have failed (I assume ‘them’ refers to the eyes she’s been seeing). Reiko and Jiro climb onto a billoard and lower the unconscious woman over the edge, ready to let her drop. Naoya stares at this helplessly, until Shouko appears by his side. She tells him that what he’s experiencing is not the past. He then returns back to reality, where he is still in the park with Naoto. He explains to his brother that the fifth murder has not happened yet. He is determined to save her.

That evening, the to-be-captured woman puts on a purple dress for the night. Naoto and Naoya start looking for the hotel with the billboard. Naoya starts to break down again, but Naoto tells him that if he falters now, the woman will be killed. In the car, Reiko spots the girl in purple and claims that she is the last killer who’s after her. Jiro questions this, but has no choice but to help her (for reasons explained at the end). Reiko follows the girl into the women’s bathroom in a hotel, where she hits her on the head and knocks her out.

Naoto says that the woman’s self-consciousness had sensed she was in danger and sent a help message to Naoya. He suddenly clutches his head in pain – the visions have started again. Naoya can sense exactly what’s happening with Reiko and the girl.

Reiko and Jiro follow the same sequence of events as those which Naoya had foreseen. They take the girl onto the roof of a hotel, prepared to show Reiko’s likely non-existent enemy that they’ve failed in getting her. Just before they can drop her off the top of the billboard, Naoto and Naoya make it onto the roof and tell them to stop. Jiro doesn’t want to go through with another murder, but Reiko kicks him and makes him lose his grip on the rope to which the girl is attached. She falls, but not very far, as Naoto manages to ‘catch’ her with his space manipulating powers. Reiko is so devastated that she had failed to kill the girl that she commits suicide by falling off the billboard. Naoto tries to save her as well, but the effort he put in to save the girl had already drained all of his strength. While I’m not sure if this is a good or bad thing, Reiko falls to her doom.

While mourning Reiko’s death, Jiro explains how everything started. She had run because she was being chased by something she called the ‘Ark’. While Jiro is crying over Reiko’s death, Naoya is delighted that they managed to save the girl. Security arrives on the roof, and so the brothers make a run for it. They aren’t seen as the officers’ attention falls onto Jiro and the unconscious girl. As the brothers are driving away, Naoto ponders about the ‘Ark’.

Preview:

Popularity: 7% [?]