Sagrada Reset

Episode 12

This episode continues Kei and Sumire's conversation from two weeks ago. Prior to getting rudely interrupted by a pointless Haruki episode, the two were discussing what Sumire might want to do now that she's been resurrected. Kei wants her to go off and be a normal girl, but Sumire claims to have other plans. She doesn't reveal them though, since that would spoil the entire show. For now, Kei will just have to deal with the fact that Sumire is likely roping him into a crazy scheme that'll change his life forever. Not that that's enough to phase him.

A little while later, Kei accepts another job from the Bureau. This one has to do with a girl, Honoka Katagiri, who creates another world in her dreams. People can get sucked into this world, so the Bureau keeps Honoka permanently asleep at a secure location. Specifically, they're afraid that Honoka's world will turn into a Lotus-Eater machine that keeps people trapped inside by satisfying all of their base desires. For some reason, the Bureau wants Kei and friends to go inside the dream world and see how much it matches up to real life. This also has something to do with Sumire's secret plot, as her meddling makes apparent.

So Kei and Haruki go into the dream world. Cat girl Seika also tries to tag along (in search of a mysterious cat man who supposedly lives in the dream world) but she doesn't show up there for some reason. As soon as they enter, Kei and Haruki encounter a girl who calls herself Michiru. She's probably Honoka, but she refuses to respond to that name. She's also accompanied by a bluebird named Chiruchiru, who can transform into a man and serves as the dream world's god.

According to Kei, Honoka likely made Chiruchiru to serve as her caretaker, since it's more fun having someone look out for you than to look out for yourself. Michiru, meanwhile, tries to talk up the dream world but comes across as pretty miserable in it. The dream world itself is a near perfect replica of the town but with everything flipped across its y-axis, like in a mirror. Here, Kei learns that the Bureau has also sent that lady from the bridge into the dream world. She can destroy this world at any moment with her ability, which means that whatever Kei discovers will likely have serious consequences. At the same time, we learn that Sumire is in communication with Chiruchiru, so he's a part of her plot too, apparently. Also, a giant monster galumphs through the town and destroys it every night. I'm sure that Michiru is very happy here.

Overall, this was a boring setup episode of Sagrada Reset. Besides the do-nothing filler weeks, these are the worst parts of the show, since it's just people talking to set up plot points that might have some payoff later (but probably won't). Character-wise, the best moment was when Haruki asked Kei to be her boyfriend out of nowhere. For a second, I thought there might be some actual development going on, but then it turned out that Haruki was just asking Kei to take that role in the school play. Lame. At least she got to poke at his paternalistic martyr complex by insisting that she sleep on floor while he takes the bed. Now that I think about it, there was a couch in that shot. Why didn't Haruki just sleep there? And wasn't this room prepared by the god bird guy? Did he not think of making two beds, or is he just a jerk? (I prefer the latter interpretation.) If there's a high point here, it's that this material might turn out more interesting than everything else that's happened so far, but I'm not placing those types of bets at this point.

Grade: C

Sagrada Reset is currently streaming on Amazon's Anime Strike.

Gabriella Ekens studies film and literature at a US university. Follow her on twitter.