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Concrete Revolutio
Episode 9

by Rose Bridges,

How would you rate episode 9 of
Concrete Revolutio ?
Community score: 4.2

You know you're in for something when an episode begins in December 1941. We open on Pearl Harbor, as American soldiers prepare to shoot at a Japanese man emerging from his nautical vehicle. Then we jump forward to 1969, where Fuurouta is in class learning about the origins of life on Earth. His classmates know a disconcerting amount about this already. The two scenes seem wholly disconnected, but we know from previous episodes of Concrete Revolutio that they won't stay that way.

The children in Fuurouta's class turn out to be superhumans, of course. They're part of an entire family of superhumans, with the ability of immortality. Jaguar recognizes them, because when he traveled through time (an ability I didn't know he had), he saw them recurring throughout history, in period-appropriate attire. Unlike other superhumans though, their abilities are purely defensive. They can't die, but they can't do much to hurt (or help) other people, either. All they can do is try their best to stay off the government's radar.

Unfortunately, they made it onto everyone's radar in a big way when they totaled their car—and survived—in hopes of contacting their missing member, the father. This also brings them to the Superhuman Bureau's attention, when the family captures Fuurouta (as a butterfly) and he makes the connection. The Bureau wants to force them to join, hoping they can wield their immortal powers to help them and the government. They make the error of assuming that the family's powers are more than they are, and that they can be so easily contained. Still, no one messes up more than the American government in their pursuit of the family's secret.

It turns out the father of the immortal family is the one who was captured during Pearl Harbor. For thirty years, he was subjected to brutal human experiments to test his immortality. (I'm sure there's something to be said about an anime pinning something on the U.S. that Japan did during WWII instead, but this is supposed to be our world with superhumans, so things may be different. The U.S. did plenty of its own shady stuff during the war, and I wouldn't put it past the government to experiment ruthlessly if such creatures existed and they caught one in the form of the enemy.) The American government assumes he's some sort of weapon, so they want to both use him for their own gain and figure out how they can destroy any others that might exist. It's clear that he was aware of these plans while he was in the U.S., so they might have been trying to weaponize him while he was under their power. Years later, they release him to Japan, and both the Bureau and his family are confused about what this could possibly mean. It's ultimately part of a larger plan for him to reunite his family—so the U.S. can destroy them all. They have a new mecha who can dissolve any organic creature into its component molecules, killing them completely.

Emi sums up the episode when she says: "Both Japan and the U.S. won't stop going after them, just because they can't die." This is the first time Concrete Revolutio directly condemns the U.S. government, after several episodes of hinting at them as a background menace: just one other superpower that doesn't quite understand Japan. Of course, as per previous episodes, the Japanese government isn't innocent, either. The father originally got into this mess because he needed to volunteer to fight in the Japanese army to keep his family away from census-takers. Now the Superhuman Bureau, part of the government themselves, get more involved than they should. No one can leave well enough alone.

It could be easy to see this as a metaphor for Japan's military strength or nuclear program, and the U.S.'s attempts to halt them in the 1960s—especially in context with other episodes and the larger Cold War atmosphere. Still, I doubt this considering the ultimate conclusion Jiro reaches: "They cannot harm anyone, but no one can harm them, either." That certainly doesn't apply to nukes. Seiji Mizushima and Shō Aikawa have generally possessed an anti-military stance in their other collaborations (such as Fullmetal Alchemist), and nuclear proliferation has never been widely popular in Japan outside of some strains of conservative nationalism. Concrete Revolutio's position so far is that all these governments and institutions are arrogant in their attempts to control that which can't be controlled. The family ends up being deemed "beyond human comprehension" in a way similar to—and yet, entirely different from—the kaiju before them. They're something like more-evolved versions of humanity, who can live forever and watch over the rest of us through the ages. Even dissolved into molecules, they get back up and keep on going, just for themselves.

This episode could be condemning the U.S.'s larger Cold War policy of invading countries that posed no real threat to them, simply because they seemed like they could, ultimately making the whole situation more miserable. That didn't happen to Japan so much as it did to "third world" (a term originally used to mean "unaligned") nations, but it was worrying for any country that wasn't a major power if they became too politically unstable. That was especially true with a country like Japan that was so recently emerging from U.S. occupation yet still so easily micromanaged by American interests.

We may not fully know what Concrete Revolutio is about until it reaches its conclusion. In any case, it's interesting to finally have our first episode where the focus is on Jiro after he's left the Superhuman Bureau. He clearly hasn't cut all his ties quite yet. He's not uncomfortable working with the Bureau when they have a common goal, like defeating the U.S. mecha. He's still chummy with individual members, like Emi. It seems like Jiro's goal at this point is to just be a pest to the Superhuman Bureau and convince its members to leave. (The Bureau has more empty seats in its meeting than just Jiro's, so he might be succeeding.) Still, his disgust for their mission already runs deep. It's only a matter of time before Jiro realizes that bugging them isn't enough, and he has to actively recruit and fight against them instead. I'm guessing that's when his uniform will start to change.

I hope we see the specific incident that pushes Jiro to leave soon. Given the previous episode, it might be a gradual attitude change, but there still has to be a straw to break the camel's back. It's hinted that there might be some change in his powers, as he complains about "not having Equus" to help him fight this week. Then again, it could just be that the Bureau owns Equus, and he can't use it without them. Still, it's suggested in previous episodes that Jiro at least changes the way he thinks about himself as a superhuman, and that might be due to a change in powers. Whatever the case may be, I hope we get to see the moment when he starts recruiting for his actual mission against the Bureau. I'd also like to know if things go sour with Emi, who he seems to still have a kinship with as of 1969. Plus, Emi's powers are pretty frightening. Summoning a demon whose eyes are made out of the moon to help her—a demon who calls her their princess? Do you really want to be on the wrong side of someone who can do that?

All in all, Concrete Revolutio becomes more fascinating as it takes the Watchmen idea and transposes it to a country with a completely different role in the Cold War. The U.S. was a major power whose access to "superhumans," in this alternate universe, could make or break the conflict. Japan was a smaller one, so it's still figuring out its relationship with superhumans and to what extent it should wield them or not. I don't know that Aikawa and Mizushima have quite the handle on this concept that Alan Moore did, but it's still fun to watch them try. They've created their own story, with easily identifiable influences, but still completely engaging as its own work. Let's hope it can stick the landing and fill in all the important blanks along the way.

Rating: A

Concrete Revolutio is currently streaming on Funimation.

Rose is a music Ph.D. student who loves overanalyzing anime soundtracks. Follow her on her media blog Rose's Turn, and on Twitter.


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