Forum - View topicID: INVADED (TV).
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Stark700
 Posts: 11762 Location: Earth |
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ID: INVADED (TV) Genres: Sci-Fi, Mystery Themes: Plot Summary:
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ACｘS
 Posts: 877 |
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1-2:
From the director of Re:Creators and Aldnoah ZERO, I give you... Matrix! I kid. The first few minutes feel like Matrix, but it's not. It's actually a lot more like Psycho-Pass. This is a deconstructed detective show that borrows ideas from PP cover: the intention to kill, (PP: 'criminal coefficient'), John Walker (PP: Makishima, your criminal/killer enabler), and Wakumusubi (PP: a Dominator). And then there's a movie this show is getting ideas from: Inception. The title is ID: Invaded, the ID being that one disorganized part of your psyche as defined by Sigmund Freud. You know, that eccentric guy with interesting but problematic theories about us and our "urges". This show's about diving into people's psyches/minds (euphemistically 'wells', as what I can tell for now), and understanding how the killer's mind works. And then you have Sakaido, our detective who's also guilty of a past crime (PP: an Enforcer... but also an Inspector, somewhat). Diving into someone's psyche causes him to lose all memory (makes sense), and he has a knack for being able to piece everything together on very short notice. And he's not modest about it: "brilliant detective"... I don't like him already. And then there's another movie this particular case got ideas from: Silence of the Lambs. The premise of understanding how the killer's mind works in order to understand his motives. Lobotomies (Hannibal Lecter's favorite pastime). Switching bodies with the victim for an escape (the best scene from SotL). This is one crazy show. And I'm not surprised; that's Ei Aoki for you. As evident from Re:Creators and Aldnoah Zero, you should expect something brainy from him. A familiar theme told in a very unconventional way, but I fear one thing: when you try something smart, you can end up fumbling over it. Both his past shows had problems: Re:Creators had inconsistencies in world building, and Aldnoah ZERO's protagonist was too logical to be likable. This show is already raising some questions (wtf are 'cognition particles'?). Add to that the show's inconsistent artwork (there's something strange about all the characters' faces whenever they move). Well, at least this show tries to be different. I like that; at least it's not "been there, done that" like every other show. |
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ACｘS
Posts: 877 |
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3:
Inception and Psycho-Pass, no doubt. Kaeru is to Sakaido what the spinning top is to Dom in Inception: it's the totem that tethers him to reality. There's a nuanced difference: whereas the top is to prove whether Dom is still in a dream or back to reality, Kaeru is to prove that Sakaido remembers himself because of the amnesia that happens every time he gets into someone's well. And this show's also about the killers and their depravities (that's PP season 1 for you). Sakaido isn't exactly the same kind of enabler as Makishima, but like an Enforcer he understands how a killer thinks and feels (hence rendering him a latent killer). What he is imprisoned for remains to be seen, but with the ability to piece together clues and come to logical conclusions impeccably, he's too indispensable not to be relied on by the other detectives. I like this show. |
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ACｘS
Posts: 877 |
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4:
I hope that sooner or later the show will explain wtf 'cognition particles'. I get it: it's obviously a plot device, but at least try to be smarter about it. I like the show's SotL-inspired 'to get a psycho, one must think like a psycho' theme. I don't like the 'brilliant detective' part; I also get this one ('brilliant detective' = I'm the one chosen to solve this, because others are too lazy-ass and cowardice to do it themselves), but seriously, the show doesn't need to remind us every single time. But I'll tell you one thing: Narihisago/Sakaido is an outstanding detective because of two things. One is his sheer persistence, and the other is his highly *empathy skills. *there are generally two kinds of empathy: cognitive empathy, and affective empathy. Clearly he's the former; not so sure about the latter |
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ACｘS
Posts: 877 |
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5:
Really? She's twenty-three? I've been wondering what the hell 'cognition particles' are (other than just a plot device), but I'm getting the hint now. The particles are only present when the culprit has malicious intent in killing his victims; as demonstrated in Kazuta's case, if it's not malicious intent, then no particles. So, let's just call them 'evil particles' instead (because apparently that machine can't detect 'love particles'). A minor side thought: why isn't Hondoumachi head hole patched up? No, it's not because she's using it as bait to confirm her suspicion about the Grave Digger; she's left it uncovered even before arriving at the house. |
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ACｘS
Posts: 877 |
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6:
Really? Her bullet went cleanly through the guy's hole? To understand a serial killer, you must think like a serial killer. And to think like a serial killer, you have to be a serial killer. It's extreme, but that's the idea. It's the theme of a serial killer's mind as a dark void: once you go in, there's no turning back. |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15457 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Episode 13 (finale)
I am generally underwhelmed by all of this, mostly I don't care for the obsession into the minds of serial killers that this show was based on. The climax win against the chief villain was done by playing on his killer psychology of a god complex, familiarity of a killer's mind and using a side effect of brain damage that was inflicted from a serial killer's obsession with drilling holes in people's heads. Although it was all about stopping serial killers, it felt a tad too much on the glorifying angle, like people want to analyse psychopaths. And on the same path I think the whole Narihisago thing also confuses me, like why was he put in the weird maximum security prison that he was? Was it because he killed the man that killed his daughter? Maybe I missed it, but did we learn how exactly he killed him, while I thought it would be incredibly clear that of course he would try to kill the single man that killed his daughter, that it would be irresponsible to let him near the guy, not enough to land him in maximum security. Him supposedly killing the other killers by driving them to suicide through talking is hardly reasoning to classify him as like some killer himself. Seems utterly ridiculous to act like he had some magical super power to kill through talking, and more along with how I feel like this show is a little too much on the side of glorifying "serial killers" by saying that they can do things like they can kill people by talking while both are behind bars (metaphorically). This is a lot of how I had complaints over the first season of Psycho-Pass, even with little gore, it feels to uncomfortable to me in how it treats things like the mind of a killer. Like something grotesque that you can't look away from and strangely fascinating. Add into the fact that the majority of the show is built on strange abstract worlds that are built on how killers see the world or desire to kill or something. The series I think was making an attempt to kind of make killers as sick individuals who have something wrong with them or a god complex like the one against the main villain, but I think it falls a little flat when the worlds are played so fantastically. And the protecting people as cops because that is what they do that spared the life of the psychic girl who is being used as a medium into the dangerous minds of psychopaths, not have the impact I think it wants. Is there even a good reason why they have to continue using her as they were when it probably does some psychological damage? Pretty sure there is something unethical there, and should not be impossible to find her a place where she would be physically away from people and could keep in contact through technology. Anyway, it is not like the show is technically bad, it looks nice, sounds nice, and presentation is okay for what it is. Both the opening and closing are pretty cool, visually, and the ending I especially like musically, feels like one of those that will could suddenly pop into my head as I struggle to remember, like Flashback. My rating is Decent (6/10), something I did not really lose my time with, I think that it is well made, but the rest of it made it awfully close to something that would generally not catch my attention. |
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ACｘS
Posts: 877 |
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Final episode:
It seems interesting at first. Then slowly it loses my interest. The whole Psycho-Pass / Inception seemed novel (although unoriginal), but then it evolved into something that's quite incoherent and convoluted. It's like a professor whom you ask to simplify his explanation, but he intellectualizes even further to the point that only the professor knows what he is talking about. In a way, that professor is Aoki Ei and Maijo Otaro rolled into one. I felt the whole series is rushed. Let's put it this way: it doesn't bother introducing the characters at all. Remember, from episode one it went right into solving mysteries. Nosedived right into it. Throw in techno-psycho-babble stuff like id wells and Wakumusubi, and your Mizuhanome, and "cognition particles". Doesn't matter if you don't know wtf they are; you'll pick up along the way. I admire the ambitiousness behind this idea, but execution is all over the place. In the end, I just find myself being taken along for the ride despite not knowing where I'm heading. 5.5/10. Like the style, but that's about it. |
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