Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Otherside Picnic
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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The night setting does seem to play into the element of human nature where in the dark (night) your mind could be twisting what you see or hear into some monster, seeing or hearing things in the dark, where you can't trust your own senses. I would like to think the episode was getting this across when they were running away from the corpse carrier thing that we kept cutting from different points of view and quick flashes that it would try and make the audience feel as disorientated as the characters. And that creeping anxiety of not knowing if Sorawo was just seeing things in the dark or if things were really off started when they were leaving the restaurant, with her maybe just trying to trust in Toriko's blissful drunkenness to calm herself.
And when they meet a group of soldiers, where you think they could be safe, only for an entity only called after his appearance as the Horned Man, evoking this idea of some kind of pagan god. Something that the comfort of modern society should say is not real, or perhaps too much of a danger, the fear still lingers that it might be ancient and beyond understanding. And then it just walks off. |
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dm
 Subscriber Posts: 1359 |
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Christopher's right about the sound design. I thought it was pretty effective this episode.
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DracoInduperator
Posts: 9 |
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Yeah I don't like how in episode 4 they compressed several arcs into one episode, and changed the order of things too. Originally they where supposed to come across station February before the Time-Space man. This is because during the Station incident spoiler[Sora learned more about how to use her Eye and Toriko's Hand.] This in turn allowed her to figure out and comprehend the "layers" of the Otherside and the whole plant people village, in the next arc which was Time-Space Man.
Plus they skipped an interesting little tidbit about Sorawo's mentality. After Kozakura talked about Toriko's past and then Sorawo talking about growing up in a cult and deciding to burn her family before finding out they already died. Originally Kozakura had thought Sorawo was a spoiler["subculture maniac with no communication skills"] however after this conversation she realizes Sorawo is actually a spoiler["psychopath with dependency issues".] That also helps us to realize more of Sorawo's personality and why she's fixated on Toriko, and on the Otherside. |
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dm
Subscriber Posts: 1359 |
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I read that as Kozakura just being snarky. Episode five: we finally get told about Sorawo's contact lens to disguise her magic eye. (Episode six: beach episode!  )
Even I noticed the decline in animation quality this time. And I was a little disappointed in the presentation of spoiler[the interior of the train]. I wonder if that was just there to avoid problems on broadcast, or if they just couldn't come up with a way to present it. Horror imagined but not seen is fine (and often more effective), but I don't think they pulled that off, either. And gosh, the light pole at that train station is T-A-A-A-L-L-L-L. |
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Lobokendo
 Posts: 135 Location: Somewhere |
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With regards to episode 6, I can agree with the feelings that the anime invoked. Without spoiling too much, spoiler[this isn't the last we see of the soldiers.]
That said, the novels made it incredibly clear (and it seemed the anime didn't) that Sorao and Toriko were running for their lives from the soldier who saw them as "one of them". It is heavily implied that they had no choice but to leave when and how they did or they likely would have been killed. Another thing was the monkeys on the train were heavily censored from the books. Those monkeys were butchering people on the train, and the reason that the soldiers didn't catch Sorao and Toriko was because they were afraid of approaching the train with such horrific scenes happening on it. My point is that the story was a bit tragic, but it certainly wasn't intentionally meant as "only the two of us matter". I can totally see how this episode came across that way though! |
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Hiroki not Takuya
 Posts: 2515 |
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^I found several elements of Ep6 odd given the settup from last Ep as did the reviewer. First, why would Toriko sidestep addressing how they avoided the "bear traps" with a sly grin when the Americans had been "open" with them, shown them consideration and some hospitality? Can't see how an explanation about this not being their first time in Otherside or having had an encounter that left Sorawo able to see them would have hurt. Then she deliberately uses her phone at the first chance despite the unnecessarily cryptic warning, which was itself odd. Any normal warning would include why one should not use the phone.
It's seems the writer left that out so the girls could willfully call down the consequence but with innocence. And Drake's reaction seemed so nonchalant as to be incongruous, as if the writer wanted him to not make the transgression an issue because he was at fault for not elaborating on his warning. How did any of the soldiers know about the "meat train"? Did anyone get on? If they kept their distance, they wouldn't have been able to see inside so how would they know people were being butchered? And if so, why or how did the girls avoid that fate? And now the "bear traps" can morph people and machines despite always depicting disintegration as their effect. The only conclusion I can come to is that the writing this episode became suddenly inept. That ,or the writer has succumbed to the influence of Otherside and is beginning to slip into madness... |
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DracoInduperator
Posts: 9 |
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Well the guy who first taught them about the glitches said there where different types. Some disintegrated, some melted, some twisted, he said there where others he didn't know about as well. |
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Songblade7
Posts: 7 |
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I was browsing through the reddit discussion after the episode and one poster said that in the military, they use the exact language the soldier did. I believe he said "I advise against doing this", and I guess that for the military, that just means "don't do this whatsoever". So because the girls not being military dont see it as a great warning, they go and do their thing anyways. I think besides that, the soldier just looked too tired to elaborate regardless, and the girls seemed uncomfortable about the situation since there were people openly hostile to them. All it would have taken was one slip up for the (already on edge) soldiers to point their guns towards them, and that's exactly how it happened at the end of the episode. At the end of the day, the soldier's camp was just another threat from the Otherside, even if it was humans that were in it. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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The phone call was creepy. Especially the bit about asking the people behind them to be quite, it totally gave me chills and reminded me of the best creepy stories where the fear comes on having to rely on someone else's perspective to be aware of something you might be completely ignorant of.
I listened to that story on Kisaragi station, and recognised the elements that were echoes in the show, especially in the call received on the other end, like the mention of an old man with one leg. |
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Hiroki not Takuya
Posts: 2515 |
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I'll answer my own question with what I got from my daughter, who is a mythology lore aficionado which I hope brings some context for others here. If she is correct, the episode would have made good sense to those who know Japanese spirit lore. Assuming the soldiers were Japanese American and possibly Okinawan American, they would have been suspicious of anyone who could see the "glitches" or things not readily apparent to the ordinary person (such as what was behind the facedogs) as possibly being in league with the "monsters". "Only spirits can see other spirits for what they really are and spirits are always up to no good so your only options are to get away from them or get them before they get you".
Apparently Toriko made that connection which is why she played dumb about how they avoided the "bear traps". Sorawo apparently came to the same conclusion which is why she was convinced they had to "escape" the Americans despite the kindness of some as the rest would be after them eventually as "monsters" to kill. It seems the manga explained that explicitly. Also, apparently spirits frequently set rules for themselves in dealing with humans and some stories have it that a spirit can do no harm as long as the human sees them for what you are or looks them in the eye. If the "monkeys" on the "Meat Train" are those sort, that is why the girls survived unscathed and why Sorawo had to stare them down. |
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dm
Subscriber Posts: 1359 |
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When I got to this chapter in the novels I had to laugh: "Oh! A beach episode!". I think things get a little more serious next week.
I've found myself wondering how the late Ryuutaro Nakamura and Yasuyuki Ueda (Serial Experiments Lain) or perhaps Takashi Watanabe (Boogiepop Phantom) would handle this material (this series interest in urban (or net) legends does come close to Boogiepop territory). I may be remembering these series through rose-colored glasses, but I think they did a good job representing their various "other side" aspects. |
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John the Dark Lord
Posts: 232 |
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I will admit, I wasn’t really that much invested in this show back when the first episode aired, partially because I’m not interested in the “creepypastas” it’s based on. But now, I have a better opinion it. It’s far from perfect, there are some issues with it as the reviewer noted, and I probably still won’t be reading creepypastas after this season is over, but I greatly enjoy how it’s able to build suspense when it wants to and the interactions between the girls are both heartwarming and funny.
But I still think Gekidol is the best yuri anime of this season. |
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dm
Subscriber Posts: 1359 |
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I just went back to look at the novels. This beach episode is out of place --- or, they skipped an incident.
You may have wondered why they were in Okinawa, and where they got all those guns. They didn't wander from that bar into night on the Otherside, then end up jumping on the Meat Train, carrying all those guns. In the novels, Toriko and Surawo return after a few days to rescue the Marines. They end up in Okinawa because they help the Marines find their way back to their own Okinawa entrance into the Otherside (in exchange for some guns and ammunition). Toriko and Sorawo then remain on the Otherside and find another exit --- also in Okinawa --- because they don't want to deal with the Marines in "the real world". The drunken night in Okinawa will play a role later in the series, plus, you know, beach episode, so they couldn't really skip this one. There aren't many episodes left to introduce the other two characters in the opening, and maybe the rescue of the Marines would have seemed like just a repeat of episode six, but that seems like an odd incident to skip. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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It is surprisingly the weirdest, and this is considering how weird this show can be. Like, this show can be confusing over what is happening, Gekidol is even more so. |
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Mohawk52
 Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
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