Gnosia

Episode 13

It's funny, because right now feels like a perfect time for Gnosia to drop an “Interlude” on us, even if it doesn't quite feel like we've earned an interlude at this point in the story. That word carries with it the implications of a major paradigm shift, a brief respite as we pass from one distinct phase of a story to another. I won't spend too much time rehashing all of the strange pacing consequences that have resulted from Gnosia's specific hybrid of time-loop story and time-travel story, but needless to say, it has been difficult for the short to establish any sense of what “phase” we are in at all. We've learned scattered bits and pieces of lore and character details that have been varying degrees of compelling in their own right, for sure, but we still don't have a real picture of “where” we are on the metaphorical map of Yuri's journey aboard the infinitely recurring voyage of the D.Q.O. Does this “Interlude” mark the ending of the one roughly equal act as we slide into another, or are we doing that visual novel trope where one “route” is merely a prologue to the real story that is only just beginning?

Thanks to the fact that this is a weekly-airing television show and we live in a universe where time flows in a linear direction that all living beings must follow, we have a little more time to go before we can truly get a clear perspective on all of that, but either way, I suppose any shakeup of the status quo is going to be a relief, both for the audience and our heroes. Appropriately for such a refresh, this week sees Yuri catching back up with Setsu after spending several time-loops in a row collecting notches on their harem belt. It's been a long time since the pair's partnership has felt central to the proceedings, so it is good to be reminded of their fundamental bond and also see them goof around and bond in their own right. They go on a movie “date,” have some heart-to-heart conversations, and even get their finishing mini-game on with a funny cameo from Otome. Honestly, it makes the first half of the episode feel as if the script stitched together a bunch of different relationship checkpoint sequences that you often see in a visual novel or RPG, like what happens in the Persona games after you hang out with your buddies a bunch and give them all the right gifts. This isn't a bad thing, mind you, just an observation. After all, given what Yuri has been up to for the last month or so, it's about time Setsu gets their own “waifu” route.

Well, actually, given that Setsu is very clear about not being a woman, maybe the better term is…huh. I just realized I don't know if we have a non-binary equivalent for “husbando” or “waifu.” Hm…“pateneru?” “Suapouso?” We'll have to workshop that one.

As “Interlude” progresses, we experience a humorous montage of successive Gnosia trials and clue-hunts which sees Yuri putting together the pieces we've been given across the last few episodes into a larger context. In short, by contextualizing everything we've seen between Jonas, Kurushka, Remnan, SQ, and so on, Yuri comes to realize that Kurushka is the vessel for Manan's consciousness when SQ doesn't work out, and that Yuriko is deeply involved in the whole conspiracy while also being a fugitive from that Hoshibune cult. It's a lot of information to take in, and you'd think that all of this fitting together of the different puzzle pieces we've been getting would address my reservations about the pacing and narrative scope of the first cour's latter half…

Except it doesn't really, or at least not in a way that makes the narrative more satisfying at this juncture in the experience. Sure, the show has had Yuri walk us through the breadcrumbs it was dropping throughout the character-focused “harem” episodes (which I have so labeled on account of those silly love confession scenes), but all we really get from that is the cliffhanger that presumably bridges this interlude chapter to the next major chapter of the story. My problem with that is the fact that Gnosia expects us to trust Yuriko when she ominously promises us all these answers when I'm still trying to figure out what questions are worth asking in the first place. To be clear, I'm not saying that there won't be meaningful answers that eventually put the show into a more cohesive context, nor am I suggesting that the stuff we learned this week isn't deeply important to the larger story. I've merely resigned myself to the fact that, until Gnosia proves otherwise, there's no reason to suspect each cliffhanger won't just lead us to another, equally ambiguous cliffhanger until the very final moments of the series.

Episode Rating:

Gnosia is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on BlueSky, his blog, and his podcast.