The Fruit of Grisaia

Episode 6

You know what they say - “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will shred me to pieces.” For Yumiko Sakaki, this modified version of the old saw is a large part of what turned her into who she is when The Fruit of Grisaia began: the cold, violent girl who rejects all people who try to come into contact with her. This episode gives us the background of how she became that way, using the show's favorite red apple slowly turning into a sickly purple fruit as an indicator of how vicious gossip poisoned her and led to her lashing out. The entire first scene is done with a strange creaking sound in the background, barely noticeable at first before your brain starts to register it: the sound of a box cutter blade being extended and retracted over and over. It's highly effective and one of the most striking scenes in the show thus far, understated in its cruelty until Yumiko finally snaps.

On that note, “Yumiko Snaps” could easily be the title of the episode, as it revolves around her emotionally tortured past and ultimate showdown with her father. Yumiko was a daughter when her father wanted a son, leading to his separation from her mother when she proved too sickly to produce a second child. Yumiko remained devoted to her mother until the day she was given the ultimate rejection when her mother wishes that she had been born a boy. There's a tense moment when Yumiko whips out the box cutter and slices off her hair – for a moment, it looks as if she's going to try and give herself a mastectomy. Her feelings of displacement really begin in that moment and ultimately lead to the aforementioned showdown, which becomes the focus of the episode.

Generally speaking, this is both an effective and an uncomfortable midway point for the show. We do start getting some serious answers to our questions, but not all of them are great. For example, we find out why exactly Yuuji is at the school, and the reason is something that I'd been unhappily suspecting for a couple of weeks now: the implication is strong that he is there to “fix” the girls. We saw that happen with MICHIRU last week and we see it again this week with Yumiko, to say nothing of having his mission basically spelled out by his boss. While on the one hand there is nothing wrong with wanting to help troubled people, there's something I'm not entirely comfortable with in this case.

Once again the events of this episode feel very packed, as if they were trying to cram in as much of the game as possible in order to fit the whole thing into twelve or thirteen episodes. (Although only nine episode titles are currently listed...I hope it isn't that short.) In this case, it robs Yumiko's story of a lot of emotional impact. The show does a great job establishing the hurt she's been subjected to through the thoughtless words of others, but the small glimpses we've had of her pain in the previous five episodes don't really do enough to make us feel her triumph at the end of this one. What should be a freeing, soaring moment for Yumiko is just a sort of nice ending, which does not feel like it does the character justice.

The sound is really the most impressive part of Yumiko's story. From the creaking of the blade in the opening scenes to the sound of a gun firing to anguished screams, both the sound people and the voice actor who plays Yumiko's dad (not listed in the encyclopedia as of this writing) do an impressive job conveying the urgency of the scenes. Visuals do have some censoring of a corpse at one point (black cloud at least, and not a bar or beam of light) and can be jerky at times, particularly sudden movements such as one scene where Yumiko spins out from behind a tree. The insert song feels a touch too sweet, but it does work with the mood.

This is one of the strongest episodes of The Fruit of Grisaia thus far. It may still be over-full and a little rushed, but it provides answers and maintains both a decent amount of action and more heart-rending emotional fare. I only wish it had taken more episodes to do justice to what Yumiko's story could have been.

Rating: B+

The Fruit of Grisaia is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Rebecca Silverman teaches English at the university level and writes ANN's manga review column, RTO.