Deus Ex should be granted permanent chairmanship on all reality show selection committees.
Survivor, Big Brother, Takeshi’s Castle – it matters not; Deus Ex knows how to really get a trainwreck started.
But before we get into the delicious mindscrew, let us whet our appetites with all that gratuitous Yuno fanservice.
Magnificent, is it not?
Of course, this being Yuno, it all had to go downhill, off the tracks, and into the ravine, all within the same episode.
Oh, it started innocently enough, what with Yuno’s light teasing with the straws, and the haunted house. Beneath that psychotic exterior, she’s still a wide-eyed romantic at heart, right?
Until it was revealed that Yuno’s been obsessed with Yukiteru for the past year simply because she promised to be his bride in a homework assignment.
Now, I may be interpreting it wrongly. It’s far more likely that her obsession started prior to that moment, maybe because he saved her pet cat or something. Going on the anime adaptation alone leaves out loads of information from the source material, so on and so forth.
Regardless of how her obsession started, this cheerful scene dragged me out of my fanservice-fuelled revelry and forced me to reconfront that fact that Yuno – despite the hot, hot body – is extremely mentally unstable. I’m guessing that she has a mild form of Asperger’s, or is slightly autistic: she’s got that analytical thing going on, and her interactions with Yukiteru seem like she’s merely going through the motions – she’s portraying her mental image of how a girl in love ought to act, but can’t actually feel love.
Either way, that moment on the Ferris wheel? Romantic background music has never been this unnerving.
The iconic shrieking violins of Hitchcock’s Psycho would have been far more appropriate. And far more comforting.
Of course, I was willing to give Yuno the benefit of the doubt. Cute girl, starved for attention, all she needs is a little love, yes?
Right up to the moment her house was given screentime. And even then, I was still optimistically going along with the whole power outage thing.
Really, all houses seem scary when the only source of illumination is candlelight. And you can’t blame the mood on Yuno, there’s a thunderstorm outside! It’s not her fault that horror stories abuse the ‘dark and stormy night’ premise.
You know that moment when you had a pillar of childhood faith kicked out from under you? Like when you realized Santa wasn’t real, or when you discovered the cruel, cruel practice of airbrushed celebrity photographs?
For me, this was that moment, except that it was like finding out that Scarlett Johansson was actually an 86-year old woman.
I was so terrified, I could only react by grinning inanely as the sequence played on. Yes, I was so deep into my self-delusion that Yuno was a perfect girl with nothing to hide, that the contrast between my fantasy and reality blindsided me to the point of terror. My self-hypnosis skills are that good.
Now, “Who are these two dead people?” would be an excellent question to ask.
However,in light of Deus Ex’s lack of surprise, perhaps the better question would be, “How long have those dead bodies been stuck in that room?”
I’m not saying that the identity of the deceased isn’t important. It’s important, especially in evaluating Yuno’s degree of insanity. One could argue that it would be far, far worse if it were Yuno’s parents lying in there, as opposed to a couple of strangers.
But the duration tells us far more. It could provide a possible timeframe to establish when Yuno first snapped, yes – but it seems to me, amateur psychiatrist that I am, that the longer a person willingly cohabits with dead bodies, the more insane that person is likely to be. And Deus Ex’s response seems to suggest that those bodies have been there for quite a while, maybe dating from the start of the survival game, maybe earlier.
Or Deus Ex is just trolling the viewers who are trying to find some sense in these happy turn of events.
Yes, Yuno. Everything was going so well. -sheds a single tear too-
Strange behaviour from Yuno though. The careful, perfect Yuno would have disposed of the bodies ages ago. It’s just so out of character for her.
Possible emotional attachment? Perhaps our sociopathic little Yuno does have some feelings after all. If only they hadn’t manifested in such a traumatic manner.
Speaking of trauma, I emitted distinctly unmanly noises from my vocal chords. Good times.
This is going to turn me off hentai for a while. I look at any anime eyes and I can immediately see Yuno staring right back at me.
In other non-Yuno plot developments, Keigo still looks incredibly creepy.
Maybe it’s the long hair. Or that bizarre ponytail thing. Or the fact that his body proportions are way off in this particular screencap.
While Minene shows off her rocking body. She must be the only terrorist in the world who looks this good naked.
Dramatic reveal! A new diary-holder appears.
Personally, I find the paper bag more unnerving than the mascot head. It’s a more accurate reflection of how dangerous the person is.
A paper bag is simple, economical, just enough to get the job done. The accessory of a pragmatic, logical being. This is a man who would kill you with anything from a toothbrush to a stuffed rabbit, the instant he no longer has need of you.
Whereas a mascot head is heavy, unwieldy; overly concerned with appearance and with an unnecessary focus on theatricality. The headgear of choice for a man craving for attention, desperate to prove himself better by being more ‘sophisticated’ or more ‘outlandish’. He’d probably think up some overly elaborate scheme that could be easily foiled by a gang of teenagers and their pet dog.
Although I am curious about why Mr Paperbag bothered with hiding his face when he already exposed it to Minene when he first brought her to safety. Maybe his hypnotic powers allow for memory modification as well.
Is that what a ruptured eyeball looks like? I didn’t actually want to do an image search.
I’d hate to imagine what Minene is going through, though. She obviously can’t see, what with the hole being right in the middle of the pupil, but I think she could still maintain some sort of vision? (I’m trying to be clinical here to avoid grossing myself out by thinking too much.)
Still, the point is moot, with Mr Paperbag ripping the eyeball out and all. That can’t possibly be a pleasant experience.
What if Minene could still see, even as the eyeball was being removed?
… anyway, here’s a more uplifting eyeball shot to round this post off.
I think I’ve just found my new screen wallpaper.
18 Comments
When I was watching the scene where all the fuss was being made about THE MYSTERIOUS DOOOOOOOOOOOOOR!™, I was actually thinking: “Oh, LOL, must be where she hides them bodies!” Of course, seconds later, I was all like: “Well… fancy that.”
Oh, and thanks for ruining my perception of Keigo with that screengrab, he looks more evil than anyone else in that shot.
I know right. That was my exact train of thought. Even the storytelling devices are trolls.
Keigo look evil cuz his pupils are really small and he looks like he’s looking at everything with a burning intensity of a thousand lazorz or w/e.
I knew something was off when Yuno was acting rather cute. I didn’t mind it as I got absorbed by her hawt, hawt body (especially those realistically big sized boobs). But of course it was a “OOOOH SHHHHIIIIIEETTTT” moment at the end. Too bad. I really wanted to see more of that lovely body :/ (lol i’m such a creeper).
It was a confusing moment when Minene was revealed to have been illusioned by the big headed guy since the cell suddenly turned into a piece of wood and the guy changed appearances in a flash. Speaking of Minene, I heard that even grazing your cornea with the edge of a paper can hurt like the depths of hell. With that puncture to the eye, she should be screaming her head off for hours. I guess that kind of pain tolerance comes from living a life of pain as concluded from the flashbacks.
I don’t care how much pain Minene must have lived through, a punctured eyeball is still a punctured eyeball. At least she’s all better now :3
Of course, I’m predicting more fanservice from Yuno, just accompanied with more mindscrew. I’m afraid that by the end of this anime, I’d have developed some blood/knife/psychosis related sexual fetish. It seems inevitable.
Just wondering: when’s the last time there has been a realistic make-out or sex scene in anime?
But isn’t the whole point of anime – and by extension, fiction – to be unrealistic? So that we’d have something to distract us from our overly realistic lives?
Anyway, the last realistic sex scene I’ve seen was probably in 2006′s Bokura ga Ita. And by realistic I mean that it was an epic fail.
… that sort of is what realism is, after all. /depressed
the fun part is to try and imagin the unpleasent things happening to you
… you are a sick, twisted person; and I wish I was at your level. I am not worthy.
and you know how i felt after marathoning the manga for a week till i reached the end? I didn’t feel good for finishing it.
i always feel good after finishing a series that has an end because you rarely get to these days.
But this series? No, i felt horrible. Entertained surely but horrible emtional wise.
I wish you luck brave man
I won’t spoil you, but the reason for Deus’s lack of surprise regarding the room is directly connected to why Yuno is in love with Yuki and is so focused on him, as well as why she is the way she is. Yuno is truly in love with him, and for an entirely different reason than what Yukki deduced. The reason why she is so extreme is because of her mental unbalance in general which will also be explained.
All i can say is that Yuno is far from being a one dimensional stalker.
Oh yes, Yuno isn’t one-dimensional. That’s for certain. The question now is whether she’s three-dimensionally insane or seven-dimensionally insane.
… I think the metaphor got lost somewhere there. But I would actually be okay with Yuno being one-dimensional. There’s something oddly calming about a psychotic girl single-mindedly eliminating all obstacles in the way of her happy ending.
Reading Silence of the Lambs.. The problem with Yuno is she’s not creepy enough. She’s too emotional. Apathy is better for creepiness. You’re screaming in that pit downstairs? Remember to use that soap on your nice, soft, white female skin.
Nice to see That active again. Good post. Keep it up.
>> she’s too emotional
I think she’s faking the emotion. That’s way creepier than a mere emotionless psychopath, wouldn’t you say?
watching that useless eyeball made me cringed my teeth every single time. I cannot even begin to imagine how tortured she must be at the moment having that very same eyeball plucked out with bare hand *shudders*
I actually lol’d when Mr. Paperbag appeared with that bag on his head. I asked the same thing: didn’t she saw you already?
Yuno is brilliant and I think that corpses were her family member which is why she can’t disposed of them, pretending that they are still around might even comfort her. Besides taking care of the bodies are tedious and might put her in danger of being expose unless she ate them which leaves hardly any trace except for the bones. But she can always take in a stray dog as pet and give them those bone as rewards.
I scared myself sometimes -__-
Somehow, I doubt it’s her parents in that room. It seems too straightforward. Then again, this is Yuno we’re talking about. She’s probably got devious plan layered under devious plan. Maybe she intended Yukiteru to find the room after all and scare him into losing his mind, so she can live with his mindless body forever.
Happy end desu!
”One could argue that it would be far, far worse if it were Yuno’s parents lying in there, as opposed to a couple of strangers.”
You do not know the 1/3 of it! xD
But yeah…you are going to really like this series and it’s mind screw. Heck this is the first series that made me finish it in 1 whole day (the manga that is) so yeah, lots of kewl plot twists. Love seeing this animated btw. I might just keep up with this blog for this reason because a lot of people I know already finished this up and this is a first for me reading someone doing a review w/o knowing the source material. Otherwise you would be shouting from the top of your lungs that Yuno is the Poster Child/Goddess for Yandare’s. xP
Gosh, I love reading these comments (and the main article, of course). All of this is college-level discussion with quite an adequate amount of good humor and sarcasm, whereas many of the comments on YouTube and other blogs are… well, not quite up there, should we say?
I read the manga so I knew what was in the room, but am I the only one who couldn’t tell that is was bodies from the censored dark screens? how did everyone else know