[From The New World] - 2
While this weeks episode of
FTNW isn't quite as impressive as the opening one it quashes any doubt in my mind that the show won't be able to maintain a fairly high standard in terms of both the production and the writing. I find the pacing to be deliberate and controlled, some people appear to have found that slowness a little frustrating but if you rush headlong into things you don't get the chance to build up to something in a satisfying manner. Based on what we've seen so far I am confident that the show is clearly building up towards something important.
A good chunk of this episode is devoted to a tournament between various groups in Saki's class. I can understand why some of you have felt that they spent too long on this rather minor activity but I disagree. This tournament was important for all the children in class to an extent where losing at the those who lost literally broke into tears. I think this whole event speaks volumes about the kind of school that these children are participating in and, presumably, the kind of society that they live in.
As we saw last week, there's a clear focus on training team skills among the school children. I mentioned last week how I think this is pretty clearly supposed to be preparing them for some kind of combat and this Ball Rolling Tournament which much closer to that. Previously they'd been using their Cantus to compete against other groups in a rather remote manner - such as performing a set task faster then another group. This time is different - the teams square off against each other directly in a battle to see who can use their Cantus more effectively. More over they're learning how to plan ahead, defend, attack and so forth. My one real problem with this scene was the rather thumping soundtrack that felt rather out place when compared to the rest of the music in the show. It really brought me out of the moment and ruined the tension that had built up. Anyway, if for some reason all this stuff isn't obvious they even through in this shot where the beams make it look like everyone's in a prison. The symbolism isn't exactly subtle:
Some of the stuff that I mentioned last week reappeared in this episode. We were treated to another 'history lesson' that's clearly a disguised tale about sacrificing yourself for the group. Once again someone performs in a way that's unsatisfactory to the school and they're immediately removed from the picture. Last week the girl simply wasn't good enough to continue, which doesn't really seem fair, where as this week someone clearly broke the rules. As we've seen, rule breakers aren't to be tolerated. What I find interesting is that, during the competition the teacher said that it was an accident but clearly he knew that it wasn't. No-one's actually punished directly or overtly inside the system, which makes it all the more menacing and ominous. Saki, of course, is the only one who wants to question the rules and go against what she's been told.
The most interesting scene, besides the Queerats sequence, is the brief interlude between Saki and her father. His discussion of 'rebelling in secret' seems to have a number of possible meanings: is it idle chatter? Are the Queerats actively rebelling? Or, more interestingly, is he actually rebelling against the system in some secret manner? There's not enough information for us to know, but I feel that the letter he's writing and sealing away has to be pretty important. If you take a closer look at the way he seals the envelope:
Does this appear familiar to you? It should, because it's the same crest we see in the opening sequence that details the coronation of the 5th Emperor of Delight. See here:
Is it some kind of royal insignia or crest? The camera only lingers on it for a moment but it has to be important.
Oh yeah, I guess the ED is pretty:
