[Jinrui] - 10
Speaking of
really obvious visual symbolism that for some reason I didn't pay attention to, I thought that the scene where Mediator-chan (she's never gotten a name, has she?) and Curly discuss how Mediator-chan will be moving up a grade:
As you can see, the lighting in this scene is from two single candles which throw unnatural shadows onto the walls and characters making everyone look a little bit creepier than usual. Curly has entered Mediator-chan's room with the intention of getting her to open up and hopefully form some kind of friendship but that's clearly not on the cards. Despite the fact that Curly is constantly rebuffed and ignored by Mediator-chan she can't help trying to get close to her. Therefore:
There's a moment of equilibrium between the moth and the candle where things hang in the balance, however this doesn't last any time at all. Which inevitably results in:
the moth being burned up in the scorching flame from the candle. The message here is pretty clear - Curly is irresistibly attracted to Mediator-chan but in the end she's clearly going to get burned because Mediator-chan doesn't want to know
anyone. I thought that it was pretty interesting considering that
Jinrui is a series of novels and this kind of symbolism really stems from the language of film. As I've said above, it's not particularly clever or unique (like, say, the heart-pendulum from
Hyouka) but it did it's job well enough.
