|
-
News
- Features
- Events
Calendar
- Editorials
- Monthly
Zine
- Offworld
Report
- Our Daily
RSS Feed
- Movie/TV
Reviews
> Recent movies
> Movies by year
> Movies by title
- Book
Reviews
> Recent books
> Books by year
> Books by title
- Home
- Worlds
- Biography
- Bibliography
- Appearances
- Reviews
- Blog
- Community
- Press
- Links
Become
an Advertiser
- Web
Site Directory
- Search
the Net
- StephenHunt.net
- WoodenRocket.com
- Check
your E-mail
- Non Sci-Fi
News
|
Spiral 5: The Melody Of Logic episodes 18-21
01/09/2007 . Source: Joules Taylor 
region2 DVD: pub: Revelation Films. FUN72006. 1 DVD 110 minutes 4 episodes plus extras. Price: £15.99 (UK) Buy Spiral 5: The Melody Of Logic in the USA - or Buy Spiral 5: The Melody Of Logic in the UK  check out website: www.revfilms.com and www.spiral.tv
!!From now on, reviews of each volume of this series may make reference to previous volumes, so if you haven't watched said previous volumes and don't want spoilers, DON'T read any further.!!
'I'm going to pursue the mystery of the Blade Children.
With these words Kiyotaka Narumi vanished without trace.
Two years later, Kiyotaka's disappearance still haunts his younger brother Ayumu...'
From the first DVD back cover.
'Ayumu holds the key to the Blade Children's fate.' Rio, reporting Kiyotaka's words.
Episode 18, 'The Lamenting Angel', sees the re-introduction of Ayumu and Hiyono's schoolmate Sayoko, whom we met in the second episode when Madoka and Ayumu were investigating a mysterious death at her adoptive father's mansion. She's one of the Blade Children, too, but knows very little about and has no interest in joining them. Unfortunately, she is forced to become involved when one of the Hunters inveigles her away into another deadly game and it falls to Ayumu and Eyes in a reluctant and uneasy collaboration to try to solve the riddle and rescue the girl. Only problem is, they can't actually approach her...
At the same time, the enigmatic Kanone arrived in Japan and, while appearing to stay on the sidelines, he claims is just there to sightsee. He seems to be intent on interfering in the lives of the people caught up in the investigations into the Blade Children, even going as far to as to speak to and thoroughly confuse Madoka. He talks to Eyes, who declares that he will 'not choose the path of destruction', but Kanone implies that he doesn't know which path leads to destruction. We can ask if it actually matters anyway, since the anime keeps telling us over and over again that annihilation is the ultimate fate of the Blade Children or perhaps Eyes means that he will not actively destroy another...
The flashbacks that are a regular feature of the series are particularly prevalent in this episode, although as usual they don't really advance the story very much.
'Mirror Of The Heart' sees the resolution of the Hunters' game with Sayoko, Ayumu and Eyes and a startling discovery at the end. There's also a mysterious figure, heavily bundled up in coat, hat and scarf to remain incognito, who is obviously going to feature in future episodes (and may have been in past ones: we still don't know the identity of the Hunters' boss...)
There's an emphasis on extrapolating the motivation of the unknown Hunter in this episode and an interesting focus on using sound to solve a problem.
In 'Whispering Shadows', Ayumu, under pressure from Madoka to stop interfering in the police investigations into the deaths, says he will no longer be involved with the Blade Children. Of course, that won't last long! Madoka had promised her husband that she'd always look after Ayumu, but she's finding it harder and harder to keep that promise, not helped by the boy's secretive and surly nature. This is creating more stress for her, as she feels guilty for not being able to keep her word.
Kousuke returns to the hotel where Hiyono and Rio were kept captive, in episodes 16 and 17, and is tracked by an armed Hunter intent on trapping and killing him. Kousuke is injured and Riyoko, alarmed by his phone call suddenly dropping out and not being able to contact him again, heads off to find and rescue him. Then they are both trapped by the Hunter!
Kanone, meanwhile, is still spreading gloom, visiting Rio in hospital to warn her that the Blade Children need to start thinking of going on the offensive.
The episode once again makes the viewer, including my 12 year-old, who is nevertheless still really enjoying the series, wonder how, if the Hunters are so inept, they ever manage to kill any of the Blade Children...
'Sound Of A Breaking Heart', the last episode on this DVD, exposes the identity of the mysterious figure who has been following and apparently guarding the Blade Children through the last few episodes, and it's a startling revelation. No spoilers: I'll comment in the next and last review.
Joules Taylor
http://www.wavewrights.com
|
|
