[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Dennou Coil 13-15
The mid-season filler segment seems to have reached an end now, which comes at a perfect time since I was beginning to have doubts about how the story would get back on track. Okay, maybe ‘doubt’ is too strong a word but the plotline was beginning to get bogged down; nevertheless there were some fantastic details that came out of these episodes, and things seem to be moving along now anyway.
Denpa and his dinosaur
As much as it qualifies as filler, the episode featuring good old Denpa and an Illegal dinosaur highlighted so much about his compassionate nature that I’m glad I didn’t skip it in favour of the next instalment. If you sit this outing alongside ep #11, in which Daichi’s selfish desire for collecting metabugs spirals out of control and almost drowns Daikoku completely, Denpa’s motives are much more harmless and altruistic. Yeah, I really felt sorry for him by the end of the episode…I honestly thought they’d make it somehow. The artwork in this episode was especially spectacular - BTW, didn’t that old factory look a bit familiar…?
The Dennou Coil dinosaur and another iconic skyline shot…it’s probably a coincidence after all
The episode that follows initially turned out to be a bit of a recap effort but I was rewarded for my patience (even when being treated to a pint-sized virtual kitten with hands for ears, patience is required when I sit through recaps) towards the end when Haraken meets an interesting stranger. It’s a very sudden but welcome return to form after the levity of what we’ve seen recently, and throws the show back into ‘mystery mode’.
A monitor kitty
After Denpa getting some screen time and character exploration, Yasako gets some attention too, which hasn’t really happened much since the early episodes. Her wanderings that attempted to rekindle those all-important lost memories were quite touching in a way, as was the friendship she struck with Takeru. A great strength of Dennou Coil is how tenderly the character-driven scenes are handled; once again I was getting that Ghibli-esque feeling that the creators are able to portray the innocent curiosity and sense of adventure of childhood with absolute ease.
Yasako and Takeru
The revelations and plot progression of #14 and #15 weren’t overdue or anything, but I suspect that if there had been any more stand-alone episodes I probably would have been quite critical of them, even if their content was as enjoyable as the episode featuring Denpa and his dinosaur. At this point there are not one but two new characters who will no doubt be really important to the story later on so all things considered Dennou Coil is still pure brilliance - I honestly haven’t even considered the autumn season line-up yet at all.
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