Though this too is like the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya where the broadcast order does not follow the chronological order, it did so in a bit more deceiving fashion--while arcs are out of order, they didn't break the arc and insert some other random episode in the middle as Haruhi did where it blatantly made you aware that the episode orders are not correct. Here it merely rearranged it in a lot less noticeable way but if you have paid attentions to the details, you'd totally notice some referencing inconsistencies. Here is a list of key points that I managed to pick off:
- Arc 1 (ep 1-2): Short hair, immediately after arc 3.
- Arc 2 (ep 3-4): "They are STILL working on the human monument project?", chronologically after arc 3, but with long hair, so it would be after arc 1.
- Arc 3 (ep 5-6): Assistant present, chronologically after arc 4.
- Arc 4 (ep 7-8): First meeting of assistant.
- Arc 5 (ep 9): Um...where does this one go...it looks like a finale of some sort...
- Arc 6 (ep 10): Just graduated, no assistant, immediately after arc 7 but before arc 4.
- Arc 7 (ep 11-12): School, the beginning of everything.
11-12-10-7-8-*-5-6-1-2-*-3-4-*
Since there's no clue given for episode 9, as far as I can tell, it really could go on any one of those (*) spots. But since episode 9 looked like a finale, I'd say for now I'd just put it in the end, unless someone could tell me a reason it should go elsewhere. So my final conclusion on the chronological order would be:
11-12-10-7-8-5-6-1-2-3-4-9
Put technical stuff aside, this anime is by far one of the smartest anime I've seen in making hilariously humorous yet direct-to-the-point remarks about the problems that exist in today's society. In addition, it found the most hilarious and creative way I've seen anywhere dealing with time paradox heads on: the time paradog. It is by far the best line I've heard from this anime all season, not the part when the assistant named it, rather, the explanation grandfather gave right afterwards in the background: the universe would produce time paradogs in place of time paradox whenever time paradox is about to occur, which in turn, would prevent time paradox ever from occurring--you'll just end up with a bunch of time paradogs lying around. Brilliant!!
One reason it can afford to make the crude direct-to-the-point criticisms of today's society is the usage of the so called fairy, the smartest creatures in the world who aren't capable of producing sweets and other stuff they like. In my personal opinion, both of them represents human, but at different level: fairies in the story represents today's society at a macro level whereas humans in the story represents today's society at a micro level. So depending on the issues being address, they would use either human or the fairies, because certain issues exist only in micro level and others are better made example at a macro level.
Final Scoreboard:
Drama: 97 (Hilariously over dramatized)
Comedy: 98 (Plain hilarious)
Action: N/A
Art/Animation: 93 (Strange, flat, colorful, different)
Sound/Music: 95 (Catchy)
Character: 97 (Fun)
Plot: 94 (Cleverly out of order)
Ending: 97 (Very well)
Re-watch value: 80 - Still hilarious, and you can try to pick up more clues on the chronological ordering
Overall: 97 - Blunt and Funny
Recommendation: It's pretty save to say that no other short season series from the summer season could beat this in terms of ... anything. So go pick it up and watch it if you still haven't done so, because it is
Anime of the season for Summer 2012 Season
2 comments:
10-7-8-5-6-1-2-9-11-12-3-4
You don't have it right with 11-12. It is framed around the time that Y is coming to visit Watashi for the first time since graduation. The flashback itself is not the time sequence of the arc. It was a device to show Watashi's response to the first fairy she ever met. It wouldn't have worked very well to show that portion and then flashback to show why she was attached to that particular fairy. Episode 10 is still the first in the sequence. There is a notable time gap between episode 3 and the later episodes in the series, as episode 3 starts off in the winter, and Y was relatively new as a mediator, meaning that between the last arc and episode 3, Y became a mediator.
Episode 9 takes place after episode 2. There is actually a clue to where it takes place in time. If you have been watching the series, there has been a clear indication that Watashi was abused by her grandfather as a child. In episode 5, she wondered whether her grandfather would beat them (Herself and the Assistant), showing that she was afraid of physical punishment. In episode 9, after laying waste to the island, Watashi seemed more embarassed than fearful, showing that she had reason to believe that her grandfather would not beat her. She remarks that the last time her grandfather had beaten her was before she got sent off to school. So, episode 9 takes place after episode 5, due to her eventual realization that the grandfather was not going to physically punish her anymore after she graduated from school, which also puts it after episode 2 since the events of the factory arc take place right after the space probes arc.
My reasoning has also been confirmed as true by multiple people who have read the source material and stated that the novel is written in chronological order.
Interesting analysis. Though with the additional information you've provided, I could still up with a slightly different order. With episode 10 as the first in sequence, since there's really no clear indication of where 11-12 should go, the lack of appearance of assistant makes me wanting to place it right before 7-8 and after 10, which would give more time for Y to become a mediator.
Also about 9, it may be strong enough of an argument to not place 9 in the end, but I don't think there's a strong argument to place it either before or after the 5-6-1-2 sequence. In my opinion, it could still go either way. So the ordering would be either
10-11-12-7-8-9-5-6-1-2-3-4
or
10-11-12-7-8-5-6-1-2-9-3-4
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