Zankyou no Terror Episode 11 Discussion

pakoko said:

Yeah it was a pretty anticlimactic ending. There is a message in this anime, quite a beautiful one actually, but that message is muddled by the explosions and the pretty light shows. The show just did a shitty job of conveying the message, and this ending didn't really tie the plot and the message well. I've posted this in another thread, so I'll repost what I think the story of ZnT represents (edited to fit the ending):

Five social outcasts despise the life that society has given each of them, so they try to change that shitty life into something meaningful. Of course, they all basically fail miserably: Lisa only gets Nine and Twelve into more trouble by trying to do something for once in her life, Five dies without necessarily "beating" Nine, and Twelve ends up betraying one of his friends to save another that he shouldn't have befriended in the first place (and he dies too). Nine wants to be remembered in this world for who he is and what he did, but he doesn't live long enough to see that happen before his eyes. And Shibazaki had already failed once when he tried to investigate a case that he shouldn't have. Basically, these five have tried to make something of their lives and only got punished for stepping out of their comfort zones.

The title of the show is "Terror in Resonance," which is basically talking about a bomb. When a bomb explodes, people become terrified from the loud, resonating sound. People's reaction to others trying to act out of their comfort zones is similar to them reacting to an explosion: fear and rejection. The dark message, to me, is that the society doesn't always look kindly to those who try to step out of the norm. The only outcome for those who do, as shown by this show, is one of a meaningless struggle to be accepted into a world that has rejected them, especially in the case with Five, Nine and Twelve.

ShinjuShoku said:
Btw, this would make a great movie material. I think.

skudoops said:
I may have gotten some of the details wrong but



Close enough I guess.

The logic behind the US guy shooting 12 made no sense to me. He said don't kill the detective but he knows about everything, why would he blame the japanese government alone? LOL He's legit seeing you guys right now to! He was part of the airport and highway incidents so how is he not a threat?.. I can't even with the logic of this show sometimes.

I mean even worse is that the USA is going to allow this dude to nuke Japan just to cover up some minor (in comparison) incidents like that? Wtf? 5/10 or 6/10 .. not sure how I fully feel about it yet.

Keten said:


Hmmm... I didn't really catch that at all... I suppose in a way that could be a message of the show but it didn't do a good job with the execution of it. If the show was all about watching these people striving to fix their lives, why didn't it focus more on the characters and let me get to know them more so that I could actually care about them? Instead they made it all super serious/mysterious and all about riddles, mind games, and supernatural intelligence.

In order for me to care about them fixing their lives the show is supposed to show me why I should care in the first place. Lisa was the only one that really showed any hatred of her current life but she did next to nothing throughout the entire show. Shibazaki actually seemed happy where he was sometimes and Nine, Twelve and Five we barely got to know at all. Sorry but, if that was the message, it got lost and I couldn't see it at all, even if it makes a bit of sense.

Thank you for sharing that though.

Terminaato said:
Firstly, I'm surprised they actually blew up an atomic bomb in an anime. Even if there were no victims, that's still a pretty daring thing to do in Japan! I like that decision.

Secondly, why exactly did Shibazaki visit the graves...? Maybe I missed the part where they became heroes, but being part of an experiment during childhood doesn't turn you into one. Neither does it justify causing billions of dollars in damages and potentially costing many lives. Suddenly, they are worshipped for telling the truth about an old experiment conducted by a politician. Okay.

pakoko said:

Hence why I said the message was muddled because of Watanabe's obsession with his flashy style of directing. He was so focused on making a spectacle out of the show that he didn't focus on what the show originally should have focused on: the characters. There's a mismatch between my message and the show because, like you said, we didn't get enough of the characters.

pakoko said:
Pretty anticlimactic, but beautiful. It didn't end with an exciting bang, but a bang that fills your heart with a sort of emptiness. 8/10

ZacksFair said:
I agree with most people saying it kinda went downhill with the introduction of Five.
I mean, now people keep saying "best anime 2014", "best anime of the last few years", etc. and I just wonder... "why?"
It started to get pretty classic at a point. Like, extremely classic. Nothing I've never seen before. And in the end, it's a good show, but nothing really outstanding. Okay I'll give like a 6.5 or 7 but it was just... a good show among many others.

Pik3Rob said:
I still don't understand what they accomplished in the end. Bringing more attention to Rising Peace Academy didn't really do anything since it was already shut down to begin with.

Zeally said:
Project Athena reminded me of a watered down version of Monster's Kinderheim 511

Feaor said:
It almost would've worked better as a movie if they trimmed all of the stuff with Five, I felt like she didn't really have a purpose in the show at all other than to be an antagonist and ended up taking screen time away from Shibazaki who is a far more interesting character.

pakoko said:


You know what's cool?
You :3 for being an interesting person to talk to about this show. Thanks for all the explanations, supplementary images/videos, and valid points.

hirahira said:
I wish this had at least been 13 episodes instead of 11. So much is unexplained. The ending was decent. Twelve's death almost made me cry.

It was a good show but it could have been so much better.

7/10

Sourire said:
such a fucking powerful song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxnqSTzq6-w

Keten said:


Thank you. Just because they had a reason for blowing up the buildings doesn't justify doing so when it puts lives at risk and causes mass amounts of damage. If a cop shot my sister and covered it up, am I called a hero if I blow up a neighbors house just to get attention to expose the cop? They at least expected to be arrested though, so at least THEY knew they weren't heroes.



Mhmm... One of the cases where I feel like if they kept it simplistic it might have worked a lot better.

Keten said:


Mhmm... One of the cases where I feel like if they kept it simplistic it might have worked a lot better.

BRK25 said:

I'm sure when the story gets revealed how they built children to be super soldiers, that's inhumane and brings others to a sparked debate and hatred. What if your child was ripped away, and altered only to die? I'm not a care owner but I can empathize heavily to that point. I'm sure the majority of us here doesn't have children. Go to your parents and explain this outcome, they'll probably be fueled with rage.

They aren't Heroes but acclaimed not only for living to fight back at the country that wronged them but to show the very thing they tried to create is rampaging on them. Even Five could be seen this way. A modern Frankenstein story if you wish. They strive not to kill a single human and the atomic bomb showed everyone in the world that Japan has very very shady business.

To bring truth to light, calling out Shibazaki, going to save the country itself to not hurt anyone. They cared for human lives but without attracting media attention, they wouldn't get their point across.

Take Walter White.

He was a spineless guy but knowing he's going to die, he's trying to secure his family. To get things across and net his wealth, he has to grow some balls for other acclaimed or high leveled opponent to respect him. Don't believe me? Recall episode six from the first season.

pakoko said:

The other, more plot relevant message, is that the whole Athena plan and making a-bombs in secret started out of as an effort for Japan to become a more independent nation after being crushed in WWII. The older generations of Japan bore a grudge against the US, and thus tried to get the younger generation involved to carrying out their grudge. The show emphasizes "Von" at the end because Nine and Twelve were trying to be the voice of the younger generation that they don't want to be involved in the older generations' grudges and conflicts and instead want to live believing in what they believe in.

Keten said:


I never said that they aren't entirely justified per say. I get it, I get why they did it. Not many in the show actually looked to them as heroes so this wasn't a major problem or anything for me. However it doesn't really change the original point... The characters aren't exactly heroes for blowing up buildings just to reveal a truth about the government. They sugar coat it of course by making it so no one dies but it doesn't really change much. Blowing up buildings is never okay. Either way, it's a small part of the show and at most it's just a nitpick.

Xenograft said:
I feel empty