Episode 08-
Man, and here I thought Ringo couldn’t get any more disgusting than she was last week. Ringo is seriously far too bold with her actions, where her deeds are pretty much cementing in her over-obsessive stalker mentality. While she herself is a very disturbing character to watch, what I’m rather amazed at here is just how fast Ringo degraded from the confident self she was at the beginning of the series, to the utter wreck that she is now. What makes this decline even more intriguing is how you almost feel sorry for Ringo, because for all the crazy stuff she’s doing, her original goal was a childish little wish for a happy family. Interestingly enough, this episode also points out the uncanny parallels between Shouma and Ringo, though herself Ringo is a much more extreme case.
As of now the plot has grounded to a temporary halt, and instead the series is taking it’s time in developing the actual characters here. And, of course, Ringo is the one getting the most development here. What’s rather striking about Ringo’s character is how she’s actually extremely naive and immature, which leads her to take actions that make her seem like a crazy girl. There’s no doubt that Ringo is actually fairly rational in terms of mindset, it’s just that her ideals were something she absolutely followed, and it’s this absolute mindset that’s trapping her in this ridiculous mess.
When you boil things down, Ringo simply wanted a happy family, and through her naive yet calculating logic she felt that the ONLY way to do so was to replace Momoka. And to achieve this supposed happiness, she was willing to do anything. This draws some rather striking parallels to Shouma’s situation, where he was resorting to stuff like stalking Ringo with invisible penguins, all in order for to maintain his own family.
Of course, this episode exposed the tremendous flaw to Ringo’s logic; that there are things she just cannot change. The conflict that arises from reality conflicting with her absolute belief in her destiny is causing chaos, and the fruits of such chaos includes Shouma’s unfortunate run in with an oncoming car. In the end, this episode was one explicitly about Ringo, and about how her quest for a simple happiness, which devolved into a nightmarish story of stalkers, attempted rapes, and car accidents.
Overall Enjoyment: 4.1/5
P.S. While the primary focus was on Ringo, there are still other things worth noting. The most notable would be the random guy at the end that tried to steal the diary but instead ripped it in half. Was that random guy simply Kanba trying to take matters into his own hands? Or perhaps the attempted theft is related to the still unknown brunette lady with the evil penguin? And what exactly is that lady’s “Project M” plan anyways?
Screenshots are later in the post.
Distant Paradise 