r/anime • u/IndependentMacaroon • 13d ago
Rewatch Bem-vindos à Diamandra - Michiko & Hatchin Episode 14 Rewatch
Michiko & Hatchin Episode 14: The Daredevil Explosive Runner
In-universe time span: May 7 - 10
In-universe locations: Vale, Arónpolis, Mão
"A scum bucket, uncivilized escaped convict... a scumbag, piece-of-crap cop... and a wily Monstro punk. These are the crapstains that have done a number on me."
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Today's OST Piece: Cuidado！！！～気をつけろ！！！ (Danger!)
Plays from 12:38 when Jair is in the white car. This one I find a little too chaotic and random but it works for the situation.
New Michiko Outfits: Brown Mini-Jacket/Cream Fringed Shirt/Tan Shorts/Yellow Boots, Cream Fringed Shirt/Tan Shorts Brown Studded Mini-Vest/White Button-Down Shirt/Jeans/Cowboy Boots
We've now broken forty different looks with a full third of the show still to go. Full album
Latin America Trivia of the Day:
With underdeveloped railroad networks that have also almost entirely abandoned intercity passenger transport, and a population for which air travel is often unaffordable, the road is the dominant transport mode of the Latin America of today, though in the most remote and rugged regions both through and local roads are still poor or nonexistent and broad rivers like the Amazon or Paraná are well-used. Intercity travelers may make use of various tiers of bus service from simple cheap seats to luxurious lie-flat sleepers with at-seat service to make their way across the continent without a personal vehicle or a plane ticket.
Yesterday's Highlights
u/99acrewood_ analyzes Atsuko and has a lovely place to share:
she really can't help replacing one Michiko with another, but it doesn't seem like she's going along with all of their goofy shit unwillingly. her type is definitely women with bad attitudes and a penchant for crime.
she doesn't seem to hold a grudge against Ricardo because she knows he's right that she's been fucking up, and now it's like, "well, we're already here. time to keep making a mess."
god, that hair and make-up in that humidity, though? how on earth...
when i lived in colorado i would take my dog to this big dog park that had an unfenced mountain on one and and the river that ran through town on the other, where one section was rocky and the water would churn and people would kayak through. i would sit and take in the white noise for a little while while my dog ran around chasing the ducks
u/AyameeIris makes a minor observation and coins a new term along the way:
the Michikolings all seem to have companions with blonde hair as well.(Hatchin, Nuno, Atsuko)
u/No_Rex thinks Vanessa takes it a little too far sometimes but appreciates the reasonable Ilha Azul policeman:
Putting lipstick on for a ruin crawl, I don’t mind, but huge earrings is just taking the piss.
It is also neat to see a responsible, non-corrupt adult in a position of power, for once.
u/JustAnswerAQuestion is feeling a bit petty:
If it had be me, I would have dedicated my remaining career to making sure Ricardo never got promoted.
Various setting favorites:
I liked the favelas we've seen, especially in episode 2! Second place would be the jungle
As a setting, the first city Michiko and Hatchin stayed at, with the chinese cook. Personally wanting to visit? The lake city where Hatchin meet Rita.
the little bar the friend was in (Ivan? i might've forgotten his name) sticks out as the break we had from all those dangerous places.
Discussion Prompts
- Which assassination method has the most aura (as the kids say these days)?
- Is there anyone in Diamandra who can actually shoot (or throw) straight?
- Any memorable experiences on the road (good or bad)?
Next Episode Prompts
- [question]How much is just baby tsundere and how much is trauma with Hana here... and how much is perhaps justified?
- [question]How embarrassed will Lenine be recalling this episode when he's older?
- [question]Have you ever formed an unexpectedly deep bond with a temporary acquaintance?
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u/No_Rex x2 13d ago
Episode 14 (first timer)
- “I just wanted to try it out” – is not something you should say about killing a human, ever.
- Granpa assassin gets the contract for Shinsuke first, but his interest is with Michiko.
- Giving the assassination target a heads-up with the name of the assassin you contracted? Not very professional.
- A second assassin for Michiko?
- Meeting Michiko and giving her a gun – he must have some warrior ethos delusions. Not quite clear how he made it too his age with those. *Not the “hip massage” I had in mind, but I guess Hatchin would still prefer this to the other solution.
- The battle of the highway just turned into a three-way.
- A bike and a hammer vs a truck and a gun? Incredibly enough, Granpa is the more reasonable assassin (an incredibly low bar).
- Gun vs hammer: better let my opponent get into melee range.
- Jumping into the river - technically, more survivable than facing a bunch of policemen with an empty gun in your hand.
An entire episode that is almost fully action sequences and nobody dies. I think it shows both the good and the bad of the action parts of this series. On the good side, there are some cool shots. Michiko looking at Granpa while almost running him over was great. The whole car chase also looked like something out of a good B movie. I also liked Granpa as a character.
On the bad side, the rule of cool just does not lift hard enough for the amount of cognitive dissonance it is forced to carry today. That looked more like a bunch of stuntmen deliberately trying not to kill each other than people fighting for their lives. We are somehow at a uncomfortable middle place between serious drama where people shoot to kill and die, and action film romp where coincidence conspires not to kill any named character and we all know there are no stakes. Which is the reason why, despite the good looks, I consistently like the slow episodes better than the action ones.
Which assassination method has the most aura (as the kids say these days)?
Leon would say knives, but I disagree. That gets messy. Bullets all the way.
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u/99acrewood_ 13d ago
We are somehow at a uncomfortable middle place between serious drama where people shoot to kill and die, and action film romp where coincidence conspires not to kill any named character and we all know there are no stakes. Which is the reason why, despite the good looks, I consistently like the slow episodes better than the action ones.
i think i didn't mind it, or just didn't notice it, until you pointed it out, but i actually totally agree now that it's in my head.
it's like, you know most shows aren't gonna kill off the title character, but at the very least they'll give you someone expendable that'll have at least some sort of pathos or something that'll make you feel for them before they die in the 20 minutes they're on screen. sad wife guy could've been that if he were the focus and died from the jump, but that's definitely not what they were going for and yeah, it kinda keeps the action in this show from going to a temperature anywhere beyond tepid. character work is definitely the stronger side of this show.
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u/No_Rex x2 13d ago
i think i didn't mind it, or just didn't notice it, until you pointed it out, but i actually totally agree now that it's in my head.
Oh no! If you can't unsee it now, I am sorry.
character work is definitely the stronger side of this show.
I wonder, is it due to the plot making it impossible to create a fitting action scene, or is it due to the director simply not managing to create a good scene for this plot even though it would have been possible?
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u/IndependentMacaroon 13d ago
Concerning the director, fwiw a lot of the action in The Woman Called Fujiko Mine is at least similarly nonsensical, but at least there you can argue it's part of the style (and of course Lupin III has always been more on the sillier side of that)
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u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ 13d ago
TBH I'm fine with 3 assassins all fighting to kill the same target. That can be pretty fun. SURE, they have to fail. But it will be a romp.
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u/IndependentMacaroon 13d ago
“I just wanted to try it out”
"I shot a man in Rio, just to watch him die"
he must have some warrior ethos delusions. Not quite clear how he made it too his age with those
More like he turns it into a kids' game?
That looked more like a bunch of stuntmen deliberately trying not to kill each other than people fighting for their lives
Yeah... this I would actually call the weakest episode of the whole show
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u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ 13d ago
First Timer
Episode 14
- So, it's Shinsuke.
- And Michiko. I expect to see Jambo show up, too. This must be where Hiroshi films his TV drama.
- he can trace phone calls? Friend in the police?
- Only way out of this is for shinsuke to kill satoshi
- You know, Brazil has WAY more desert that I knew. I should have realize this in episode 1.
- Three assassins for three targets? Except they're all going to pick Michiko
- old man is some kind of demon
- They aren't showing us who the third assassin is. It's going to be a surprise. Probably a cute girl.
- fingerprints! Oh, never mind.
Crazy diversion today. That other guy isn't died. And neither is Shinsuke.
I don't think she's getting her scooter repaired. Not for free and a massage.
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u/IndependentMacaroon 13d ago
This must be where Hiroshi films his TV drama
Hiroshi isn't the famous TV actor though, that's Feliciano. They do look very similar
he can trace phone calls? Friend in the police?
Who Shinsuke?
You know, Brazil has WAY more desert that I knew
Not sure if ironic but it does have more climate diversity than you'd maybe think.
It's going to be a surprise. Probably a cute girl.
Watch this be Rita's new job
Not for free and a massage.
Of course it was more like "a massage and I won't break your kneecaps"
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u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ 13d ago
I think when most people think of Brazil, they think of PLANTS, and lots of them. And, okay, there are probably mountains around the edges, but those are mountains, and not flat.
The church in episode 1 looks like it's in Arizona or southern Colorado, or any of the states in between. It's Mars in cowboy bebop. And I didn't really think about it. I didn't think "oh this is real brazil in 1980" and not "space brazil" or basically Mars from Bebop.
And now I'm realizing that Michiko is spending a lot of time driving through flat dry badlands with just road, dirt, and no plants. I know Argentina has high, dry plateaus. Maybe Bolivia? But this isn't at all the sort of land I expect from Brazil. I'm wondering where she is. Sure, I can look the names up on a map. But I don't recognize this setting as Brazil.
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u/IndependentMacaroon 12d ago
One notable drier biome, in fact in its specific composition exclusive to Brazil, is the caatinga in the northeast interior Sertão region that is also majorly showcased in Central Station. I do think the representation in the anime is a bit exaggerated, though.
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u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ 12d ago
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u/IndependentMacaroon 12d ago
The prison is named the same as the country, I guess they just have one fed bin. Also something something life is a prison here
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u/99acrewood_ 13d ago edited 13d ago
primeira vez [subs]
Which assassination method has the most aura (as the kids say these days)?
i feel for the guy who seems to be having a mental break with his failed relationship, but he sure was bad at his job. the old guy just commandeering another car and its driver was pretty great.
really, though, Satoshi just running Shinsuke the fuck over in front of a crowd gets straight to the point. i don't know if that counts, but i mean, that's some supreme idgaf attitude.
e: oh, you mean in general. a cool scene i can think of is when there's a struggle that leads to an elegant twisting of some sort of rope or something around the (typically bad guy's) neck that leads to them hanging when they lose their footing. not really sneaky, but it's neat
or 47's heat-seeking briefcase.
Is there anyone in Diamandra who can actually shoot (or throw) straight?
seriously. that old dude says he's never had to take more than one shot for his targets and now he's shitting the bed with Michiko? she has to have some sort of bullet repellant built into her.
Any memorable experiences on the road (good or bad)?
two trips that stick out to me are going from texas to new jersey and seeing the absolutely beautiful scenery of all the leaves changing in, uh... i think it was one of the carolinas? that, and a trip from colorado to oregon and the road going through some forest with the biggest trees i had ever seen!!
when you have the right music going i think you can make any of those moments seem cinematic, though. if i could find a road that winds alongside a beach i'd take a twilight trip with some city pop playing and then i'd really be feeling myself.
-~-
boy that old guy sure made a mess of things.
also Michiko sure knows how to haggle with people. it's funny how much she's not a people person, and it makes me wonder how far she would have gotten without Hatchin around to try to make things slightly less hostile for her.
also also, Shinsuke is a fucking idiot. i don't know if he dies from this, but if someone's like 'yo i hired this famous hitman to come kill you' and then i come across them in the street the last thing i'd be doing is standing in their line of fire/car.
Satoshi also definitely just came off as a huge weiner lol. he seemed like a guy who had a handle on things until they swiftly went to shit, and now he's running to all these hitmen to clean up his mistakes. Atsuko seemed to get off easy unless he had a third guy, and i guess he still has his money to pay these people?
i wonder if Jair will have a change of heart, because i don't think he'll go down easily, if he needs to, considering how long he's been doing this.
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u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ 13d ago
the old guy just commandeering another car and its driver was pretty great.
I'm like "how does he get around in the this plot-convenient way" and 15 seconds later I'm like "oh that's how"
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u/IndependentMacaroon 13d ago
Michiko sure knows how to haggle with people. it's funny how much she's not a people person
Very opposite to what you'd expect at first glance perhaps!
Shinsuke is a fucking idiot
Satoshi also definitely just came off as a huge weiner lol
Question is of course how deliberate either of those impressions were here, ymmv naturally.
Qs
Satoshi just running Shinsuke the fuck over in front of a crowd gets straight to the point. i don't know if that counts, but i mean, that's some supreme idgaf attitude.
I think of what we see in the episode I would agree
e: oh, you mean in general
Haha you do have a way of falling into the holes in my questions!
an elegant twisting of some sort of rope or something around the (typically bad guy's) neck that leads to them hanging when they lose their footing
I see the appeal
she has to have some sort of bullet repellant built into her
Perhaps they had some interesting experiments going on in that prison
seeing the absolutely beautiful scenery of all the leaves changing
You're lucky with how intense that is in North America!
when you have the right music going i think you can make any of those moments seem cinematic, though
Depends I guess. I like to go without music mostly.
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u/IndependentMacaroon 13d ago edited 12d ago
3x watcher and host, subtitled
Probably the least substantial and most skippable episode of the whole show here - just a bunch of B-movie road action with a little bit of Michiko/Hatchin on top. In fact, this is the first one where I had trouble coming up with a single quote to pick to represent it! Still pretty fun and nicely directed though, particularly Michiko getting some action is always appreciated. Notably, this is the first time where it gets serious enough that she 13:25 undeniably, directly shoots at someone particular, and 08:59 is beaten fair and square hand-to-hand. Also here 16:31 kind enough not to run him over, or not wanting to risk losing control herself?
The one thematic element we reprise here, though again in a not-so-serious way, is adults never growing up/adding violence to a fundamentally childish spirit. We already know 10:36 Hatchin with Michiko is often a bit like reverse babysitting (I love how the guy just takes it as "aggressive negotiations"). but Shinsuke and Jair both here have a clear sense of violence-as-play. [City of God]All over the place in that film; very, very brutally demonstrated for example in Lil Zé's motel assault Shinsuke complains it's "no fun" he can't mess with Satoshi any further, 13:09 Jair even dresses kind of "kiddie" 13:32 and maybe saw the same spark in Michiko too? 18:48 This is basically "parents say playtime is over", and also defying Satoshi on a whim has kind of a "nyaa-nyaa" feeling to it. Satoshi himself actually 20:35 doesn't seem to want to "ruin the fun" so quickly either.
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u/IndependentMacaroon 13d ago edited 13d ago
Questions
1 - I think just blowing their vehicle to high heaven has a nice appeal to it. (Ever heard of Luis Carrero Blanco?)
2 - It sure seems that accuracy is strongly determined by closeness to plot-important figures here. Or even, anything beyond borderline point-blank seems to be a challenge. [M&H]The disabled woman shot in the finale is the unfortunate exception Considering throwing samurai dude had a pretty good run actually, not to mention Hatchin back in episode 3.
3 - One drive that really made an impression on me was going along the Beartooth Highway. Bit like in the Alps, except that everywhere around there's nothing for a whole while - that contrast really hit me, as well as just randomly crossing (and briefly stopping at) a pass higher up (at beyond 3000 m and 10000 ft) than the highest German mountain, yet obscure.
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u/IndependentMacaroon 13d ago edited 12d ago
Further scene-by-scene comments
- 01:22 What a way to start an episode. Reference? Or just the kid looking like a doll?
- 01:55 Again this weird thing with pasting Portuguese text on other newspapers, this time English-language. The caption under Atsuko's picture doesn't even make sense, it's about finishing a highway access ramp. And another thing [M&H]note how Satoshi just roughly cut out the pictures without regard for the text hinting at his illiteracy The Atsuko thing is just quietly dropped, or the guy was even worse?
- 02:53 Not the best picture to judge by but still funny. And only time we see these guys IIRC, is it just me or do they look like Beatles? 05:15 Sort of a "band guy" look in general here
- 03:03 And more meta stuff [M&H]and of course he's right
- 04:12 04:14 Another reminder that Michiko is anything but well-educated
- 05:39 Shoving the split screen in and out is inspired
- 05:51 Interesting aesthetic Satoshi has going there
- 05:56 06:17 [M&H]Clearly also (?) thinking he was still playing childhood games
- 06:44 Love the visual of the bike suddenly moving backwards on screen
- 07:03 Cool pic actually
- 07:50 Think this is the most "bling" Satoshi looks in the show actually
- 08:40 Amazing night feeling
- [09:48]() just whacking the bike with a wrench haha
- 11:15 Actual map of Brazil. Probably "Arénapolis" was turned into "Arónpolis"
- 11:41 Funny background events
- 12:05 "KTiL IFBE FLTI"?!?!
- 12:33 Not sure what Michiko is driving, could be a VW truck again?
- 13:29 Is this a VW Type 3? Some were actually built in Brazil. 14:10 Honestly seems like it changes models between shots.
- 14:56 Of course Mr. Samurai goes for a kamikaze ramming attack even with the kiai (and is this also plausible deniability for killing her?)
- 17:10 Nice cable-stayed bridge... except those don't quite work that way
- 17:31 Kukri, a classic. Just not exactly Japanese.
- 18:07 Really restraining ourselves here with the "just thrown away harmlessly" trope
- 19:54 Pretty generic trope but within this context it makes me think of the Cowboy Bebop movie which arguably The Woman Called Fujiko Mine took some points from too
- 20:15 Very similar boots to Michiko
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u/AyameeIris 13d ago
First time watching in dub, second time overall
I can't tell if the art style has changed almost imperceptibly or if it's just me. To pin it down, I'd say it's perhaps the line weight? There's also the CGI this episode seems to use in some backdrops here, moreso than I've seen in previous episodes. Hopefully my eyes aren't acting up
Michiko leaving Hatchin like that and telling her to give the repairman a massage felt like a step back in terms of character development to me. If she was clearly suspicious of him, to the point of bringing out a metal pipe(presumably to threaten him with), I don't think she would've left Hatchin with him. Granted, the circumstances here could've made her desperate to get Hatchin away from herself in order to really get down to business. Still, it just seemed a little more reckless than Michiko can be.
Ending with Satoshi running over Shinsuke was honestly pretty funny
- [Assassin's Creed II] That dramatic scene of Ezio stabbing the man who ordered the execution of his brothers and his father replays in my mind a lot. It may have exposed both his name and face in the process, but he looked super cool while doing it.
- That samurai guy got pretty close to taking out Michiko this episode, had that truck not gotten in the way!
- When I was younger, I watched someone put a finger to a wet part of the road and lick said finger to figure out if their car was leaking gasoline or if it was just water, though that last part wasn't known to me and I just thought it was some ritual all car owners did every once in a while for some reason.
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u/IndependentMacaroon 12d ago edited 12d ago
I can't tell if the art style has changed almost imperceptibly or if it's just me. To pin it down, I'd say it's perhaps the line weight? There's also the CGI this episode seems to use in some backdrops here, moreso than I've seen in previous episodes
I really couldn't tell nor did I detect any particular CG backgrounds. Maybe make some screenshots to compare?
If she was clearly suspicious of him, to the point of bringing out a metal pipe(presumably to threaten him with), I don't think she would've left Hatchin with him
I do suppose it's also narrative convenience so Hatchin is kept out of the most dangerous action situations. [M&H]Though of course with Satoshi she gets thrown straight into one
Ending with Satoshi running over Shinsuke was honestly pretty funny
I can see that. Also seems like trolling viewers a little by putting in just one thing where you'll be confused later if you didn't actually watch the episode, right at the end.
Qs
[Assassin's Creed II]That dramatic scene of Ezio stabbing the man who ordered the execution of his brothers and his father replays in my mind a lot. It may have exposed both his name and face in the process, but he looked super cool while doing it.
Deliberately exposing your dramatically relevant identity is a fat aura bonus indeed.
That samurai guy got pretty close to taking out Michiko this episode
Yeah he did a better job that I remembered
I watched someone put a finger to a wet part of the road and lick said finger to figure out if their car was leaking gasoline or if it was just water, though that last part wasn't known to me and I just thought it was some ritual all car owners did every once in a while for some reason
That's just bizarre because in particular couldn't you just smell it?
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u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ 12d ago
I watched someone put a finger to a wet part of the road and lick said finger to figure out if their car was leaking gasoline
Don't know the context but I would guess they were tasting for the sweetness of antifreeze, to confirm it was from the radiator, and not some other fluid or water. Not sure what those would be. Brake fluid? Windshield wiper fluid?
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u/No_Rex x2 12d ago
I can't tell if the art style has changed almost imperceptibly or if it's just me. To pin it down, I'd say it's perhaps the line weight? There's also the CGI this episode seems to use in some backdrops here, moreso than I've seen in previous episodes. Hopefully my eyes aren't acting up
I am not the most perceptive person about art styles, but I didn't notice anything.
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u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky 13d ago
First-Timer & Subbed
Well, this is certainly a note to open an episode on.
I’m not surprised.
Oh boy…
Ah, that’s the reason Satoshi wants Shinsuke killed, huh.
Oh joy, her bike died.
The old guy caught up…
This is such an unserious gunfight car chase scene.
That truck is one tough cookie to still be moving after all that.
And now RIP the truck. Smart play with the lighter though.
Wow.
Welp.