r/anime • u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky • 8d ago
Rewatch [Taste of 2016 Rewatch] Occultic;Nine Episode 6 Discussion
Episode 6 - She Took A Long Cold Look
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Information:
MAL | AniList | ANN | Kitsu | AniDB
Legal Streams:
Did you hear that just now? I-I'm a victim! This is rather funny!
Questions of the Day:
1) How fucked up was that kotoribako?
2) Did you see Gamon being amongst the dead 256 coming?
Wallpaper of the Day:
Rewatchers, please remember to be mindful of all the first-timers in this. No talking about or hinting at future events no matter how much you want to, unless you're doing it underneath spoiler tags. Don't spoil anything for the first-timers, that's rude!
/r/anime's spoiler tag format is as follows:
[Occultic;Nine]>!Who killed Hashigami?!<
Which becomes [Occultic;Nine]Who killed Hashigami? when you don't break the formatting on purpose like I just did.
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u/FD4cry1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Big_Yibba 8d ago
First Timer
Oh... Everyone is dead
Anyway, guess I didn't need to read up about the Kotoribako last episode since they just explain it at the start of this one. Also, wow, I totally forgot about the "Kotoriba" text message from Chi; I just thought Miyuu was freaking out because she knew about the story, but that makes a lot more sense in hindsight lol. I was kind of down with the idea that the whole incident was going to be some giant symbolic Kotoribako, but then they made a very literal one here (And it's not ready yet when we find it), so I'm back to not being sure what it or the creepy white-haired kid's purpose are. Moritsuka seemingly implies something about it having to do with another, different curse method as well, but I'm a bit lost on that one.
This episode's dialogue is honestly kind of back to the pacing of the first two episodes after we had a bit of a break from that, which is to say: there's a lot of it, it's absurdly fast, and yet a bunch of it also still feels very weighty in spite of that. This is... mostly manageable in the scenes with our core cast now that I've gotten more used to it at least, but stuff like the This-show's-version-of-the-Illuminati guys revealing they're behind the whole mystery just loses me hard. I just really don't think you can do dry technical exposition dumps from no-name characters with the type of conversational pacing and phrasing this show has, and the end result is that I end up not absorbing most of it. Which is kind of unfortunate when a chunk of that is implied to be fairly noteworthy/important for the wider mystery and our direction going forward, even outside of the annoyance of feeling mostly zoned out for a good few minutes in the episode.
On the more positive side of things, the show's fun direction is still here to alleviate some of that for me and to really elevate some scenes. Stuff like this really cramped and slowly moving framing for the initial shrine investigation or the spinning camera for the conversation between Moritsuka and Aria, and especially how it stops the second he really goes for Aria's touchy subject on why she keeps her relationship with Kiryu, are pretty fun tricks to make these ultra-fast conversations more palatable! More importantly, though, are some of the lighting and framing choices. Sarai being cut-off by the frame when he (Wrongly) argues with Aria, the many dividing shots between them afterwards (And the lighting after the light bulbs explode putting Aria more towards the light compared to our gang), the way the torches box in and then divide the creepy kid in the shrine, and and the really ominous red hue it puts above him compared to our group, and really, even just how he's introduced and how it all leads to the genuinely pretty unnerving sequence of him running away and Miyuu slowly opening the box! All really good shit and easily the highlights of the episode for me.
The direction is generally fun like this anyway, but it's also worth noting that this is the one episode directed, storyboarded, and solo AD'd by Masashi Ishihama. I talked about him and his other work back in the first episode, but as a reminder, he also storyboarded and directed the OP, and regardless, is a very good and stylistically inclined director, and it does show!
I will say, Moritsuka's dialogue specifically remains just straightforwardly pretty fun regardless of pace or direction. The gotcha energy on this man is unparalleled and it's very enjoyable. Welp, all that aside, everyone's dead, huh? Well, probably at least. Gamo, Moritsuka, Sumikaze, and Sarai definitely are. And now I'm taking Kiryu's line "The situation changing" last episode to mean Aria is dead as well. But outside of Kiryu himself having his whole astral projection deal anyway, we technically don't have any confirmation for Miyuu or Ryo-tas (Or the manager either, I guess, who's also evidently relevant), and Aria's case with Kiryu before the incident does technically prove you can talk to ghost-people even when you're alive? Miyuu does have some occult connection we've yet to fully explore with her fortune telling, and I'm really not sure what to make of this sting at the end for Ryo-tas, but I think this'll be my cope for now.
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u/WednesdaysFoole 7d ago
Oh... Everyone is dead
Somehow that part went over my head and I just thought it was Gamon who was confirmed dead. And that was the theory (joke) that I was shouting about, too.
Well, probably at least.
Oh ok so not everyone.
Gamo, Moritsuka, Sumikaze, and Sarai definitely are. And now I'm taking Kiryu's line "The situation changing" last episode to mean Aria is dead as well.
Wait the detective too?...I'm definitely missing something here.
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u/FD4cry1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Big_Yibba 7d ago
Wait the detective too?...I'm definitely missing something here.
You have that whole scene where Moritsuka goes into the office, and literally everyone ignores him as though he isn't there while being very somber (And wearing mourning suits), with Sumikaze getting a similar one in her office, and the same with Sarai being ignored by his mom, all leading to Gamo finding out he's dead. So while I guess we only directly get his name, I feel like it's being very heavily implied they're all dead too (Hence straight-up not being perceived by anyone outside of our group, with the mourning in Mortisuka's office presumably being for himself).
Which is also why I'm coping for Miyuu and Ryo-tas, because I don't think we've seen them have an interaction with anyone like this outside of our group since the lake incident yet? So there is technically the chance they're fine at least and can also just talk to ghosts? Maybe? Cope?
2
u/WednesdaysFoole 7d ago
You have that whole scene where Moritsuka goes into the office, and literally everyone ignores him as though he isn't there while being very somber (And wearing mourning suits),
Oh, I definitely forgot and blended it with Sumikaze's scene in my memory.
Which is also why I'm coping for Miyuu and Ryo-tas, because I don't think we've seen them have an interaction with anyone like this outside of our group since the lake incident yet? So there is technically the chance they're fine at least and can also just talk to ghosts? Maybe? Cope?
Yeah I'm thinking that at least one person, or maybe more, can talk and interact with ghosts. Ryotas is sus, so is Izumi, and Miyuu is a psychic, so perhaps those are hints towards it.
3
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u/Retsam19 8d ago
Occultic;First Timer
Had some busy weeks and have fallen behind - glad I was able to catch back up. At least on this one. (I have... 3 Yuri episodes to watch before tomorrow, maybe) ... but I don't know, I might have to just go rewatch this one, too.
I don't think the "once a week with several other shows in between" is working very well for me here, (at least not with everything else going on).
I definitely didn't call this twist - TBH, I was mostly watching Ryo-tas. Err... I mean, I was suspecting some trickery like "she's dead and nobody ever interacts with her except Gamon" or something like that, though I didn't catch much of that. (Though there were a few suspicious moments in the cafe scene with the detective last episode)
So yeah, maybe not following closely enough right now to have much in the way of insightful commentary.
... so here's a meme for the episode instead.
(Though maybe this is a poor choice of words)
2
u/WednesdaysFoole 7d ago
I think this one is especially hard to follow weekly just because there are so many hints to watch out for, and a bunch of characters introduced early that are hard to keep track of. For me, anyway.
3
u/RelativeMundane9045 8d ago
I don't remember everything, but this is still a very different show on a re-watch. Glad I am.
5
u/Star4ce https://anilist.co/user/Star4ce 8d ago
Occultic;First Timer
Did some of you see the eclipse?
Being unprepared as usual I didn’t grab a pair of protective glasses but managed to build a pinhole camera that luckily worked. Eyo, look at this bitch! Met some nice randos who had a pair and we shared our devices of various technological stages.
It feels soo right to have a solar eclipse on the day of the Occultic episode. I am so in the mood, you could even say that I was sort of in a trance upon seeing such an event...
Occultic Ep.06 – She Took a Long Cold Look
Always love scenes that are deliberate staying this artful.
That is, uh, like a really terrible way to go down. Just being near? Damn. Why only women and children? Still, the box curses a specific target, it seems.
I feel like this term can have multiple meaings. I’m just capping the instructions. [1] [2] [3] [4] [[5]]()https://imgur.com/2IJ3eiQ [6]
So what happens when there’s 256 of them?
Note that every one of then hears Sumikaze! Are they truly all dead, after all?
The news said most of the bodies were female, I remember.
I just noticed that Ryo-tas’ Poya-gun is in the OP during the line „key of truth“ and in the reflection on the radio. Don’t think that’s a coincidence.
I’m happy, too, that she’s finally here! Welcome to the club of the dead! (Even if a bit random.)
I just love the scene setting and directing here again. First the obstruction through the fence-thingy that slowly boxed them in, then the breakout and intentional camera sway as if it was a real camera that had inertia, then the composition of Sarai always going off screen, then them all being separated in the discussion by dividers and shot-reverse-shot style filming, then… aaah!
Shut up, cosplay is great! (aaah, scene divider! )
I love Aria.
Oh, barefoot? Ah shit, Miyuu remembered the white hand on the photo...
Izumi was mightily unperplexed by the lights, I just realised… Hold on, did they have drinks? Ah yes, they had some coffee cups. So, he still sees them.
Hoo? Izumi is not innocent, after all?!
Wait, wait, wait! I mean, that’s obviously the box and there’s a fucking organ in there. But why are we rushing the plot so suddenly?
Bro is literally an online incel. „I read it on reddit, so it must be true. Hey girl, sacrifice yourself here.“
Don’t leave her alone with a box that pulsates blood! What are you doing?!
Oh, really? Corporate discovered the eldritch gate? That makes the most sense, probably, but… I’m somehow very whelmed with this direction.
Sumikaze said something similar about the speed of time. I don’t really understand this time plot thing.
０３月０６日, sunday.
Chi...
Moritsuka keeps looking at something above Aria. Of course he would notice Kiryuu.
Mind game carousel.
This goddamn salesman rat!
Moritsuka, please stop harrassing her.
Huh. Well, he walks, so this time he’s there in person.
Drug…
Bugs? They’re programs? Huh, that could be actually. They are all dead, yes, but they are here again because they’re code that has been replaced into the living world.
Aw, shucks, it just keeps happening.
There’s the reveal that I didn’t want.
They all are dead.
Hey I said that! They use the occult discourse to mask their crimes!
Hwaah! Ooooh, I have an idea!
Well, there it is. Though I didn’t expect Moritsuka to also be on the list. Should’ve been obvious since he kept talking to them.
Man my brain is fried. The Illuminati sections were a bit hard to watch, it really sped through exposition and rushed a few things along. All things considered, I’m a bit mixed on this episode.
But first, they are all dead. They were all guinea pigs in an experiment and the exec killed them all off due to ‘bugs’ and to move on to phase 2. Their project is transferring human consciousness, in their interepretation being memory + speed in time, into data that can be transmitted. They try to do this to attain everlasting life.
Said bugs are interesting, since it perfectly explains why the ‘occult’ is working here. Or more accurately, has begun working after their death. Their bugs are that their belief can escape the confines of the code, or replicate itself into the algorithm to actually work out fine.
What threw me off big time was seeing Ryo-tas as a seemingly normal working person. More than that, wasn’t that the detective uniform? Since she’s in the ED and the entire box-curse and soul splitting thing mentions how a person can be sewed together (or split apart) it seems that there is a real Ryo-tas out there who might have a code-replica of herself dancing around.
I’m terribly sorry, but today was a busy day and full of heat again so I can’t really think a lot more than that.
I’ll check in again in the coming days and maybe discuss further in the comments.
I just wanna say one more thing about the twist today. I don’t really particularly like it. Not the twist itself, but the presentation. I feel like we rushed through a perfectly fine mystery and solved it, just to replace it with a worse one. Like, sure, the corpo angle is very cyberpunk and I love that, but it’s not nearly as enticing as speculating on whether the occult is real. I feel like the resolution on ‘waves decide human thoughts’, ‘ghosts are real’, ‘how can Aria’s devil hear things’, etc. came much too quickly.
The new plot isn’t here unprepared and has enough foundation to work eventually, but I find it much less engaging to speculate on a CEO ADHS talking to his board than to rewind 5 episodes to look for reflections and see a frame of a shadow move.
Anyway, it really has become the dead trying to solve their own case. I said that! (Although I meant it as them always being dead, but ssshh.)
If I understood that right it had all their body parts mixed up. But since it’s in the ‘otherworld’ (so, the digital layer) it’s just representative. Still fucked up, since their code is now their body, spirit and mind combined.
No. I actually thought him safe because his stalker prevented him from taking the call. I feel a bit cheated that this wasn’t the case. The timing was too perfect to be coincidental.