Tengoku Daimakyou just continues to be a fascinating delight. Its run hasn’t been anything short than fantastic – amazing visual work in the hands at the staff at Production I.G., a phenomenal source material (which I’ll be definitely checking after this season is over) and overall, just a one of a kind production. What strikes me as the best thing about it is the fact this is coming from a rather “obscure” manga, meaning it isn’t exactly what the public (and production committee) deems as worthy of receiving such a treatment. It makes the whole thing that much more enjoyable, like savoring a taste of victory. And damn, it is freaking amazing.
Things are as chaotic as ever in this world, and you never know whether or not this should be normal. It certainly isn’t for me, but one thing this series has proven time and time again is the fact there is no notion of a “normal” to a post-apocalyptic world, especially when no one knows what triggered the Great Disaster, seeing that no information has been yet revealed to the public, leaving everyone to pretty much work with nothing and apparently, without many interest in sharing what was pf the world before it. This is a very important aspect of the story because despite the large number of older people Maru and Kiruko have come across in their journey, none has yet expressed the desire to share what was of the world before the Great Disaster, or even discuss what could have possibly trigger. Well, this is all about to change, because this time around, it seems as though the stage is being set for Tengoku to start unveiling its many mysteries – and the beginning of it all might just be two very distinct realities clashing.
The duo decides it’s for the best to follow track onto the city Usami-sensei originates from except, well, they have no clue whatsoever about where that might be. I wonder what would have happened had they not crossed their paths with Juuichi, a man who beat them on their original plan to plumb the remains of the destroyed buildings. He is quite the quirky fellow, right off the bat promising information to the duo, and in exchange for some money, he shares with them all of his alleged knowledge, claiming to know about the origin of the bird logo mark. He starts spitting some interesting bit of tale, revealing three possible theories about what could have triggered the Great Disaster. Maru is all too impressed by the reach this man has, but Kiruko is much more practical and orders him to spill the beans – his third story is much more concerning and important piece to gather in this shattered puzzle that is Tengoku’s world, but when he is ultimately revealed to be talking crap, the duo takes a great step into reaching their goal, as a big display of the bird mark logo has the display of an institution called “Takahara Academy.”
They discover a lot about this mysterious place – neither an orphanage nor exactly a cram school, but a place basically promising its guest to find rest for both the body and the mind there. Its strange note, “Hell of Patience,” reveals to be quite the egnimactic sentence. Maru and Kiruko have their own spin trying to figure out what that is and while that might take them a hot minute to get there, to us it is immediately revealed that it is indeed the same facility the kids are being grown. And just like in classical Tengoku’s fashion, an answer to a question comes with five more of them.
It’s not been a calm day for the facility, as well. Through flashbacks, we do finally learn who this Asura (person? allien? entity?) is, and their pivotal relationship with Kona. They died(?) under very mysterious circumstances, but their existence as a whole Isa huge mystery on its own, making it clear that some (or maybe all) of these kids are a product of some weird experiment that got them psychic powers. Their death was a real blow onto Kona, who set off to protect his new love, Tokio, from whoever killed Asura that is coming after her now. It is indeed creepy that Mimihime can still see Asura at that same spot performing what was her last act in this world and makes you wonder why only she. We do not get time to fret with this because soon, news of Tokio’s pregnancy disturbs the balance in this place that was nearing the completion of something big.
At long last, the big pieces of this puzzle are starting to make a clearer picture, but that’s just the beginning of this ride. I have my own share of theories too, but I’d advise to anyone who like myself, is an anime only, to avoid getting online where Heavenly Delusion is being discussed, if you do not want to get spoiled. And as informative as this was, context matters a lot, and we should get a lot from it in the remaining of the season. Very much excited to see how crazy this world really is.
OTAKU SPACE 