Welcome. I must begin with a quick content note/warning. Episode 12 contains a scene of sexual assault. Although there are no explicit descriptions or images here, I do mention and discuss the scene in this article. I thought it was appropriate to mention in case it bothers or triggers anyone. Now let’s begin.

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Episode 10: The Walled Town

This episode was about Maru and Kiruko accompanying Juichi the information broker back to the walled town from his past. It turns out that his story about the crazy women was true and he really was a prisoner used for breeding. Juichi drives the teenagers to the town, but it’s abandoned. The only thing living there is a spider-like hiruko that uses a powerful ice attack to freeze victims. Kiruko shoots it but doesn’t manage to kill it.

The two teens head back to Juichi, thinking everyone from his past must be dead. However, a few men appear who are survivors. They have been taking care of Juichi’s baby son, Jugo. The men throw a party for Juichi’s return. But they are all woken up in the middle of the night by a maneater’s ice attack. Kiruko and Maru discover that Jugo is the hiruko. The baby boy eventually calms down and the ice attack stops. Kiruko has frostbite on his hands, but they treat him.

The next day, Maru and Kiruko leave Juichi and company, continuing their search for Takaharu Academy. In a dark turn of events, Juichi kills one of the other men, steals their car, and runs away with Jugo. The reason was apparently that the other man killed Jugo’s mother, whom Juichi loved. I’m not entirely sure why showing this was important, as it seemed a bit out of place.

I have a couple of issues with this episode. What’s that? I smell strong casual sexism! There was the mandatory anime boob-fondling scene – because, haha, sexual harassment is so hilarious! And to make it even better, just add a misogynistic exclamation from another character about how touching “his woman” is wrong. Because we all know that the only valid reason to speak out against sexual harassment is if you view your affected friend as your property. Gotta love anime sometimes.

So, that was annoying as fuck, but the other note I wanted to make isn’t really an issue at all. It’s just a thing I noticed. The animation got a little weird at a few points when Kiruko and Maru went into the abandoned buildings. I lack the ability to describe it well. The altered animation didn’t really look bad to me, but the difference was rather jarring. I’ve been very impressed with the visuals in this anime, and that certainly hasn’t changed overall. I just wonder what happened in production to change those clips.

It was an interesting episode despite the annoying anime trope. I’m nervous but eager to find out what will happen next at Takahara Academy. What’s with all the new kids, I wonder? They don’t look very nice. As for Tokio, it’s so terrible that she’s dealing with being pregnant at her age. It wouldn’t have happened if there had been proper sex education at the academy. I hope she’s freed from the burden soon, but I have a feeling the doctors are going to force her to give birth for some reason or other. There’s a lot of interesting and probably painful stuff yet to be seen in this anime.

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Episode 11: The Test Begins

As usual, a lot happened in this installment, and I can’t hope to concisely recap all the key points and their implications. But I’ll do my best to touch on some of the important pieces. Maru and Kiruko are close to one of the old branches of Takahara Academy. It’s some kind of plant or factory, and we see Robin standing in the smoke. Meanwhile, in the main Takahara facility, AKA Heaven, Tokio gives birth. Though it’s traumatic, she survives without any complications. Toward the end of the episode, it’d revealed there are two babies. I’m not sure if Tokio had twins or if one of them is some kind of clone.

The Director was the one behind the decision to make Tokio give birth. The old woman plans to become immortal by having her consciousness transplanted into Tokio’s child once it matures. In the meantime, her consciousness will be moved into the body of the new assistant director, Dr. Aoshima. But Dr. Sawatari, who is the main caretaker of Tokio’s babies, is against this evil plan. There’s quite a bit of dialogue between him and the Director, but most of it was lost on me. There’s a lot I’m not getting yet because I haven’t had the mental energy to process everything in the way it deserves.

The children of the Takahara nursery are all called together for a meeting by the robot teachers. At that meeting, Tokio was reunited with the other kids. The robot teacher announced that a long, complex test is now beginning, and that the children must find the outside of the outside. The robot also calls the children “Hiruko.” Nothing else is explained, but many of the children have a bad feeling about the test. I feel the same way. Something dangerous is about to happen.

It was mildly disturbing to see Tokio giving birth. I’m glad the scene was short and not more graphic. The good news is that Tokio doesn’t seem to be seriously mentally scarred. Speaking of mildly disturbing, it was also difficult to watch Mimihime’s painful hallucinations. I really like Mimihime and her keen perceptions. It’s extremely interesting that she has some kind of future-perceiving ability. It may not be that she sees the future, but more that she sees things for what they really are.

I would normally have more thoughts to share on such a fascinating and complex anime. But as I mentioned, I haven’t yet sat down to really try to process things in this show so far. Looking at things realistically, I won’t be able to give this anime much more thought any time soon. There’s too much that stresses me in my life right now. I’ll just watch Heavenly Delusion through to its conclusion and hope that most of it “clicks” in my mind by the end. Then I can analyze it as much as I want later down the road.

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Episode 12: The Outside of the Outside

Maru and Kiruko discover a thriving town that has electricity and water. There is a branch of the Ministry of Reconstruction running things. When they go to register their identities, Maru and Kiruko ask if anyone has seen Robin Inazaki, showing his photo. Much to Kiruko’s excitement, the answer is yes. The man at the desk sets up an appointment with Robin. After finding a place for Maru to sleep nearby, Kiruko goes alone to the appointment. There, he is finally reunited with Robin.

Meanwhile, in Takahara Nursery, the mysterious test has begun. Something huge falls from the sky and shatters the ceiling above the facility. The ground trembles, the walls crack, and the power goes out. Most of the kids head to the pool area, where it’s supposedly safest. But a few others, led by Mimihime, go explore a hole in the facility’s wall. They go through the hole, and on the other side is the true outdoors – the outside of the outside. Mimihime is amazed by seeing the open sky.

Kiruko and Robin talk a bit, but there is still a lot for both of them to ask and process. Although Kiruko is relieved to be in contact again, he quickly discovers that Robin is not the idealized hero he always believed. Robin invites the naked Kiruko to his room after a bath and handcuffs him to a bed. The sexual assault that follows was difficult to watch. Robin forces Kiruko to look into a mirror and question his true identity while essentially sexually assaulting him. It’s unclear if this is purely for Robin’s satisfaction, or if there is also an element of trying to verify Kiruko’s identity. Either way, he’s a disgusting rapist.

I was annoyed at episode 10’s comical depiction of nonconsensual sexual touch. That still annoys me, but I guess I’m glad that full-on sexual assault is not framed as a funny thing in this anime. The scene with Robin assaulting Kiruko was clearly not funny or sexy. It was just a horrible case of sexual/psychological abuse. I’m glad the show did it in this manner. But of course, I feel terrible for Kiruko. Any case of sexual assault can be traumatizing, but especially when the abuser is someone you trusted and admired. I hope Maru comes to the rescue, but a lot of damage has already been done.

I’m happy that Mimihime got to see the outside, but I’m nervous about what happens next for her and the other kids. No other thoughts on episode 12 come to mind right now. Only one episode remains in Heavenly Delusion. I’ll write an episode review for it next week, followed by a series review sometime in the weeks following. That’s all for today.

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Thanks for reading~