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[Spoilers] Heavenly Delusion - Episode 7 Discussion
Geez, I love urban decay as an aesthetic.
As someone who often teaches students for whom English is their second language, the bit that Maru has about how he can read just fine, but cannot write, is actually way more common than one would think. Writing and reading are related, and improving one can help to improve the other, but they are not the same skill. We just tend to automatically link them together. One involves translating the language to something you can understand, the other is about taking your understanding and translating it to language that others understand. You don't even necessarily need to have dysgraphia, either.
I'm marking this next bit as a spoiler since it's not related to the episode, but highlights a real-world example in my own teaching of this in action. Feel free to skip if you're not interested.
I'm reminded of a time that a student (a good student, too - always engaged in class discussions and full of thoughts and questions), wrote a terrible essay. The thoughts were definitely there like usual, but the grammar and spelling was something near-indecipherable. The quality difference was so stark that I called them into my office and had them talk through their paper on-the-spot. It was like a night-and-day comparison. At my suggestion, they went to the Support in Learning Center and they now receive active assistance with writing comprehension. The student later told me that they never had a grasp of English writing, and that they were often criticized by teaches for "not understanding" something because it didn't come through. They didn't suffer from a learning disability, but rather they suffered from an education system that never properly prepared them for collegiate level academic writing, rushing them through instead. And sadly, over time, I've noticed this problem is getting more and more pronounced, both for native and non-native English speakers and writers alike :(
The town of Edion itself is rather divided - on the one hand, we have the mysterious Dr. Usami (though not the same doctor Kiruko is looking for) with his bloodied gloves, and the implication from the café residents is that there is human experimentation going on. The Liviuman, as they call themselves, oppose the Immortal Order's unethical amputations and artificial limbs, despite supposedly being a place that cures people of their illnesses. The titular "Immortal" refers to the belief that the brain or its memory data can be put into robots. Once laws were more or less discarded because of the Collapse (presumably), those restraints on human experimentation died with them.
And because of that, they're not being coolheaded. Maru is right - aside from Kiruko apparently getting out of the bath and not having a problem with Maru seeing them nude, the whole entire situation cannot help but remind Kiruko of what happened so long ago. It's a classic case of someone insisting that they're okay, but absolutely not being so. And as far as Liviuman is concerned, they can't make any progress in their talks with the Immortal Order, so they hire Kiruko and Maru to kill the Man-Eater in the organization's basement.
^ Don't mind me - just admiring these shots and sequences. Excellent shot composition, smooth and grisly animation, etc. I hope that the genga for these become available at some point.
As for the ending, I surmise that Usami is likely Shiro. Considering how the two different stories (Kiruko and Maru) have been moving in tandem thematically, it makes sense that they would converge, especially in a way less direct than "Kiruko and Maru find the kids and Heaven" but I'll hold off on making any definitive assertions here for anyone who wants to do some speculating and doesn't want a theory ruined for them.
See you next week!
The previous insight into the dangers in this world makes for some very compelling suspense, even from simple ideas such as that the two protagonists may have been lured into the basement. However, it turns out that the opponents of the Immortal Order weren't trying to trick them, and real (although frozen) man-eaters are indeed being stored in the basement. Subsequently, Kiruko is psychologically attacked by one of them, just to be saved by Maru. Oddly enough, this scene is also a fantastic characterization for the man-eaters: they aren't simply scary monsters which suddenly appear to devour humans, but beings capable of reproduction with a certain intelligence, allowing them to protect themselves by pretending to be dead as well as to possibly purposefully attack the mind of their prey.
But they are not the only thing that turns out to be more complex than initially thought: as the two finish off the remaining man-eaters, the leader of the oh-so-evil Immortal Order, Dr. Usami, approaches them. He seems distraught and absentminded, both mad and delighted by the death of the man-eater his organization supposedly tried to keep locked up there. However, he has a completely unrelated request: to kill someone besides the man-eater, phrasing it as if it were an act of help for the victim. Is it the previously mentioned person, kept alive only by machines? Is it one of his other patients? Could it be the other doctor Kiruko has been searching for? We don't know, but one thing is for sure: the whole situation is a lot more complicated than initially thought.
Hmmmm i wonder if the name hiruko means something. I just recently rewatched first episode of summertime render and just realized why the name "hiruko" sounds so familiar when i watched the first episode of heavenly delusion. Then we get the information that only maru and mikura who called man-eater as hiruko. If you search for it on the internet, it says "hiruko is the first child of Japan's creation god and goddess and is born with a physical disability. He is deemed "a no-good child" by his own parents and is cast away into the ocean". So i think maybe, just maybe there's a chance that tokio will actually give birth to man eater instead of maru OR maybe she give birth to both. Of course maybe she'll end up just give birth to maru because I think it's a wild assumption based on the history of hiruko but it's what makes this kind of anime so fun to watch
I'm willing to believe the Hiruko are broken creations. Totori I believe was a proper Hiruko. It seems that there are 2 types of Hiruko/Man-eaters because when Maru entered #2 Hiruko it was harmful, red, aggressive but in #5 with Totori it was peaceful, harmless. Not only that but in #2 the lady mentioned how "her children became this monster" which I presume was exactly what happened. As for whether Tokio will give birth to proper or disabled Hirukos...perhaps they will be twins? I do believe whatever Tokio will end up giving birth to will determine the future, heck the drawing that Kona provided had a propery baby but attached to a machine?
Heavenly Delusion #7: The Immortal Order
Staff Count:
1|1|0|3
7|12+7|12/1+7|93/0+6
It seems like Dr. Usami might be a different person compared to what Liviuman assumes him to be. The dream sequence was also rather thrilling, I missed this horror aspect of the show a bit. The next episode I heard, will be very big.
So true urban decay in this show is so good, the artstyle really highlights it. As for the episode itself, I thoroughly enjoyed it. My favourites were the hallucination and the bath talk, it was really nice touch to have Kiruko's suture on display as Maru noticed the former is out of it. This show is easily a highlight for me
Seeing Kiruko suffering so badly in this episode hurtmy feelings. At this point i can affirm that a care much about those characters, I was breathless throughout the entire dream sequence, fucking nerve-racking And from now on i am seriously concerned with what the future episodes will bring to Maru and Kiruko. intense episode 
The scene where the lady talks about what she saw behind curtains is the exact same as Shiro from episode 1 where he opened door and said that he "wants to keep working on something" and he is heavily interested in various machines. Not only that but in episode 4 when he confessed to Mimihime she said "You want to cut me to pieces, stab with needless and eat?" and this episode the lady talks about doctor cutting people to pieces and putting them in machinery. The last point: Shiro and Usami share the same seiyuu. I think the person Shiro=Usami wishes to kill or rather save from continous torment is most likely Mimihime.
Thats's interesting. I think the VA for totori is also the same as anzu (the girl who danced when tarao is sick and about died). But I think it could also mean the anime just use the same VA for some side character maybe? I don't know but you might on to something here
You are right Totori and Anzu share the same seiyuu. She and Taka are yet to do anything in the story and that worries me because I'm definitely missing something. To be honest I thought that at first but seeing various clues and similar framings I can't stop thinking that Usami is in fact Shiro. I don't believe this was an episode without ANY facility kids.
unless it's just a bit of animation jank, it looks like I was right about Maru's tooth growing back
