This review on Brand New Animal Contains spoilers. If you have not seen the chapter yet, I recommend you do it and then go back to read the review.
Chapter 11: A Beastly Feast
BNA Chapter 11, The day of the concert finally arrives, and the Order of the Silver Wolf has been preparing a big surprise for this event. The plan that Nazuna has been entrusted with is a simple one, to confess in front of the audience her identity as a human. Michiru, upon receiving such news from Nazuna, doubts how good this idea could be. Even so, his doubts do not succeed in making Nazuna question the idea that Alan himself conceived. However, one must take care of the ears of others, because one never knows when he could be listening.
Meanwhile, the still fugitive, Shirou is collaborating with "The Family" with a common good in mind: Saving Anima City. However, thanks to the information Mary had to offer, a big problem arises. Under no circumstances can they allow Nazuna to reveal that she is human. For this, you have to be fully prepared.
At the time of the concert, Michiru caught a glimpse of Shirou for a moment, but failed to catch up. Fortunately, by having more control over her abilities, she managed to use her sense of smell to locate her essence and an alarming detail. On stage, the pair is reunited, and the seriousness of the situation is revealed. Shirou sought to eliminate Nazuna in order to avoid his confession, which would undoubtedly activate Nirvasyl syndrome over the entire audience. The two agree to try to avoid this confession, however, even when Michiru managed to stop Nazuna, Boris ended up revealing the secret instead. From that moment, the chaos began. Out of control beasts and Sylvasta drones "controlling" the situation. Just like in the past, Shirou observes the massacre, and finally loses control ...
False deity, corrupt faith
That was a wonderful move. As I said before, Alan has the entire board under his control. The way I use the great grudge that beastmen feel towards humans thanks to discrimination was perfect to start the chaos.
Until now I had only thought about the poor reality of nature of some people when facing something different. I always focused on the negative actions of the human, and rarely checked what kind of thoughts beastmen would have against humans. There were times when this topic was the center of attention, as was the almost with Nina and the coach of the baseball team. Nina admired us, and the coach just tried to support us while making his dream come true.
Now that I mention it, the coach might well have shown us symptoms of the syndrome even before it was mentioned. Given how he lashed out at all the players, that might have been a small taste of the syndrome and how it's part of the nature of beastmen.
Back to the point, although there were some exceptions, the perspective that the general public had towards us was rarely discussed. Although, it is not difficult to imagine why the news was taken so badly. They rarely showed human abuse, but every time they did, it was pretty clear that we simply cannot coexist, at least not in the world that BNA I believe.
The impact and pain that could be seen on the face of all the beastmen at the time it was revealed that their idol was only pretending human, that said it all. I am not a person of Faith or religion, but even I imagine how frustrating and painful it would be to find out that the idol that followed in heart was only an impostor. Now imagine that, but with such an impostor belonging to a race that has shown great aggression and contempt for beastmen throughout history. I would say irony, but I think it would be better to leave it as a "low blow".
Looking at it objectively, I must recommend Alan Sylvasta. If all of this actually happened because of an accident, the real one is scary. Full of faith and hope to beastmen using a false idol, in order to completely reverse such emotions instantly and obtain the ideal result.
There is something about the antagonists who manipulate the masses with such ease that they simply give them a certain caliber. For me, watching the antagonists control the threads from the shadows is much more satisfying and interesting. They are a terrifying force and they tend to be almost untouchable, every conflict that involves them always fills me with expectations. Especially, because seeing the eventual fall of characters like these simply has no equal.
Historical trends
I have heard thousands of people say that history tends to repeat itself, even I have said it on more than one occasion. However, it is different to hear something than to witness it. I must say, it was quite cruel that they decided to recreate that scene in the modern world so loyal to the past.
The circumstances, the victims, the aggressors, and perhaps even the result, are all the same, repeating themselves in the present. I adore how with each episode that told Shirou's past, they slowly taught us a certain empathy towards these events, only to reveal that the real conflict would be a recreation of these. Also, this is a conflict that has a great emotional weight on Shirou. It bears his motive of simply protecting beastmen, to prevent the tragedy that he once lived from repeating itself.
It is the last part that makes the moment when Shirou finally breaks down more credible and powerful. Without a doubt one of the best parts of the episode. Seeing the real Ginrou fall into despair and become part of the chaos is almost poetic. After the False generated chaos, the true one was unable to fulfill his duty, and eventually, he also fell victim to the chaos. Without a doubt a desperate situation and all because of a single person.
I was thinking about what history repeats itself, but in such a case, what if you see such an idea as a "mirror". If I look at it this way, events that happened in the past are repeated in the present, but here, seeing them repeat with such similarity, that if the present also functions as a reflection of the past. What I mean by this is that it is now easier to imagine how this whole conflict started and what Alan's motives might be.
Just as in the present, the Sylvasta could have observed the syndrome, sought to activate it, and take advantage of it to eradicate beastmen, similar to what happens in the present. This also gives me some room to assume that the Sylvasta family possesses past grudges, or perhaps just plain hatred, against beastmen, one, which Alan inherited. Something like that. I like trying to shape the answers ahead of time, and I like the path I am following here. Although, if I know myself, surely, or I'm forgetting something, or expect too much of a simple idea. Likewise, what matters is that this development of events turned out to be more interesting than I expected.
Final Opinion
So ... crisis? I would say yes. I was thinking while watching the episode, those drones are all administering the vaccine. Yes, quite obvious, but that implies that they are really completely eliminating the genetic factor of beastmen. There do not appear to be any deaths, but something like this must surely have a great effect on "cured" people.
The consequences of such an event within Anima City will undoubtedly be something to watch for. You don't expect to see some kind of material loss, but we are certainly talking about quite severe social implications. Leaving aside the whole part of completely eliminating a race, I return to the part that involves something similar to identity. I could even look at it in a more severe way, and I would say the situation is incredibly ironic. A human pretending to be the protector of beastmen, ended up being the excuse to make them "human". As I see it, such irony is almost as ridiculous as it is tragic.
The problem I have with the above idea is that I am almost certain that this is a reversible situation, which completely eliminates the need for the series to explore the consequences of this event. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if they used Michiru and Nazuna's case as the solution to this situation. If so, everything that happened here will have no major consequences, and could even leave Nazuna in a more positive position.
Although, this is just one more theory. They know I love that kind of thing. Likewise, the one who will not emerge unscathed from this experience will undoubtedly be Alan. As I mentioned before, what I most hope for at the end are undoubtedly the moments when he explains his reasons and objectives, and the moment when all his confidence is broken. That is if Michiru survived.
Whom I cheat, obviously survived. I still don't understand why there are series that still do this kind of thing. Episode eleven out of twelve, right at the end, and leaving things unresolved, they surely don't expect me to believe that's the end. I'll give you some credit if the way Michiru survived is creative or unexpected, but I didn't really see the point in that.
Well, with some small complaints and with the positive out of the way, I can only say that ... nothing. Actually, I'm not expecting too much from the next episode, and I very much doubt it's disappointing. I definitely think it will be entertaining, but my expectations are quite normal this time. I suppose I can say that I have enjoyed the trip, but getting to the end does not cause me any great emotion. So I could describe my experience with BNA, but better leave that for the last episode.
