The first half of this episode is spent in mind bending surreal dreams as Vincent struggles between life and death, his mind trying to work out what has happened, where he is, and who’s voice he hears. It’s a confusing, yet hint laden series of events that are extremely well executed. I’m tired of all the whining about shows like Evangelion and their confusing psychological scenes. We need more anime like this, more deep plots and misdirection, and less dumbing down to the least common denominator.
In the second half, Vincent comes to terms with the fact that he’s still alive, and outside of the dome. Thanks to the help of an old man, he has managed to fight off a virus of the outside world. He and Pino meet others like him who are surviving outside the dome, living from the extreme amounts of waste and scrap simply tossed out by the city.
One other thing I want to mention is the awesome intro sequence that started as of the last episode. It’s something I haven’t really seen done professionally before: grunge. It’s a beautiful series of sequences from the show and etc set to various grunge Photoshop-like effects. While it’s been done by amateurs for ages, these professionals easily school them on proper usage. I sure do love the age of HD anime.
