What’s the show? Caligula, Episode 8.
So after the slow first half the episode got back on plot with μ waking up and things being set in motion, how are things going forward? It takes place a week before the previous episode.
Oh… so not really moving forward at all then? Funnily enough, this is probably one of the strongest episodes in a while. Even though it’s something of a flashback, or rather a telling of the Musician’s side of the story from after μ’s destructive outburst but before her awakening, it’s a pretty great episode and helps flesh out the “villains” a little more.
How so? Well with μ ‘asleep’, the Musician’s power—namely getting whatever their heart desires served up to them on a platter—is waning, to the point where their utopia is looking more like the hell that they left behind in the real world. This episode mostly follows the Musician; Ike-P a playboy who’s idolised by fawning high-school girls wherever he goes and kudos to this show, it actually makes his plight at least passingly sympathetic. Like you kinda feel sorry for the guy, he’s just an unpopular dude who’s made fun of in the real world and here in Mobius he ~finally~ had a taste of the good life but it’s slowly being taken way with μ’s power fading.
Well I guess if they can make that sympathetic the show must be doing something right… It helps that you can tell beneath his flashy and smug exterior he is actually a nice guy, when a shop-clerk has a pile of clothes he was carrying knocked over and some school-girls look on and laugh he admonishes the jeering girls and helps the clerk out. The other musician’s also get a taste of ‘reality’, but I don’t think their scenes or the characters neither benefited from this reality check, nor seemed too affected in the long run—nevertheless—still interesting to watch.
And what about the rest of the episode? It’s probably the most tonally consistent episode so far, and narratively consistent too. It gave context to a few things from the previous episode that didn’t make sense while also preparing for the inevitable battle that’s no doubt about to take up a few of the final episodes. I also liked the small but important scene between our protagonist Ritsu and ex-Musician Kagi-P (or Kensuke Hibiki).
So it’s a great episode then? Anything else to add? I’ll leave you with this, every episode of this show has had exceedingly verbose but nonetheless interesting titles, and while I don’t ~normally~ talk about them I felt like this episode’s title was especially good: ‘Your life shouldn’t be built from someone else’s blueprint. No matter how unskilled you may be you should draw it yourself.’ Wise words.
Previous Caligula Reviews:
Episode 1 Review
Episode 2 Review
Episode 3 Review
Episode 4 Review
Episode 5 Review
Episode 6 Review
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Anime QandA 
The first time I watched this episode, I felt really frustrated with the series. I think my preconceived notion of what constitutes “progress” got in my way, because the second time through, I had a completely different experience.
“and kudos to this show, it actually makes his plight at least passingly sympathetic.”
That’s what really struck me the second time through. Not only Ike-P, but Sweet-P, too. Remember the screen where she was in some cute store looking at cute things? She had this little happy and carefree smile! I know she’s a villain, but I wouldn’t want to rip her coping skills away from her! And that’s just what the Musicians were faced with.
“…is actually a nice guy, when a shop-clerk has a pile of clothes he was carrying knocked over and some school-girls look on and laugh he admonishes the jeering girls and helps the clerk out. ”
Wasn’t that a cool scene?
The show’s not at all what I expected, and I think I like that!
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Exactly, it’s actually doing things a little different than I expected which is very much appreciated!
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