Chäos;HEAd - Episode 11

Right, let me get this straight - Shogun is Takumi, but Takumi isn't Takumi (who is Shogun) because Takumi is a delusion created by Shogun, who is actually Takumi, only not a delusion. Yeah, I think that about covers it.

Okay, okay, it's simple really, Shogun is the real Takumi who has created the delusion Takumi to do his legwork for him (although you'd have thought he'd manage to create someone who was a bit less of of a reclusive nerd though, oh well). Anyway, at the start of this episode all of this information becomes crystal clear to Takumi, an "awakening" which finally allows him to gain his Di-Sword. His timing couldn't be much better either, as shortly afterwards "The Third Melt" occurs (which I guess is like Third Impact, only more... melty), totalling Shibuya in the process.


From here on, it's all about Takumi playing the hero role (with a little help from the other Gigalomaniax's that we're already familiar with), with a transformation in both abilities and personalities which brought to mind Neo in The Matrix, all of a suden oozing a kind of cool, calm and collected persona which was previously beyond him. This display of abilities sets us up for a grand finale, as Takumi races both to save Rimi and destroy Noah II, thus saving the world.

Aside from some slightly cheesy moments (crazy killer bugs popping out of people's chests in particular), this was a pretty good episode, laying out all of the required information in a simple enough fashion, finally turning Takumi into the decent guy the series has arguably been crying out for since the start, and also doing its bit on the horror front with the spooning out of brains and so forth (don't eat soggy Coco Pops while you're watching this episode, whatever you do). I suppose the way that Chäos;HEAd is constructed means that the build-up is always going to be more intriguing and impressive than its actual revelations, but the transition from one to the other has gone smoothly enough, and the series as a whole has been an entertaining enough ride to leave me wanting to watch that one last episode so that we can see Takumi save the world, before going back to being an anime-obsessed geek like the rest of us. Who knows, maybe even as an anime-obsessed geek with a cute, pink-haired girlfriend?