Devil Survivor 2: The Animation - Episode 5

As if the Septentrion threat wasn't troublesome enough, now even humanity itself seems to have divided into two factions, with a group of insurgents taking over JP's Nagoya branch.  With Hibiki missing in the way of the chaos across Osaka, Nitta and Shijima stowaway with the JP's forces heading to that location in the hop of finding their friend.

Although finding Hibiki looks set to be trickier than expected, what we do find in Nagoya are rumblings of a conspiracy, and it isn't just the insurgents who seem to be having doubts about JP's and Yamato's intentions either.  Once Hibiki's friends stumble into the midst of an insurgent camp it soon becomes clear that this group are only trying to help the locals in lieu of any other adequate response from the authorities, and a Septentrion attack in the area reveals Hibiki's whereabouts - it seems that he, too, has chosen to fight alongside these insurgents.  Little does he know that his own death appears to be imminent according to Nicaea....

Ultimately we get to the root of the insurgent's gripe with JP's and Yamato, that being the belief that, although Yamato is indeed dedicated towards fending off the Septentrion, he is only doing so with an eye towards becoming the ruler of the new world born in the wake of these attacks - a selfish goal that isn't excused by the good of saving the planet.  As the Nagoya insurgency looks to, well, summon the best Summoners they can, we get a glimpse into the unusual path of Yamato's childhood, as well as the rather odd company that he seems to keep.

Going down the whole "humanity is its own worst enemy" path is perhaps an unoriginal one, but I feel it actually works pretty well in the case of Devil Survivor 2 - there's a risk that fighting off supernatural beings constantly would become repetitive, but giving a human face to some of the malicious forces within the story, and even more so making which faction is the more malicious a matter of opinion, adds some real flavour to the story.  Of course, much of this episode is simply setup for the next stage in Hibiki's progress, so expect a more action-packed and dramatic instalment next week.