天下制覇

 

Irie is the most clueless doctor ever.

Impressions:

You know, if I was a doctor, and my nurse suggested dissecting a live child instead of treating her, I think I’d immediately call the loony bin and have her trotted off. This was an episode chock full of information, but as I’ve already somewhat (blatantly) spoiled previously, a lot of Takano’s craziness will be retconned away in the end by learning that she’s also suffering from the disease… so my extra knowledge probably makes me quite a bit more jaded that most of the audience.

I did find it very funny that Tanaka Rie voiced the devil woman. Soft spoken with a hint of menace? How long has it been since she had one of those roles? 15 minutes? For all the whining people do about the typecasting of voice actresses like Horie Yui or Kugimiya Rie, Tanaka Rie seems to garner only two roles, the soft spoken villainess, or the soft spoken maid.

Okay, that was a bit strangely tangential. I guess mostly, I’m tired of Takano now for the afore-mentioned reasons. Maybe they’ll drop that in the anime and I’ll just feel really silly for bitching about it so much. Anyway, let’s move on to thwarting her already. She has an army of men, guns, and a healthy disregard for human life. You have… some school kids and an extra-dimensional demon loli. Are you a bad enough auauau~ to save Hinamizawa?

A child runs at a couple standing on a butte while Hanyu says that she was powerless yet again. The couple turns to the child, but gets pushed off an into the river below. The child was Satoko.

Takano gives Irie a report on her. She’s suffering from a level 5 manifestation of the disease. Takano gives the report to Takano and asks him to sign off on literally dissecting Satoko while she’s a live sample. Irie is incredulous. Takano laughs and says that she’s a perfect sample and they need to learn as much as they can from her. Irie goes over to Satoko and watches her.

That night, Irie drops off Furude at his shrine and tells him that hell leave him to it. Inside, he tells his wife and Rika about the disease.

Rika confirms that it is the curse of Oyashiro that the village fears. His wife doesn’t believe this, but Furude tells her to quiet down. Irie has medically studied and confirmed the effects on the brain.

He continues, telling Rika that she’s the best person for them to study in order to develop a treatment for it. Her mother is totally against it and still doesn’t believe it exists, but Rika thinks that it’ll save Satoko, so she’ll be absolutely fine.

Back at the clinic, Rika has finished her first session with Irie. Her father gives her some money to go buy juice and she trots off. Irie thanks Furude for how much help he’s giving them.

In his office, Irie is looking at an old picture. Takano grabs it from him and idly wonders if it was his dysfunctional family with a father who beat his wife. Irie gets annoyed, telling her that it was because he suffers from a mental disorder. Takano wonders if that was true since nobody believed that. She sits seductively on a bed while Irie explains that this was exactly why he became a doctor.

Takano continues, saying that he’s trying to atone for his family’s mistakes. She goes a little bit too far, saying that it’s impossible. Irie deflates a bit and looks down at his hands, wondering if she might be right. He abruptly changes the subject to Rika’s test results and Takano obligingly wanders off to fetch them.

In the city, Irie is receiving commendations for his work on studying the Hinamizawa Disease. Someone walks up to Takano and tells her that she has a call. It’s Koizumi, who praises her. He tells her that Dr Takano must be happy that his work has progressed so far with her help. She replies that it’s not enough yet and it still needs to be finished.

Back in the clinic, Irie draws blood from Rika. She asks him how Satoko is doing, saying that her brother is starting to be affected by her illness. She asks if there isn’t something to be done. Irie says that there’s a stopgap measure, but it’s not good enough to heal her.

Rika suddenly shifts to dark mode and says that even if it’s not a 100% successful treatment, they need to do it. Irie is shocked by the sudden change. Rika tells him that she knows that he’s trying. Rika continues, saying that destiny is something that needs to be forged in the heart. She will change Satoko’s fate and save her life.

Elsewhere, Takano meets with some suits. Unlike Irie’s colleagues, these still don’t really think that her work is conclusive enough. They do start discussing it though, taking it far more seriously than they did in the past. Takano evilly loves this result. She silently tells Dr Takano to watch her and how strong she has become.

Satoko’s hooked up to an IV drip now. Takano is a little annoyed with Irie’s initial optimistic outlook. She’s a bit pissed about losing her perfet sample by tainting it. She then tells him that Ooishi is waiting outside.

Irie tells Ooishi that because Satoko is still very ill, he can’t talk to her. He invites Irie to take a ride with him while they talk. The cop tells Irie about the incident on the butte and how Satoko lied to the police and told them that she didn’t push her parents to their death. Ooishi thought that something was odd with her story and investigated further.

He ponders aloud as to why she might kill them. Irie silently thinks that he unbalanced mental state, and the stress of her Hojo stepfather and the stigma it brought may have driven her to suddenly attack them.

In the clinic, Irie and Takano discuss Rika’s data. They need more samples basically. Takano starts getting ready for more tests, but her mother suddenly bursts in and yells at them to give back Rika.

Irie tries to calm her down and say that she’s fine and is helping treat people, but she won’t have anything to do with it. Even Takano is annoyed by Rika’s mother’s rantings.

Irie and Takano go to the Furude house and try to regain their support. This time though, Furude asks them to understand their position in not wanting their daughter to go through that. Irie says that he understands and relents, really pissing Takano off.

Outside, she storms around, yelling at Irie that Rika is an irreplaceable person that could advance their research in all sorts of ways. She tells Irie to go home and then tries to think of a way to force them back onto her side. As she looks up at the shrine, she thinks about Oyashiro.

In the middle of a party, Furude suddenly clutches his chest and collapses. Elsewhere, the police are investigating the ‘suicide’ of his wife. They’ve got her shoes for some reason. They also find a note indicating that Oyashiro is to blame. Ooishi doesn’t buy it for a moment.

Back in the clinic, Takano is laughing like a maniac about how she won thanks to Oyashiro. The phone rings. She answers and is shocked.

Takano is crying as she prays at Koizumi’s funeral. As she tries to leave, she’s suddenly surrounded by men. They take her to the business suits. Now that Koizumi is gone, her main support is gone as well. The men explain again that her research isn’t conclusive enough, and the project is going to be cancelled. Takano slams her hangs down, yelling that her work is important.

The men respond that even if it is, Irie is doing a much better job and he already even has a cure in testing. One of them waves the antiquated report of Dr Takano, which lead them to believe that he was insiuating that the disease came from parasites that control thought.

Everybody laughs at this and they throw Dr Takano’s report down. Takano flashes back to them stepping on his report when she was a child.

Takano leaves and walks through the rain in a trance, apologizing to her grandfather for failing her. A car pulls up and a woman asks to talk with her.

After the ED, Takano and the woman continue on. She says that she followed the project. She wonders if Takano’s true objective was and then says that her true goal may have been to prove Dr Takano’s theories by creating an outbreak. She tells Takano that she’s interested in this power and holds out her hand, offering to continue funding her research. Takano wonders if she’s found the fortune of heaven, but then thinks that this is really a devil. She decides and shakes is, thinking that only her own goals matter.