#mimihime and shiro

[doodlenoodleboi]

I fucking ugly cry talking about these two like there are much more things I should cry about like probably someone dying irl Or the berserk manga. But I’m crying about how much this reminds me of my relationship. How cute and romanticize version it is he is so protective to his curious significant other always following behind her. I FUCKING LOVE THAT AUGH

[shishibaswife]

on my MOMMA yall NEED to watch heavenly delusions. The writing, the details, side characters, EVERYTHING 😭😭 easily top 10, it starts off goofy and gets deeper n deeper every episode. Every second is important, it doesnt even get boring, everything is apart of the plot and everyones connected 🙏 (literally EVERYONE.)

the huge mood swings this anime got me having was insane, I feel like I need to rewatch ts rn to fully understand bc no one told me how peak ts is 😫‼️ fr thought this was only gonna be abt them surviving this world, it was sm more deeper and I was NOT ready 🙁

[ianime0]

Tengoku Daimakyou | Ep8 | Thank you for letting me die as a human. Thank you for giving me your eye. Thank you for everything. I love you.

[xbuster]

Episode 13 || Episode 8

[chidoroki]

Istg if this is them years in the future I’m gonna lose my damn mind.

[rxvera]

Does anyone wanna ugly cry about Shiro and Mimihime with me right now?

[gabbyp09]

[quinn-dalim]

bro tryin real hard still & might even have a chance

[glowzoul]

last ep of heavenly delusion made me very upset i have feelings about the fact that she couldn't speak anymore and her last request was to see the sky one more time and she spent half of her last moments looking at him anyway and typing out thank yous and i love you. and then the post credits scene after he kills himself on the roof like "oh you're here with me, then i'm not scared anymore"

you cant do this to me i had to watch all of gundam:the witch from mercury to stop thinking about it

[cindercate]

maru channeling the entire audience

[ianime0]

Tengoku Daimakyou | Ep8 | It might've been easier just to let her turn into a monster. I've made her suffer for a long time.

[xbuster]

[dude1818]

Update: he finished the anime and was confused, so he watched multiple explanation videos and was still confused, so now he's reading the manga. Incredible. He's probably going to catch up before I do, since it's fairly low on my current reading list

I've been gushing about Heavenly Delusion to my dad for the past couple weeks. He told me today that he's watched most of the show so far, and he described it as extremely disturbing, but he really likes it. Perfect, because that's exactly how I feel. Really excited to talk about the ending twist when he gets there

[animehouse-moe]

Heavenly Delusion Episode 12: Outside of The Outside

One episode away from the end of the season. It's really something to realize that. One more episode left in this series, for now. And there's still a mountain of questions and curiosities and mysteries and foreshadowing and symbolism. And I'd love to go over it all that rests within this episode.

So, for the uninitiated, a degree of foresight exists within essentially all the children of Takahara academy. An ability to sense the future rather than see it, and interestingly enough this is the first time that it appears with Tokio, as we start off in a dream of hers. I like the unsettling nature of it, how the students are all rather different in disposition to how they usually are, and how expressive the Miina terminal is. More than that though, I'm curious about the organization of the students. Most importantly, Kona isn't there. And alongside that, there's two halves to the students.

Could this be an answer of who all becomes a Hiruko? We know Mimihime is predisposed to it, and we know that Kuku most likely becomes the fish Hiruko we saw early on. Similarly, with the info from the prior episode with the pairings, we know that either Taka or Anzu will become a Hiruko, but considering the side that each appears on, it would seem that it's Taka's fate to turn into a monster.

But within that, we get a potential contradiction as we awake from Tokio's dream. Mimihime and Shiro, and Anzu and Taka are sharing a lunch together talking about Tokio returning finally. Aside from the napkins of Taka and Shiro being a nice detail to reflect their personalities, it's Anzu and Mimihime here who are eating their sandwiches with those deep red tomatoes on them. You can't help but notice that Mimihime's tomatoes are spilling out though, while Anzu's remain intact. Mimihime's are more symbolism for the inability to remain untouched/whole, but I'm unsure of the purpose of Anzu's.

Anyways, that sandwich is used once again rather quickly, and ties in quite well to the overall story of this episode. Takahara academy comes under attack, and the group must run to safety as the entire facility begins to panic. This scene of Mimihime's sandwich being crushed under the debris though paints a pretty clear picture. If Mimihime's bite allowed for no return, the destruction of the sandwich clearly sends an even stronger version of the message. Whether it's to Mimihime becoming a Hiruko, or the destruction and change of her life through this episode, it is an irreversible change that shakes the foundations of her life.

As destruction rains down on Takahara Academy however, we're returned to Kiruko and Maru as the former places the Ibaraki facility in their sights. I really love how they open this sequence with Kiruko pushed to the far right of the frame to show her determination for moving on, while Maru's hand occupies the left as a belt slips from his grasp, showing how he's losing Kiruko to her past.

Following this, we get into the meat and potatoes of the episode, as the pair explore the town that's appeared around the Ibaraki facility. This is all incredibly fresh in my mind as I'd just read volume 5, so I'm only going to pick out the pieces that I think are important in terms of foreshadowing in the like, starting with their "chips", the form of local currency they use.

Simply put, it appears like a puzzle. The notches on the end of the wood all differ, and even the color of the wood itself changes. Similarly, there's not a single repeat color or pattern in the bunch. Immediately, the designs remind me of technology and the sort of branching out we see from Maru in the opening. There's absolutely something greater with these pieces of currency, but I can't find an answer as to how they should be pieced together.

Moving forward from this curiosity though, I love the direction with Kiruko as she finds out that Robin is here in this town. The use of her running scenes that appear from later on in the episode to show her desperation and desire are a great piece, and the fact that Maru isn't in those scenes only adds to how much distance the put between the pair as they return to their room for the evening. Really well done at naturally driving a stake between the duo.

Following this separation, we get to the pieces of Kiruko running that we saw earlier on, as they make her way to the Ibaraki facility. It's a well done emotional moment that captures a lot of Haruki's emotions. I think it's an important distinction they make through it all, because Robin is only shocked to see Kiriko, as the episode uses the shadows to darken Kiruko's hair to make them appear more like Kiriko.

Of course, it wouldn't be Heavenly Delusion if we weren't jumping all over the map, so we return to the Takahara Academy as they panic amongst the destruction. It's neither here nor there, the director gets out of her wheelchair and runs for her life, which is funny, but it's not the takeaway. The scene that separates Kona from Mimihime, Shiro, Anzu, and Taka is.

They really like these balanced and separated shots through the episode. Placing Kona by himself with the younger students that flank him, and the group of four that goes off to investigate the wall, really makes you think about why they were placed like they were. Why the four students appeared in Tokio's dream, but not Kona. Given the ending of the episode, I have a real sinking suspicion about what fate Kona will meet while at the pool.

And just a quick little addition, we see where Maru gets his name from! Sawatari places a circle on the one child's foot so that he can discern which is which, and apparently that ends up sticking.

As quickly as we join Takahara academy, we leave just as the group of four set out to explore the hole in the wall, and return to Kiruko at the Ibaraki facility, where we get some more interesting pieces in regards to our logo. The first appears on what seems to be a plaque denoting this as the "Takahara Academy: Ibaraki Facility", while the second is found on an interesting sheet of paper titled "Natural Wealth Operation". I'm pretty sure people grasp that NWO can also be interpreted as "New World Order", which gives a glimpse into how the Academy operated under prying eyes.

Regardless, both of which sport a different logo to the Kiru Beam. The bird is more upright/vertical in the above images, with the smaller circle being full and lower within the larger circle when compared to the logo that Kiruko and Maru have been carrying around.

This paints an interesting and curious picture. How old is the Ibaraki Facility? Was it being used prior to the collapse/apocalyptic event? Is it possible that the Ibaraki facility was foresaken prior to the current state of the Takahara Academy? I think it's entirely possible, considering what it is that Robin claims to have found within. Considering the "current" standpoint of creating immortal bodies for people to swap into, it's pretty well removed from work with plants and agriculture.

Anyways, the episode begins to reveal Robin's sinister side as we come back to the students that made it outside of the outside, through the hole in the wall they saw. It's a really great piece, and is used well in opposition to Kiruko's situation (side note: I'm not a massive fan of it, so I'm hoping the next episode better contextualizes the purpose for her trauma here). That is, the children have found a way to indescribable freedom, while Kiruko is trapped and locked away due to Robin.

What further ties these two together though is those tomatoes. The ones the children worked so hard to cultivate. Those spotless and pure tomatoes that exist within the academy. That begin to get cut open, to bleed. To irreversibly become damaged and forever changed.

If this episode didn't make it clear, it's all about the convergence of our two timelines, not in terms of chronology or order of events per se, but rather their experience. Bringing each to their climax, finding different things waiting for them and creating stories that serve to oppose one another as we come ever closer to understanding what it is that's going on.

The direction remains stellar, storyboarding is incredible, the original scenes (that I know of) work amazingly well, the animation is top notch, the characters are outstanding. It's all the praise I've ever had for the series, appearing once more like it's nothing but another Saturday. I absolutely can't wait to see how we end this season with the next episode.

[ultimatelyre]

for fic readers within tengoku daimakyou fandom :)

I had been thinking about a storyline for a long time so I finally posted on AO3! Beautiful Boy - https://archiveofourown.org/works/61152286 Hope you enjoy reading :)

Below are a few other good fics within this fandom that I would recommend!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/54723232 FAVVV https://archiveofourown.org/works/58589719 Tsuyu and Naomasa, BNHA crossover! https://archiveofourown.org/works/52926496 roadtrips! https://archiveofourown.org/works/49682674 mimihime/shiro

We really do need more people jumping in on this amazing manga 😭