Episodes 9-10 – takt op. Destiny

I didn’t intend to take a two week break from covering takt op. Destiny, but…well, let’s just say I’ve had an interesting time of things, lately. That said, it’s actually kind of fortuitous that I’m able to cover Episodes 9 and 10 together. “Family -Eroica-“ is another drama heavy episode that centers on Destiny and Takt’s shared central dilemmas, while “Master and Pupil -Lenny-“ busts out the show’s dormant sakuga chops for a Big, Important Fight Scene. All in all, it’s something of a perfect microcosm for takt op. Destiny as a whole, showcasing the series’ strengths and flaws in equal measure.

Episode 9 is valuable not just because it concludes the gang’s road trip with our heroes finally arriving in New York City, but now that the Symphonica resources are at their disposal, the story can finally give us some clear stakes for Destiny and Takt’s partnership…and the prognosis isn’t good. As the elder Schneider sister explains after examine the pair, their relationship is both symbiotic and parasitic. Takt’s initial bond with Destiny is what gave her life in the first place, and her Musicart powers are what have given Takt the ability to fight in and survive all of the D2 encounters, but that corroding flesh on Takt’s arm isn’t just a decorative flourish. Takt and Destiny’s union doesn’t follow the “normal” rules of a Musicart/Conductor bond, and they are both dying. Their only options are to continue fighting, or lay down their arms and enjoy their limited lifespans in peace, together.

The show still has a few episodes to go, so we don’t need to wait until they discover the mysterious “tuning fork” and the incoming D2 threat to guess that the two aren’t going to hang up their weapons and call it a day. Still, it’s nice that the show continues to take its characters’ personal drama seriously, even when we all know that the story probably isn’t going to head in any especially shocking directions. Takt and Destiny’s date was cute, even if the visit to John Lennon‘s memorial felt a bit on the nose.

The biggest complaint I have about Episode 9 is actually a detail that only really comes into relief when you consider Episode 10. At the end of “Family -Eroica-“, the big cliffhanger comes directly from Maestro Lenny himself, who acquiesces when Takt and Destiny refuse to evacuate New York with Anna and the other civilians, and promises to tell Takt the truth about everything when they meet up. Then, in “Master and Pupil -Lenny-“, it isn’t more than thirty seconds after the group gets together that Sagan from the Symphonica shows up and very quickly reveals that it was him behind the D2 resurgence all along! *Cue Dramatic Music*

In short, the giant revelation that Kenny promises lands like a thud, both because Sagan’s cliché entrance from the shadows just so happens to be perfectly timed to Lenny’s exposition, and also because Sagan himself makes for yet another disappointing takt op. Destiny villain. It doesn’t help that the other half of the episode’s “reveals” basically amounts to showing how Takt’s father did indeed die because he decided to hold a big concert after the world was aware of the D2 threat, and that Lenny was Kenji’s apprentice. He decided to look after and mentor Takt as much because of his guilt over being unable to stop Kenji from giving up his life as his general desire to root out the Symphonica corruption.

Do I care enough about Lenny and Titan to get all emotional over the super obvious death flags that start popping up whenever they’re on screen in Episode 10? Ehhhhhhhh….kinda? It’s hard to latch on to that wisp of emotional attachment, though, when I’m so distracted by how the show plays up Kenji’s actions as genuinely heroic, when they were really, you know, monumentally stupid and reckless. The way Takt has been valuing the abstract concept of music over his own safety and his real human relationships has been corny and more than a little ridiculous, sure, but he’s also a moody performing arts kid. They’re supposed to be dumb. However, when Takt’s dad starts waxing philosophical about how celebrating music is literally more important than any one human life, it just comes across as unintentionally hilarious.

The thing is, outside of maybe four or five people on the planet, nobody else knows that the D2s are currently being manipulated by human will. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, the inability to enjoy music is a tragic but completely unavoidable consequence of a bonkers alien invasion. To this end, it really does seem like Kenji was willing to bring death and destruction down upon a city because they decided to say, “Screw it, the world needs culture, and it doesn’t matter who dies in order to get it!” I can definitely understand why he’s gone down in history as pariah.

I’ve harped a lot on the script problems that have been dragging down these recent episodes, but takt op. Destiny is one of those shows that can skate by well enough when it’s making my eyeballs happy. That’s exactly what Lenny and Titan’s battle against Heaven and Hell does, and while it doesn’t excuse the sloppy writing, it makes it go down easier. The choreography is slick, the character animation is expressive and delightfully colored, and the music kicks ass.

All in all, it’s almost make you forget that Lenny’s death is a pretty stock standard way to fill out time before the grand finale. Almost. As it is, takt op. Destiny is the same as its ever been in this final stretch of episodes: An inconsistent and frustratingly flawed anime that can be a heck of a lot of fun…though it could have been so much more.

Rating:

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James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.