Anime Best in Show

Review: Midnight Occult Civil Servants Episode 05 – Best in Show

Quick Summary

In Midnight occult civil servants episode 5, “The Parallel World Elevator of the City Hall Observation Deck,” Arata MiyakoKyouichi Sakaki, and Seo Himezuka receive an assignment to track down why people who take an elevator to the City Hall observation deck either disappear or lose their memories! Kyouichi finds a clue from an old friend who no longer mourns her broken engagement. But he only understands the scope of the threat when Another takes Arata off the elevator — and into a parallel world! Can Arata use his Ears of Sand to understand the Another? And even if he can, can he use what he learned to ever return to our world?

Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious. 

Best Moment in the Show

This series is doing a great job of portraying the Anothers as very other compared to humans. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.

I’m a simple man. So you have to expect that simple things captivate my attention. Take, for example, my favorite moment in this episode. One of the things I adore about this show is how Kyouichi and Seo constantly tell Arata that Anothers are different. The fun-loving Chinese gorillas from the last episode? They might have offered Arata sake — but only as a prerequisite to eating him! It’s not that Anothers are evil. They are just different. They are not human; they do not conform to our notions of right or wrong. However much we want to cram them into our understanding, they will be other. That’s awesome! And it’s the basis for my favorite moment in this episode.

Arata can understand the speech of the Another who’s been pulling people off the elevator into another set of dimensions. Once there, she’s been plucking things like their sense of loss or their memories. Arata asks her to stop (18:27). From Arata’s perspective, it’s a completely reasonable request. Memories shouldn’t be stolen!

Her response says it all: “Stop what?”

Even when he tries to explain it to her, she can’t understand. “Well, it’s not a problem for me,” she says. 

In that moment, Arata comes to an understanding that I think is going to be critical for his ongoing development. He described it in his own words, saying, “Just because I can talk to them doesn’t mean we understand each other” (19:03).

If they can build on this; if they can further develop the sense of abject otherness of the Anothers, then this series might be way more than I hoped for!

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2 thoughts on “Review: Midnight Occult Civil Servants Episode 05 – Best in Show

  1. That really was a great moment, wasn’t it? I also just like the concept: Pandora collecting the evils she lost, depriving people of the chance to grow through them. It’s interesting.

    1. And not only did she not care, she didn’t have any idea why she would even consider caring!

      She was so cheerful about it, too!

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