Heaven's Design Team

Episode 5

I've been saying since episode one that God is kind of a designer's nightmare client with his infuriatingly vague directions for new animals. But you know who is a great client? A fallen angel. As in, one who was “transferred” to Hell from Heaven. If you think about it, it does make sense – after all, if Hell is the opposite of Heaven, then it stands to reason that their needs and methods would also be opposite. So while I'm a little sad that the ruler of Hell didn't pop in to make a request for a mascot for the Hell Theme Park (because that's what Hell is according to Heaven's Design Team), having one of their minions show up instead still serves the same basic purpose: to make a design request for an animal that in no way needs to follow the annoying dictates of logic and physics.

While this does feel like a departure from the previously established idea that mythological creatures, such as unicorns and cockatrices, are simply failed designs from the regular designers, it's also a great way to play with ideas of heaven and hell and to let the teams get as creative as they'd like. And to a degree we do still get some of the same issues that we've seen from the usual real animals, just in a lighter vein. Cerberus, the three-headed canine, initially falls over not because of a design flaw, but because all three heads want to follow their own noses and, with only four legs between them, can't figure out where to move those legs. Then when the middle head gets to be in charge, he doesn't let the left and right heads eat, because wolves (and my dog) aren't good at knowing when they're “full” to stop eating. It's too bad that similar issues aren't explored with Team B's offering of a three-headed dragon/lizard/crocodile and that we don't learn anything about the Death's Head Hawkmoth besides that it exists and makes an awesome t-shirt design, but the first half of the episode is still a very fun break from the norm, especially when we learn the truth of Ueda's “banishment.” (And if you're curious, there are three species of Death's Head Hawkmoths and they raid beehives and can make a loud chirping sound. So yeah, they're kind of scary for moths.)

In terms of balance, what better way to offset the hellbeasts requested than to feature one of the cutest mammals known to humanity? The second half of the episode looks at sea otters, designed by Neptune to fulfill the request of “aquatic but a bad swimmer.” When Neptune brings out a prototype at lunchtime (for whom he's packed a lunch), the otter is still awaiting approval – it's furry and cute and omnivorous, with those first two things being pretty high up on Neptune's list. That's probably good, because Jupiter, who thankfully does not attempt to eat the otter, promptly offers it seafood and screws up the whole “omnivorous” thing by getting it addicted to shellfish. From there it's a rush to adjust the otter to still be cute and furry despite Jupiter's best suggestions (or maybe “best” suggestions), and really Neptune and Shimoda represent all sentient beings when they just keep stopping to croon and squeal over the highly adorable animal. It's also a nice bit of bookending, because Yokota spent a little time cooing about how cute Cerberus is in the first half of the show.

It's also worth mentioning that this is the first episode that has really felt like it relates linearly to the one before it, picking up with Ueda being sent to Hell and jumping into the aftermath of that event. We do lose that when the show moves over to the otter (and bonus spiny lobster, which as a Mainer looks very weird to me), but that one little piece of continuity, while not strictly necessary, is a good addition and change to the storytelling, especially since the names were localized so suddenly. As has been mentioned, the Japanese names don't feature the planets the way the English names do, so my guess is that it was an effort to make the designers seem more divine by naming them after Roman gods. That kind of works with the idea of mythological creatures being mistakes – the Roman pantheon exists, just as subordinates to a monotheistic god. I don't love that explanation, but it's the best I can come up with. Anyone else have a guess?

Rating:

Heaven's Design Team is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.