Platinum End

Episode 6

I was just thinking that it had been a while since Platinum End had really tried its hand at grimdark nonsequitors. Sure, there have been several murders in the last couple weeks, but they were all magic angel arrow killings: totally bloodless and only notable because one of the bodies was a grade-schooler. The last time this show really dug down into the pit of bad taste edginess was the random idol limo orgy in episode two, and that's just too much time between tone-deaf bouts of “dark” and “mature” writing, right?

Thankfully that gaping hole has been filled with the arrival – and swift departure – of “Girl A,” the serial killer that Metropoliman broke out of jail last week. We open this episode with her dry humping a brainwashed middle school girl, who she swiftly ties up and blindfolds before pulling a comically large knife out of a creepy-cute stuffed animal, cutting to the opening right before she murders her victim. If that sounds like something a tryhard edgy teen would put into a fanfic to scare their school's guidance counselor, you'd be right! It's exploitative shock horror that does nothing to further the apparent themes of anything in this story, and only functions to create a totally unsympathetic villain for our heroes to battle this week – and it doesn't even do that. But by god, this is still the most engaging this show has been so far.

Don't get me wrong, this would not qualify as what John Waters calls “good bad taste” in the end. This little plot cul-de-sac is a cheap and ultimately pointless example of Platinum End trying to appear mature by just throwing whatever grim villainy it can think of at the audience. But at the same time I'm not offended or upset by Girl A. She's just a walking cliché that could appear in any given trashy slasher manga without looking out of place. You could certainly mine something out of the only queer character in this story being a psychopathic murderer, but that would be putting more thought into this purple-haired distraction than the creators ever did. So personally I'm just thankful to have a character – any character – who does something besides sit in Saki's house for the whole episode arguing about what they should do.

Because that's what our heroes are doing, now for the second week in a row. It's kind of astonishing how much time our six lead characters have spent sitting in a single location, re-establishing every insignificant detail of how the Arrows and Wings work. Stuff like this made sense in Death Note, where testing the flexibility of the titular notebook's power was key to Light concocting new schemes, and trying to piece together those restrictions was the driving force of L's investigation. Here, it's kind of ludicrous that we're over a month in and still explaining facets of what amount to instant teleportation, mind control, and instant death.

The other thing discussed ad nauseum is, again, Mirai's unwillingness to kill. And it's still just as unconvincing as it was before. The only reasons he can come up with are that killing is bad, hating people is bad, and even the thought of killing Metropoliman to save the people most important to him makes him scream and hyperventilate – literally. He imagines having to kill the guy and jumps up, screaming, before collapsing from lack of oxygen. And apparently this aversion to killing extends beyond personal choices, as he's also against Mukaido killing either of their main enemies. You know, the two people with a combined body count in the double digits who by all accounts will kill countless more if they aren't stopped. And who could instantly teleport out of any prison they're put in. In a way I almost feel bad for Mirai – he's fundamentally and inherently opposed to killing in a game where killing is literally the only option. Mukaido basically has to force him into even leaving the house, dressing him up as the saddest Power Ranger you'll ever see. Kid just isn't cut out for to live in his own TV show.

Meanwhile, Metropoliman has a doctorate in Murder Game Logistics. Not only has he figured out how to sub-contract murder, he even managed to tie it in with his friend's jackass wish to “kill all ugly girls” while he's at it. Say what you want about this megalomaniac, he knows how to kill two birds with one stone. My guy's out here disrupting the Death Game industry he himself set up. Talk about an innovator! He knows how to cut off loose ends at just the right time too – sending out his bubbly murder idol to sit on top of a tower he's conveniently rigged to explode just for the chance of taking out anyone foolish enough to approach her. And it works! At this point I don't know why we don't just follow this guy's perspective all the time – it'd mean a lot more things would be happening at least. Sadly Platinum End seems married to the idea of a Good vs Evil storyline rather than a black comedy romp through the machinations of the world's most sociopathic rich teenager. Shame.

But hey, after this little sidetrip into grindhouse schlock, our heroes and villains are once more set up for an actual confrontation. I have no doubts Mukaido survived that blast, because otherwise there's no way Mirai is accomplishing anything, so hopefully we'll finally see our real main character take action next week.

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Platinum End is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and Funimation.