The Fruit of Grisaia

Episode 12

Madness makes for monsters, and in this final episode in the Angelic Howl cycle, that happens quickly and terribly. After the dog scene last week, we see the girls begin to quickly deteriorate, with the sick dying more quickly and the living losing their grip. Whether or not this is exacerbated by the fact that their teacher returns to camp having failed to leave the mountain is debatable, but I would hazard that it certainly helped things along. Only Amane and Kazuki have managed to retain their humanity, and you really get the feeling that without the latter, the former would not have stayed as sane as she has.

The first half of this episode is one of the darkest we've seen, even trumping scenes from Makina's arc. It also has the series only honest-to-goodness sex scene thus far, and let's just say that you might want to turn the volume down for it – those are some creepy noises, more animal than anything. (It's on purpose.) The scene seems to represent how far the characters have fallen, and even if the “deer meat” clued you in, the depths the lost have reached make for some horrible, as in “horror film,” viewing. It's pretty scary in places, though not as terrifying as it could have been. The circumstances also very clearly explain Amane's survivor's guilt, which I had suspected from the start but is fully stated here. Kazuki is elevated to an almost mythic figure by the events of this episode and Yuuji's reaction to Amane's story, something that is enhanced by the visuals: while the other girls are careworn and hollow-cheeked, Kazuki looks as fresh as the day the bus crashed. Given that Amane shows signs of wear and tear in the forest, this is likely due to her memories of the events and the fact that she sees Kazuki as a larger-than-life figure who sacrifices herself to save her friend. Imagery in the ending theme is also quite powerful in terms of both Kazuki and just as a metaphor for Amane's experience, and is worth watching through even if you typically skip it.

That the arc has been steadily escalating has worked very well thus far, but the down side is that the return to Yuuji in the present day feels like a bit of a let-down. Going from running for your life to chatting in a bedroom is a pretty major change, and sadly the show does not handle it especially well. The lead up into the next episode is also somewhat weak, and I would have liked to have gotten a little further in the story before the closing credits. On the other hand, this is the first time in a long while that I'm truly excited for next week's episode, so maybe they didn't handle the end so badly after all...

The animation this episode is really a mixed bag, with some nice scenes of being chased through the forest coupled with really off-model moments, particularly one with Yuuji and Amane looking fairly misshapen. More impressive is Hiroko Taguchi as Amane, whose desperate eating of a cabbage and howls of laughter mixed with despair are really well done and fairly chilling. Most of the cast does a great job of sounding feral in the first half of the episode, which really enhances things.

The Fruit of Grisaia's handling of Amane's story has definitely been the most skillful, and while parts of this episode don't help us to believe that no one could find them, it still makes for exciting, albeit kind of disturbing, viewing. It looks as though Amane's story is leading into Yuuji's to end the series, and that may bring a sense of conclusion to the entire season. Here's hoping that this can manage to end as well as it began.

Rating: B+

The Fruit of Grisaia is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Rebecca Silverman is ANN's senior manga critic.