Although at this stage, I still don't know everything about the "old" Takizawa, it appears that Ohsugi is a reflection of Takizawa's old ideology and a foil of the new one, as he struggles to cope with the belief that everyone must become a productive member of society, while one of his friends and many others around him continue onto "lesser" paths. We can see Takizawa formerly had this mindset when he crammed many of the unemployed into the mall and shipped them off to Dubai as slave labor. It is interesting to note that despite the new Takizawa's apparent change of heart, his old methods seemed to have accomplished their goal, as we see one of his victims actually come to thank him for "setting him straight" and allowing him to get married and become part of the mainstream. The question then becomes: Were his old goals really going to make a better society, or just perpetuate the shitstorm that currently exists. My bet is that the old Takizawa had his memory wiped because he picked up on his own flawed reasoning, and felt he needed a reset to truly change his perspective.
At first I thought Saki was another similar character, as she doesn't wish to loaf off of her brother-in-law forever. However, we learn at the end of episode 5 that his kindness hurts because she's in love with him. Now I don't know what to think about Saki. It's clear that she feels that everything is out her hands; as evidenced by her fascination with DC and the White House. Her main thing now seems to be the lack of honesty in society; something she admires in her brother-in-law. However, this kind of goes against what she said earlier about how she now felt invincible and wanted something bigger to happen than Careless Monday. Her yammering about princes and Ground Zeros seem to paint her as a believer in a Great Man view of history, where only a few major players and events really shape things. I think both her and Takizawa enjoy the Ground Zero locations because it reminds them of their own humanity.
This brings me to Number 1, who seems to have fired the missiles, and thus wants to wake everyone up by bringing them out of their carelessness and reminding them all of the fact that they are human. The recently introduced female Selecao described this as a "realist" approach in contrast to the new Takazawi's romanticism. However, I would view the most realistic player as Number 5, the doctor. He clearly never played to win, and put his money to the best use he knew how. He seemed quite content with himself at the end, and his own patients spoke of him as a messiah, evidently sacrificing himself for the good of others.
Takizawa clearly doesn't see this when he visits the doctor, and instead labels Mr. Outside an evil demon. This leads me to believe that Takizawa, at present, has no hope of "winning," as the messiah idea seems to be at the center of the whole thing. Those who die are the real winners, whereas the last man left standing with cash on hand and selfish desires being sent to Mr. Outside for God knows what horrific punishment. I predict that this poor soul will be the unidentified Selecao we see in DC, watching Takizawa in front of the White House.
Quite a few questions remain. Namely, who the hell is Johnny, and what was that whole scene with the ghost people coming out of the TV? Who was the aforementioned other Selecao in DC? Will we see Number IV's wife again? Does the Supporter actually kill people, or do they merely bring the others into alignment with their destiny? If the latter, I could easily see Takizawa being the Supporter.
What of the female Selecao? It's too early to get a handle on her, but at least from her murder of bondage-lovers, treatment of male models, and the look she gave a weeping Ohsugi, it seems that she is fighting for a restoration of masculinity in society. At first I thought that would be an odd stance for a woman, but she is seemingly very masculine herself.
What is Takizawa's new approach going to be? At least to me, it seems like he's just now figured that out. I guess we shall see in the second half. Then I shall commence volume two of my analysis. I can't wait.
I'm now seriously worried about watching episode 3. BTW, I like the avatar, BD
. Guess I couldn't blame you if you liked it so much you couldn't contain yourself - I'm still eagerly awaiting Paradise Lost's release.
