Chaos;Head - Welcome to the NHK meets Higurashi

Originally Posted by GELB-2

Oh for the love of god, why is the screenshot thread the only one used here. In the interest of (hopefully) revitalizing this oft-forgotten forum I'll make a thread for my favorite Fall '08 shows from top to bottom in hopes that you guys will do the same. COMMENCE~

OK!

Synopsis: Takumi is a high school student who now lives in a storage unit on top of a building and would rather play MMORPGs all day instead of going to school. This habit, along with his terrible social skills, has caused him to be slightly deranged and delusional at times, making his connection to reality more tenuous. Even though his sister tries to get him to shake his hikikomori habits, the situation looks to be hopeless as he cares little for the 3D world.

That is, until one day, he gets a curious link from a user on IRC (or the Japanese equivalent thereof) and accidentally clicks on the picture file which showcases one in a string of horrific murders caught on camera in Japan's Akihabara district. Murders that, I might add, have been occurring with disturbing frequency. So one day, on a trip home from school, he stops by an internet cafe to indulge in his gaming habits and as he returns home for the night, he comes across the scene of yet another murder, with the victim pinned up to the walls by some cross-shaped nails. A girl wearing a school uniform was standing there, covered in blood and she turns to face Takumi, saying his name, which unnerves him completely and sends him fleeing the scene.

Back at home, with his mind is completely wrecked and the strange events are only beginning...

Thoughts: While Takumi may be a very dislikeable character, I still have to say this series has quite a bit of potential, owing in part because of how difficult it is to separate between delusional hallucinations and reality, so it's up to the viewer really to piece the clues together and come up with their own speculations. The other characters aren't really fleshed out just yet, but they do project an unnerving aura about them because it's so hard to figure out who to trust. The probability that the girls in particular are psychotic, insane, or murderous is going to be very high.

It also helps that the mystery aspects of this show draw you in with its unsettling atmosphere though and I'm looking to see where this show will take us. This is more pronounced given that the episodes that have been released so far only raise more questions than answers. No, I haven't played the game, so I'm basically going in blind without really knowing how the plot will go. Nevertheless, this is quite intriguing and I'm pretty much hooked.

Links (HD versions):
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4

Links (SD versions):
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I can see the argument that the other characters may be cookie cutter since a lot of the girls that have been introduced so far haven't gotten much in the way of character development. After all, at this point one of the girls is pretty much a Rei clone, Rimi takes the archetype of the girl who chases after Takumi in spite of his character defects, and then there's Takumi's chatty sister who cares a lot for him. But I'd argue that particular weakness is overcome by the fact that most of the girls that he encounters have this aura about them that doesn't exactly put the viewer at ease. So in a way, the atmosphere is what makes it really enjoyable and brings out enough about the characters to make them interesting.

Spoiler:

After all, we're not even certain whether Rimi is the culprit or not since the delusion vs. reality thing is difficult to distinguish. Killer schoolgirls isn't exactly a common trope (at least, among the shows I've seen so far), so to label that aspect of her being cookie cutter seems off somehow.

And then there's Yua. If Yua's a cookie cutter character to you, I'm going to have to request a list of titles that have characters like her since I can't seem to recall any at the top of my head.

episode 4 musings:

As for episode 4, I'd have to say that Takumi's monologues are fascinating in the way they reveal just how out of it he is. That, and the feeling that you get as though he were being isolated was just really well done.

Art quality did take a bit of a hit though. Not that I mind too much because at this point, it's just something to point out rather than actively criticize.

Still liking what I'm seeing so far. It's not blowing me away, but it's very competently done and I'm looking forwards to see where things head since the preview looked like it had some interesting moments.

There's nowhere I can't reach.