Humanity Has Declined Episode 6--Because Why Not?

I need to stop being surprised when this show does something utterly random.




I was not expecting anthropomorphic deep space probes. The heavy focus on video game references seemed to suggest otherwise, and I thought that we were only dealing with some confused androids. However, the reality of Pioneer and Voyager's situation brought some much-needed depth to this arc and the most poignant episode ending yet. This is also the first time that we see Watashi become swayed by something despite her detached nature.

The idea of computers and/or androids becoming self-aware is not anything new, but it's handled pretty well here. Once you find out the truth behind Pion and Oyage's cryptic statements and that all they really wanted was to go home, it's hard not to sympathize. The relative simplicity of that emotion (as opposed to the insanity of cat vs. nautilus) carries the idea to a satisfying conclusion, and I think that if anything else was thrown in the episode wouldn't have worked nearly as well in terms of resolving Pion and Oyage's story.

That said, there was a lot of fluff in this arc whose purpose I didn't really understand. Anthropomorphic deep space probes open up a whole rang of options for portrayal, so why did the story once again choose the abandoned labyrinth setting? We get it; the human race is not what it once was. But what did this add to Pion and Oyage's story? Judging by the current tragetory of this show, humanity is never going to finish their monument. Everything that needed to be said was wrapped up in the last few minutes with the exploration team's reaction to finding them and then not being able to send them into space once again ("They were so mad, they forgot what they were mad about"). Once again I have to say I'm concerned that Jintai likes to be weird for the sake of being weird.




I hope that the show does revisit the ruins in the future because a lot of things were touched on but not explained. What was the point of the near-endless video game references? Were the slimes from outer space too? And what was going on with the ruined city? Watashi explains that they were also afraid of EM waves, but the ruins show they were surrounded by electricity. Why? Of course, there are still a lot of questions about the fairies as well.

We've finally come full circle after jumping around in time, and in the last six episodes Jintai has been successful in creating a world where anything can and will happen. We're not lacking in in situations and symbolism that can be related back to present time, and there's a chance that Jintai could say something pretty profound about society today. Or it could continue having giant cat vs. nautilus fights for no apparent reason whatsoever. And while that's fun to watch, seeing the show do something more like it did with Pion and Oyage, I think that would be a waste.

Images from Crunchyroll.com.