If Plato applied his ideal to manga adaptations, I’d have to think Tengoku Daimakyou would be the example he’d cite.  After seven episodes I can’t think of a single thing about it where I’d say “this should have been done better/differently” – and to say that’s rare is an understatement.  I know little about Mori Hirotaka, the director, except that this is the first series for which he’s filled that role.  But I’m sure as hell going to be keeping my eye on him now.  You can’t overstate the impact of Production I.G. and the fantastic key staff – obviously that element is crucial.  But the adaptation couldn’t be this flawless unless Mori-sensei too was doing a phenomenal job.

It’s kind of a perfect storm here, I think.  Mori and producer Ohira Masashi putting together an incredible staff with the likes of art director Kaneko Yuuji and composer Ushio Kensuke.  A full year delay in the premiere date giving them plenty of time to nail down every detail.  A remarkable manga by a remarkable author in Ishiguro Masakazu, one which creates a weird and seemingly incongruous synergy of dad jokes, edgy sexual content, and sometimes horrifying post-apocalyptic imagery.  Nothing about Heavenly Delusion is easy or ordinary, but perhaps the most extraordinary thing is that the anime has managed to capture that so flawlessly.

I’ve often tried to capture the dynamic of Kiruko and Maru (look at him closely this week) in a few words, but it’s basically impossible.  Their road-tripping adventures through hell are like nothing else, as Ishiguro uses them to illustrate how people are always recongizably people in any situation, and how the rules of society don’t apply when society no longer exists.  I could listen to their banter all day, and stuff like both of them screwing up the “we kill hiruko” sign never gets old.  The fact that these adventures occur in Kaneko’s utterly gorgeous dystopian setting is all the more reason why it works.  And even something as simple as sparks from a campfire is magical in the hands of Production I.G..

The matter at hand of course is the Immortal Order, where Kiruko hopes to find the mysterious doctor probably responsible for their current condition.  The Order does spot the pair and their campfire, and their leader Dr. Usami dispatches his man to collect them.  But someone else gets to the kids first — Liviuman, a group of protectors angry about the Order’s human experiments.  Their leader, Mizuhashi, says she went to the Order for treatment and had her leg amputated (involuntarily) and replaced by a metal prosthetic.  And Usami-sensei’s first impression is not exactly reassuring…

Kiruko is disappointed to learn that the doctor in charge of the Immortal Order isn’t their doctor.  But their claim that there are hiruko in the parking garage beneath the Order’s HQ – and willingness to pay to have them exterminated – is persuasive.  Nevertheless, Maru has a bad feeling about all this – it feels like another trap, and a parking garage (more absolute Kaneko magic) seems like the perfect place to set one.  However their are hiruko down there – small, seemingly frozen (in suspended animation from lack of food, Kiruko says).  The Maru Touch deals with the first couple small ones easily enough, but then Kiruko stumbles upon a large one and things get very strange indeed.

Was this a dream – a hallucination induced by the man-eater – or something more?  If it was a dream it was incredibly real for Hiruko – and flat-out terrifying.  This is one of the more disturbing scenes of the entire series so far – graphic and horrifying on a visceral level (especially for someone who’s been through what Kiruko has).  Slowly being devoured and seeing Maru down too, Kiruko calls for Robin to save them – and then wakes up with Maru apparently giving mouth-to-mouth.  This itself is odd and interesting – Maru never claims that Kiruko wasn’t breathing – but Kiruko doesn’t pursue the matter further.  As for Maru, he’s quite deflated that it was Robin who Kiruko called out for as they thought they were facing certain death.

I don’t think anyone still with Tengoku Daimakyou at this point would need to be reminded that things are rarely as they seem with this series, but it’s obvious that there’s more to the Immortal Order and Liviuman than meets the eye.  Usami himself shows up in the garage, and seems quite surprised to see the hiruko dead.  But rather than instigate a confrontation (as the kids clearly expect) he instead bows and asks them to do a job for him – to kill someone.  “To help them”.  Are the two requests complementary – or are they in fact one and the same?