As you regulars know, I don’t make coverage decisions based on comments or even post engagements. But that said, I do find it sort of interesting that Darwin Jihen is generating next to no discussion – here or anywhere else. I can’t speak as assuredly regarding on the J-side, but it seems to be true there as well – and this is a Manga Taishou winner we’re talking about. As for the English-speaking world, well, it’s a series that delves into some pretty contentious issues. It does so clumsily, no question – but it does so, and not that many series do. Are viewers just not interested, or is it the show itself that’s the problem?
As I’ve said before I wish I could righteously rage about the glaring inaccuracies about my native country in The Darwin Incident. But truthfully most of them are on the detail side, more or less. Can I deny that we have school shootings pretty much every month? Admittedly very few of them are politically motivated, but there are a numbers of examples of mass shootings committed by issue-driven zealots, even if few of them take place at schools. Veganism is hardly one of the more divisive issues in that deeply divided country though – most people don’t give a rat’s ass one way or the other.
That makes it sort of an odd choice for Umezawa Shun to have built his series around. Maybe it’s an issue he personally feels passionate about – except if so, would it be so hard to figure out which side of the issue he comes down on? Rather, my sense is it’s one he’s mused on and finds vexingly difficult (me too). And decided to use as the vehicle for a larger deconstruction of American culture, which is certainly an interesting thing to watch play out. That’s where his misses are a little more glaring, but that in itself is an interesting element to experiencing the series as an American.
However you feel about the larger issue of animal rights, I don’t think there’s any angle through which this series paints the ALA as anything but the villains. Gale is a pawn in Feyerabend’s hands, a useful martyr, easily manipulated. Except he – and Charlie – screw up the martyr part. Gale loses his nerve when it’s time to end things, and Charlie – whose dispassionate compassion (I don’t know what else to call it) doesn’t pick and choose its recipients – shows more respect for his life than he did for the 41 people he killed. Except Lucy, who he chooses to spare, presumably because she defended him in the past.
Phil sees enough of Charlie in action here that he can’t realistically convince himself that Charlie is culpable. He carries as many victims as he can carry to safety, he’s the one who apprehends Gale in the end. Gale certainly didn’t do Charlie any favors by calling him out in his final message, but Phil knows the score at this point. He’s the one responsible for Charlie leaving the scene with the Steins rather than in the back of a police cruiser, but turning one grunt cop more or less to his side is really a drop in the ocean of public opinion at this point.
It’s hard to see a road ahead for Charlie at this point, and he’s smart enough to realize that. House arrest is about the best he can hope for, so he resolves to take down the ALA himself – much to Lucy’s horror. Rep. Linares has suggested that crushing the ALA is a prerequisite for Charlie having any chance at a normal life, and the authorities certainly haven’t shown much headway in getting that done – so why wouldn’t Charlie want to take matters into his own hands? With the posse at the Steins’ door demanding the lot of them leave town, he may have more immediate problems on his hands.
Yann
February 19, 2026 at 3:34 amI tried submitting a comment on the last episode but got an error…
catterbu
February 19, 2026 at 5:09 amFor me, when I click to Post Comment, the page just keeps trying to load again before throwing an error. I have found that if I click to Post Comment, then just let it try for a few seconds, I can refresh the page and my comment has posted successfully.
Guardian Enzo
February 19, 2026 at 9:11 amHmmm.
catterbu
February 19, 2026 at 12:01 pmit may relate to issues processing comment length. The shorter one just finished posting fine, but longer ones do not (thought again, they do still seem to appear anyway).
Henk
February 20, 2026 at 4:44 pmI’m having the same issue with commenting. When I submit the comment the page just keeps loading. But I can see that the comment has been sent through successfully if I reload the page after a couple of seconds. But I tried to send a longer comment yesterday (and today) and this did not work (it seemed like it submitted but the comment didn’t show up).
catterbu
February 19, 2026 at 5:07 amI find myself never commenting on this because I find what is happening entertaining and interesting enough, but not so much that there are ideas with which I can really engage. The arguments presented and characters interacting are all decent, but never quite enough for me to have any original thoughts. This was the exact time where I stopped reading the manga. With it being an anime, I can watch it more easily than I could read (it has worked well for me to watch while exercising), so I will stick with it to the end, but it has just not done enough to make me more than a passive observer. Though I doubt it will come, if we do get a second season I will look forward to it, but the anime has done nothing so far to bring me back to the manga (though to be fair, if that were to happen, it would likely be in the back half of the season, since that is the new material for me).
Guardian Enzo
February 19, 2026 at 9:13 amIt’s a shame, because the season is not going to get to what I consider the more interesting parts of the manga.
catterbu
February 19, 2026 at 12:04 pmYeah. based on your recent comments, I kind of figured. too bad. unfortunately, I am at a point in my manga journey where I just do not have time to read it right now; Baby Steps is just about at its climax (~ch. 350), I am deep into oyasumi punpun, berserk, and a few others.
Nadavu
February 21, 2026 at 12:30 amI’ve had this issue for a while. It went away for like two days, but it’s back again.
(also, it’s hard to comment on this show when I just automatically cheer against whoever has the stage at that given moment. I don’t remember a show where the best pushback against either side was the push itself)
Nadavu
February 21, 2026 at 12:56 amI’ve had this issue for a while. It went away for like two days, but it’s back again.
(also, it’s hard to comment on this show when I just automatically cheer against whoever has the stage at that given moment. I don’t remember a show where the best pushback against either side was the push itself)