This ain’t pork.

Darwin Jihen making a Baldur’s Gate joke in its finale was definitely not on my bingo card. But given that I’ve read all of the manga and quite recently, being surprised by anything was surprising. Of all the shows I’ve followed this season, Darwin Jihen is the most legit uncertain when it comes to a sequel. Champignon Witch and Kaya-chan, no way (for now at least). Vigilante and Fumetsu, very likely. But this one? It’s so hard to say. There’s enough material for sure (the anime used less than half the chapters). It’s a Manga Taishou winner. And while not a top seller, it does pretty well – and volume sales jumped respectably after the anime came out.

The final episode did no favors in clarifying the question. It’s an absolute cliffhanger, but one and done’s have pulled that many times. Basically we see that what the adaptation covered was the prologue. And it ends at the point where the real story begins. And I would say that the  content very much bears that out. What follows from here is the most interesting (so far) part of the story. Obviously that will make it even more frustrating if the adaptation doesn’t get a continuation, especially in an era when seemingly every generic LN adaptation and ecchi romcom gets multiple seasons. But that’s out of our control, all we can do is wait and see.

We met a couple of critical players here for the first time. The first is Sarah Yuan, who’s been invited to join Feyerabend at a Chinese restaurant that’s an ALA safe house. He tells her they have a few such “hidey holes” in major cities, and then makes a racist assumption about her lineage. This is a cryptic conversation to be sure, but a “him” is referenced several times (stay tuned). Dr. Yuan is obviously concerned “he” is very dangerous. And it’s clear from the tone that Rivera has some influence over whoever it is.

Back in Shrews Grace is trying – bless her – to give Charlie a sense of normalcy in his life. That means taking he and Lucy to the local supermarket (again, for manga a pretty decent representation of an exurban American institution). Predictably this goes south very quickly, with the manager brusquely telling her no “pets” are allowed. Charlie, unperturbed, befriends a little boy who brags about the “AB (Anarchy Boyz)” club he’s a part of. His big brother is perturbed indeed, and for a while it looks like the locals are posseing up, as Ronnie would say. But Charlie keeps his cool (the most important part of this exchange) and a level-headed clerk defuses things before they really blow up.

Again I would say that the take on The States is pretty broad, but hey – open carry is indeed an issue in that part of the country. Just like school shootings – we can pretend otherwise, but we’re kidding ourselves if we deny it. The ALA stuff not so much, that’s dramatic effect. When a semi is found abandoned, the cops decide to take a look inside and the ALA’s latest escapade is made clear (and the unexpected reference happens). This ain’t pork indeed. I suppose it’s one way to make a point but you’re not going to win over any hearts that way. Which, now that we know Rivera Feyerabend, is obviously not the plan anyway.

Word comes from Dr. Fowler at the lab that Eva is on her deathbed, and Charlie is summoned. Along with Lucy, who Fowler has clearly determined is vital for Charlie’s mental stability. Once more we see no outward signs of emotional reaction from Charlie. And indeed, he tells Lucy that he and Eva have never shared a bonding moment. And not only that, she surely had no free will about being his mother in the first place. A solid intellectual argument, as Charlie always delivers. His real parents are Hannah and Gilbert, he says. And he plans to make whoever killed them pay.

The Darwin Incident is sensationalistic, I don’t think there’s any argument about that. But it does present genuinely fascinating intellectual and ethical discourse at times. Lucy calls what Charlie is talking about revenge; he seems surprised, then notes that it’s a nonsensical concept he’s read about in novels. He’s going to do this, he says, not because he’s thinking about the past but the future. If whoever hurts those close to him (itself a telling turn of phrase, coming from Charlie) pays a terrible price, it might scare off anyone thinking of doing so again. But then he thinks on what he says and wonders if that isn’t why humans developed revenge in the first place, and if it might make evolutionary sense.

Hmm. Eva is indeed near the end, but she has something to say before she goes, as Lucy realizes. “I am a mother of two”. The statement itself is a game-changer, but so is Charlie’s response to it – one that can only be called emotional. Indeed, Charlie has a younger brother (though he looks older). He is “Him”, and his name is Omelas. And he has a relationship with Feyerabend and the ALA, that’s clear. What’s more, Omelas was the one who killed Gilbert and Hannah – an act which surprised Rivera, even if he admits he would have done it eventually anyway.

Like its protagonist, Darwin Jihen is an interesting hybrid. At heart it’s a rather preposterous thriller, but it dabbles in very serious topics in ways that can be surprisingly perceptive. Its take on the U.S. is both caricatured and deceptively accurate. There’s a lot going on with this series. It gives you much to think about and much to react to emotionally. And for me at least it pretty consistently improves over the course of its run (a process which is ongoing in the manga). At a time where homogeneity is one of anime’s biggest scourges, this series is undeniably different. For all its flaws it’s genuinely interesting, and I very much hope we get to see the best the manga has to offer in anime form.