Munou Na Nana

There is an imposter among us. You know that recent hit online multiplayer game, Among Us? A game whereby you’ve got to sniff out the parasitic killer blended in among the group before the killer kills off every one of the crewmates while completing other tasks. If you’re familiar with that, I guess it makes things easier to understand Munou Na Nana. When enemies of humanity appeared on Earth, humans with super powers and abilities are sent to train and nurture in a school on an isolated island to help combat the enemy. However the enemy is a step ahead. They send an assassin to infiltrate the school, blend in with the pack and pick off these future heroes one by one. Will the imposter succeed in her mission or will she get exposed and serve her just desserts? But sorry, no voting off here…

Episode 1
It has been 6 months Nanao Nakajima transferred to this deserted island but he can’t fit in with the rest of the class. Unlike others who have special powers, he has none. On this island, these students are to train and hone their skills to fight against the enemy against humanity and some believe they have infiltrated their humankind. The teacher introduces a couple of new transfer students: Kyouya Onodera who is keeping mum on his power and cutie pie Nana Hiiragi who can read minds. Nana seems to pity Nanao since he keeps getting bullied by the fire user, Moguo Iijima. She can even read his mind to tell the fatty off she doesn’t intend to date him. When they have to pick a class rep (at this point?! After 6 months?!), Nana nominates Nanao who is reluctant. Kyouya suggests those interested can fight it out. Nanao’s flashback reveals he is the dullest of the family and when he received a letter to study here, his father told him to do just that and become a leader. It’ll be his chance to shine. So that’s why Moguo teased him as a self-proclaimed leader since that was what he told the class to make up for being talentless. Nana continues to hang out with Nanao and talk to him. He too learns that because of her ability to read minds, it distracted her and drove her crazy, the reason she came here. Then they talk about the enemy infiltrating mankind. Could it be they are already here to try and kill the heroes before they mature? Nana almost falls off the cliff but luckily Nanao catches her. Could it be a strong wind or someone trying to push her off? But the more Nana hangs out with him and praises him, the more Nanao finds it annoying. Invasion of privacy. The fight to become class rep is between Moguo and Seiya Kori who is the most popular guy. It ends with Seiya winning but Moguo is a sore loser and won’t accept it, accidentally unleashes a huge fireball in everyone’s way. Before anybody could die, Nanao steps in and neutralizes it. That is when he reveals his true ability is to neutralize powers. With that, Nanao is now the class rep. Later as Nana praises Nanao over his talent, going so far as to experiment he can neutralize reading her thoughts by just touching her hand, just when Nanao thought she is his true friend, she pushes him off the cliff!!! It is hinted that Nana can’t read minds and was just very observant. She used it for Nanao because she was curious to see what kind of power he has. Surely somebody like him can’t be in this place if he actually has no power, right? And the rest were just to push him to see how far his talent would go. Nana claims that he is the real threat to humanity and for that sake, please die. After Nanao falls, Nana looks at her device that claims Nanao had a potential kill count of a million!

Episode 2
As narrated, when the enemy first appeared, it wasn’t some kind of monster but humans themselves. Humans with superpowers, that is. A task force with those with special powers was formed to counter this but they became corrupted with their own ambitions. The war rages on until somehow humanity won. As time passed, people’s thinking also changed so the general populace would only accept those who are isolated and trained on deserted islands. This is what the general story is. A committee tells Nana that her job is to covertly kill these trainees as they are the ones who will pose a threat to humanity. If she fails or gets exposed, she will be punished. Nana continues analysing the rest and finds Seiya a very easy read. However she notices about Youhei Shibusawa. This self-deluded guy is believed to have the power of stopping time. As she hangs out with him and observes more, he reveals that his true power is to go back in time and change the course of events. Of course this has alarms ringing for Nana because this could mean unearthing Nanao’s murder. By the way, the excuse is that he is sick, the reason nobody is worried he didn’t show up. But here comes Kyouya who is suspicious of Nanao’s disappearance since he didn’t return to his dorm last night and he is trying to frame it on Nana since she was last seen with him. Nana tries to overturn the narrative to her favour by claiming she heard a strange voice inside Kyouya’s head, hinting he might be the enemy. Kyouya backs down as Shibusawa wants to help Nana uncover the real truth. The more trips Shibusawa jumps back in time and returns, the more Nana observes his ability and tries to deduce his limitations. Because at this point he would’ve caught her as the killer now but why has he not? So it’s like he could go back at most for a day and the further he travels back, the more tired he becomes. Also, when he sees someone who knows him, he will be brought back to the present. This is evident as Nana’s memories are overwritten. Like when she spot Shibusawa spying on them right before she pushed Nanao over. That night, she rushes over to Shibusawa’s place, claiming to tell the whole truth that she saw Nanao being eaten by the enemy. She claimed she didn’t trust him, the reason she didn’t say the whole truth. Shibusawa agrees to go back in time at this spot to save him. But he never returned. Because Nana knew he couldn’t swim and over this spot where the pond is frozen at night, when he comes back, he’ll be too tired to struggle his way out. It is safe to say that he drowned.

Episode 3
Now that Nana has killed 2 in a row, she must be careful now or else everyone getting suspicious would make her harder to move. When Seiya tries to hit on her, Nana mentions about his girlfriend getting worried. It is of course her observance but before she could explain, Kyouya hijacks and explains about them sharing an umbrella, hence their sides not getting wet from this downpour. Nana tries to spy on Kyouya but since he wants to be friends, he lets her into his place. Such a messy place. An otaku? From his behaviour, Nana cannot decipher what he is thinking. But he tells her his reason he came to this island. His sister was here. She went missing. That’s why coming here himself is to look for clues. When Nana is about to leave, Kyouya shows her the broken watch from Nanao. Oh sh*t. He brings her to the cliffs as he deduces about Nanao’s disappearance on the day they transferred here. With no friends, Kyouya explored the island and found this place. The broken rope piqued his interest so he jumped down and found this watch. It could be he was attacked by the enemy that is hiding on this island and leaving behind this watch might be a clue. Kyouya is suspicious of what defines the enemy. Even more so the students who are confined are supposed to be national treasures but nobody shows concern of Nanao’s disappearance. Also, the training feels so plain for super powered people like them. When Nana asks his powers, he wonders why she just can’t read his mind. Definitely he is on to her, she thinks. Though, he thinks she doesn’t have any motive to kill Nanao.

Nana remembers the committee that her mission would be easier if she had the database of those she is to kill. However based on past data that had them take very extreme measures, they deduced sending a secret agent would be the best. Hence she must determine their powers with her own eyes. Nana and Kyouya tell their deduction to the teacher who is obviously panicking. However no communication outside the island is possible until graduation so he goes to contact the faculty for help. For now it is best not to tell the others to panic. We hear Kyouya deliberate on how weird this island is as well as Nana trying to think out Kyouya’s ability. From the observations of his room, she believes he cannot smell. So when Kyouya returns home and turns off the gas, Nana has closed all the windows when suddenly gas explosion! Nana pretends to be appalled at the scene of Kyouya being burnt but is shocked when he grabs her foot. His injuries heal as he questions why she is even here on the scene first. It could be because of her mind reading? Then he reveals his ability of invincibility and despite having no sense of smell, he was born with that defect and has nothing to do with his power’s limitation. Though, he has a weakness from his ability and will allow Nana to read his mind. So did she get it? Thank you. That’s what friends are for.

Episode 4
Kyouya is trying to let everyone know he was attacked but they don’t really believe him. This is also a threat to Nana since the murders she commit might be uncovered and needs to kill Kyouya fast. Michiru Inukai is bullied by Kirara Habu and Kaori Takanashi as they read her love letter aloud. Michiru sees a wound on Nana’s leg and licks it! WTF?! Oh, it heals. Nana shifts her attention to Michiru as she now realizes her ability to heal others is a considerable threat. Nana gains her trust by pointing out to Habu and Kaori as the ones who set up this fake letter just to bully her. They hang out and become friends. But Nana knows Kyouya is stalking her the whole day. That night, Kyouya sees her running towards Michiru’s room. Then a scream. When Kyouya enters, Nana is stabbed from the back and bleeding. Luckily Michiru heals her. Nana claims she heard the voice of the enemy wanting to kill Michiru and rushed over and was stabbed by the invisible enemy. In actual fact, Nana stabbed herself with a hidden gimlet. This is part of her plan to hide herself as a victim since with the other girls horrified at seeing this, they are more inclined to believe her. But the next day, Kyouya is still unimpressed. If she knew he cannot die, why did she not call for his help? In the heat of the moment, she didn’t think so. Kyouya then thinks deeper why would an invisible enemy run do this and run away? He could’ve just killed all of them. Kyouya even theorizes Nana stabbed herself but cannot connect the dots. This is part of Nana’s plan to lead him astray with all the thoughts so he cannot pinpoint her as the suspect. With everyone else hearing news about this, Nana then plays the emotional card that she heard the enemy’s voice wanting to kill Nanao but was too scared to act. Everyone sympathizes with her and with Michiru vouching for her to become their new leader, everyone unanimously agrees. All as planned…

Nana then tasks Michiru to record everyone’s abilities just in case they need it. When Kyouya comes to apologize for suspecting her, Nana knows this is just a bluff and he still suspects her. He talks about weapons so this has Nana thinking she needs to change her killing methodology because why would the enemy so strong use a human tool to kill, right? Maybe she’ll experiment with poison and see if Kyouya is immune to it. We hear more of Kyouya’s thoughts. Including the deduction that all this was a setup by Nana to lead everyone astray as their leader so she can kill them when they have their guard down. However the problem is that he has no proof and without that, nobody will believe him. When Nana returns to her room, this delinquent dude, Tsunekichi Hatadaira approaches her and wants to know why she wants to kill him. Say what? His ability is seeing the future and has a photo of her strangling him in the gym storeroom! So he has her hang out with him as he explains how everything that appears in his photo will definitely come true. He tried to change fate but it always turns out the way the photo is shown. As proof, Nana gets spilled by the soba ramen eventually even when she tries to change her order. So now you believe him? Nana plays dumb that she sees no reason to kill him. Are you sure? Then he shows her a photo of her pushing Nanao off the cliff! Oh sh*t… Game over?!

Episode 5
Nana knows Tsunekichi wants to blackmail her and the reason he never showed these proofs to the rest was because he had no friends and no one would believe him. She plays along and will do anything to prove his innocence. Oh yeah. This scumbag wants Nana to be his girlfriend. So she’s massaging his back and he is pretty laidback about being killed. After all, he believes the photos so this means whatever happens till his death, he is going to have fun. With Tsunekichi forcing her to stay in his room, she notices he ‘prints’ out those photos during his sleep. This means his ability is real and she must take care of him soon. Next morning, Tsunekichi knows Nana is hiding something from him because 1 of his photos is missing. He knows as he can only take 5 photos. He gropes her and finds that photo. It’s a rape photo of Nana! As Nana continues to plead her innocence, Tsunekichi makes a deal. He’ll wait at the shed tonight and if nothing happens, he’ll trust her. So before Nana leaves, she adjusts his watch to 10 minutes late. So when the time comes, she waits for him. Since she accidentally dropped her poison needles, her only choice is to strangle him with the rope. The moment she does that, Tsunekichi overpowers her! He knew it was coming because he reset his watch back. Then he tries to rape her. However he starts feeling weak and this time Nana overpowers him. During the struggle, she managed to reach her needles and stab him. Nana reveals the rape photo is actually a selfie she took to let his guard down. Tsunekichi succumbs to the poison because the troublesome one is now the real photo that Tsunekichi had but Nana stole: A picture of Michiru and Kyouya coming into the scene. That’s right about now!

Nana tries to plead to Michiru to heal Tsunekichi but looks like that bugger is dead. Apparently Nana didn’t return to her room last night so Michiru got worried and sought Kyouya’s help to look for her. Nana thought she is done for if Kyouya saw the strangling photo but turns out it was that rape photo. Hence Nana still has a chance as she creates a new narrative about being blackmailed by Tsunekichi because of all the lewd photos he got on her. However if Nana didn’t kill him and there are no external injuries, did he die of his illness or something? Nana will come clean with Tsunekichi and tell the whole class now. She takes her leave but her priority is to retrieve the other damning photo evidence in his room. She is damn lucky Kyouya never saw them. Just as she finished collecting them all, looks like Kyouya is here. He claims he is here to check what kind of medications Tsunekichi took if he really died of an illness. None found. But something still bugs Kyouya. The rape photo of Nana looked like it wasn’t a photo from Tsunekichi. Like as though it was staged. Something about the rope around her was tied twice instead of once? Kyouya theorizes about Nana taking the photo herself but still cannot piece together the whole picture as he thinks he doesn’t know what weapon the enemy used. Nana back in her room realizes the most important photo evidence is missing. She has searched the entire room unless… Oh no. Michiru fails to revive Tsunekichi. She then stumbles a photo of Nana killing Nana hidden in his clothes. Oh, Nana is here. Seen something, Michiru?

Episode 6
Nana doesn’t kill Michiru since she doesn’t understand what this picture means. Perfect for Nana to cook up a story that Tsunekichi’s abilities weren’t perfect and that he could only print out his dreams and not the future on the photos. Making her story more credible is the fact that Tsunekichi himself is a delinquent and has missed a lot of classes. And because Nana was close to Nanao, hence Tsunekichi was jealous about them and dreamt about Nanao’s death. As a funeral is held for Tsunekichi, Nana can tell Michiru uses up a fragment of her life force whenever she resurrects. She tries to get her not to use it since she’ll be sad if she dies while saving someone. More bad news for Nana as Kyouya still feels strange about everything and wants to do an autopsy on Tsunekichi. Nana protests and talks to him outside. She manages to throw him off that it makes no sense the killer tried to kill an immortal like him so early and then went to kill others. Still, he wants to go ahead with the autopsy. As Nana protests, suddenly Tsunekichi gets up?! ZOMBIE?! Turns out to be Shinji Kazama who reveals he is a necromancer and can make the dead talk as long as the dead remembers, saw or heard his surroundings. Out of the fire and into the pan. Since Shinji doesn’t know anything about souls, Nana makes up another story of hearing Tsunekichi’s soul in pain and to let him rest. With that, no autopsy for today. Next day, Nana tries to ask Yuuka Sasaki who is always protecting Shinji somewhat. As Shinji is an introvert, he rarely comes to class. She even spots them doing a secret tryst in the woods. So they’re lovers? Although they are childhood friends, Shinji refuses to believe his relationship with Yuuka is more than that. The dead are his first love! Noticing burnt marks on Shinji’s hand, Yuuka then reveals he got it from a fire at a cinema 5 years ago. He helped scared patrons escape before Yuuka using her super strength to bust in and save him.

During PE class, Nana feigns fatigue to go rest in the infirmary. She takes this chance to sneak out so she can kill Shinji sleeping in his room with a needle. When she returns, she spots a cat stuck in the drain and uses this as excuse to go rescue it to cover up since Kyouya is still hot on her trail. While it may be simple for Yuuka to just bust it out, she claims she can’t use her super strength now since she is allergic to animals and sneezing makes her unable to use her ability. That night, as Nana goes to kill Yuuka, she is knocked and pinned down from the back by Shinji! That is when Nana realizes her mistake. Shinji is already dead to begin with and that Yuuka is the real necromancer. No wonder she couldn’t sense Shinji’s presence. Yuuka then proceeds to brag about how cool Shinji is. Partly revealing how the real Shinji died trapped during the cinema fire. Yuuka controlled Shinji during Tsunekichi’s funeral because she wants to show off how cool he is. With Yuuka and Shinji ‘interacting’, Nana believes she has some split personality disorder. Yuuka suspects Nana killed Tsunekichi since she was freaking out when Kyouya suggested an autopsy. Perhaps she killed Nana and Shibusawa too? Surprisingly, Nana admits! But unlike Yuuka, she lets the dead rest in peace!

Episode 7
Nana tries to convince the she holds the upper hand since people don’t necessarily believe the truth. I mean, who is more credible? Nana as the leader or a weirdo stalker in love with her dead boyfriend? She is willing to cut a deal to keep this a secret. When Yuuka doesn’t buy it, Nana goes in for the kill she can tell what Shinji is thinking about her now. As expected, Yuuka takes the bait and releases Nana. So what did Shinji say? Kill Nana! Nana then escapes as Shinji tells Yuuka to kill Nana and then gain her abilities to hear his voice. Great idea. Nana’s plan is to bait Yuuka so as they play hide and seek in the woods, Nana finds out Yuuka’s pendant contains Shinji’s remains and it is an important relic to animate the dead. She also tests a few other hypothesis while on the run. However she didn’t see this one coming as other zombies start to attack her! You see, there are dead teachers and students on this island and Yuuka has gained control of them and their powers! Nana then barricades herself in a shed. But looks like there are also zombies in here! Oh no! Is she trapped? But thanks to the sunlight, Yuuka cannot animate her zombies anymore. Since she is trapped, she decides to come back at night to kill her. But after a whole day, Nana is no longer in the shed. There are no signs she broke out and she’s not even playing as one of the dead. She searches the whole night but to no avail. As she returns to her dorm, Nana pops up. Oh sh*t. It is then Nana steals a paper which is the real relic rather than the pendant. With Yuuka as her hostage, Nana then explains how hiding in the shed was just to make her believe she trapped herself. It was risky since she wanted to test out a few hypothesis of Yuuka’s ability. Previously, she unscrewed the hinges of the door and walked out after Yuuka left. Later on she screwed it back on. Yuuka panics and would do anything. This includes giving back her needles. To Yuuka’s horror, Nana drops the paper off the cliff. Nana continues to explain the loopholes in Yuuka’s story that didn’t make sense as Yuuka tries to somewhat cover up. In her despair, she reveals the real truth that she started the cinema fire that accidentally killed Shinji because she was jealous he was dating another girl. She claims that whore stole Shinji from her and only wanted to rescue him. Of course she would’ve loved to get some other relic from Shinji but that’s that ripped paper was the only thing she could get her hands on since he didn’t want her near him. During this ranting despair, Nana doesn’t give a f*ck and kills Yuuka. Good riddance. Now they can both rest in peace. We see Nana only pretended to drop the paper but actually didn’t do it. This was just to see if Yuuka is innocent. But had she, would she have spared her?

Episode 8
With Yuuka gone, all the corpses are rotting. It stinks. Yeah, corpses everywhere. Later she sees Habu trying to catch a snake to eat it to keep her poison ability alive. Learning that she has a fall out with Kaori, Nana feigns that Kaori wants to make up. But in that distraction, Nana sticks her needles into her neck and forces out the password of her handphone before letting her die. Now it’s time to set the evidence. When she’s done, she returns to Kyouya and explains that Yuuka is dead. She also has Michiru, Moguo and Seiya tag along. She reveals Yuuka as the real necromancer and tried to use Shinji to kill her because she almost blurted her ability to somebody. However she was being mind controlled by the enemy and right after Nana’s words got through her, Yuuka jumped down the cliff to kill herself to be with Shinji. Nana wants Moguo to burn the bodies and Seiya to cool the fire down. Kyouya is okay with it and Nana thought it is his loss since one of the corpses might be his sister. At least he won’t get to examine them. After they’re done, Kyouya throws a question to everyone. Every time one of their friends dies, where was Nana? Her whereabouts are always unknown. Great timing because a scream is heard from the dorm. Oh, it is Kaori dead. Apparently she died about 2 hours ago, the same time Nana was with them in the forest. That answers your question, Kyouya? As Kaori died in a way like as though she was putting on her contacts, Kyouya drinks her contact lens’ water! He gets poisoned! But thankfully he is an immortal. Nana confirms that poison doesn’t even work but it does cause him a great deal of pain. Kyouya recovers and deduces the culprit must’ve known her using contacts and hence murdering her this way. Like, someone who can read minds? Of course he brushes this off as a joke. When they try to go look for Habu but is nowhere to be found, Kyouya questions Nana’s hearing the voice of the enemy during the murders. Oddly, Nana wasn’t able to hear the voice when Kaori died. It could mean the trap was set by a human. But if Habu was possessed by the enemy, she could be also dead as they speak.

Nana realizes she has slipped up (something about the opening and closing of the room’s window), which gives Kyouya some room to believe that Nana is friends with them and hence she has been in Kaori’s room before. He thinks she could’ve read Kaori’s mind about wanting to put on contacts and hence poisoned it. Michiru tries to vouch for Nana by showing Kaori’s handphone. Proof that Habu killed Kaori. Using fingerprints to unlock, eh? Anyway, if she is saying because Nana is with them and can’t be the killer, that is precisely what Kyouya firmly believes that she is indeed the killer. With everyone gathering, time for Kyouya to explain the truth. As Habu skipped class this morning and Nana was conveniently in the forest, she could’ve killed her. Her plan to burn the corpses was so that she would have the evidence burnt and one of the corpses might be Habu, dressed differently or her face messed up. Nana might’ve gotten her handphone and typed this long winded message in advance and all she needs was just to press the send button at the right moment. Since both had a fall out, it wouldn’t be right for Kaori to suddenly use the contacts (the item that was the core of their argument and fall out). Kyouya notices she had her hands in her pocket awfully a lot today. Time to search her body for Habu’s handphone…

Episode 9
Nana narrates the very complicated Plan A that she might’ve gone with but didn’t. Then there’s Plan B that Kyouya deduced having Habu’s handphone in her pocket. Thankfully she didn’t go with that either but when with the riskiest Plan C which has also the biggest payoff. In short, she left the handphone with one of the corpse’s fingers. As the corpse melts by day, that would give enough pressure to press the send button. There were many other factors that could’ve easily failed the plan but thankfully it went as planned. Kyouya is frustrated he couldn’t find the evidence and apologizes. Nana nails it with a convincing act, claiming she hears Habu’s voice of forgiveness. That night as Nana plans to dispose the poison and contemplate how difficult it is now to do her job, Michiru comes to talk to her. Suddenly Michiru pulls a cutter over her neck! She knows Nana’s ability isn’t mind reading because why didn’t she read minds sooner? Nana easily overcomes her but Michiru will not directly expose her as the culprit and wants to see how others react when she is branded a liar. Hence the next day, Michiru tries to ask Nana in front of everyone the contents of the present she got for her. Too tired to read minds? She’ll ask again. Nana now claims hearing too many voices so when she guesses wrong, she claims it is a note was stuck being Michiru’s back (of course she planted it). Everyone agrees with it since all of them were thinking about that note and couldn’t say out loud. With Nana credentials assured, Kyouya definitely wants to spoil it like asking who put the note there in the first place. But he backs down seeing he needs to build trust back after his failure.

Later as Nana and Michiru hangs out alone, Nana wants to know where the real Michiru is. Because last night’s attack, Michiru didn’t heal herself when Nana overcame her. This is when the imposter turns into his true form. He is Jin Tachibana and a student of this island 5 years ago. He brings her to his cave hideout and has been observing her since there is a question he has been contemplating since. The shape shifter further reveals that he has been that cat all along. Some back story time. 5 years ago, his classmates started killing each other to a point the broke into factions, claiming the other as the enemy of humanity. No one planted ideas in their heads to fight and they were merely at war with their own imaginations. Fearing the escalation of war, the faculty and staffs fled the island. Some tried to follow but were attacked when reached the shores. Eventually everybody wiped each other out. Except of Jin who stayed as a cat. Not only survival of the fittest, but those who can adapt. Lone survivor Jin left the island for home but this shocked his grandma who were told he died in a war. Realizing that there are people who didn’t want him alive, he fled back to the island. He thinks government conspiracy is part of this, the reason he returned to learn the truth or he won’t be able to live with himself. So Jin spied on her thinking she is one of those sent to kill him and observed her. What she is doing might spark a civil war like 5 years ago, he wants to make a deal by letting her do her thing for a while. However Nana poisons his coffee as he wonders who will report his death. This makes Nana’s curious as he whips out her handphone to call the committee. Immediately Kyouya confiscates it?! Oh wait. Other classmates are here too?! Apparently they are all Jin and shape shifting isn’t just his ability. He also takes after their abilities. That’s how he survived.

Episode 10
Nana wonders why he didn’t transform to other students and use their abilities conveniently. Could it be some weakness? Nana tries to escape but he uses Moguo’s fireball on her. Bull’s eye! He tries to ask her about her handphone but Nana tells him to use Yuuka’s ability to talk to the dead. He knows she is trying to understand his weakness but he wants to get to know her better like her family. Knowing torture or intimidation will not get her to talk, he wants them to build trust. Otherwise, he would kill his previous classmates without getting to know them. Nana tells him she has parents but both were murdered by the enemies of humanity. As she passes out, Jin warns her that there might be more than 1 killer on this island since those on this island are arrogant as they don’t have people to teach them about dealing with failure and frustration. When Nana wakes up, she is in Michiru’s room and she is glad Nana is alright. She heard a loud thud at the doorstep and saw Nana unconscious. When Michiru asks what makes her strong, she thinks of digging up Michiru’s sad past if she has one. Hence she is going to make her personal story as relatable as possible. She talks about her parents being murdered by the enemy. Oh, if Michiru is already crying at this point, can she handle more? Maybe another time. After the funeral, Jin comes to visit Nana in her room to learn more about her. But here comes Michiru wanting to hear out the rest so Jin transforms into a cat as they bug Nana to continue her story. It is believed a burglar broke into the house to kill her parents. But Nana blames herself for it since she might have forgot to lock her room window, the only possible place the burglar could have broken in. You see, Nana likes board games and manga. So some nights she would sneak out after her parents slept to the convenience store to buy her manga. So perhaps it was that part the burglar who had been observing and planning, made his move. Nana got the biggest shock to see her bloodied and severed bodies of her parents the next day. That’s why she blames herself for her parents’ death. Nana is almost close to traumatized but Michiru’s hand soothes her. Next morning, Kyouya barges in. He looks agitated. He confirms with Michiru that Nana has been with her all night long. Then he brings them to the crime scene. Looks like another student has been found murdered in his room. Nana knows it is not her doing. Another killer among us? There is another imposter among us…

Episode 11
The victim is Ryuuji Ishii and with his throat slit while his body slumped on the opened window. Kyouya interrogates Moguo since his room is next to his. Seriously, Moguo didn’t hear anything because he was lecturing his lackeys. Kyouya then has the lackeys reveal their abilities. One mimics voice, another does out of body experience and the other magnetism. Kyouya also asks Fuuko Sorano who is Ryuuji’s girlfriend. Since her ability is to channel the atmosphere into offensive attacks, she demonstrates outside where there is ventilation. Her air cut leaves a nasty and bloody mark on Kyouya but we know he regenerates. Kyouya leaves today’s investigation since the teacher manages to get a hold on the higher ups on the phone and Kyouya previously requested to talk to them. As Nana and Michiru continue to investigate, Nana notices Michiru acting strange. So when she talks about their future and dreams, it hits Nana’s nerve when she’s trying to be so positive and cheery like wanting to be a doctor and inviting Nana to come stay at her place. This strains their relationship so Nana is suspicious if Michiru is trying to draw info out from her. When the teacher sends Nana’s uniform courtesy from Michiru, Nana realizes she might have slipped up since poison was in her pocket and she might’ve discovered it while nursing her. Worst case scenario is that she might give it to Kyouya. Speaking of the devil, here he comes. He thanks the teacher since the authorities will be coming. This means Nana needs to kill more before it gets complicated. Kyouya than brings her to talk to Fuuko to talk about Ryuuji. After that, Kyouya analyses about Ryuuji being killed during Moguo’s speech since the room light was still on. He couldn’t have tried to escape via window first since his ability is to shrink himself very small. Also, why would the killer want to face off with Ryuuji when he could just do poisoning like in Kaori’s case? He also suspects Fuuko since Ryuuji’s throat was slit to prevent him from screaming for help. Nana is impressed with his deduction and will leave him to uncover more truths. In the meantime she’ll go mend her ways with Michiru. She sneaks into her room while she is bathing to find her poison. Then she reads her diary that writes only all the good, honest and hopeful stuffs. Feelings starting to waver? Jin is here to return her poison and wonders how she is feeling. He reminds her his goal is to reach whoever groomed her into a serial killer and take him out to lunch. That’s why he is letting her run free for now. As he leaves, he points out Michiru taking too long in the bath. A shocked Nana finds her unconscious in the tub.

Episode 12
Nana desperately tries to save Michiru. If she dies, this will hurt her mission. As she nurses her in hopes she will get well soon so she can find out what really happened (because the killer might be involved with this), she asks the teacher for the doctor but looks like the doctor has left the island. No choice, she seeks Kyouya’s help but since he is busy examining the body, he doesn’t mind giving her some medicine. Though, he seems pretty suspicious that Nana knows her medicines well. Oh my. A little slip up there. Nana continues to sit by Michiru’s side, praying she will wake up. In the meantime, Kyouya talks to Moguo’s lackeys and he learns that there are other animals that have their throats slit as well as Ryuuji being a really nice guy. When Michiru finally wakes up, Nana the most relieved girl in the world. Michiru explains that a cat (Jin) brought in a very injured cat that has its throat slit. She healed it and subsequently faint after using her powers. Nana is relieved that this is completely unrelated to the murder but what a scare. When Michiru spots a small cut on Nana’s finger and wants to lick it, Nana snaps and becomes agitated that she doesn’t think about her own life. But they soon make up and laugh again.

Meanwhile Jin is examining another dead animal. He knows the culprit nearby and warns him not to kill animals as he is an animal lover. Jin then notes Nana’s handphone didn’t have anything special. All the names and numbers could be made up as he couldn’t make any call through. As for the potential kill count, it sounds like rubbish so someone may be tricking Nana into thinking so. We see back at HQ the committee is pleased with Nana’s kill progress and thought she would chicken out after her first kill. They credit Tsuruoka who trained her well. When they note of a distress call from the island, Tsuruoka will go there personally since Nana is like family to him. Nana asks who Hitomi is since she heard her inner voice (read her diary, rather). Michiru claims she is the one who saved her. Before she came to this island, other girls in her class bullied her for her weird ability. Until she met Hitomi Hosokawa, a delinquent who became friends with her and was impressed wither her power. Hitomi warned those b*tches to stop bullying Michiru and she came to school more often. Thanks to Hitomi’s encouragement, Michiru started helping in her father’s hospital and healed many. However one day she collapsed and that’s when she learnt using her powers consumed her life force. Also to her shock, she learnt Hitomi was suffering from cancer. Michiru cried and cried but Hitomi remained positive until the day she died. Michiru viewed her ability as useless when it mattered most (since it can’t heal illnesses) and that’s why she tries her best and keeps pushing herself. I guess Nana has heard enough for today. She walks back with her feelings all conflicted and confused. Yeah, something is wrong when you think about it as Michiru’s potential kill count is 150,000. I mean, how can she kill when her ability saves lives???!!!

Episode 13
Nana is in distraught remembering about her relatives blaming her for her parents’ death as well as Tsuruoka forcing her to believe it. Michiru talks to Nana and she’s trying to make her remember her memories. Nana thought she is on to her but then she realizes as Michiru points out her messy room was cleaned. This means her parents cleaned her room the night before the morning they were murdered. Whatever excuses Nana tries to give, Michiru tries to force her to believe that she is not her parents’ murderer and to stop hating herself. Nana feels confused and conflicted but also a sense of relief because Michiru is one whom she could truly call her friend whereas she always suspected and tried to kill her. Next day, confused Nana is in a dilemma to buy a present for Michiru but looks like Kyouya is here to snap her out of it because he needs her help to find the killer. Yeah, can’t find the motive. If they can’t do that, how they know who the killer targets next? That night, Jin pays Nana a visit because he saw Michiru walking to some place alone. Taking the form of Moguo, he asked her about it and it seemed she’s meeting someone there. Nana realizes the killer is targeting Michiru next. Nana wonders why Jin is doing this. He wants her to obey him and doing so, he’ll gladly solve all her problems. Nana rushes out to find Michiru. There is no time to call the class and explain everything. Maybe Kyouya. Along the way, Nana gets a call from Tsuruoka himself. How’s the killing going? He reminds her to get the mission done and with that, she’ll be rewarded as promise. Enough scholarship funds for kids who lost their parents. It is then Nana thinks to just let the killer to her job and kill everybody.

Meanwhile the killer attacks Michiru and she is running for dear life. He claims slashing things is like his work of art or something. Yeah, sick dude. Michiru tries to stand up for Nana when he badmouths her. Just before he kills her, Nana uses her body to protect Michiru from his stab. Nana then makes her revelation on the killer’s identity: Rentaro Tsurumigawa. He is one of Moguo’s lackey who can do out of body experience. She should’ve noticed that in this form, he can both pass through and touch solid objects. Listening to Moguo’s speech gives him an alibi during Ryuuji’s murder and messed up Fuko’s room to pin her as the culprit. Nana gets further stabbed as she tells Michiru to run. She has a plan and trap in place. When she won’t, she insults her all the bad things she did to manipulate her. When she starts running, Rentaro is curious of the trap she set but then he starts to feel somebody strangling him. His out of body experience is over as Kyouya finds his real body in the toilet. Prior to this, Nana talked to Kyouya about Rentaro as the killer. So they split their roles with Nana going to find Michiru while he goes to find Rentaro’s body and attack it. Both are unsure how far he can be away from his body so it’s a gamble. Nana lies there all bloodied. Looks like it is the end of the line for her. Live by the sword, die by the sword. The same treatment she gets for killing others. She apologizes to her parents but admits Michiru as her first friend. But wait. Michiru returns and uses all her powers to heal her! In the end, Nana lives but from the looks of it, Michiru has used up her entire life. Despite the calm smiling face on Michiru, Nana becomes inconsolable over her friend’s death.

Boku No Sus Academia
WTF???!!! What kind of unsatisfying crappy ending is this???!!! They just turned a cold-hearted killer into some wimpy friendship girl thingy! OMG… I can’t believe this. Well, I have a speculation for that. You see, this somewhat unfinished ending of the TV series, I think they were planning to do an OVA or some other special episode(s) in the future. Unfortunately at this point. DVD sales are bad. I mean, very bad. Uh huh. So assuming that assumption of mine is correct, they could’ve done extra episodes to give this season at least a proper closure. But it doesn’t look good from here. Hence, for all those hoping for at least a decent ending (like yours truly) will be left hanging and quite disappointed. More questions raised than answers. I mean, what happens to Rentaro after that? I’m sure Kyouya won’t be letting this go. Will he face justice? Why was Rentaro doing this? Did he just snap recently because this slashing spree wasn’t common at the start. Sure, a convenient excuse to pin him as the scapegoat killer (which he really is for this case) and give Nana some breathing space. And Michiru really dead? Maybe Nana was too distraught to actually take her pulse. Yeah, it’s hard to think straight when you have tears in your eyes, snot in your nose and your cacophonic crying voice filling the air. I was thinking Michiru would’ve given us the big surprise motherf*cker treatment at the end and troll us all when she comes back alive with her usual angelic smile. Guess not. Sighs…

Even if the plot is quite generic and nothing really special (just a killer trying to outwit everyone), I still find this series to be very interesting. Was it because I didn’t put much expectations for it at the start and as I started watching and follow the progress, I find myself glued to the screen and keep wanting to know more and more. Save for the last couple of episodes which suddenly turned draggy and into a bore because they try to drag out Nana’s conflicting feelings and friendship for Michiru. So it’s like when the killing somewhat stops just for some friendship drama thingy, I guess it’s like taking one’s foot off the gas or something. But overall, that didn’t damper my general sentiments I have for this series since despite that lacklustre ending, I still like this series a lot. Sure, could’ve been better but compared to a lot of crappy shows I watched in the same season (that 100-man whatever one and that Kuma Kuma Kuma Kuma Kuma Kuma Kuma one), this is like a sleeper hit for me. But of course, the ending is an all different matter…

Ironically it is not the murder or killing scenes that is basically interesting. It is how Nana comes up with the cleverest alibi and poker face to hide her atrocities and convince everyone else otherwise. Basically, rather than a whodunit situation, it is more of a howdunit one (if ever there was such a word). Hence they did quite a good and satisfactory job in executing the pacing the development and explanation of how Nana tries to cover up her dirty work. That was probably the clincher that kept me interested throughout the series. So if you’re expecting some sort of bloodbath or battle royale style massacre here, you’d be sorely disappointed. This series takes a more talkative approach and has a lot of dialogue. So if you’re not into that or get sleepy when you have to process too many words, sorry, you don’t know what you’re missing. Yeah, it’s ironic that I’m saying that myself since this type of anime isn’t usually up my alley. That’s why I have to give them credits for making me hooked with the impressively played out enigma and mystery thriller.

Although it is not really examined thoroughly in the series, one of the biggest question marks that everyone should be asking is, who are the enemies of humanity? It was clearly stated that nobody knows what the real enemies look like, hence giving more credibility that everything could just be fabricated. After all, this rings very true for much of our history. For many of us who were born after the great twin World Wars, we are taught of what happened. Or was it so? Hey, we weren’t there when it happened, right? And of course in Japan’s history, they re-edited those parts for the history taught to their future generations. So can you see the discrepancy here? Hence that is what should also be talked about in this anime but I feel that it would be a big distraction to the main plot of Nana trying to kill everyone. I mean, does it really make a difference if we know the truth? It’s not like Nana’s mission will change even if the real enemies are gruesome monsters.

After all, this isolated island may not be to train future heroes but to eliminate them. I mean, why is it so isolated that you can’t reach other human civilizations for help? Or the island is a facility to produce the best enemy because a battle royale will eventually determine that. Remember all those dead alumni all over the island? And couldn’t they just bomb the hell out of the island if they want all those future superheroes dead instead of sending a secret killer? I mean, nobody would even know, right? Oh yeah. This series won’t even happen if that’s the case. Of course that’s all just my conspiracy theory.

Also, this series somewhat reminds me of Boku No Hero Academia for some reasons. For starters, this is what I feel a dark version of it because instead of using those super powers for good, we see the unexpected victims getting killed off. But the biggest factor making me think this series is like that mainstream superhero anime is that the mugshots of the characters look pretty similar as well as their school uniform. Okay, maybe different colour and the designs are still generic enough to make me think so. Although there are really weird looking characters like in Boku No Hero Academia, somehow the character designs have that similar feel to me.

As for the characters, many of them aren’t anything special. They have their weird traits and all but the main focus is of course Nana. Too bad they tried to troll and trick us that Nanao was the main character so that they could make that shocking twist of getting killed off by the end of the first episode. Unfortunately for me, I already read a bit of spoilers then so I wasn’t surprised of his death since I had set my mind that Nana was the main character. Despite Nana having no superhuman abilities, I bet that her super ability is her very sharp observant skills and to concoct very believable alibis. I mean, it is amazing to have that sort of skill that seems like anyone can just pick up with proper training but Nana harvested this skill to almost perfection. Also, other characters not too sharp so that really helps her in pulling off miracles. She could be the greatest con(wo)man and make a living out of this! Yikes! Yeah, I hate to say this but many of these students are just braindead and dumb. After a few deaths or people gone missing, they should’ve suspected something and band together and do something. That’s why this helps make Nana so successful. These kids would’ve been great meat to be killed by horror movie icons like Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees.

Of course, Nana herself isn’t perfect as there are quite a few times she almost falters. Thanks to a certain nosy guy hot on her tail. Because of that, Nana has to be on her toes 24/7 not to slip up but unfortunately she is only human. She has the devil’s luck to avoid being exposed by the skin of her teeth in a few instances. Perhaps the other great ability that Nana has is to quickly adapt to her situation and surroundings. This with her keen observation skills as well as her communication skills, this makes her a great survivalist. Nana planning her every move from how she is going to kill her victim and covering it up takes a lot of great effort. Like as though she is writing the script of this anime and it is playing out exactly that way! Only, that damn detective dog threatening to throw the spanner into the works! For most part, we can see how true Nana’s adaptation skills are as we see her very shocked expression when she stumbles into something unexpected. Like Kyouya’s immortality or Yuuka being the real necromancer. But each time she manages to get out of her sticky situation and find an alternative plan. This is what makes Nana a great character and one to be reckon or wary with.

Like I’ve said, Nana isn’t an emotionless human nor a robot. As a pretty normal human with a mission, the more this mission drags longer, the tougher it is for her to blatantly carry it out. I mean, it would’ve been boring plot wise if the entire season was just about Nana trying to kill and cover up. Hence a little drama as she starts getting conflicted over her feelings for Michiru. Yeah, this girl is such a good girl. Will killing her do any good besides being closer to finishing the mission? Thus it is with dilemma and perhaps Nana’s mistake to let Michiru live longer and not kill her sooner like her other victims because the more she knows about Michiru’s story, the more she personally gets emotionally invested and that is a no-no for an assassin. At least when her higher ups are concerned. Eventually this friendship thingy with Michiru may backfire on her and could even break Nana herself. Maybe that’s why there’s another killer on the island for you know, just in case… For better or not and as far as the anime is concerned, Nana turned 180 degrees now that she acknowledges her friendship with Michiru. So I don’t know which Nana is better now. The cold killer or the friendly friendster. Because I’m sure this means putting her reward in jeopardy and it’s like screw other kids like her because my friendship with Michiru is more important. Boy, it’s going to get complicated and weird if the committee does send another killer to kill the killer and continue with Nana’s mission.

The other character to note is Kyouya himself. This guy also shares the same observant ability as Nana but he has the slight advantage of being immortal. This guy plays the island’s detective as he goes around snooping and investigating like as though this entire island is his playground or crime scene. I mean, hey, who is going to stop him, right? It’s not like the teaching faculty could do anything. Do we really see them do anything? Besides, except for that one scrawny weak teacher overseeing everything, where’s everybody else? Anyway, Kyouya keeps Nana on her toes with his awesome deductions but each time he hits the dead end as he cannot find that single damning evidence that would link Nana as the culprit. It’s like he is just missing that only motive to finally call her out. So many times he has been suspicious of Nana but he just couldn’t find that motive. Yeah, it’s so right under his nose but I guess that is what keeps the drama going. And of course to make him a little weird, he seems not to know certain trendy stuffs and likes touching Nana’s fluffy hair because it reminds him of his sister. This seems to be forgotten as the season reaches its climax.

Then there is Michiru who looks like the goody two shoes type. A character whom you’ll quickly write off as not the culprit even at times when they want to make us think she is the one. I mean, at this point now, I’ve learnt that everybody is a valid suspect. Michiru could just be putting up another great act just to cover an ulterior motive. The same could be said for Kyouya because he looks like doing investigative work but he could also be like Nana and scheming about in the shadows. Even Moguo and Seiya could be it despite their very cliché personalities. It’s because the series doesn’t focus much on them, making us write them off as potential culprits. After all, one of the greatest twist of such murder mystery is a character that we least expected. Even the weakling teacher could be it as he might just be acting like a wimp. Heck, what if the dead are also considered as the culprit?! Nanao could be just faking his death and going around starting his killing after laying low for a while! OMG. Looks like this series has made me paranoid to suspect everyone. EVERYONE IS SUS!!! I mean, who knows Nana’s back story is even true to begin with. She could be just trolling us all for sympathy points! After all, she psycho herself to believe it. A lie repeated often enough becomes the truth. Sounds familiar?

Anyway, Michiru exists just to play up some dramatic effect for Nana as said previously. This makes Nana question if what she is doing is correct or has she been lied all along. Now that Nana has feelings and that itself clouds her judgment and sew doubts in her mind, this makes her more prone to slip ups. And while it is easy to look that way, I also want to look at it as Michiru in a way helped save Nana. Otherwise she would’ve become a heartless monster that her committee expects her to be. There’s your character development if you’re looking for one. Last but not least, Jin is another enigmatic character thrown into the fray. His goal is to find the mastermind behind all this but looks like they are leaving no traces behind. As for the rest of the other characters, sometimes they just feel like stepping stones and afterthoughts for the plot because you get to know their personality only because it helps in part of Nana’s cover up or Kyouya’s deduction.

Art and animation are pretty decent. Nothing spectacular. Not horrible but at passable the least. Characters are simple and although they don’t have outrageous designs like those in Boku No Hero Academia and probably the wildest one would be Tsunekichi’s hairstyle. But he is a my pace delinquent so that’s a given. And of course, some of the character designs I thought I have seen them from other animes. Most notably Nana herself I thought Karuta from Inu x Boku SS decided to give up her bodyguard job and become a serial killer. And with more expression and liveliness in her face! Or more accurately, YuruYuri’s Chinatsu all grown up to become a serial killer! Also, I thought Nanao is what happens when Boku No Hero Academia’s Midoriya didn’t have enough faith in himself and became relegated to a side character. Really. I also thought Kyouya was that guy from Tokyo Ghoul and Jin like Kyouya from Ouran High School Host Club (or any hot looking guys with glasses). This anime is done by Bridge who did Mitsudomoe, Devil Survivor 2 The Animation and Nobunagun.

Voice acting, I recognized Yuuichi Namakura as Kyouya, Kouji Yusa as Jin and Hiro Shimono as Nanao. My biggest surprise is that it didn’t occur to me that Mai Nakahara is behind Michiru’s voice. She had a pretty decent amount of lines and yet it never crossed my mind. Was she too cutie in her voice that I didn’t pick her out? The other casts are Rumi Okubo as Nana (Chinatsu in YuruYuri – see the connection now?), Takuya Nakashima as Moguo, Hiromichi Tezuka as Seiya (Ajeel in Fairy Tail), Atsushi Tamaru as Tsunekichi (Mochizou in Tamako Market), Miyu Tomita as Yuuka (Gabriel in Gabriel Dropout), Aiko Ninomiya as Shinji, Yukina Tsutsumi as Habu, Yurie Kozakai as Kaori (Pekola in Jashin-chan Dropkick), Yuna Kamakura as Fuuko (Manami in Centaur No Nayami) and Toshiki Masuda as Shibusawa (Kirishima in Boku No Hero Academia). Both the rock based opening and ending themes are okay. Broken Sky by Miyu Tomita has this dramatic effect that somewhat fits with the thriller atmosphere of the series while Bakemono To Yobarete by Chiai Fujikawa sounds pretty generic.

Overall, this series has mixed opinions all over the internet. Some say it’s good while others call it bad and an insult to humanity. Personally, since I loved it, of course I’m siding with the former. Except for the crappy ending but deducting some points from that still didn’t diminish my overall enjoyment for this one. If no better animes come by in the next season, this could easily end up as one of the best animes of the year. Yeah. It’s not a bad anime and it is not perfect. Maybe I’m just a simpleton who will like anything that could retain my attention and since this series did just that, I’m going to give it double thumbs up. And all those of you who disagree are the enemies of humanity! VOTE OFF! VOTE OFF! Sure there are so called better murder mysteries or those similar to this genre out there like Death Note, Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni, Go Sick, Un-Go and Monster (ALL OF WHICH I HAVE NOT WATCHED! BELIEVE IT!) but like I said, this genre isn’t my cup of tea to begin with. It’s not like I’m more interested in the murder mystery after this unless they have a hot chick in it. That’s how I ended up watching Kyokou Suiri in the first place. Guilty as charged. Gee, I’m so gullible I even wonder myself why I haven’t get voted off yet or survived this long. Maybe that’s why… ;p.