Gatchaman Crowds insight

Episode 11

Things got pretty brutal in this week's Gatchaman Crowds. We started off with the Gatchaman fighting the Kuu-sama, a weak but seemingly endless enemy fueled by an atmosphere of blame and distrust. But of course, punching and kicking your opponents is never much of an answer in Crowds, and so Hajime ended up thinking of another solution - a sad solution, one based in an internalization of this season's lessons that I would have thought impossible for Hajime. Hajime has always been about seeing the best in people, and though her plan here ultimately hinged on a belief in our common capacity for sympathy, the path there used every dirty trick in the book.

Early on in this season, Jou used the atmosphere as a weapon in order to force through the banning of Crowds. Reasoning that the Crowds were a power humanity was not prepared for, he acted in typical Jou fashion - diagnose the “villain,” work to defeat it by all means necessary. But in this case, his means were not the straightforward heroic actions he generally prizes (an instinct that plays into why he was so against Crowds - he's a strong supporter of traditional authority). Instead, he rode Tsubasa and Gelsadra's wave, manipulating them into becoming political icons of good-feeling that would eventually accomplish his own much narrower political goals.

This turned out incredibly poorly, of course. Jou got his immediate wish, but he didn't think in terms of larger consequences, and Gelsadra's ministry ended up representing everything he feared. The Crowds were gone, but instead of that returning the world to an orderly separation of those with expertise and those who cede to authority, Gelsadra abolished expertise altogether, firing all the politicians and creating an order based on mob rule and absolute submission to a single authority subject to the whims of the general atmosphere. Jou felt disgusted by his actions, and when it came time to depose Gelsadra, he returned to the classic hero-style “I will defeat you no matter what” tactics of the old days.

That choice might have been noble in a character sense, but it sure didn't accomplish much in a strategic one. Instead, Gelsadra's popular sway was defeated by Rizumu, someone always willing to abuse the atmosphere and demonstrate our flighty nature. Rizumu sabotaged Gelsadra's support by publically linking Gelsadra and the horrifying actions of the Kuu-sama, creating a new atmosphere ready to burn Gelsadra at the stake. In this age of gamified, popularity-based politics stoked by ratings-happy jesters like Millione, killing Gelsadra became the new cool thing.

This episode, with Gelsadra in Gatchaman custody but the witch-hunt atmosphere still calling for blood, Hajime devised a plan that required the cooperation of both our better nature and our worse one. Arranging an appearance on Millione Live, she asked the people if they wanted Gatchaman to take care of Gelsadra, putting it to a vote that gave full power to Gatchaman's actions. This tactic seemed born out of an understanding of one of this season's most cynical lessons - that not only do the people want both solutions and the appearance of active participation and value (through direct voting), they also want to avoid the consequences of that responsibility. When Crowds went bad, the people blamed their Prime Minister for supporting them. When the Kuu-sama went bad, they blamed Gelsadra. It's nearly impossible to make the average person believe they are in any way at fault for larger issues, and so if you want to steer them towards a specific goal, saying “I'll take care of it for you” is one of the most seductive lines imaginable.

Hajime's play shifted the atmosphere towards “hurray for Gatchaman,” meaning basically any actions they could take had the direct sanction of popular support. By simultaneously making the people think their voices were being heard and removing the responsibility of that power, she gave the Gatchaman temporary but unlimited power - a terrifying thought, and clearly the kind of “for the greater good” stopgap solution that should actually be impossible in a well-ordered society (since we can't exactly rely on the good intentions of every person able to sell their smile on TV). Then, combining this power and the constant ratings-focused political surveillance of the world Millione represents, she “killed Gel-chan.” In a lengthy, tragic sequence of the Gatchaman fighting across the city, Gelsadra was beaten down by one hero after another, all of it captured on security cameras, all of the footage fought over by hungry news networks. As Gelsadra's tent of Eden burned in the background, news crews stormed his park, everyone eager to capture Gel-chan's final moments.

And the Kuu-sama began to disappear. Driven by the horror of seeing the immediate consequences of “let the Gatchaman handle it,” the atmosphere began to fade, replaced by a sense of unhappiness and possibly even self-reflection. “We never said to take it this far,” typed one commenter, but that's been the response every time public votes have led to tragedy, and this time there's finally no new target to blame. And in the aftermath of Gelsadra's “defeat,” Hajime had Tsubasa appear one more time on Millione Live, to hammer in the consequences of these choices and reveal that it wasn't really Gelsadra being beaten at all.

This was a withering episode of Gatchaman, one that required Hajime to adopt a “fight fire with fire” attitude I would have thought impossible for her. Ultimately, her plan centered on having people be guided by their common sympathy towards others - they see Gelsadra hurting up close, and decide they don't want the violence they ordered after all. But the path there required taking advantage of every nasty trick this season has developed - our desire to have simple targets for our unhappiness, our contradictory need to feel powerful and need to avoid responsibility, and our predatory culture of cameras and entertainers documenting every gruesome moment. Shots of Gelsadra's tent burning to the ground, and video cameras staring dispassionately from every corner, really ground in the human tragedy implied in this week's “victory.” This week was a scorching rebuke of a variety of instincts clearly apparent in modern society, a call to personal accountability that simultaneously echoed the first season's moderate take on the importance of expertise and intelligently chosen authority figures. Many of the series' most stark and beautiful images appeared here, from “Gelsadra” collapsing in the ashes of his Eden to Tsubasa making a plea to the people framed by impersonal stage lights. Overall, I have almost no complaints; this was possibly the best episode of what has consistently demonstrated itself to be the most piercing and thoughtful show of the season.

Rating: A+

Gatchaman Crowds insight is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Nick writes about anime, storytelling, and the meaning of life at Wrong Every Time.