EX-ARM

Episode 4

"Don't talk about him like that! Akira's human, and you know it!"

Those are the final spoken lines in this episode of EX-ARM, and at first blush they're a simple assertion on Minami's part when her superiors refer to Akira as nothing more than a machine. But is it really? I think not. That would be a remarkably pithy coda to end this momentous and jaw-dropping episode on, were it sincere. But in truth it's a line drenched in bittersweet irony, slathered in the digitial blood and tears our hero sheds this episode in his fight against Elmira.

Though in truth, Elmira was never the real enemy. How could she be? She's but a tool of her vegetative owner, tasked with protecting his life even as his body is left to deteriorate and atrophy, cruelly abandoned by fate and left to define herself by a futile mission. Looking back, it's hard to imagine anything but sadness waiting at the end of her story, and it's one that echoes in Akira. In many way's he's her closest comparison – a vestige of humanity kept in stasis by being turned into a tool by the state, and only capable of agency by embracing the very technology that has left him disembodied. Yet these two, so alike in electric dignity, are forced to attack and destroy one another despite all they have in common. It's a technological tragedy that would have even Yokō Tarō weeping in his moon mask, and seeing it play out is profoundly heartbreaking.

As for the fight itself, there's not much I can say but reiterate what's always been said about EX-ARM's artistic ambition. As the hauntingly hollow metal bodies of Akira and Elmira float across the skyline or walk perpendicular to gravity, one could be tempted to describe it as a weightless, directionless mess of CG camera wank that's as hard to follow as it is deeply embarrassing. But by now we know that's the point. This is ultimately a hollow fight, borne of forces too distant and dispassionate to care about its conclusion, yet for those on the ground it's life-shattering. Akira is driven to digital depravity, collapsing a global satellite array for the sake of destroying Elmira's comatose owner by her own hands, and though his companions are able to bring him back from the brink, there's metaphorical blood on his metaphorical hands. How could any of that be communicated by some flashy, effectively directed and choreographed fight? Only the alien, uncanny movements of two deeply inhuman entities operating outside the laws of physics could do this material justice.

So I'm left to contemplate – is Akira a human? Or has he lost his mind? Can he see, or is he forever blind? Can be truly be considered alive, or is he all but dead? Is it even fair to say he has thoughts if he doesn't have a head? And will his allies ever be able to understand him, or will they leave him there? After all, why should they even care?

These are the heavy questions left weighing on us after this episode, and as this delves deeper into its grim personal dystopia, I fear none of us may be ready for what EX-ARM does next.

Rating:

EX-ARM is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.