Many news anchors broadcast the consequences, the memorial ceremony, and the suspicious nature of the tornado crisis. The dysfunction of the Hazard Caste and the network’s being hacked have led to many unanswered questions and rumors, including that the tornado was the work of Carneades. Ran has a picture of Carneades’s symbol on his cellphone that one of the DoRed crews, an artist group, found earlier and shows it to Koki and Shuta. It was the same symbol they saw at the hospital when the network was hacked in the last episode. Ran wonders if Carneades is a street artist. The episode does not clarify who Carneades is or what his occupation is, but it does provide some speculation about him.
An example is the dialogue between Kozue and Kunai (Soma Saito), Ran’s childhood friend. Kozue is on the roof of Shantytown, photographing graffiti with her cell phone. Kunai shows up and finds out that she comes to Shantytown for the graffiti that will remember her dad. Kozue asks him who drew it, but he’s not giving out the artist’s name. He just gives her the leader’s name of the DoRed, Red. Enthusiastically, she wants to know where to find this person, but he refuses to tell her, even though she asks why. He uses an allegory of Red to the Wizard in the Wizard of Oz to explain his point, as the scene changes from showing Shantytown to Ran painting graffiti on the wall.
The use of dialogue between Ran and Kozue lingers in back-and-forth scenes, establishing the thoughts of the characters and the town. His view of the town is negative. He tells Kozue that children in Shantytown only have two options to move out of the town: to become criminals or artists. He then goes on to talk about Red as if he admires his talents and respects what he does with his work as an artist.
Kozue asks if graffiti is a crime. Kunai replies by asking if people think Shantytown is dangerous and needs redevelopment. She tells him that a casino will be built, and the government will take over for safety issues, which sounds like a good deal. Kunai, on the other hand, does not think that way. In fact, he believes it is all baloney. The crime rate has skyrocketed, as has the destitution rate in the area. The scene shows a visual view of a person coming out of the underground as he describes how it’ll get worse if what she said is true. That’s why Ran uses graffiti to change the world. Kozue is not so sure about that, but Kunai thinks the opposite. He believes he can do it without a doubt. Later, Ran uses the crime rate in Shantytown to explain how to change the world by changing people’s hearts.
On the other hand, he doesn’t think much of what he can do to change the world. He has gone to the dark side. One scene foreshadows that there is a possibility of him getting involved in criminal activity. Kunai is sitting alone, deep in thought. As he starts to walk out of the room, the scene shifts to focus on the materials on the desk. A post-credit scene shows that he’s using the same materials on the desk along with his earlier description of the only two options for Shantytown’s children. The question is whether he is working for Carneades or is Carneades himself. No one knows. There is just an indication that he is involved with a crime: a bomb on a cruise ship.
Episode 4 is the kind of episode where it sets up for the next episode. It starts off slowly and has little to no action. It is not too surprising to find that Kuani is a bomber. It has a nice ending. Kozue and Shuta reconcile. The post-credit scene provides information for an upcoming event where there is only one choice to solve the crime. They either have to snipe the perpetrator to stop the bomb or let the perpetrator go free while everyone on the cruise ship dies. Are they going to take action or simply become a bystander and convey a message that there is no consequence to becoming a perpetrator? What will they choose when Ran figures out that the terrorist is Kunai?
Rating: 7/10
