Heavenly Delusion

Episode 13

Content Warning: The review discusses themes of sexual assault and abuse. Reader discretion is advised.

Heavenly Delusion's wild roller-coaster plotting saved its steepest freefall for these last two episodes of the season, and in this finale, the cart doesn't hit the bottom of the track without incurring some noticeable dents. That's a roundabout way of saying I like this series, and I like this episode, but I do wish it approached Kiruko's arc from a different angle. I mentioned before that I needed to see the follow-through to finalize my thoughts and feelings on its controversial invocation and depiction of rape. Robin's sudden psychological and sexual assaults created a vile tonal shift that demanded an appropriately careful and meaningful resolution to justify it. While there's one scene in particular I cherish, the majority of this plotline does little to grapple with its gravity.

The most egregious indictment I can lay on this subplot is that it gets the most basic and hackneyed resolution imaginable. It's a pure cliche. Maru fights his way inside and beats Robin, saving Kiruko from his clutches. The action unfolds around Kiruko instead of centering on them, and it's the men who engage in violence, villainy, and heroism. It's particularly frustrating because there are hints at a better version of these events. I like that just Maru's appearance gives Kiruko the resolve to free themselves from their bindings—the bond they share is the savior, not Maru individually. I also like the reveal that Robin had been conducting inhumane experiments with people and Hiruko. That feels like a level of villainy more in concert with the rest of Heavenly Delusion, and it again begs the question of why he needed to be a mustache-twirling rapist on top of that.

To reiterate some points I made last week, the crux of this arc was to force Kiruko to stop using the past as a crutch and start confronting their current identity, however fluid and confusing it may be. It makes sense to have a comforting presence from the past, i.e. Robin exploits their uncertainty and attempts to groom them to conform to his desires and nothing else. There's an awful comfort in that surrender, and we see Kiruko, in the depths of their despair, begin to acquiesce to that oblivion. This is a psychological arc that could be plenty engaging and traumatizing on its own. I don't believe Robin raping Kiruko for two entire days adds much to that arc besides shock and gratuitousness. And the alacrity with which Heavenly Delusion moves on to business as usual tells me that the writing didn't seriously grapple with the consequences of that degree of sexual violence. Don't get me wrong; probably the smartest thing the story can do from this point on is to pretend that this didn't happen, but there was no reason to put itself in this position.

The scene I do like is Kiruko and Maru's talk by the river because it hits on the conclusion that I wanted to see Kiruko reach. They aren't Haruki, and they aren't Kiriko, and more importantly, they don't have to be Haruki or Kiriko. They can have their name, be their gender, and become their person—as we all have the right and responsibility to do. It's clumsy to have this point spelled out in yet another attempted love confession by Maru, but it's clumsy in a way that fits his character and fits the tone of Heavenly Delusion. These two dorks were made for each other, whether they like it or not. I just wish they shared some more moments of solemnity, given the traumatic experience Kiruko just went through (and my understanding is that the manga does better at this). Instead, they're back to bantering by the time the end credits hit. It makes sense in the context of a season finale that wants to use a happier ellipsis as its punctuation mark of choice, but it's another mark against the series' ability and willingness to cash the check it wrote last week.

These controversial proceedings overshadow the Takahara side of the plot, which generally conforms to the Heavenly Delusion we've come to know and (possibly) love while gleefully indulging in all kinds of cliffhangers to torture anime-onlies. Tokio's decision to protect her baby from the Director is a huge inflection point—a deliberate and justified act of rebellion with untold consequences. Given the series' infatuation with dramatic irony, I'd wager the Director finally achieved immortality, but not in the way she intended. The very last scene also confirms what has been pretty obvious for a while now: the Takahara timeline happened pre-apocalypse. Still, I imagine it caught a good portion of the audience off-guard, and it's a great teaser for a second season, should one ever come.

The episode's big emotional bombshell for me, however, belongs to Mimihime and Shiro. I had a theory back after episode 8 aired that seemed to fit the story, but I didn't have a lot of evidence, and more importantly, it was way too upsetting to vocalize lightly. But now I'm convinced: Mimihime and Shiro grew up to be Hoshio and Usami. Usami tinkered with machines like we saw Shiro do. Mimihime and Hoshio both have a connection to the sky. We see Mimihime tear off the smoking button and hand it to Shiro, in one of the gentlest and kindest gestures we've seen in the entire series. And finally, the same somber music cue plays in both episodes. I'm so sad, and I'm so mad. This is what Heavenly Delusion does best, though. It hides its barbs in plain sight, and they're so sharp that by the time you notice them, they've already embedded themselves deep within you. That's why I'm critical of the other stumbles in this and last week's episodes because the show can be so much cleverer and more sensitive than that.

Overall, despite its flaws (even the recent big blemish), Heavenly Delusion remained a weekly favorite of mine, and I hope this adaptation gets a continuation from the same crew. I probably sound like a broken record at this point, but this is one for the books. The anime did a lot of smart things with many talented people, tackling the tricky task of translating this ambitious sci-fi odyssey to the screen and doing so with a lot of fun and a lot of respect for individual voices. I hate that this already-niche series got trapped in Disney/Hulu hell with almost no fanfare, but I hope it found its audience despite that. And I hope these kids find their Heaven, even if they have to forge it themselves from the embers of Hell.

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Heavenly Delusion is currently streaming on Hulu as Tengoku Daimakyo.

Steve is on Twitter while it lasts. He wants to try Kiruko's cooking. You can also catch him chatting about trash and treasure alike on This Week in Anime.