It’s The Only NEET Thing To Do 11: Gates of Heaven

Pieces of the most recent puzzle are starting to come together with the confirmation of the creator of Angel Fix, the hottest underground drug to hit the streets of Shibuya. It’s only a matter of time before our NEET detectives either catch up to him and discover the truth behind last week’s circumstances, or he gets away and leaves the case open for good.

Everyone is beginning to feel the aftermath of Ayaka’s as-yet-known reason behind her attempts to open the ‘Gates of Heaven’, especially Narumi as be begins to rage and subsequently sulk over her condition as if his state of mind were teetering back and forth between Mio and Shinji. To put a ‘mission accomplished’ status on the creators’ attempts at bringing the drama home to the main cast is a bit of an understatement though, since they’ve been dealing with issues that have indirectly affected one person or another over the past eleven or so weeks. Perhaps the reason why this episode feels so much more bittersweet this time is because we’re nearing the end of the series and all bets must be on the table for any successful conclusion to come about.

In any case, the emotions don’t let up this episode, whether we’re shown Ayaka flashbacks during Narumi’s boxing practice with Tetsu, or when Alice begins to break her detective principles once again for the sake of uncovering the truth behind a fallen friend.

How ironic that the bed of flowers Ayaka fell into were the same flowers responsible for producing Angel Fix. At this point, all we know is that botanical student and friend to Toshi, Shirou Hakamizaka, is indeed the mastermind behind the drug trafficking, and that the big answer as to why Ayaka did what she did rests with those two. I call for a nice and swift ending next week whereby both are either taken care of by Sou/Yondaime’s group, or Alice’s (and now Narumi’s) crew stumbles upon their fate. And as tragic and negative as it may turn out to be, I actually hope Ayaka isn’t miraculously revived for the sake of a happy ending. The series has done a fantastic job at expanding the darker sides of its cases, and it would uphold and even define the uniqueness of this show compared to other mysteries once more if it only sticks by same tragic formula it demonstrated in its hour-long season premiere.

Looks like Mario stopped by Ayaka’s bedside to deliver a star and mushroom in hopes of a quick recovery. All that’s left for Ayaka to do now is:

1. Wake up in a dream world where she joins a group of rebel high school students and start a rock band as a diversion to steal meal tickets from NPCs.
2. Undergo cryogenic freezing and wake up fifty-four years into the future where she amasses a debt almost impossible to pay back and joins a ragtag team of bounty hunters in search of the biggest payouts in the solar system.
3. Contract with a little white cat-like being with red eyes to become a magical girl and save the world from Walpurgis Night.

Next week: Alice hops on Ventrillo while wearing her goth-loli outfit to close the case on Angel Fix once and for all, causing the show to go down in the history books as a J.C. Staff production we can finally enjoy a proper ending to. Wishful thinking never hurt anyone too much.