English Dub Review: Chaos;Child “Memories Stalk You From the Past”

Takuru had the worst parents ever!

Spoilers Below

The obligatory flashback episode begins with Takuru recounting his memories from 2004 when he was still a grade school kid. Back then, his workaholic parents were often away from home and for the most part, pretty damn neglectful if they can just leave their kid unsupervised with an empty fridge, no babysitter, or anything to keep him entertained!

As a result of the parental neglect, It caused Takuru to be lonely & introverted which drove him to find comfort through his childhood friendship with Serika, though after last week’s episode, it’s already evident at this point that she wasn’t even real, to begin with. One day while looking at his computer, They hear of a myth of a woman named Amy and sneak their way into the hospital where they see the horror’s that Senri was subjected to which at least explains the flashbacks of Episode 4.

Feeling the rush of knowing something that nobody else does,  Serika and Takura started chasing after urban legends and made a web page devoted to investigating them. We cut to the year 2009, where the infamous “New Generation Madness” murders went down with Takuru closely following them. As the case was ongoing, Takuru idolized the protagonist from the precursor series “Chaos Head” Takumi Nishijou, who was also accused of being the killer but proved his innocence which earned him hero status.

When the Shibuya Earthquake went down, the stress from this traumatic event caused Takuru’s powers to manifest Serika as an actual real person much in the same way Senri wished to take Nono’s place and assumed her identity two episodes ago. In the present, Serika arrives at Mio’s office and declaring that she isn’t here to fight, confirms that she’s indeed a creation from Takuru’s mind whose sole purpose is to protect him.

Serika also warns Takuru’s that his foster-dad Dr. Sakuma was, in fact, the mastermind behind the infamous “New Generation Madness Murders” the whole time! The shocking reveal, Sakuma brags about his crimes via-speakerphone which makes Takuru vomit and Sakuma explains that his entire purpose of these murders is to hunt down all Gigalomaniacs down and Serika only helped him under the condition that Takuru would be spared but after what went down in Episode 7, Sakuma kinda reneged on that deal when he indirectly put Takuru in danger and killed a helpless child.

Serika threatens to kill Sakuma but she’s put at a disadvantage because an anonymous fake e-mail to the press saying Takuru will commit suicide during the “Shibuya Restoration Festival”. which hardens Serika’s resolve to protect Takuru since he’s the reason she exists and the episode ends in cliffhanger fashion when Sakuma takes Serika up on her threat and tells her to bring along Takuru and meet up at “the place where it all began”.

Our Take.

While the episode was devoted to flashbacks of Takuru’s past and call-backs to its precursor series “Chaos Head” knew how to keep consistent momentum in terms of twists but I wonder what kind of shitty parent would callously ignore their kid like that? I know Japan is infamous for its workaholic lifestyles but do child protective services even exist in Japan? As for Sakuma’s reveal, It felt foreshadowed after the previous episodes where Sakuma was nowhere to be found when shit goes down and that video where they heard the strange sounds was a video that Sakuma was also in. We’re close to the end folks and I’m going to be there from start to finish.

7.5 out of 10