English Dub Review: Scarlet Nexus “Conspiracy”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

After Naomi was shot by a mysterious sniper, she transforms into a huge Other. Her platoon pals are shocked at the situation, but are told to keep quiet about it by the higher ups. Kasane is convinced there’s more to it that they aren’t being told, and enlists Yuito to help her investigate.

Later, the Seto and Kyoka platoons are sent to face a group of Others, but instead of one mysterious enemy they encounter another: a group of OSF fighters who seem to be there to make sure they keep their silence forever. Luka arrives to help them, but then so does his brother Karen, and it’s anyone’s guess who will win.

Our Take:

The second episode of Scarlet Nexus took its foot off the gas a little, giving viewers a taste of what the warriors lives are like away from the battlefield. It did manage to leave us on a big cliffhanger last week, however, and today’s episode carries on in the spirit of last week’s ending by throwing a bunch of unexpected things at us and hoping we stick around long enough to catch up. But just because weird things are happening doesn’t mean it’s exciting to watch.

Naomi’s predicament is certainly the most interesting thing going on in the show and in the minds of viewers right now, but her fate is quickly glossed over. Kasane and Yuito are the only ones who seem to see what’s really happened—the rest of the OSF are told that Naomi died in combat and seem to believe it readily. Even Nagi, who was so in love with her, barely bats an eye when Yuito tries to tell him the truth. It’s really strange and makes me think that either he’s really good at bottling up his feelings or there’s some brainwashing taking place at the OSF medical hospitals.

The fact that Naomi’s transformation into an Other is being suppressed instantly throws the OSF and their entire organization into doubt, if it wasn’t already suspicious. In the first episode, we were told that the Others have been attacking for a little while now, but there’s no information about who they are or what they want. After this week’s events, I think it’s safe to say that the main thrust of the plot going forward will probably be about Yuito and Kasane attempting to uncover the truth behind the Others’ existence. At this point, I’d predict they’re all enemies of the people in power who are being used to distract the OSF from other things, but it’s still early on and Scarlet Nexus is haphazardly constructed enough that I really have no idea what to expect.

The ending of Conspiracy really hits the title home, since we get like every single OSF member showing up by the end of things. First Yuito and Kasane’s platoons are sent to an abandoned location, then more OSF warriors show up to presumably exterminate them, but then a young boy with strong powers named Luka shows up to DEFEND them, and if that wasn’t enough, finally Karen himself appears to counteract Luka’s fighting prowess.

It’s definitely looking like next week’s episode will be all about the battling, but I hope that the show finds room to keep exploring the ‘why’ and not just showing us the ‘what’. Action over intrigue might work for a video game, but this storyline in an anime will need to engage more than just our lust for blood if it wants to stick around and be remembered in a few months.