English Dub Review: I’m Standing on a Million Lives: “A Murderer’s Summer”

Overview: As Yusuke (Zeno Robinson) comes to terms with the weight of his dark decision, he is assigned another mission from the Game Master (Xander Mobus) in which he must help the next member that joins his team.  

Our Take: Despite all he has done to make it out alive, our boy Yusuke just can’t seem to catch a break huh? This guy is in serious need of an intervention. The realization of murdering an actual human being shows that despite how much he may have hated the soldier he killed and what everyone else may think, he has a heart, therein further showing the humanity that was much needed. The guilt and anguish the character wrestles with feels nicely amplified by how Kusue, Iu and Yuka all feel rejuvenated and uplifted coming out of their last mission.

Yusuke’s continued downward spiral also acts as the introduction of the newest member of the group to come, Keita Torii, in the already announced second season. Yusuke saves him and his little brother from making a life altering decision that would have cost someone their lives and sent them down a life of crime. This felt a bit diminished due to how it’s supposed to be an introduction yet was really there to service Yusuke’s progression. The next season will assuredly expand upon Keita, his brother and their relationship with the Yakuza just not in his episode debut where you would expect at least some of it to be. 

The intended effect was to answer the Game Master’s question and reveal Yusuke’s true feelings about how he views life, now that he’s both prevented and caused it. This creates another issue unfortunately. Yusuke feeling guilt for the soldier yet not caring about Keita or his brother’s life in the slightest seems pretty contradictory. Granted he killed the soldier and not Keita but even so thinking he deserves to die, if not for his usefulness, seems exaggerated.  But perhaps that all goes back to his delusions of grandeur as Yusuke admits he has. Yusuke understands how delusional he is but can’t help but hate people anyway due to his painful past. So simply put he still has good intentions and believes in justice. Just in his own distorted way. His darker turn felt like an odd heavy handed transition and abrupt due to the contradiction mentioned earlier along with the development of this episode. However, with that being said, this also connects to anxieties of teenage life as a whole. To take one’s hatred for someone or something and illogically apply it to the rest of the world is a natural part of growing up and therefore as clumsily executed as it is, is relatable nonetheless. 

Yusuke’s understanding of how delusional he is is one thing but him changing is another. I find it fascinating how he recognizes that him being wrong quite simply hasn’t set in yet. That line, to me, indicates that there could be an event that triggers such an epiphany. Or will something simply cause our young hero to devolve further? The last shot of episode twelve has the Game Master, seemingly, posing the question to Yusuke: “Where is your justice?” This will no doubt be a very interesting recurring question throughout the next season. Does Yusuke’s warped sense of justice even count? Was it ever there in the first place or is it something else? So many questions. So little answers. One thing I can say for sure is Yusuke’s suffering is just beginning and while it doesn’t make the biggest splash, “Brother” sets up the pain that is to come well despite how painfully executed some of its elements were.