English Dub Review: 18if “Time Stopped at Age 12”

If revenge removes garbage people from the world, is it justice?

Spoilers Below

Haruto awakens from nightmare. A nightmare of a witch in red heels killing a man with telekinetic cuts. But, when he wakes up, he awakens to the Dream World, and Katsumi is waiting with grim news. The murder he just witnessed also happened in the real world! One of the witches has discovered the ability to use her dreams to kill. Fortunately, they can link the victim to the witch. Years ago, three punks broke into a family’s home, killing three people. They did so for no reason but to shock people with the brutality of their actions. One member of the family survived, a twelve year old girl named Mina Hiyashida, who has been stricken with Sleeping Beauty Syndrome ever since. The punks got caught, but were tried as minors and got reduced sentences. They have recently been released from prison. Katsumi hands Haruto a communicator, and the two approach the problem from different angles. While Haruto attempts to contact the witch in the Dream World, Katsumi is going to try and keep the surviving punks awake in the real. That should keep them from falling into her clutches. Thankfully, the two criminals were already prepared, and were using caffeine pills to stay awake.

Haruto arrives in the witch’s domain, and finds the scene an ordinary suburban home… plus a bloodbath. He meets with Mina, but tells her he doesn’t intend on standing in her way. He came to watch her work. One of the punks has had enough of talking to Katsumi, and decides to leave. Along the way home, he passes out, arriving in her domain as a twisted, demonic abomination. Hearing what is going on, Katsumi begs Haruto to intervene to prevent the murder. The dream walker boy refuses, citing this as the only way she will awaken from her slumber. She stomps on the creature, bending and breaking his bones in the real world, just as he had done to her family. Upon discovering the incredible power one can wield in the dream world, the third punk intentionally falls asleep. At first, he is at her mercy. This was the one she wanted to kill the most. The mastermind who didn’t do any of the torture or killing, but sat back and watched, smiling. As she begins breaking his body, he laughs, claiming he was innocent because he didn’t actually do anything. Suddenly, he turns the tables, having discovered the power to manipulate the Dream World himself. He starts using his power to hurt her instead. Just when it seems that he is going to win, Haruto sneaks up behind him, knocking him down and crushing his head. In the real world, the criminal dies a bloody mess, and Mina awakens, hoping to track down Haruto to thank him. Haruto, however, is back in his room in the Dream World, now with Lily. She had nothing to do with the days’ festivities. Some other force gave him the dream about the witch. Someone else is pulling the strings.

This episode marks a huge departure from the original game. This skips the second area, going straight to the third, which I haven’t quite finished yet. It presents a much grittier story than the previous episode, showing a much less psychedelic scene and more of a brutal horror. It also presents Haruto in a much different light than the source material, making him much more morally gray and less heroic. He isn’t truly sadistic, but he doesn’t seem to care about anything except observing these witches. It makes it difficult to see him as a protagonist. It also alters the dynamic of this story considerably. Before, it was a mad dash through millions of enemies to defeat and release the witch. Now, the story is about diving in the minds and stories of these witches and investigating them. In this version of the story, Haruto is not ever seen leaving the Dream World, and may not be able to. In the game, he routinely left in order to visit Katsumi’s lab and the Succubus Bar, an element completely missing from the show. In general, I find it difficult to connect to any of the characters, except to Mina.

When I hear the voice acting, all of it is very calm and lacking emotion. The true villain of the episode had the best voice acting of the bunch! I feel like this was all the translation director’s instruction, however, and I understand why. None of the characters show any outward emotion. They are stoic all episode long. If the characters were more excited, we might have gotten a bit more, but there was still no depth to the characters. Likely because there isn’t any depth to them in the writing either. Graphically, the slasher nature of the episode works in its favor. It still does wild spins and dramatic angles, but there is not as much of an emphasis on being psychotic with the camera. This lets the animators do their job more easily, and there are far fewer errors in the work. We are also treated to a richly detailed (if gruesome) series of backgrounds. The episode also places objects in the empty spaces of the shot, so that we can have a visual while the characters talk. This breaks up the monotony of exposition well, which is good. There’s a lot of it.

You may have heard me say a few negative things about the episode. They are my opinion. However, they don’t keep me from being engaged with the plot of the episode. Even though I am having a hard time connecting to the characters, the story is interesting and filled to the gills with mystery. Playing through the game at the same time helps me to understand a few of the characters backgrounds a little better, as those are kept the same. This gives me a deeper understanding of the witches and side characters. I still advise this anime to watch, and I want to see the big difference in the next episode. I give this one eight gruesome dream murders out of ten. Now ask yourself, where did I get them from?