Fractale Episode 7: Veneer Town

The series shifts into high gear and the social commentary into overdrive when Clain and Nessa are introduced to the last city where Fractale functions completely. Nothing is what it seems in an episode that reveals more about Phryne and Nessa. Fractale: Reiterated continues with updated HD screen captures and revised text.

Be warned, this episode isn’t shy with its critiques of urban living and the chattering middle and upper classes. The world that watches the Kardashians, Big Brother, and The Jersey Shore  is not that much different from what we see when the series finally depicts a city. What is portrayed is not flattering at all.

Veneer Town begins on the Danan, where Clain has turned into a photography addict taking pictures of life aboard the Granite’s airship. Living life through the narrow focus of the viewfinder lands him in trouble with the girls once again, since he doesn’t realize they are washing their delicates. Please, somebody shoot this dead horse  running joke!

An attempt to photograph Nessa fails, since she doesn’t show up on the camera.  Clain is apologetic, but the ten year old doppel doesn’t care because she loves fun, especially when he is having fun. A film noir style narration by the boy reveals he didn’t know at the time what lay behind her smile.

Suddenly, Clain is awakening in a strange bed to find himself with an extremely over endowed woman in a nightie. Horrifically embarrassed and confused by his predicament the boy blushes from head to toe.  “Welcome to Xanadu,” says the woman who gives her name as Megan. The opulent apartment’s window reveals a spectacular city of bright lights and teeming populace.

Megan insinuates they spent the night together to the stunned teen and dangles her attributes over the boy. She is a caricature of femininity, both in appearance and behavior.  It is the classic trope of an innocent farm boy running into a big city woman of loose virtue who takes him in.

Fortunately for Clain, Megan reveals herself to be a doppel who is frustrated about not being able to touch him.  The furnishings and appearance of the apartment turn out to be holograms as well or, as stated, “air objects.” But this leads to the question of how Clain got there in the first place.

Time for a helpful flashback!

They explain things, you know.

One day earlier, Clain and Nessa were flying in the small scout airship, scouting for fresh water.  It is a nice bit where Clain teaches the girl about the differences in water and assuming  a parental or big brother role. The discussion turns to how only he and Phryne feel warm when Nessa touches them. It’s a sweet moment that will be echoed later.

But a sudden sneeze from Nessa interrupts the conversation. The inherent cuteness of watching an AI sneezing is dissipated by her collapsing and showing signs of being genuinely ill.  A doppel can get sick? Mind boggling, but it certainly looks like it. A moment later, the ship’s systems go on the fritz and they crash.

Back in the present, we find Phryne, Enri, and the remaining Blues Brother searching the crash site for signs of Clain.  All they find is his precious camera left behind and no trail to follow. Conveniently, an Asian stranger shows up carrying a dog with a smile on his face. Oh and he’s riding a camel of all things.  That’s a wee bit bizarre for Ireland, even if it is the far off future.

Time to go back to Xanadu, where Clain has been made to dress like a girl by Megan – ostensibly to blend in better.  It appears to be a holographic change, since the boy now has longer hair as well.  When I first watched this, I got an impression they are mocking the popularity of cross dressing in anime as Clain is not pleased with this development. But it turns out one of the main writers, Mari Okada is obsessed with the concept. Sigh.

Xanadu is shown to be filled with every spectacle and distraction available; a veritable showcase of wealth and hedonism.  But the city lives up to the episode’s name, with even the sculptures turning out to be holograms.  It turns out Megan is a sculptor of “air sculptures” of dubious merit. Oh yeah, that’s quality work there.

Megan is very proud that this was once in the top 100 downloads. Seems like the woman is a wee bit sensitive about her art being critiqued too.  But she loves living in Xanadu and extols its virtues to Clain in a dazzling sequence of doppel displays and her ridiculous cleavage.

I’ve run into arguments just like this about how great big cities are from family and friends. It is all about the entertainment, the ease of access to goods, and the nightlife. But that is all a thin veneer that covers over the social rot and loneliness of city life, in my opinion – and apparently the creators of Fractale.

There is also something very off about Megan. She is all pendulous breasts and flirtation, with animation that amplifies the effect.  When the boy turns down her offer of her two biggest assets, she offers data drugs at her apartment.

But Nessa matters to Clain more than the seduction of Megan, big city life or illicit narcotics and his verbal wonder about where she is leads to an alarming (and slightly adorable) instant message that pops up midair. Nessa always brings the cute, doesn’t she?

Meanwhile, Enri and Phryne are having tea with Gail, the strange man they met.  He explains the people in the valley have turned back to living in harmony with nature, which impresses the blond Granite. Phryne is not impressed, which irritates the other girl. It is the best scene we’ve seen for Enri to date in the series. In fact, this episode becomes her chance to shine.

Clain’s quest to find Nessa takes him to the apartment of a doppel designer, one who has poleaxe wielding armored droids guarding his foyer.  An attack by one gives us a panty shot of Clain.  Are they mocking panty shots again? Or have Okada’s perversions taken over? Megan talks their way in and Clain finds a feverish Nessa.  It turns out that she has either a computer virus or someone is trying to hack her.

Guess who? Yep, Mr. Creepy is back and his name is revealed --  Sir Barrot. The Temple forces are now on their way to Xanadu because Megan contacted them for the reward money.  Massively in debt and unable to sell her art due to her real identity being found out by her critic, she is desperate for money.

Funny, I would have thought her art being atrocious would be enough to prevent making a living at it. But then again, so called “modern art” still sells today. Ha, found another critique of current society, I do believe.

While she and the doppel designer scheme, Clain overhears and has ideas of his own. While the whole episode has been a rollercoaster, the brakes fail and things start going off the rails for our protagonists. One shocking event after another leads to the biggest cliffhanger of the series.

Thoughts

Veneer Town is quite an episode with the added quirk of being structurally laid out like a 1940’s noir thriller.  The twists and turns, the corruption, and the feeling that nobody can be trusted makes for a hectic and densely packed twenty minutes. While the static art is impressive, the animation seemed to lower in quality by contrast. For the Blu-ray release, that problem has been corrected and the animation is smashing.

Xanadu, the so called “perfect city” is as much a star as any of the characters. In it, we see the Fractale society at its wealthiest and most spoiled.  It is also decadent and morally adrift, reflecting all the worst of modern society. In some ways, the episode feels like a descent into a psychedelic Hell.

There is plenty of character development for Clain, Nessa, Phryne, and Enri.  The scenes with the two girls searching for the others in the valley are especially good and add quite a bit of depth. Before this, I really couldn’t stand Enri since she was a one note tsundere.  Here, we get a glimpse of just how young she really is, but also how responsible the Granite girl can be. More on that in the spoilers section.

The English dub lives up to the content of the episode and not only can’t I complain about it, the performances deserve praise. Every voice actor was note perfect.

Episode 7 is one of the best in the series. Like the third episode, it is a game changer and marks the series descent into darkness.

BEWARE! HERE BE SPOILERS!!!

 

 

 

 

 

The big reveal on Megan was well done and foreshadowed by her female impersonator like behavior.  It is also a great nod to how people online will assume gender identities other than their own and to be wary of that.  Her being the doppel of Gail being given away by the bad sculptures and rants about critics would have been amusing if it hadn’t turned so sinister for the too blunt Phryne.  But what a line she got before being brutally attacked by the artist. 

His attack confirmed what I’d suspected about the priestess having been sexually abused.  Her hallucination followed by going glaze eyed and passive indicates it wasn’t a one time incident too. This is very disturbing stuff made even more so by the conversation she had with Enri about Clain earlier. Stating that she wasn’t deserving of love coupled with her previously established suicidal behavior shows just how profoundly damaged the sixteen year old is.

Enri’s violent rescue of Phryne made me love the pig tailed spitfire. It was going to be the most awesome moment of the episode, or so I thought when I first viewed it. Little did I know.

Enri’s finding out the valley was filled with hyper wealthy hypocrites who had their doppels earn them monay in the city was a nice shot at the behavior of wealthy environmentalists in our era. It reminded me much of the hoi polloi who have purchased massive ranches in Colorado and other western states here in the United States. 

A panty shot of a robot during the escape? Yep, they really are mocking panty shots in the genre.

Clain’s conversation with Nessa while he carried her out of the city revealed he’d finally done some growing up – at least in regards to what is important in life. Xanadu is very pretty, but very cold and the warmth of contact with others is more desirable. It is a very sweet moment between the two, one that is cut short as we find out a computer virus can be used against a human with a Fractale terminal in them. That concept I found very interesting.

It directly leads to the most memorable scene in Veneer Town when Nessa becomes enraged and decides to protect Clain. The close up on her eye revealing the computer code and then fractal patterns in her pupil is a big clue to what the little redhead really is. But it didn’t prepare us for what she is really capable of.

She essentially destroys Xanadu, leaving a dark, hollow shell of a city. It is implied that it did actual physical damage and I can’t imagine there weren’t casualties.

But it is all for nought because the doppel designer has a closed system that allows him to send a droid to kill Clain.  He literally can’t live without Fractale keeping him alive, so he’ll do anything to preserve it. That is an interesting moral quandary to introduce, as I could see the severely disabled being freed from suffering by such a virtual life.

Everyone converges and a shot rings out against a blood red sunrise. I think the final images are just as powerful and memorable as those of Nessa going nuclear on the city:

That’s how you do a cliffhanger. Now Phryne has to make a terrible choice.