Ryo’s speech about anyone becoming a devil, and how it’s dissatisfaction that causes one to become a target for possession, is pretty harrowing stuff. That it takes the form of a press conference broadcast over internet streaming services adds on top of that. Is this how such a moment would happen now? Is our moment of Revelation going to come not from looking into the sky and seeing The End face to face, but from looking at our phones and seeing someone comment upon the Apocalypse? Will our litany not be folk tales and hymns, but comment sections and reaction videos? Will we have to wait for the Revolution to be buffered if we’re in a bad wi-fi spot?
Yeah, probably. But that isn’t what’s scares me on a personal level. What scares me is how I’ve been in touch with this sort of progressive take on revelatory moments since I was a little kid.
I noticed the connection with the devil meeting room scenes, and it especially hit me with this episode. It reminded me of a dream I had when I was around seven years old. In the dream, I was watching HBO. I was watching a scene of Muppet-like monsters sitting around a board room table, talking to each other about their plan to kill all humans and end the world. They spoke for a few minutes before the leader monster turned and looked right at me through the screen. He said something about me knowing too much and ordered the other monsters to get me. They came out of the TV, chasing after me, and I ran into my parents’ bedroom. When I got in there, one popped out from under the bed, and another from their bathroom. They moved to eat me…
Then the dream ended.
I was reminded of these Muppet monsters as I watched the devils conspire to attack humanity. They secretly controlled the US military and were going to use it to preemptively strike against humanity. It was like seeing that dream play out in reality.
As I was watching this scene, I kinda hoped one of them would turn to me and say I’d seen too much. I kinda hoped they would emerge from my 4K television and attack me, just like they did in that dream.
That didn’t happen, but it gave me more fodder to play off of this dream, not just for this post, but for other cool writing things.
But still. If you’re out there, Muppet devil Illuminati monsters, I’m ready for you. It isn’t you that scares me, it’s that I’ve always known about you.
SHIN MECHA GUIGNOL 