Deep Insanity: The Lost Child Episode 2

Deep Insanity: The Lost Child Episode 2

What are You Good At?

After the disappointment that was the first episode, I was hoping Deep Insanity: The Lost Child Episode 2 would be better. Unfortunately, I’d argue that it was actually worse. The plot didn’t improve, it included some content that really didn’t seem to fit the series, and it proved the protagonist is extremely boring.

The first sign that this wasn’t going to be a good episode came when Shigure was asked what he’s good at and he couldn’t come up with anything. This seemed to be setting up for the cliché that the thing he’s good at is being a Sleeper.

However, it ended up being even worse. I’ll go into it in more detail later on, but the thing Shigure is good at is being a shounen protagonist. Basically, he has the power of friendship or the talk-no-jutsu — the ability to bring people together.

Shigure Daniel Kai from the anime series Deep Insanity: The Lost Child
Shigure Daniel Kai

But, enough about Shigure for now. What are the other members of Vera Platoon good at? First up, we have Larry, who’s apparently good at neurosurgery. He likes learning about how the brain works, and he practices brain surgery for fun in his free time.

I get the feeling that Larry being good at brain surgery isn’t actually going to matter in the end. But, the fact that he has something wrong with his brain definitely helps him when it comes to being a sleeper. He can’t feel fear nor pain.

The other team member we learned about in this episode is Sumire. As it turns out, she’s good at singing and dancing because she used to be an idol. And, more importantly because she’s a sanity anchor, she knows how to effectively communicate with people.

Deep Insanity: The Lost Idol

This may come as a shock, but I don’t think Sumire’s whole backstory about being an idol was necessary. Her character could have had the same cookie-cutter development without introducing idols into this anime about going crazy in an abyss.

But anyway, it was obvious that she used to be an idol from the moment we saw her reaction to some random Sleeper saying how idols have it easy. And, I mean, just looking at her character design, it should have been pretty clear.

Despite the fact that I think Sumire being a former idol wasn’t information we needed to have, it’s not the craziest thing to have been revealed in the episode. It was also revealed that because Sumire wasn’t very popular, she became a JAV actress to help her idol career.

If you don’t know what a JAV actress is, look it up as long as you’re 18 or older.

Sumire Mochinoki as an idol from the anime series Deep Insanity: The Lost Child
Sumire Mochinoki as an idol

Of course, I have nothing against JAV actresses. But it’s clear that this stage in Sumire’s life isn’t something she wants to be reminded of. She became a JAV actress out of desperation — it wasn’t a positive, or even neutral, experience for her.

And, what made this whole portion of the episode even stranger, is that Sumire’s past experiences somehow allowed her to help Vera Platoon defeat the Scarred they were fighting. She literally compares her own experiences to those of a giant worm monster and it somehow helps.

As a former “underground” idol, Sumire knows that creatures that live underground take every opportunity they get to survive. That’s why she became a JAV actress, after all. And since this worm monster lives underground, that obviously means it’s going to go after every opportunity — even if it’s bait — just like Sumire did.

Maybe that Scarred should get into the idol business. It would fit right in.

The Power of Friendship

As the former idol and JAV actress, Sumire, tells Shigure at the end of Episode 2, the thing he’s good at is “affirming other people.” That’s a pretty odd way to say it, but what it means is that he’s good at saying the right things to people to make them like him.

You can think of this ability as the same as Naruto‘s infamous “talk-no-jutsu,” by which he defeats villains with his words, not his fists. To be fair, Naruto does still use his fists, but it’s his words that usually end up winning over the bad guys.

Shigure is the same way. His actions aren’t what made Sumire see him in a different light. In fact, it’s his actions that made Sumire dislike him in the first place. He was able to jump right into the abyss without any trouble, which is something she was unable to do.

Sumire and Shigure from the anime series Deep Insanity: The Lost Child
Sumire and Shigure

But, it’s thanks to Shigure’s words that Sumire was able to appreciate the value her role as the sanity anchor brings to the team. And he also helped her realize that her past experiences aren’t something to hide from — she can use those experiences for good.

It just goes to show that you never know when some dark part of your past will help you relate to a giant worm monster. All you need to do is find some bland, cardboard cutout of a person to help you realize your true potential.

I wonder if the rest of this series is just going to be about Shigure using his power of friendship to bring the other members of Vera Platoon together. Maybe they’ll all be able to achieve their goals if they can learn to trust each other completely as teammates.

Conclusion

What do you think of Deep Insanity: The Lost Child Episode 2? Do you have a skill that would be valuable for a Sleeper? Will we ever get to see the JAV Sumire starred in? And why are you still watching this series? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

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My review of Episode 3 is available now.

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