Mekakucity Actors - Episode 01/Detailed Summary

Detailed Summary

 * The episode starts with a scene between Shintaro Kisaragi, the main protagonist of the story, and Ayano Tateyama, his deceased best friend.The two of them reside in a world made of clocks - a portrayal of a never ending world, called the Heat Haze. Ayano starts talking to Shintaro, questioning whether he has forgotten about her. For some reason, he is unable to answer her questions, but Ayano does not mind, stating that everyone remembers her bit by bit. In between the scene, the members of the Mekakushi Dan, the main group of the story, are shown one by one, each of them at the one location important for their own relation to the heat haze. Ayano then continues to talk, telling Shintaro that she has more time on her hands than she needs, and that they will chat with each other another time, where she will tell him the story of how they met from the beginning. The world fades into white and a date is shown - August 14th.


 * The next scene shows Shintaro in his room, listening to the weather report on a hot day of summer. Ene, a humanoid program that resides in Shintaro's computer, complains about the heat and suggests that Shintaro buys some sun blocker, since she considers sun the "archenemy" of healthy skin. At first, Shintaro ignores her, but then simply tells her that neither of them is in need of such a thing. Ene argues that the possibility of going to the beach could come up, but immediately has to face denial from Shintaro's side. She then goes on about her intense boredom, complaining about the fact that he is doing nothing but posting comments about anime episodes in forums all day. Due to his annoyance about Ene, Shintaro gets up from his computer chair and accidentally pushes over a bottle of coke that was standing next to his keyboard. The liquid gets spilled all over the keyboard, resulting in Shintaro flipping out about it.


 * While mourning his broken keyboard, Shintaro starts to wonder how he ended up in such a situation. He remembers how Ene became a part of his life, as he opened a file that was sent to him by an anonymous person, which contained her program data. She had introduced herself to him, calling him her "Master", and at first, he had believed she was cute, but in the end he regretted ever opening this file, whose sender remained unknown. His thoughts are interrupted by Ene staring at him, so he asks if she was not busy looking for a new keyboard on the internet. However, Ene states that due to the Obon Festival, there is no online shop that would deliver during the next few days. Shintaro again starts to panic, as he believes he cannot survive without being able to use the computer. The last chance for them turns out to be a small advertisement from the city mall, which is fortunately open, even during the time of the festival.


 * Suffering from the summer heat in his jerseys, Shintaro wanders through the city, heading to the mall while constantly complaining that the temperature will end his life on the spot. Ene amusedly tells him that he had plenty to drink before leaving the house, so she assures him that he will be fine and cheers him on. As Shintaro exaggerates the situation by saying he wants to record his last will, Ene comes to mention a folder of "ill repute" on his computer that he might want to delete before saying goodbye to this world, since it would make his death even more uncomfortable for his relatives. Although Shintaro is sure that the folder is locked, Ene says that his password - 4510471, a Japanese wordplay that translates to "I don't work" - is really obvious to guess. Ene mentions that the department store they are heading to has an amusement park on the roof and promises she will forget about this folder if Shintaro takes her there. The latter is a bit skeptical about it first, but ultimately agrees that they can go there for a bit. Though excited about his agreement, Ene wonders why he gave in so quickly and is told that it will probably be the last time Shintaro ever leaves the house, so he does not mind it too much for once.


 * The two of them finally arrive at the store, running into a huge crowd of people. Ene takes this opportunity to make fun about her master's situation once more and narrates what is happening to the NEET, who has not left his house for about two years, and now has to make his way through the throng of humans, like a radio moderator. Shintaro orders her to be quiet about this touchy subject, and Ene agrees in order to get faster to the amusement park, pretending she forgot the original reason they came to the store. Of course, Shintaro realizes what she is doing and immediately reminds her of the keyboard. All of a sudden, Ene starts shouting, startling Shintaro, who asks what is going on with her. Without them realizing, the gazes of three people nearby fall on them. The reason for Ene's loud voice turns out to be a special offer for a grenade that is able to survive a fall from 1000 meters, which Shintaro obviously refuses to buy.


 * While being distracted by Ene throwing a tantrum, Shintaro accidentally bumps into a girl with a purple hoodie, green hair and stinging red eyes. Those eyes suddenly change color, without him taking notice of it, as he quickly apologizes. The girl responds that it was her fault and puts her hood, which had previously slipped down from her head, back on. Again, the color of her eyes dissolves into the deep red, when all of a sudden the girl disappears from the spot, leaving Shintaro to wonder why she was staring at him to intensely. Ene is convinced that he has the aura of an unemployed virgin, making her master beg for her to stop her unnecessary comments. Being kind of bored already, Ene tells him to hurry and get the keyboard, so that the two of them can go to the amusement park. However, the moment Shintaro starts moving again, a smoke-bomb is thrown into the hall of the store. Surprised, he turns around and faces a man with a clown's mask, who punches him into the stomach to make him unconscious. The people around them start screaming and an alarm is hearable.


 * Shintaro wakes up some time later, realizing that he is a hostage in a terrorist attack on the department store. The leader of the terrorist gang has just finished an introduction speech, as he realizes his thumbs are tied together tight enough to make his hands unable to use. The leader calls the police officers in charge and informs them about the fact that the whole main floor, as wall as all alarm systems are under their control. He demands a billion yen in ransom money during the next thirty minutes, which will be given to him on the roof, and tells them that "No" is not an option. Shintaro wonders how they are supposed to get that amount of money in such a short amount of time, until realizing that them being late probably means the death of hostages. He starts to consider making up a plan to escape, but thinks of it as too risky, considering their life-threatening situation.


 * A blonde boy wearing a black hoodie, who is sitting next to him, begins to make fun of the situation, showing Shintaro how he is able to move his hands freely while only the thumbs are tied up. Shintaro asks if he is messing with him, yet the boy responds by saying that although he looks scared, he also has a feeling that Shintaro is thinking of a plan to get out of this scene. Despite that being somewhat correct, he answers that it seems impossible to escape anyway. The boy speculates by asking how many percent of a chance Shintaro thinks they would have of succeeding if the terrorists were to be distracted. The reply of "100%" surprises him, but Shintaro is completely confident in this percentage. Having his interest sparked by that, the boy asks another boy, who is sitting next to him and responds to the name Seto, about his opinion. Seto agrees with him, then falls into a short silence after his eyes as well fade into the same red the girl from before had. He then assures Shintaro that a distraction will be given to him before long. The latter ends up a little perplex, so he wants to know who these people are, but the first boy states that they are only ordinary hostages like him, with the difference of a certain love for interesting things.


 * Unexpectedly, one of the terrorists starts a fight with another for supposedly hitting his head. The blonde boy starts to laugh, considering this situation fun, which makes Shintaro yell at him. The leader of the terrorists grabs Shintaro by the collar for being too noisy, then ends up making fun of his fear towards him. When he asks if Shintaro is one of these shut-ins he has heard so much, he shouts that he will be the one shut in - in jail, for the rest of his life. In the same heartbeat, the TVs in the room suddenly start falling off the walls and chaos emerges. The other hostage tells Shintaro that his distraction has come and that they rely on him from now on.


 * A small flashback shows that Ene has been telling Shintaro the whole time that she would take care of the terrorists, if he would plug her into a terminal. Naturally, he starts running to the closest terminal and plugs her in. Ene instantly does her duty, hoping she would soon get to go to the amusement park, as Shintaro abruptly falls to the ground. The computer screen behind him is cracked from a bullet, implying that he got shot. Lying on the ground, he closes his eyes and faints.


 * Again, Shintaro unconsciously finds himself in the Heat Haze with Ayano, which now resembles an old classroom. Though her lips are moving, no words leave her vocal chords. In the distance, a clock starts ticking and the scene blacks out.


 * The epilogue of the episode starts telling the story of Azami, who gets referred to as a "little monster". While residing in a world of shadows, she wonders where she had come from and why. She begins to ask herself who created her and what the purpose of her life was meant to be. Although trying to find others, she finds herself to be all alone in the darkness. Therefore, she begins to walk all alone to find a way out of the darkness. Though unaware of it, this is the first time she would ever experience "loneliness".