Spoilers ahead for Episode 3 of Heavenly Delusion
Episode 3 of Heavenly Delusion, titled "Kiruko and Haruki" takes viewers back to Kiruko's past to explain the complicated subject of her gender and give insight into her reason for traveling across Japan. However, the biggest takeaway is that a key part of this show's dramatic success is how it approaches body horror, whether through death or Kiruko's traumatic past.
Last week ended with quite a cliffhanger when Kiruko told Maru that they are actually a man, which turned out to be a little more complicated than her being trans, which one could be forgiven for thinking. In truth, they used to be named Haruki before an incident with a man-eater and the subsequent intervention of a mysterious doctor placed his brain into the body of his sister, Kiriko.
Haruki vs The Man-Eater
There are a lot of man-eating creatures throughout fiction, but they aren't all considered "body horror" per se because we tend to associate the term with a particular kind of execution. Perhaps it's the extent to which the mutilation or alteration of a body is emphasized and described or the way it is brought to life visually.
Body horror can be a sub-genre, thus encompassing an entire work, or it can describe a single scene. In the case of Heavenly Delusion, with the way the human body is treated visually, narratively, and within action scenes, it is most certainly a body-horror series. This is accomplished through the symbiotic relationship between the threat (man-eaters) and the characters.
The speed of the kills is also telling because it need not be too fast or too slow. Episode 2's most shocking moment was the death of the proprietor of the inn; a split-second kill that comes out of nowhere. The choice for her head to be cut in half rather than her getting beheaded feels intentional because it's just a little bit more unsettling than if she were cut at the neck, the place it would "make sense."
She's chopped into pieces, but then the audience witnesses the pieces becoming absorbed into the creature. By showing this slow process, the audience is left to remember that these monsters are organic - there is digestion happening and the more that we see a part of our own physiology in it, the scarier it is.
When Haruki faces the monster in Episode 3, it's not a quick deal like with the proprietor. This monster isn't of the same anatomy. It doesn't kill its prey before eating them, which to some is even scarier, and for good reason. Upon being struck, its pale white flesh seems to creep out and absorb Haruki's limbs.
It's all about what we don't see. There are no visible teeth or biting, just something being absorbed, presumably to have its matter worn down and dissolved within. And when Kiriko intervenes and frees Haruki, the visual direction is very intentional. We only see the flesh being ripped up close, but there's a haunting sense that Haruki hasn't necessarily been pulled out, but merely torn off.
Because by that time, there's nothing left inside to be pulled out. Heavenly Delusion can be violent and explicit, but it also understands when our imagination is more frightening. This episode was directed by Kazuya Nomura, the director of Moriarty the Patriot, the 2015 Ghost in the Shell Arise film, and Season 2 of Sengoku Basara, among others. They've got a long history with Production I.G. and they did a fantastic job this week.
Same Mind, New Body
Not content to leave audiences with one terrifying moment of body horror, the latter half of the episode shows the end of Haruki and Kiriko, and the beginning of Kiruko. For being a place of healing, hospitals make for effective settings for horror, and the realization of invasive bodily change while staring into a mirror will always be chilling in the right creative hands.
The way it's shown to the viewer, it's like a horrific miracle. There shouldn't be any way for Haruki to survive, and yet after a life flashing before their eyes, they're alive, but in the body of a loved one - at the cost of their life. It's an acute and specific horror that has a lot of rich layers to it, and that it pays off so effectively in just one episode is further impressive.
Another week, another mystery, but it's clear that Heavenly Delusion is laying a thorough foundation, asking all the right questions before it's time to start solving them. Kiruko and Maru have a better understanding of each other now, and with both of their goals established, the real adventure can get off to a start.