High Rise Invasion, Ep 12 [END]: This is a High-Rise Invasion

The insanely strong Archangel brings his justice to Mayuko and Yuri, as their allies struggle for survival in the season finale.

Episode 12 – “This is a High-Rise Invasion”

Hmm.

High Rise Invasion crammed everything it could into the final episode to make sure there’s a second season. It had Yayoi’s mask making her sick and malfunctioning every time it heard Uzuki’s voice. Yuri finally unlocked her ability to order Angels around and made Archangel her first lackey. And it made Rika see red in the epilogue, introducing an unforeseen mask technique from Aikawa.

That epilogue scene with Rika seeing a reddish light pattern on a phone instead of the usual green pattern on the back of a mask was most intriguing thematically. Rika is the character that High Rise Invasion needed to keep purely human, to contrast with Yuri gaining superpowers. Aikawa is the chaos agent, so it makes sense that he would twist the Mask Protocols into something else entirely. The red color as the opposite of green fits well too. That last image of that red pattern was High Rise Invasion’s final plea for a second season.

Heh.

The Netflix splash screen hearkens back to High Rise Invasion’s first episode. There’s Dealer Mask not doing anything again. Yayoi looks sick. What happened? Archangel climbs up the side of the skyscraper. That means he could climb down. What happens if he does that? Of course. He caught Sniper Mask’s bullet! Archangel is so deluded. He thinks everyone who attacks him works for Aikawa.

What’s going on with Kuon? Why is she feeling anxious now? Is it the presence of Archangel? That guy likes cold pizza. Ah! Oh. Ein Mask tried her best, but Archangel is too fast. There goes Archangel melting steel blades again.

Archangel is a true chuunibyou. He’ll adapt anything to a formulaic light novel plot. Doctor God-Candidate is now an evil scientist in High Rise Invasion, according to Archangel. Aw. Aohara misses Zwei Mask. She’s only been gone since this morning. Now’s the time for Doctor Aohara to use his mask freezing power. Got him! Can Aohara do it again? Ack. Archangel will “shoot” him with Sniper Mask’s bullet. That’s tight writing. Ein’s shortened sword can’t catch the bullet! Tighter writing! That’s not good for the doctor. People die in this show and his number is up. The only one who could save him is himself. Isn’t it ironic? No, High Rise Invasion, that’s bad luck.

Oh? Mayuko’s Mask Program showed up to help. Good to know. The Mask Program has pink shimapan while Mayuko’s always had that light blue-green color. Mayuko Mask offers to enhance her abilities to defeat Archangel, but the preparation time is three minutes. Mayuko needs to buy that time. Easier said than done against the overpowered chuunibyou.

Here we go! Two delusional senses of justice, fight! What will Archangel do against Tanabe, who exudes the same spirit of irrational honor? Justice and Honor collide! Tanabe totally derailed Archangel’s flow.

High Rise Invasion does a quick check-in with Yuri. Speedo Mask holds his own against Yuri’s guns with bulletproof gloves. Back to Mayuko. The Mayuko Mask Program explains that defragmentation will enhance Mayuko’s abilities by removing certain things from her mind to improve processing power. Namely, the Mayuko Mask Program! Goodbye mask with the beauty mark.

Tanabe is as effective a fighter as always in High Rise Invasion… Interesting! Mayuko glows red and green. Is this what happens when a regular Angel unlocks her full potential? She’s fast, but Archangel matches her speed. Mayuko worries that she stepped further away from humanity, but she’ll do everything for Yuri’s head pats.

Huh? Does Speedo Mask swim on the floor under the smokescreen? That’s dumb. No wonder Yuri tagged him with her elbow and finished him off. Oh, now Speedo Mask can talk, right before he dies. What a waste of a scene.

Has High Rise Invasion made it explicitly clear that Kuon’s never been inside a battle situation? It must be so since she’s always been far enough away from the Yuri and Mayuko’s melee action to fire up her Railgun App. Mayuko has a sliced skirt to match Yuri’s. She’s slowly grinding down Archangel.

Huh. Kuon thinks she’s reading Sniper Mask’s feelings. It’s a High Rise Invasion wedding based off his feeling that he doesn’t want her to die. Adorable, romantic, sheltered girl! She’ll need to reckon with Sniper Mask’s bromance with Rika first, but I’m sure it will be smooth sailing after that.

Yeah! Team Yuri had a plan! Use the Railgun App on the right target. Mayuko thinks she’s isolated Archangel enough for Kuon to act. Nice code phrase for something the girls would never say. Feigning suicide and screaming, “I can’t take it anymore!” Kuon didn’t glow like this the other times in High Rise Invasion when she used the Railgun App. Does she need to use her full processing power to be precise on location, power output, and fast charging? Boom!

Yayoi has problems reporting to Aikawa due to Sniper Mask and Uzuki, her son, but they let her go. Kuon and the rest need to confirm the Railgun hit Archangel. Mayuko survived the hit, but the building looks shaky. Ha! High Rise Invasion is a monster movie! Archangel survived! He’s coughing blood, so he’s not doing super. He aims to finish Mayuko before dying. As if Yuri would let him! Mayuko got a close look at Yuri’s Justice!

Oh? Yuri finally unlocked her ability to order Masks around. Her first compatible Mask is Archangel! Ha! Can’t kill him now. Creepy Photographer Mask escaped his ropes somehow. He connected Yuri’s surname with Rika’s. Aikawa will have more leverage now. What? Does Yuri need to seal Archangel again? She should seal his chuunibyou delusions instead. Well, Tanabe can take charge of him since they have compatible personalities.

Epilogue time for High Rise Invasion. Aw. Doctor Aohara died. But he ordered Ein Mask to follow Yuri. Aikawa provokes Rika by saying he knows about his sister. It’s only Yuri’s second sunrise in High Rise Hell. Nice. Yuri handholding!

That’s not the end yet! Keep watching after the High Rise Invasion end credit song for a final epilogue scene. Literally seeing red over this! “This realm will not end,” is quite the hope for a second season. The series end credits have nice recap images from the whole season.

Final Thoughts.

High Rise Invasion started out as a survival game monster movie concept in which the monsters don’t always wear masks. The threat of forced suicide and fear of heights enhanced the tension and suspense in the early going, but as the story progressed, those elements faded away. The game aspects of the world took over with the introduction of God-Candidates competing for power, survival, and their own interests.

Unfortunately, Yuri’s quest to “end this realm” became sidetracked as she connected with more survivors on her way to reunite with her brother. It’s a frequent trap for a high concept thriller to bog itself down as it plays with the cool toys and characters within the new space. Even the main character in High Rise Invasion became impatient to confront the real controlling powers.

The season finale’s circumstances show that Yuri will be dealing with Aikawa for a long while before she begins the more interesting work of meeting and fighting the other Guardian Angels like Dealer Mask and Soldier Mask. Aikawa is an annoying middle management villain. Yuri needs to meet the executives of High Rise Hell.

High Rise Invasion’s premise and style provided much potential for thematic arguments and imagery. Yuri and her brother Rika make a great pair to explore the best way to topple a corrupt system. Do they work from the inside to dismantle it? Or is it better to stay outside the system and topple from without? It’s a good argument to have within the confines of a suspense-action story. The use of masks, especially ones that look like the drama masks of comedy and tragedy, works well visually too, since many other themes can arise, like anonymity, self-identity, authority, and role-playing.

The best part of High Rise Invasion is how it explored the overwhelming power of thicc thighs and yuri subplot. Kuon and her brand of thickness had an imaginary wedding scene with Sniper Mask, but Mayuko got her girl Yuri watching the sun rise while holding hands. That’s a real love scene.

The complete season of High Rise Invasion streams on Netflix.