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Comments
Yeah, I saw that post before you edited it out.
Anyway, 15 was a... big episode. The new giant robot is called the Vermillion. They decided to test it out by blowing up a small island.
Elvy finds out about the Mu phase being detected in Ayato, who overhears it. The whole "Mulians aren't real humans" thing is brought up again after pretty much disappearing for a while.
Things that happened mostly drive a wedge between Ayato and Elvy:
There's some characterization from Souichi this episode. He objects to using the Vermillion as an invasion weapon, as TERRA isn't supposed to be a military force. Also, tautology ("you are you").
It's also revealed that Ayato's mother might be the daughter of Haruka's uncle, based on dialogue from the reporter guy. Unless there's some other lady in Tokyo whose married name is "Kamina" who's important enough for us to hear about like this.
I'm not sure what this means, besides making the romantic tension somewhat more awkward or something.
Episode 16 is a big flashback thing, and instead of actually summarizing, I'm just listing what I managed to gather:
Is that right?
Everything else sounds about right.
Wow, that was... straightforward.
Also, looks like I misnumbered the last two episodes. This is episode 16:
Itsuki, Makoto and Helena are up to something. Talking about using Ayato as a mate for someone. Creepy.
There's a bunch of romance-related drama here. Megu sees that Kim is dating Souichi, and I have to wonder why this matters, except I guess making Megu more miserable when combined with other stuff that happens. Also, scientist lady breaks up with Manitoba guy.
Anyway, the important thing in this episode is how Ayato angsts about the Mulian thing.
Quon gives him the idea of going to Tokyo with the RahXephon, because why not?
Not really much I wanna talk about for this episode, except that some of the angst stuff is kind of hilarious.
Like this scene, which I half-expected to end with "wait, what are we talking about?"
Anyway, yay, Tokyo. Might get some answers or something.
Oh yeah, they used the term OOPart to refer to RahXephon again this episode after... however long it's been.
So uh, episode 17. And 18.
Since Ayato and Quon went to Tokyo without permission, Makoto gets TERRA to send the Vermillion (with Haruka tagging along, probably without permission) after them. Both the mecha manage to enter the big sphere thing, although they seem to use different methods. RX just floats into the sphere, but Vermillion... generate's it's own tiny sphere, and then disappears.
By the way, the inside of the RahXephon looks so featureless as to be almost blank, even though the cockpit looks really roomy. It's just odd.
Also, we finally learn more about the Mu. Mrs. Kamina is apparently their leader, and they speak in some gibberish that Quon seems to understand.
Tokyo is apparently swarmed by Dolems, but nobody seems to mind. Actually, seems the Mu somehow made people not mind weird things like the blue blood. What I'm getting is that
And wow, Ayato's old friends from the first episode. Asahina is really suspicious about the weird things going on, and how nobody else seems to mind. Torigai is somehow involved with this. Should I have seen that coming?
Ayato is freaked out about his mother's blue blood. Makes me wonder how Shinji would have reacted if he found out what happened to his mother. (Unless he actually did?) Anyway, all that freaking out seems to have caused the RahXephon (which was separated from him) to go on a rampage looking for him. It dealt with the Dolems encountered pretty easily, even without a pilot.
Some of his mother's dialogue, telling him that he is none other than "the Ayato Kamina he believes himself to be right now" seems to be a twisted variation of Souichi's "you are you" speech from earlier. Or at least, it sounded like that to me.
Hey, I remember these... humanoid... whatevers. They're apparently what you get when a human is synched with a Dolem.
Quon is up to something else. I think she's summoning her own RahXephon (although to be honest, there was a piece of fanart I saw that spoiled this)
Haruka said some stuff which, if true means she's even more stuck in the past than she seemed. Which is... wow. I kinda don't want to believe that she really did have a thing for Ayato when they were in middle school, even though that sounds pretty plausible.
So, by the end of episode 18, Ayato has no idea where to go, and he's separated from everybody except Asahina, who wanted to leave Tokyo with him. Also, I'm not sure if this was a typo, but the subtitles have Asahina saying "t's my god..." when she sees the RahXephon, and due to the lack of punctuation between "it's" and "my", she's caling it "my god" rather than using the phrase as an exclamation.
On another note, a few general observations/thoughts up to this point:
Episode 19 has Ayato running around with Asahina, because why not. She doesn't last very long, though.
I like seeing Ayato in a different outfit than usual. Not sure why.
This propaganda short they watch amused me.
I was reminded of the time in Evangelion when Shinji ran away for a little, and wow Ayato is probably better at it. I mean, he manages to get a job in the meanwhile, and he took someone with him.
So, I'm wondering now: theTokyo residents are somehow "synched" to Dolems. Is this what Babhem were hoping to do with the clone children? Why did they need to do cloning if the Mu seem capable of doing this with any random people?
Reporter guy bugs me. Seems he's under orders from Makoto, whom he doesn't seem to trust, but he doesn't seem to be on TERRA's side either. How many factions are there plotting about?
I'm also a little bugged by this scene:
The symbolism is just so blatant it verges on parody, and I honestly don't get Ayato's line about protecting Asahina. When did these two care about each other so much? Or is this just due to having nobody else around?
I really liked these past few episodes. I wasn't stuck at TERRA anymore, and it felt like the show wasn't trying to give me a headache so much. And the use of writing throughout the episode was a very neat visual thing.
edit: forgot to post this.
Painting on the wall looks very familiar.
They've been friends all their lives. Also, escaping a dome city filled with flying golems tends to make for good bonding.
Have they been friends for very long? I honestly don't remember anything suggesting that. And Tokyo residents seem to be plain awful at remembering people anyway (like how Asahina doesn't seem to remember Mishima, or even her own family).
So, episode 20. It was on Disc 6, even though this box says it was on 5.
Makoto is now in charge of TERRA. He is still a creep.
Torigai meets up with Ayato, who doesn't realize he's a bad guy, and is controlling a Dolem.
Mishima now works at TERRA. I just... what.
Elvy is grounded ue to earlier stuff. Her teammates have to fill in using their grey Vermillions (that sounds like such an oxymoron). They are incompetent, and one of them dies. I didn't really "feel" for that since he never really did anything.
Oh, and Megu is suddenly more fond of Ayato or something now. Guess realizing she had no chance with Souichi or whoever had an effect.
Not really much I wanna talk about with this episode. But I'm assuming we'll know more about Mishima later on.
Episode 21:
Manitoba announces an operation to destroy the Jupiter thing around Tokyo. I have no idea if he genuinely wants to defeat the Mu, or if he's secretly planning to send TERRA on a suicide mission. Soichi doesn't seem to be bothered by this. Which is disturbing.
"Mishima" is apparently Makoto's yes woman. Or she was sarcastic when she agreed he could never be wrong. I have no idea. Mamoru apparently recognizes her as "Ixtli".
Speaking of Mamoru, he reveals a bunch of things to Kururugi Kunugi, with words that are somehow relevant to Native American(?) mythology. Apparently, the Ollin will do something that involves "tuning" the whole world into the Mu's dimension. Clearly, Yozakura Quartet is an alternate timeline of this show, and the yokai are actually Mulians.
Itsuki has a similar birthmark thing as Ayato and Quon. He called Ayato his "brother" in a way that makes earlier stuff like that "mate" talk even creepier.He also sorta reveals that Haruka had/still has a thing for Ayato, which I still don't see the point of.
On another note, Quon is apparently hanging with the Babhem people now. I still have no idea what those guys actually want, or if they want anything at all.
And oh yeah, that lady with the yellow dress is aparently really angsty or something. I honeslty can't quite remember what her story is.
Anyway, this show is confusing enough that I seriously wonder if I won't be able to make up my mind about it until I watch it for a second time, even if I manage to understand what's going on.
I never did finish my rewatch but it definitely is easier to follow the second time. There actually will be some explanation by the end though, I promise.
Are you sure this is the first time they mention tuning? I'm probably misremembering but I had this down as before episode 20 in my mind.
I'd say something but spoilers.
Man, I really miss this show, aside from all the thematic stuff and imagery I just generally really liked the atmosphere and artstyle.
I think once everything is explained it's really easy to see what was going on, but I guess I might have gone back and rewatched episodes when I first watched it myself (Also I kind of think the movie is necessary to understanding the show maybe? If just to see how the differences in the circumstances there kind of show what different decisions the characters would make).
Right. The actual plot isn't really super-complicated; the main thing it makes it hard to follow is the fact that you're constantly shown events that you won't have the context to understand the significance of until five or ten or 25.5 episodes later. Just being aware of what most characters' motivations are and knowing some of the backstory details revealed near the end makes it pretty comprehensible.
ew no the movie is terribleI mean, there are a few parts where the movie explains the same things as the show more clearly, but there are also enough places where the movie completely contradicts the show that I'm not sure it would really do much to demuddle you if you aren't already aware of which is which.
I saw 22 and 23.
Looks like the "Mishima" we saw wasn't her, but Ixtli taking the form of the person "[Ollin's] heart desires most". This raises the question of what other people saw. Ixtli appears as Ayato in front of Quon (and I found he image of Mishima-Ayato making out with Quon on top of a giant black egg to be just.. wha? But that's beaten by Mishima's orgasm faces later in ep 22.). I assume he Mishima-looking girl working for Makoto didn't look like that to him, and episode 23 proves that Soichi at least never noticed her at all.
I am kinda confused as to how Mishima is he one whom Ayato's "true heart desires", since the show hardly gave anything about the "real" Mishima. Also, there's this painting:
Ayato tore it up, but it later appears in good condition?
Makoto's plan obviously goes badly for everyone but the Mu, although apparently that wasn't intentional on his part. He apparently wasn't working for anybody else. Not Babhem or the Mu.
Speaking of the Mu,there hasn't been much shown about them. I'd like to have at least learned more about their command structure by now. So far, there's not much I'm sure about besides Mrs. Kamina being somewhere pretty high up. Also, I would be really disappointed if their plan was just some "take over the world" thing.
Anyway, there's this guy. I think he was in a flashback with Kunugi (who got put in charge again for all of one episode before apparently dying). Really, this show feels weird at times and it's hard to remember things since it's hard to tell what's important, or how it's important. example: Sayoko
Oh yeah, Megu: her love life is suffering. And Ayato found his motivation again or something. Well, he's clearly going to do something important.
Probably not the first time it's mentioned, but perhaps the first time I find out wha it means. As in, exactly wha it means in Yozakura Quartet.
keep watchingEpisode 24: somethinesomethig Tuning
So uh, was Itsuki referring to Ayato when he mentioned his "twin brother"? I think he was referring to Quon and Maya when he was talking about twin sisters.
Pictured: thing I did not see this coming. Should I have seen it coming? This show hasn't been very good at making how characters feel towards each other very clear.
Relatedly, Megu might have gotten over her crush on Ayato. Or maybe she's pretending she has, because romance is suffering.
So uh, are Vermillions just artificial Dolems dressed in armor? This was a very... Evangelion-ish image. Also, there seems to be mass-produced looking Vermillion-ish things with different head shapes than TERRA's Vs. And the pilot looked like... Makoto? Is this what happened to all the clones? Mamoru called that Vermillion-looking thing a "fake", so I assume it's some sort of artificial Dolem developed by the Foundation for reasons.
Why are both Babhem and the Mu kinda enthusiastic about this "Tuning"? They don't seem to be on the same side or anything.
Speaking of Babhem, the "regular" Makoto has been disowned by them, or something. And he seems to still have some dirt form that Dolem thing from his flashback. Why does it leave sparkles? Also, what happ[aned to Helena? The impression I get is that her body is now occupied by Lord Babhem, as somebody said Lord Babhem will be there, yet we only see Helena, but Itsuki's dialogue suggests it's not really her.
edit:also, Ayato and the RahXephon are about to do... something.
So. I reached the ending.
Seems I was right about Helena, the Makoto clones, and Lord Babhem. Buuut I'm still confused: who is Babhem? Why did he make the RahXephon? How does he relate to the Mu empire after he left them? Why is it suddenly 2012 there?
Not completely sure how to put in words what I feel about the last two episodes, although the (video)phone scene reminded me of something from Evangelion.
Also, the scene at the train station with Quon: was that some sort of introspective scene? Since, Quon and Ayato are apparently the same person or something.
And uh, how did we get to Haruka with an adult Ayato, who oddly resembles a fusion of himself and Itsuki? And why is Quon their baby? Did Ayato use the RahXephon's power to create a world where he was never separated from Haruka? Was this an attempt at recreating Evangelion's weird slice-of-life Au scene during Instrumentality? (like, seriously)
That final scene... finally. I sorta managed to figure out who Mishima was just minutes before that, but wow, that was like, the most satisfying epilogue ever. I guess the name she (or well, Ixtli) went by when she was suddenly working at TERRA was a clue. And it was kiiiiinda blatant when we saw Ayato back at his old school.
Sorry about the Evangelion comments.
I may be misremembering some things myself, but:
Bähbem's goal was to use the RahXephon to recreate the world in his own image (the tuning). He was manipulating both the humans and the Mu to try and achieve this goal. 2012 is when Tokyo Jupiter happened.
Quon is Ayato's mother, but I don't really remember the scene in question.
Basically, yeah. (And he looks like Itsuki because they're identical twins, you just can't tell when they appear to be seven years apart.)Damn this tuning thing was a lot more complicated than what it sounded like.
And damn, looking around, there's some complicated backstory stuff for the Mu. Is any of that from the movie?
This is pretty much it, it's less about giving the answer to the mystery and more about the payoff. The whole ending for the series ranks really high for me, probably on par with Giant Robo's.
LNs or manga I think.
Man, I really want to rewatch this ending now because it was really great.
I never read the manga but my understanding was that it has nothing to do with the show besides characters having the same names. Some of it might be from the novels, though, since those are basically expanded universe for the TV show I think.
I looked at the first few pages of the manga, and there were already noticeable differences, like Reika apparently being an actual person who hangs around Ayato and his friends at school. Also, she lives with him and (presumably) Maya.