Midnight’s Impressions
The episode picks up with a slight recap of last episode before driving into the story of Zenichi and how he ended up where he was. Which honestly, I could care less about. He’s just as much of a creep as he seemed in the previous episode. The fact he was contracted by some old dude to bring him slaves for a bunch of money just makes him creepier.
In the end, he loses to the dog and becomes it’s slave. The fact that the dog is shown giving him commands makes me think that the SCM works off of brain waves at some level.
Speaking of the dog, the dog is Eia’s. It apparently ran away some time ago and she has no idea how it got the SCM or who would of put it there. I think Yuuga knows more than he’s letting on when it comes to the dog…also we see him with some texts from his ‘boyfriend’ from episode 1 asking about money he owes. The very same money he’s using to have Eia bail him out should he become a slave.
I’m also thinking this may eventually become a showdown between Ryuuou and Yuuga, and right now, with Ryuuou at 5 slaves and Yuuga at one. The odds aren’t looking so good.
Speaking of Ryuuou. I was way off. I was honestly thinking that Ryuuou was the man in the business suit that was hanging out with Julia. I was fairly sure that Ataru Chūō was just a cover name, or perhaps his real name and Ryuuou was the fake name.
We’ll get back to that. The second half of the episode focuses on Zero Shinagawa. A painfully shy and average person, he has no family, no friends and lives by the same schedule day after day working making bread. A small child approaches him asking him to help avenge his father, who went crazy after losing a duel with a SCM and took out his SCM and went through a mental breakdown.
Warning bell number one, I know this kid. I’ve been interested in him ever since Eia ran into him at the cafe in the previous episode but even more curious is that going back and watching episode one when I was checking the dub out. This kid is in the background of the place that Yuuga and Eia meet.
This was about the point in the episode I started to make a very dangerous and very interesting theory in my head.
The kid brings Zero to duel against Chūō in a trivia game. The two of them against Chūō or, at least that’s how it seems. In fact, it was Zero against this kid and Chūō. Zero loses and becomes their slave, the 6th slave of Ryuuou.
The little kid.
I WAS SO WRONG. I was really sure that it was Chūō that was Ryuuou, at least until the middle of this episode started to change my mind. Knowing what we do about Ryuuou, this takes it to a whole new level of messed up.
This kid is horrible and sadistic. When Zero asks why Ryuuou would lie and manipulate him like that, it’s no more reason then that nobody would miss Zero. A life without family a life without friends. Is it wrong of me to say I think I finally found a second favorite character in this series?
A child with such a horrible and twisted personality. I love it, I couldn’t help but sit and laugh as the episode revealed the truth. I feel like it was so obvious and yet so far outside my grasp. I mentioned that I went back and watched episode one and a few things I noticed included Julia being in that first scene, where they told the guy not to do anything creepy and then he commanded the woman to have sex with him. The other thing I noticed was the kid in the background.
Chūō knew who Yuuga and Eia were, probably through Seiya. Which means Ryuuou knows. This ups the games and the stakes ten times more then they were before and I am fascinated to see where this is going.
New information in regards to the Ignis species and their mindsets were shared today, starting with how there was a discussion taking place whether or not they can trust Humans to share their wealth of knowledge with, as a way of putting their foot in the door to let them to co-exist with them. But before they could reach a conclusion, they were attacked by an unknown enemy who uses Link Spells and were well aware of their greatest weaknesses. the Ignis barely managed to escape alive, but due to being dispersed, there is no way for them to find each other.
With the help of Akira leaking the information through Ghost Girl, they learn the “Restricted Area” is actually a gate that the company has yet to identify. Yuusaku and Takeru go in to investigate, but they won’t be the only ones doing do. By the looks of it, Akira intends to secretly continue investigating SOL Technologies. In order to do so, it appears he will be turning to Ema and Aoi, the two people he trusts the most to start digging up information. Last time Ghost Girl provided Kusanagi a way to break through the security was when they intended to use Playmaker as a decoy. I have a feeling they are repeating the same strategy, by making the Bounty Hunters do their job of pursuing Playmaker, while she and Aoi go attempt to get the information. Whether or not they choose the share that is still up in the air, but it would benefit Akira to share as much as he can with Playmaker’s team, since a secret collaboration would be pretty badass. And should they ever lose Kusanagi in the future, they may have no choice but to rely on Ghost Girl since since this is not Takeru’s forte, and while Yuusaku is well versed with programs and such, it would be difficult to manage both alone.
And I really do hope this plays out with Akira’s squad investigating the case as well. While it is a bit of a bummer to not have everyone as a whole group yet, given the situation, it actually works out better this way since it will draw less attention to themselves. They can still work separately and have an alliance established between them to continuously exchange whatever information they may find to better establish just who they are actually dealing with. The enemy is a daunting one, and are already making preparations of their hideout being found, keeping themselves always at least one step ahead. Why they went after Jin’s consciousness is remains a mystery, but as Ai puts, it to digitalize and steal a person’s consciousness it far more impressive than Hanoi’s computer virus. In fact, now that I think of it, I wonder if the enemy intends to steal the consciousness of the victims as a way to potentially lure and capture the Ignis that is paired with the individual? Otherwise, I wonder what other purpose there would be to do so?
It was nice to see things calm down for an episode to settle in the new information and characters. Our two duos did a fantastic job of keeping us entertained from start to finish with the way they keep roasting each other. Honestly I would love to see Yuusaku VS Flame when it comes to roasting, because they are savage as hell to their partners. But Takeru’s surprisingly modest temperament will certainly have its value, especially since he won’t be one of those “over-bearing” social butterfly characters who is popular with everyone. It really does make him a good fit for Yuusaku and it also gives us a bit more insight of how the Lost Incident continues to affect him to this day.
I knew Asirpa had to be a very lonely girl. She may be extremely intelligent, mature, and confident in her abilities, but she’s just a little girl. She didn’t grow up with a mother, and her father was killed when she was much younger. Learning from her uncle about Retar, Asirpa has been abandoned by both her father and a wolf she loved. It’s pretty heartbreaking, and it was even more emotional when her grandmother approached Sugimoto and told him (in her language) that she wants him to stay with her granddaughter forever. Everyone has told Sugimoto that she’s been a lot more happier lately and that she’s been smiling a lot more, and it’s probably all because she enjoys being with him. It’s really sweet, and Sugimoto has noticed how much the village loves and cares for her. I understand his reasoning for leaving her behind, but it’s pretty messed up he did right after her grandmother told him to stay. I’m surprised he would even leave after learning how lonely she is and how much she’s been abandoned.
The interrogation scene with Shiraishi was intense as hell like I expect any scene with Tsurumi to be. He and his soldiers capture Sugimoto and tell him that he wants the gold to basically take Hokkaido for himself and he wants Sugimoto to work with him. Sugimoto tries to play stupid and pretend that they have the wrong person, mixing in some comedy but it doesn’t phase any of them and he gets a dango skewer in his cheek. D:
sue that’ll likely be very important in the rest of the adaptation. Yang refuses to respect Trunicht’s encouragement of patriotism and war because politicians like Trunicht are sending men to die, yet refusing to do the same. To Yang, it’s hypocrisy. It’s as outrageous to Jessica as well, who speaks out against the assembly. Super ballsy of her to criticize the “patriotic” chairman in the midst of a memorial service, but Jean died at Astarte, she must be extremely angry. 
A Production Controller met a cruel and terrible fate by playing Pokemon GO, Er, not paying attention to his surroundings while trying to catch a rare monster near the river in a totally non-descript mobile game. I got a bigger kick out of this then I should of, in particular when they mention something along the lines of providing a warning not to play carelessly near rivers. It’s always bothered me how despite a large, rather humorously illustrated “pay attention to your surroundings” warning that Pokemon GO had. They had to add additional warnings because of human stupidity.
In the end, Akatsuki doesn’t hate Shiro, he isn’t a tsundere either, but someone who is consumed by grief. He couldn’t accept Shiro dying so suddenly. Cooking food with Aoi today was an important part of his healing process, and getting a sense of closure by being able to make and eat the dumplings Shiro fed them when he first took them home.
And now Aoi has found herself two precious siblings. Although they are not blood-related, Suzuran made a beautiful point that since the two of them were raised by Shiro, that makes them sisters. I definitely feel like Akatsuki is going to start acting like her brother, especially since he given her permission now to call him by his name. I absolutely loved watching the two of them interact with each other, especially when Aoi showed her robust side of her by outright forcing Akatsuki to eat, tackling him and guiding him on how to cook Shiro’s dumplings for his sister… AHHHH EVERYTHING IS SO PRECIOUS! I live for heart-warming scenes likes this! It heals me!
Even though it was only for a short while, it was nice to see Aoi back in her origin world. It gave us the chance to see how she feels coming back a place where she has nobody to return to (with the exception of Suzuran who is now watching over Shiro’s grave). After they went their separate ways, Aoi felt lonely. Interestingly enough, it looks as though she doesn’t want to admit it, because despite her claims, being alone actually scares her. Fortunately for her, Oodana was there to pick her up by nightfall, so she is able to comfortably return to the hidden realm, this time bringing along her cute little Kappa friend who has been anxiously waiting for her meals.
At this time, I believe Shiro fell into debt after Aoi was abandoned. The reason for that is based on how Aoi was sent to an orphanage and it is there where she is later taken in her grandfather. However the tricky part is how Aoi’s family background is largely a mystery. She has yet to mention ever having a father, implying up until the point she was abandoned, she was raised by a single-mother. We also don’t know whether or not her mother is Shiro’s daughter, or daughter-in law, but for her mother to have abandoned her instead of sending her to her grandfather shows either they were not on good terms, or she is a horrible person who didn’t care what happened to her kid.
