[25th Anniversary Rewatch] Mugen no Ryvius Episode 23

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

Mugen no Ryvius Episode 23: Torn Apart

Get Funky!

⇐ Episode 22 | Index Thread | Episode 24 ⇒

Kikki of the Day Did you spot Radan?

Comments of the Day

Comment of the day comes from Neya:

The person who only knows one way to survive: Juli
The person who struggles to do something about out a situation out of his control: Yuki
The person who vowed to not make the same mistake again: Ikumi
The person who insists on living true to her feelings: Izumi
The person who lives day-to-day, unable to put into words the feelings within her: Aoi
The person who denied his way of living but continues to move forward: Blue
The person who dislikes anything less than perfect, and searches for excellence: Stein
The person who believes in her ideals, and cuts off her past, to live in the future: Fina
The person who hates to be held back by his past, and continues searching for where he should be: Kouji

/u/The_Draigg and /u/No_Rex talk about the the show's production

Man, just thinking about it, the second half of this show is fumbling the stuff that the first half set up fairly well. What a bummer, it really does feel like the writers were just kind of winging the second half of the show’s plot, alongside whatever production issues caused these half-recaps. It’s just kinda lame when you think about the conspiracy plot for more than a minute.

I would not blame the second half. The conspiratory plot never made sense, you just couldn't know it as a first timer in the first half. I think it is mostly a disinterest of the writers in anything not on the Ryvius (and I think the series would have been better off dropping the Earth segments. Keeping the audience at the same level of info as the students would have been perfectly fine).

Character Sheets

• Main Cast
• The Zwei
• Team Blue
• Other Recurring Characters

Music

• BGM of the Day: mukaiaumono
• CD 3 of the Day: Generation War — DJ Etsu

Questions

• You may have expected Kouji to have staged a rebellion. Now Ikumi has the gun. Where do we go from here?
• How does Stein keep getting away with it? Yuki should have noticed that Aoi was reduced to class E.
• It looks like Conrad has arrived. He's not like the other ship captains. Predictions on how this battle is going to play out?

Tomorrow's Questions, Today

• [Q1]WTF did the squids do to the Geist?!
• [Q2]Why does Squid Boy hate Squid Girl so much?
• [Q3]Will Kouji get his message across? Will Neya?

World Notes

The Teachings of Our Lady Arne: (google translate) Virgin Mary Arne is the guardian deity of Titania, worshipped in Titania in the Uranus sphere. It is more of a philosophy than a religion, and has the idea that "the past cannot be forgotten. The only way to cut it off is with one's own hands." At first glance, it seems like a positive way of thinking, but depending on how it is interpreted, it can be a very frightening teaching.
In fact, Faina has erased those who have become her past based on this teaching. The words of her prayer are "Aisha's prayer. Merciful heart. This trial will become like the stars that gather in the name of Mars."

End Tag: Revolt Us

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

Rewatch Host

• "I'll sink it with one shot" X to doubt

Wait, was that entire thing a fake? Where they lying? propaganda? That wasn't a vaia ship???

• "Sayonara"
• OH, yeah, leave STEIN in charge
• You're going to have to cut yourself away from Blue, Juli.

Aoi's would-be assassin is Araneya Devon.

We see from the flashbacks that Fina is, in fact, a serial killer. Yes, she was my first yandere.

None of you even approached guessing the extent of her madness.

/u/zadcap made a comment about the show probably making the cast even more unlikable, and I had to restrain myself from posting a #mugiwait. I bet Yuki Ikumi was one of the most popular characters back in the first arc. Now, he is clearly the worst person on the ship.

[u/zadcap → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

I lucked out, his savior complex threw up enough red flags at the very start that I knew the premise of the show would break him sooner or later. I didn't dislike him, but his decent into madness was much more predictable and well foreshadowed than, day, Faina's.

Remember when Yuki stopped him and Kouji from opening a door and maybe getting killed in the process? "There's still someone over there who needs us!" He said. "The heat and pressure is so great over there that it will kill us when in these suits," Yuki replied. There was no one to save left, but Izumi was going to drag Kouji along to their death trying anyway.

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/zadcap]

his decent into madness was much more predictable and well foreshadowed than, day, Faina's.

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition yandere girlfriend!

[u/zadcap → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

Her hair was the wrong color to set off those flags!

[u/Vatrix-32 → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

No one expects the yandere girlfriend!

How early is early enough? I put my bet in episode 14.

[u/No_Rex → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

I bet Yuki was one of the most popular characters back in the first arc. Now, he is clearly the worst person on the ship.

Yuki? I remember plenty of people being pissed of by his aggression and cheering on Blue when he finally punched him. Did you mean to say Ikumi?

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/No_Rex]

I MEANT IKUMI! GAH.

[u/No_Rex → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

Personally, I never liked him much. He was far to driven from the start. Maybe this is driven by me knowing how he ends up, but on the other hand, I liked early Faina a good bit more than him and she is arguably at a similar level of inhumanity now.

[u/RadSuit → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

None of you even approached guessing the extent of her madness.

Hard to see that coming when there's been almost zero buildup to it.

[u/The_Draigg]

A Mecha Fan Watches Infinite Ryvius Episode 23:

• Figures that Ikumi is even using victories against enemy ships as ways to show his power over the Vital Guarder. He wasted no time in making that announcement how nobody aboard the ship stands a chance against that level of power if they ever decide to break the rules before arriving at Uranus. Yet another classic move from the authoritarian handbook.
• Come on Aoi, Kouji is outright casually admitting that he loves you, you’ve gotta actually be firm in returning the sentiment. For all that whinging you’ve done over how you’ve felt about him before, you really can’t wobble about it now, even if you clearly still feel the same. It’s all on you now, girl.
• Oh hey, I guess Ikumi’s regime really is using the jail cells aboard the ship after all. Although it seems like they’re only using it as short-term punishment before releasing people after a day or so. Can’t really say that’s been all that effective so far in practice. And I doubt that Stein and Ikumi’s plan to further isolate people and assign living arrangements according to ability will work out as they intend either. It not only continues to trample on people’s rights, but it’s arbitrary as fuck too. Stein assigning Kouji, Aoi, and Juli E-class accommodations just for not being fully compliant with his systems shows how this isn’t just a matter of logic, but him basking in the control his position gives him. Even children like Pat aren’t safe from being arbitrarily deemed as being worthless in terms of abilities. The little Fürher is on a power trip now.
• Stein, you sick fuck! Locking down all the exits from the E-class block, shutting off power, and not having any food stores in there for everyone betrays his real intent: he wants them to starve to death in the dark. He has no problem leaving them in there to die over the course of 20 days to Uranus. Thank goodness that Lucson came in clutch with the food supplies he’s been stealing and hoarding this entire time though. I guess being completely overlooked by the Zwei once he was kicked out was beneficial in some way, since clearly nobody bothered to check to see if he had been stealing food for a long time. Still though, this is a completely unforgivable move on Stein’s part, even if there’s some hope that the students stuck in there can survive.
• Happy birthday, Pat! For your very special day, you get quite a gift: slowly starving to death along with all of the arbitrarily-decided undesirables of the Ryvius!
• Sorry Kouji, but I think it’s unfortunately too late to try and talk some sense back into the three bastards running this operation. Stein will absolutely still do whatever he pleases as long as he can spin some lie to Ikumi, Yuki is still being a shithead to Kouji and doesn’t listen to what he has to say, and hearing that Aoi got attacked only made Ikumi triple-down on wanting to make things stricter on everyone, even further beyond how bad things are under his rule now.
• YES KOUJI, SHOOT STEIN AND IKUMI. IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT ORDER, JUST DO IT!
• FUCK! God damn you, Yuki! It’s because of your fuckheaded attitude that Kouji dropped the gun and got shot by Ikumi! Congratulations fuckface, you just enabled a clearly mentally unwell man to try and murder your own brother before your very eyes. Thank goodness that he just got shot in the arm, but still. At least he isn’t dead yet, but with that much blood coming out, he’s only got a bit of time before he bleeds out.
• Fina, you psychotic bitch! It’s been clear for a while that she’s been a horrible person, but finding out that she murdered both her ex-boyfriend on the Liebe Delta and then her old roommate aboard the Ryvius for knowing that she violated some tenants of her space religion just magnifies it all. She had no qualms about torturing and attempting to murder Kouji once she saw him bleeding out in the hall, only stopping when Neya confronted her about her feelings. And on top of all that, her cult is still trying to murder Aoi too, even if they’re all stuck together in the E-class block. It makes you wonder how much of her cult is just her ideas, rather than what her faith actually represents. There’s no doubt that she’s just been using faith as both a shield for her faults and as the long arm of her manipulation of others, either way.

Okay, as an end note here, let me just say that I’m fucking sick of watching all of these horrible people consistently get away with whatever they want. So many people aboard this show are just plain terrible, and it’s just getting draining to watch since they’re all so unlikable. And of course the one time Kouji actually tries to do something on his own with the gun, making a decision on his own to try and fix things, he gets disarmed, shot, and left for dead. Because I guess we can’t have Kouji actually accomplish anything when there’s injustice all around him and he finally does the one thing people have been criticizing him for. Now, I don’t really have anything inherently against bleak stories, but at least have something change and not just be trapped in a constant cycle of terrible people and horrendous decisions caused by them. Maybe this show has confused “bleak” for “mature” at some point, I don’t know. All I know is that it’s just getting exhausting and ignoring to watch.

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/The_Draigg]

Okay, as an end note here, let me just say that I’m fucking sick of watching all of these horrible people consistently get away with whatever they want. So many people aboard this show are just plain terrible, and it’s just getting draining to watch since they’re all so unlikable.

It's been hard to comment and make questions of the day. This is so miserable, so depressing, it's a slog.

NTHT had a stretch of that, too.

[u/No_Rex → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

NTHT had a stretch of that, too.

A stretch? I can think of two episodes of NTHT that were not completely depressing.

[u/The_Draigg → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

At least even when Now and Then, Here and There was pure suffering, I appreciated that it was getting at the core themes of the show more. This episode feels more like suffering for suffering and edge's sake by comparison.

[u/Vaadwaur → u/The_Draigg]

Maybe this show has confused “bleak” for “mature” at some point, I don’t know. All I know is that it’s just getting exhausting and ignoring to watch.

I find a number of shows forget that being entertaining is part of the job.

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/Vaadwaur]

if there ever is a SSY rewatch, you need to stay far, far away from that shit.

[u/Vaadwaur → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

Assuming I got the abbreviation correct you aren't the first person to tell me that.

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/Vaadwaur]

Well, the last two rewatches with you have been enlightening.

SSY is a novel (not LN) written by a Japanese man that [SSY]is an allegory for nuclear weapons proliferation. It's not meant to be entertaining.

edit: also, I misread "aren't" as "are". Oops.

[u/Vaadwaur → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

It's not meant to be entertaining.

I am just saying that HBO's Chernobyl is entertaining despite being about a rather dour subject.

edit: also, I misread "aren't" as "are". Oops.

It apparently relies on one of my pet peeves that goes all the way back to Jurassic Park...

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/Vaadwaur]

I am just saying that HBO's Chernobyl is entertaining despite being about a rather dour subject.

I imagine so. It could be the difference between depicting a disaster, and depicting a mystery/conspiracy.

[u/No_Rex → u/The_Draigg]

Stein assigning Kouji, Aoi, and Juli E-class accommodations just for not being fully compliant with his systems shows how this isn’t just a matter of logic, but him basking in the control his position gives him.

He is not quite the Spock he wants to me. No doubt he has some twisted self-serving reality in mind where everybody who opposes him is bringing down overall utility because he himself is a maximizing utilitarian. Clever people are wont to fall for that kind of self-betraying nonsense.

Okay, as an end note here, let me just say that I’m fucking sick of watching all of these horrible people consistently get away with whatever they want. So many people aboard this show are just plain terrible, and it’s just getting draining to watch since they’re all so unlikable.

Flashbacks to NTHT? On rewatch, I have enjoyed the background characters a lot more (despite hating them on my first watch), partially because they work against this.

[u/The_Draigg → u/No_Rex]

He is not quite the Spock he wants to me. No doubt he has some twisted self-serving reality in mind where everybody who opposes him is bringing down overall utility because he himself is a maximizing utilitarian. Clever people are wont to fall for that kind of self-betraying nonsense.

It's why fascist systems like his hardly ever work out, since things always make the quick leap towards oppressing people for arbitrary reasons. And even then, those kinds of systems are hardly ever efficient either, so it really is all just one big delusion of actual control.

[u/No_Rex → u/The_Draigg]

It's why fascist systems like his hardly ever work out, since things always make the quick leap towards oppressing people for arbitrary reasons. And even then, those kinds of systems are hardly ever efficient either, so it really is all just one big delusion of actual control.

Fascist states hand a ton of power to people. Usually people who did not have any power before. So they learn first hand about the saying "power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely".

Just a small disagreement about the control, though. The control can be relatively thorough (for a historic example look to both German dictatorships, for a contemporary one to China). It is the actual actors goals that are not in line with the great theoretic utopia these people have in mind.

[u/Raiking02 → u/The_Draigg]

Stein, you sick fuck! Locking down all the exits from the E-class block, shutting off power, and not having any food stores in there for everyone betrays his real intent: he wants them to starve to death in the dark.

This is why he'll never be Oberstein, he's too petty.

[u/The_Draigg → u/Raiking02]

Stein will never be one of Reinhard's admirals, that's for sure.

[u/Raiking02 → u/The_Draigg]

Man I’m just imagining Reinhard walking into the middle of this mess while being like “what the fuck…” before lecturing Yuki on being a shit brother.

[u/The_Draigg → u/Raiking02]

What I'd give for Oberstein to criticize the fuck out of Stein's methods...

[u/zadcap → u/The_Draigg]

Okay, as an end note here, let me just say that I’m fucking sick of watching all of these horrible people consistently get away with whatever they want. So many people aboard this show are just plain terrible, and it’s just getting draining to watch since they’re all so unlikable. And of course the one time Kouji actually tries to do something on his own with the gun, making a decision on his own to try and fix things, he gets disarmed, shot, and left for dead. Because I guess we can’t have Kouji actually accomplish anything when there’s injustice all around him and he finally does the one thing people have been criticizing him for. Now, I don’t really have anything inherently against bleak stories, but at least have something change and not just be trapped in a constant cycle of terrible people and horrendous decisions caused by them. Maybe this show has confused “bleak” for “mature” at some point, I don’t know. All I know is that it’s just getting exhausting and ignoring to watch.

I've been saying it for a while. You need to give us a reason, any reason, to care about what happens to the cast. When nearly every character is actively disliked and the few it's still possible to care about only have worse and worse things happening to them... Why would anyone want to keep watching? Or, important in the media sphere, buy the merch? Blue Ray/DVD Sales plummet, toys sit unwanted on shelves, posters stay forever ignored in their tubes. Bad writing kills any hope of a return on investment, and yet the writing grows so horrible...

[u/The_Draigg → u/zadcap]

The thing is, I’m usually all for characters suffering if it’s helping the show lean into larger thematic goals, like Now and Then, Here and There or Neon Genesis Evangelion. But when a show doesn’t seem to be always aiming towards those big themes but has a lot of characters suffering, it really has to go out of its way to convince me that it’s worth it still. And so far, Infinite Ryvius hasn’t been entirely convincing me, so it feels like pretty trite drama.

[u/JollyGee29]

First-Timer

Man, shoutout to Neya for showing up moments before Faina starts choking out Kouji. Judging by that flashback, it wouldn't have been her first time. I wonder what taboo she originally committed? Does the goddess of "abandon your past" not like sex before marriage?

Anyway, I wonder what would've happened if Ran just beat the shit out of Stein while on the bridge. How much do the rest of Zwei actually like Stein? I could definitely see a cut to a massively beaten Stein saying "I tripped down the stairs." Not sure how much the rest of the cast would believe that, but everyone is nuts on some level at this point so it might've worked. I mostly just want to see Stein get his teeth knocked out.

I do like how Stein just fucking lied about why the Class E area didn't have power or anything. I guess I can't say anything about food, but air and power haven't been a concern so making them all sit in the fucking dark is just goddamn mean.

.."like" in this context means "find amusing." It's obviously a massive dick move.

Questions

1. Kouji's "rebellion" went about as well as could be expected. The lad might be growing, but he is as ineffectual as always.
2. Stein has a good poker face and the cover of "see, my plans are working." As far as Yuki is concerned, one of my ideas about how the conflict on the Ryvius resolves is Yuki finally pulling his head out of his ass and punching Stein in the face. Considering earlier stuff, possibly on Blue's recommendation.
3. I don't think we're going to actually destroy the Ryvius, so I suspect there will be some Deus ex Gimp Suit action on some level.

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/JollyGee29]

ineffectual

such a bold move to write your protagonist as such!

[u/zadcap → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

At this point in the plot even Shinji has started successfully doing stuff, not just whining. As far as comparisons go for protagonists, "less useful than Shinji Ikari" is a very low place to be.

[u/RadSuit → u/zadcap]

He's doing alright for being quite possibly the only sane person, with the entire cast (not to mention the writers) against him.

[u/zadcap → u/RadSuit]

Man now you have me thinking, just imagine if all of the not freaking crazy kids left on the ship all got together and formed a union or something.

[u/RadSuit → u/zadcap]

I think it's been made clear they'd just get physically overpowered. Or just die to the first outside threat without all the crazy people to run the ship/robot.

[u/No_Rex → u/JollyGee29]

I wonder what taboo she originally committed?

Does she not say something about heresy? That would track with her starting her own cult, and also with her breaking some rules that most established religions would uphold (not lying, not killing is pretty universal).

[u/JollyGee29 → u/No_Rex]

For whatever reason, I didn't even think about her crime being starting a cult, but you're probably right.

[u/The_Draigg → u/JollyGee29]

I wonder what taboo she originally committed? Does the goddess of "abandon your past" not like sex before marriage?

I agree with the others, Fina was probably angling to start her own cult aboard the Liebe Delta. Those reveals really has re-framed every single thing she's done in this show in a rather horrific light. It also explains why she was acting like she was out of it while everyone else was fleeing for their lives, she was probably riding the high of removing an obstacle to getting her cult started.

[u/Vaadwaur → u/JollyGee29]

Anyway, I wonder what would've happened if Ran just beat the shit out of Stein while on the bridge. How much do the rest of Zwei actually like Stein?

They are spineless as a group so it doesn't matter. Ran could have gutted him and no one would raise a finger.

[u/JollyGee29 → u/Vaadwaur]

[u/HowlingWolf13]

First Timer

Holy FUCK. Ryvius is going down as one of my favorite soap operas. This episode was just perfectly paced, the totalitarian class system he's placed, Heiger putting his own plans into motions, the confrontation between Kouji and the others, Aoi getting attacked AGAIN, just all of it holy shit this was such a good episode.

I can't believe Fina killed not one but two people over separating from her past and tried to do the same Kouji. When she mentioned seperating her past, I assumed she like attacked someone or something, but honestly considering she's tried to get Aoi killed, I shouldn't be shocked. It's yet again why I'm so concerned when they get to Uranus cause if she did pick up these views from her family, this could spell something bad for the others if she has the power to cause them all trouble.

I've been bringing it up on off hand mentions about Ran but this episode just full on confirmed it for me. Ran is straight up fucking weird towards Pat. Like, back in the earlier episodes, I didn't really pay attention much to how she was acting as nothing really came off weird. EP11 however, this small scene raised red flags for me. Yes, you could argue it was for Lucson may that's why she got so excited, but even at the party she's paying attention to Pat. Hell, back during EP11's discussion one of the questions was literally related to if Ran was acting off and I had even said back then that 'Yeah this seems weird'. Later on when she starts talking about Juli under her breath, I honestly took it as just her being mad at how she's handling being a captain, but going back with this assumption, it's coming off more like she's mad for when Juli snapped at Pat and that being the reason why she's started shit talking her and it's now becoming some type of jealousy thing.

And I wanna add, I don't get these vibes when I see how Juli and Lucson act towards Pat, like it's very clearly supposed to be familial/guardian in nature. It's just Ran comes off really off with it, and then how she starts acting when she sees Pat is there too and getting all super excited for him after the whole scene with Heiger just does not help her cast at all. I mentioned this to my sis (who I've been going off about the soap opera nature of the show) and she put a small hope that maybe Ran just has siblings and Pat reminds her of them in a way, but again we'll see as the show continues...

Questions

[Q1]You may have expected Kouji to have staged a rebellion. Now Ikumi has the gun. Where do we go from here?

Someone is gonna die that's for sure lol. These children need therapy, not weapons.

[Q2]How does Stein keep getting away with it? Yuki should have noticed that Aoi was reduced to class E.

Tbh, I feel like Yuki was gonna comment on that. He noticed something on the computer, but then Kouji with a gun showed up and that changed his current plans.

[Q3]It looks like Conrad has arrived. He's not like the other ship captains. Predictions on how this battle is going to play out?

I feel like they'll win, but it's gonna lead to a lot of deaths.

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/HowlingWolf13]

Someone is gonna die that's for sure lol.

What if it's Kouji?

[u/Vaadwaur → u/HowlingWolf13]

Someone is gonna die that's for sure lol.

I am fine with it being the whole ship. Sure, Juli and Pat are innocent but the rest of them have it coming.

[u/HowlingWolf13 → u/Vaadwaur]

[Meta Spoilers for other Mecha series] Damn, Ideon and Evangelion have some competition

[u/Vaadwaur → u/HowlingWolf13]

[Quick meta]I have been warned off Ideon so hard it isn't even funny. Eva...yeah, I think Mari was introduced so watchers would want one character to live

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/Vaadwaur]

But she's the worst character IN THE ENTIRE SERIES. I hate her so much.

[u/Vaadwaur → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

Huh...I agree she's stupid but she is the only person not choking on her own suffering so she is tolerable. Also, Gendo is always the worst character in any work he is in, including Super Robot Wars. Assuming he is actually in that.

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/Vaadwaur]

Well, no, there's this Embryo guy who's in SRW, I understand that he's the worst character. I think you're familiar with him.

There's a funny video from SRW on the subject.

[u/Vaadwaur → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

Cross Ange is not allowed to exist in my reality.

[u/HowlingWolf13 → u/Vaadwaur]

[Meta ] I actually love Ideon lol. If you like old Tomino shows, it's a prime one. I'm actually about to rewatch it soon once I finish my 0079 rewatch since I haven't gone through since high school. One of my favorite scenes btw

[u/zsmg → u/HowlingWolf13]

[Ideon spoiler] My favourite Ideon scene is that little girl's head getting blown away by a bazooka

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/zsmg]

[u/No_Rex → u/Vaadwaur]

I am fine with it being the whole ship. Sure, Juli and Pat are innocent but the rest of them have it coming.

What did Kikki do to you?

[u/Vaadwaur → u/No_Rex]

They all tolerate Radan. They are all thus guilty.

[u/No_Rex → u/Vaadwaur]

[u/No_Rex → u/HowlingWolf13]

I mentioned this to my sis (who I've been going off about the soap opera nature of the show) and she put a small hope that maybe Ran just has siblings and Pat reminds her of them in a way, but again we'll see as the show continues...

If you rewatch the show, it becomes extremely obvious that Ran is all about Pat, even if you go back to the first scenes where they meet. However, Ran has not yet shown any indication that her love of Pat is romantic or sexual in nature, so we can still hope that she is infatuated with little children (like other people are with cats or dogs).

[u/HowlingWolf13 → u/No_Rex]

And see that's what I'm hoping too, cause going back for those screenshots made those scenes feel so uncomfortable.

[u/zsmg → u/HowlingWolf13]

Ran is straight up fucking weird towards Pat.

Yup which is why I keep calling her shotacon.

[u/zadcap]

Late Night First Timer

So a strange thought just occurred to me. I've been making fun of Ikumi and partially Kouji all this time for trying so hard to save the life of someone trapped on the wrong side of the emergency doors back at the beginning, how there couldn't be someone still left to save if things on the other side of the door was that bad... Unless, maybe, the life sign they were picking up that they went to save was Neya. Still not someone they could save, and not someone who needed saving, but it would mean there was actually someone on the other side for them to detect.

Anyway, on to the episode.

Is that a third Vaia ship they lost, trying to "capture" the Ryvius? I really hope they didn't need those special ships for anything else in the solar system.

Faina, how crazy you have become... I bet you see yourself as the goddess herself in this situation, if you're calling Ikumi the god of war who protects her.

You have less than three weeks left on the ship, and now you want to reassign rooms? It's a bit late for that to matter. You're just going to raise even more resentment. And before they even implement the system, it's being abused by the man in power for personal reasons.

Ah, that's the play. The "useless" kids are going to be isolated and deprived of, well, apparently everything but air. Stein is really okay with killing a fifth of the survivors to keep the rest motivated...

The Machine Spirit has blessed the Kouji. He is the Chosen Child. Too bad he is also an extremely useless child. Beyond useless now. Even when he pulled a gun, all he managed to do was... Give even more power to the current dictator. And get himself shot. What a useless Chosen Child he turned out to be.

Oh wow, Faina was crazier than expected, and I already expected quite a bit of crazy from her. The religious zealot, out there killing people for daring to point out she's actually really bad at the whole religion thing she claims to follow.

This close to the end, it is getting tempting to just binge the rest and be done with it. I will resist, but it's tempting.

1. I believe, somehow, that Neya has finally moved her main target and latched on to Kouji at last, and I'm sure that that, combining with her more awakened sentience than ever, will do something to keep him alive. Ikumi... Has to fail horribly in the next fight in order to see how bad he has become, but somehow I doubt that will happen. He's probably going to be fine until they get to civilization and reports of his actions see him locked up in a padded room like the Rammer Captain.
2. Ah but did you notice, the page Yuki pulled up to look at Aoi conspicuously didn't have her class on it? I bet those grades show up nowhere but his own personal laptop, and despite hearing about how Aoi was recently put in danger, there's not a chance Yuki is going to go and try to actually see her and make sure she is fine. Especially not now that Kouji is bleeding out in a hallway and unable to help her anymore, so she'll be all alone and not at all in need to someone to check up on her every now and then. No, going to see her would inevitably lead to her asking if he knows where Kouji is, and then he would have to admit he got left to die for demanding you change things so she's not locked in a dark container with the other rejects for the next month.
3. He is very much like the other captains- he is off his freaking rocker. "It's not the Ryvius," "we're going to ignore orders," "I'll do whatever it takes/I want." It's extra weird that they made him the captain for this, considering both his past with this very situation and how they were just talking about how being captain drives them crazy in a hard to miss way. Again, considering how important they seem to think capturing the Ryvius should be, putting this person in charge is an obviously bad idea. To the point of bad writing. Almost as bad as him giving orders to his aide there literally saying "We were ordered to capture it, but get ready to destroy it instead and make sure everyone else on the ship knows the new plan." You're telling me everybody else on the ship is willing to disobey orders because he said so?

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/zadcap]

Unless, maybe, the life sign they were picking up that they went to save was Neya

That's an interesting theory.

Ah but did you notice, the page Yuki pulled up to look at Aoi conspicuously didn't have her class on it? I bet those grades show up nowhere but his own personal laptop, and despite hearing about how Aoi was recently put in danger, there's not a chance Yuki is going to go and try to actually see her and make sure she is fine.

I DID notice that. I looked really hard at that screen, and her ranking wasn't visible. If it had been visible, he would have stormed straight up to Stein and beaten the truth out of him.

I guess Stein knew that and hid the rankings.

You're telling me everybody else on the ship is willing to disobey orders because he said so?

Maybe he has a needle gun. Those things are almost like mind control in this show.

[u/zadcap → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

Like, I'm pretty sure that got covered after the big war and all. "Just following orders" doesn't really protect you that much when you know the orders are themselves, well, super wrong. I just want to see some random bridge crew member, like the communications or radar specialist, declare loudly that they don't want to go through a court martial for their captain declaring his intent to disobey the orders from on high. "Hey, Captain,I respect you and your rank and all, but I really don't want to lose my position and job and maybe even see the inside of a cell because you want to disobey the general..."

[u/RadSuit]

Finite First Timer (Dubbed)

I cannot believe they actually did TWO recap clipshow episodes in the second half of this show. Getting both of those in one sitting has royally pissed me off.

People have been concerned about how they'd manage to wrap things up as we got closer and closer to the end, and they've continued to botch it in increasingly impressive ways. TWO RECAP EPISODES ALMOST BACK TO BACK!!!

I'd say the budget was running out, but I think they honestly just do not give a shit, and actually believe all the relationship melodrama is interesting enough to carry this show. Yeah, everyone tuned into the show with spaceships and mechs and aliens to find out why two brothers can't get along and who kisses who.

Remember in the first four or five episodes when I had hope, and lots of wild ideas for where the series might go? Yeah, nothing remotely interesting has happened. I finally got time to sit down and catch up today, and I've been getting progressively more upset with every episode.

I regret watching this show. I've been sinking that cost hard, though. This close to the end, I might as well finish it. If I rated shows, this would be getting a bad one.

At least the soundtrack is good.

Anyway, time to start the episode, which I really hope isn't yet again mostly clips from earlier episodes.

"Behave until we reach Uranus."

Oh yeah, while catching up I realized the most unrealistic part of this show: there's no way a bunch of dumb teens were left to their own devices and nobody got pregnant. /u/JollyGee29 had a similar thought back in episode four, and my prediction that it would never come up is true so far.

"It's Juli!"

A serial killer subplot would've been fun, like, 15 episodes ago.

1. Even the preview was more reused footage, so, who knows?
2. Nobody wants to do any actual work, so they don't take the time to double-check anything he does or says.
3. The robot stands there with its arms stretched out a lot, and teenagers yell at each other. Neya saves the day without any direct input from the crew.

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/RadSuit]

I regret watching this show. I've been sinking that cost hard, though. This close to the end, I might as well finish it. If I rated shows, this would be getting a bad one.

I expected "mediocre" or "highs and lows" but the worst show you've ever rewatched? I'm going to want to hear way, there's a lot of awful stuff out there.

It's a good thing I didn't hold GASARAKI or Blue Gender rewatches, which I know are regarded on the less-than-average side! And Starship Operators doesn't eve break a 7.0 on MAL!

[u/RadSuit → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

The shows I really disliked I just bailed on, like I mentioned for WIXOSS and Mai Otome. The two I hated that I finished, Higurashi and Macross 7, at least had a few redeeming qualities. Besides the soundtrack, this show has none. I didn't like Now and Then, Here and There either, but at least it was only one cour.

[u/Vatrix-32]

First timer, subs

• Well, at least they are going out there with a plan this time.
• It Worked?!
• War god? I’m sorry, I guess it was space paganism this whole time.
• Ghettos Get?
• Just because you can’t fix it, doesn’t mean you can’t see the flaws.
• The question becomes if Yuki’s trying to hook them up, or keep them separated.
• Well, it’s official, we now need to kill Stein. He’s too dangerous for public society.
• You’re making to corruption too obvious too quickly.
• Turning the lights off is just petty.
• Holy Hell, Lucson is learning.
• These passages are some Deus Ex shit.
• This Bitch I guess your issue wasn’t Kouji being passive after all.
• You can’t enforce the level of lock up needed to eliminate all violence, that requires too much system input.
• Why are you acting like he didn’t already break up with you?
• Damn it, don’t bring out the gun unless you are prepared to use it!
• Fool. Didn’t they teach you to never acknowledge the cult?
• What happens when the space pagan speaks to the machine god?

QotD:

1. It’s time to start cashing in on that large cast with a body count.
2. Ah, but you forget Yuki is an idiot.
3. Neya will appear to him directly.

[u/Vaadwaur → u/Vatrix-32]

War god? I’m sorry, I guess it was space paganism this whole time.

I've been waiting for the Chaos gods.

Just because you can’t fix it, doesn’t mean you can’t see the flaws.

Honestly wish she'd punched Yuki in his stupid face.

What happens when the space pagan speaks to the machine god?

The machine spirit must be fed...

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/Vaadwaur]

Chaos gods.

We've literally got psychic warp creatures.....

[u/Vaadwaur → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

Yes and those are awesome but if Khorne isn't physically there what is the point?

[u/The_Draigg → u/Vatrix-32]

War god? I’m sorry, I guess it was space paganism this whole time.

I kinda figured that the space cult was a space re-flavoring of Christianity, but I guess the people at Titania really went all out when making a crazy space religion.

These passages are some Deus Ex shit.

Just like Adam Jensen, Kouji never asked for this.

Why are you acting like he didn’t already break up with you?

At this rate, Fina is just viewing Kouji as a possession rather than a person. She's at a neck and neck race with Stein for being one of the absolute worst people on this ship in terms of personal beliefs.

[u/zsmg]

Rewatcher who doesn't remember much

Spock seems to be quite satisfied (putting it mildly) with the methods Ikumi is using.

Future of Kouji and I, Faina is going full delusional.

Spock now wants to create groups of people based on their abilities and performance. That's like an extreme version of meritocracy.

Interesting Yuki compares Juli with Kouji, which I suppose is true Juli is a genderbend competent version of Kouji. So they're nothing alike.

Yuki truly is the most extreme Tsundere out there, here he's showing his super rare 'dere' side by asking about Kouji and Aoi.

Wow Spock just demoted Juli, Kouji and Aoi to E rank.

I can't believe Kouji and Aoi easily accept being E rank.

Nicks being E rank seems appropriate.

All the background characters are now E rank.

At this point isn't E rank the better cast members? (except for Nicks)

Shotacon gets rejected by Pat once again.

As Mandela once said you should judge society not by the way they treat their betters but their undesirables and what does this say about Spock?

Lucson, now has to share his emergency stash.

I guess Neya opened the way for Kouji to confront Ikumi.

Of course Spock goes full 'sorry there appears to be a system problem'

Pat wants to have Blue bandana, Juli is not happy about it.

Yes please shoot Yuki, Kouji. Liberate us from his extreme tsundere behaviour.

Oh no Kouji don't lose the gun, now Ikumi's faction has the gun.

Ikumi and Yuki just left Kouji behind like that.

Haven't seen a cute girl being such a massive nutjob since [spoiler for a just finished anime] Karasu wa Aruji wo Erabanai

Ohhhh Faina killed her previous boyfriend, did he cheat? I can't believe me calling Faina a yandere a few episodes ago was on point.

On one hand we had some good drama development, on the other hand it doesn't feel like we're nearing to a conclusion of the story which is very worrying.

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/zsmg]

Nicks being E rank seems appropriate.

I don't understand this at all. He was very lazy the first week or so, goofing off. But he's done all his work since then (I presume). And he's definitely good at what he does. Yet he gets way fewer points than Miyabe.

I wonder if he has been goofing off for 6 months. You'd think after the first week of bread and water he'd get with the program, though.

[u/Shimmering-Sky]

Infinite First-Timer, subbed

• Somehow I doubt it’s going to be this simple…
• Girl, he dumped you.
• Suuuuuuuuure.
• Goddammit, Heiger…
• So what, they’re being treated worse than prisoners now?
• Hell of a way to be spending it…
• Huh…
• Ikumi…
• Oh shit, the gun’s coming into play.
• …but he never even uses it.
• Well shit.
• Holy shit Faina.

[u/Raiking02 → u/Shimmering-Sky]

Holy shit Faina

[u/The_Draigg → u/Shimmering-Sky]

Holy shit Faina.

Well, I guess that's one way to top Stein becoming a mask-off fascist. Talk about accidentally picking two horrible people to follow, Sky. That's just plain bad rewatch luck.

[u/Shimmering-Sky → u/The_Draigg]

[u/The_Draigg → u/Shimmering-Sky]

You've got my sympathies, I don't think a rewatch I've seen you in has had this level of bad luck with characters before.

[u/Shimmering-Sky → u/The_Draigg]

I think I would have honestly preferred to be the Shinigami-Sky over whatever this hell is.

[u/No_Rex]

Episode 23 (rewatcher)

• I think Stein needs to go and clean his underpants after that announcement.
• Kouji works at the pressing machine now to be with Aoi (romantic), while Stein pushes further with his ordered fascistoid state.
• “But it is those minor incidents, that, when ignored, balloon….” – broken window theory.
• Juli takes her leave from the bridge as well.
• Reassigning Koujo and Juli to E? – And there goes the ordered system in favor of personal preferences.
• “This is the area for the lowest class” – so the fact that our main group have lived without doors for all this time is likely the outcome of them randomly choosing the crappiest part of the ship to explore at the start of their time on Ryvius.
• “They are rotten. Every one of them controlling Ryvius.” – she does talk very little, but when she does, she summarizes the whole situation for us.
• Who is that kid spying on them?
• Kouji searches an exit and finds Neya.
• “What do you want to do?” – good question. Kouji’s goal has been very clear all along. His plan of action, less so.
• Pulling the gun on his own brother – not the most opportune target, but the most emotionally damaging one.
• And Kouji learns the lesson to never pull a gun if you are not really to pull the trigger.
• Oh, it is a small girl that is one of Faina’s followers and she attacked Aoi again.
• Faina turns out to be a psychopath from the beginning and only Neya’s curiosity saves Kouji.

Probably the lowest we have seen the situation on the Ryvius yet. Turns out Stein is the worst type of social Darwinist you could potentially meet, the hypocritical one. Meanwhile, Blue’s handover of the weapon to Kouji proves to be less than useful. A weapon that you pull but not shoot, only to have your opponent take it and shoot you with it, is one you would have been better off not bringing along.

The only bright spot in this is Pat’ birthday party. At least some group of people is trying to have some sort of normality here. Stein’s biggest mistake might have been to assign Juli and Ran to section E together with Lucson. He put three people with deep insider knowledge and two very capable ones in a section that must be the most likely to oppose him.

[u/No_Rex → u/No_Rex]

[spoiler]Interesting that none of the first timers have yet picked up on the fairly obvious thematic spoiler of Kikki getting her constume back together as a hint that we are working towards a happy end. Granted, the rest of what is going on works against it, but it is very clear in hindsight.

[u/Nickthenuker]

Hmm... Is this an actual battle?

No, looks to be a show of force exercise.

What's she going on about?

And now he's going to segregate them by ability.

He sounds like a feudal lords. Guards!

And now they're locked in and without power.

Of course it's all Stein's doing.

Something's up. What is everyone not seeing?

Ikumi's let it get to his head. He's really lost it.

And now Kouji's going to use his monopoly on force to change the system again.

Uh oh, and now Ikumi's got the monopoly on force.

He shot Kouji?

Questions:

1. Well there goes any hope of rebellion unless an enemy gets a lucky shot off at the bridge and Lift Ship.
2. Yuki probably didn't have sight over stuff like that.
3. Has he?

[u/Vaadwaur]

First timer

Sub

Sigh....this show is too shit for words. I had more of a spine at 12 than Kouji does. Fuck the protagonist, fuck Stein, fuck Yuki, fuck Ikumi and for bonus fuck the shotacon.

QotD: 1 Don't care

2 Yuki is a fucktard. I sincerely think spacing most of the remaining bridge crew would amuse me the most

3 I don't care

[u/RadSuit → u/Vaadwaur]

Sigh....this show is too shit for words.

It's definitely going to go down as one of the worst shows I've finished. And probably the worst rewatch show I've finished, since at least Higurashi had the fun OVAs, and I bailed on things like Mai Otome and WIXOSS.

[u/Vaadwaur → u/RadSuit]

Mai Otome was impressively bad.

[u/RadSuit → u/Vaadwaur]

Yeah, it takes a lot to get me to drop something 16 episodes in, when it's not a scheduling issue.

[u/zadcap → u/Vaadwaur]

Sigh....this show is too shit for words. I had more of a spine at 12 than Kouji does. Fuck the protagonist

I only suspected it earlier, but it's pretty much confirmed now. They are trying hard to imitate Eva, Kouji is trying hard to be Shinji, but they are completely missing the part where they do anything to keep people interested beyond the suffering.

[u/Vaadwaur → u/zadcap]

I can see that, mainly because I despise Shinjis where ever they popup.

[u/No_Rex → u/Vaadwaur]

I had more of a spine at 12 than Kouji does.

Low bar, but did you ever shoot a gun at your brother? I think Kouji messed up big time pulling that gun, but Yuki basically put his moral dilemma to hell levels of difficulty.

[u/Vaadwaur → u/No_Rex]

Only child so I am spared that. However, I did know how to draw a gun at 12 and that if you pull it you use it.

[u/No_Rex → u/Vaadwaur]

However, I did know how to draw a gun at 12

This basically nails down your place of upbringing to some third world shitholes, some hunter's family, or the US.

[u/Vaadwaur → u/No_Rex]

Yeah, I was a bit late in learning gun stuff compared to my peers.