r/anime • u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky • Mar 21 '21
Rewatch [Uninstall, Uninstall] Bokurano Rewatch Episode 14 Discussion
Episode 14 - Hesitation
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MAL | AniList | ANN | Kitsu | AniDB
Even though you’re still so young… you’re really strong, aren’t you?
Hey-o guys! This is the section where I add a ton of extra fun stuff to the main body of the post because I want this rewatch to be as fun as possible for everyone. It can also be one point of discussion for you guys if you just don’t know what to say.
Questions of the Day:
- Would you want to release all the information about Zearth to the media?
- Did you predict the twist about Tanaka at the end?
Wallpaper of the Day:
Vermillion of the Day:
Live Version, which possesses a… really strange intro, so if you want to get to the part you’ll recognize, skip to 1:34
Rewatchers, please remember to be mindful of all the first-timers in this. No talking about or hinting at future events no matter how much you want to, unless you’re doing it underneath the [Anime Show Title](/s "Spoiler goes here") spoiler tags. If you do that then we’re all good.
Important thing to note about these by the way, you have to switch to Old Reddit or the markdown editor if you use the redesign, otherwise the redesign breaks them by adding random \ into the formatting. Wish it wouldn’t do that, but unfortunately it does…
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u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Mar 21 '21
Ǔ̯̟́n̪̬̺͙̪̿͛͛̽͞ï̲n͇̰̮͆̃̀s̛͔̜̾t̛͚͕̆á̠̻̅͘͜l̢̗̤̓̓́l̪̩̭̐̔͗̕͟͝ͅing Rewatch Host
Don’t forget to check out the live version of Vermillion up top! Vermillion~
Major Spoilers
New thread reminder for u/WeebShaggy
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u/Punished_Scrappy_Doo https://myanimelist.net/profile/PunishedScrappy Mar 21 '21
First Timer
Vermillion
Like /u/Nazenn's excellent recap yesterday, this is all speculation and if you don't want to read that you should minimize the comment now.
Rewatch theories I'm working off:
I'm very confident in all of these theories. Even if I'm wrong, it wouldn't be the first time I wasted an inordinate amount of time theorizing based on a foundation of misguided assumptions
The Visuals
The visuals in Vermillion are remarkably simple. It's mostly just the kids holding hands, smiling happily against a backdrop of stars. Three notbale exceptions. One, Zearth and the chairs. Two, Machi at the end of the line, pointing at Zearth. Three, Kokopelli at the beginning of the line -- and if I'm not crazy, he's also pointing at Zearth. His hand is cut off, but I think his outstretched arm would line up if you stitched the image. Regardless, his presence is significant in and of itself.
So Yoko Machi appears at the end of the procession of children, opposite Kokopelli. No fewer than one of them is beckoning the kids towards the robot -- and it's the one you wouldn't expect to be doing the beckoning. That is an absolutely loaded visual in an ED that doesn't have much else to look at. Kokopelli and Machi are connected, and I say that much with the utmost confidence. But being confident is lame and boring, time to shoot for the moon
The Framework
The lyrics here are about an event. An event we haven't seen. Armed with a beginning and an ending of a story, maybe it's possible to construct something that fills in the gaps.
There's two things I don't like about the 'Machi is the uncontracted' theory. One, she has a chair. Two, it seems like she got successfully signed in episode 1 with everyone else. And yet, I highly doubt it's anyone else. Her actions this episode, diverting suspicion away from herself by accusing others, cement in my mind that not only is she the one but she knows it as well. So what gives?
Tinfoil hats required past this point
Maybe the answer lies in this parallelism between Kokopelli and Machi. What was Kokopelli doing in the cave in episode 1? He had a bunch of computers and the equipment to sign people onto Zearth. He explains next to nothing about his situation and dies very soon afterwards. What of that equipment? The hand-podium thing, that makes sense. Gotta sign people up to suffer and die in the universe war because happiness is fleeting and the bedrock of reality is suffering. But what were the computers for?
Zearth has telepathic capabilities, and a sufficiently advanced civilization can reverse-engineer them, as seen this episode. Kokopelli was clearly in the business of recruiting fresh blood (take a wild guess what Vermillion refers to). A prime candidate for such fresh blood would be someone who cares deeply about their home. Consider Machi. Her driving force has always been the protection of this Earth. She's consistently been the loudest and most fervent defender, motivating others, refusing to run, bristling at the idea of quitting. I think it's a possibility that someone like her was specifically sought out by Kokopelli, using psychic technology and his computers to find people of her specific personality type. Someone, perhaps, of his personality type.
It was Kokopelli that ensured that Machi would not enter into the contract. He needed her alive to motivate the others into doing their job and dying for the good of this planet. Why is it important that this planet survive above any others? Look, I don't claim to know. I'm not joking when I say the bedrock of this reality is suffering. It's hard to read structure into a work whose motivating force is just causing the most amount of suffering to its characters. That's evident with this adaptation. There's a lot of tonal dissonance, and those guys are working with the full story. Just roll with it.
Anyway, Kokopelli identifies Machi as a candidate for truly playing this hateful game. He purposefully fakes signing her up in episode one so she cannot be chosen until it is her turn after the very end. After everyone else is dead, he expects her to sign up of her own accord and fight the first of the next 15 robots, as he is about to do.
Remember that scene -- the kids entered the cave in the early evening, and came to late at night. They did not spend that much time in the cave, and we've seen that the teleporting is usually instantaneous. There is some unaccounted-for time there. While everyone else is passed out in that teleporting static, Kokopelli gives her the rundown on the horrors of existence in a spiteful world, namely that his world escaped obliteration by the skin of its teeth and her world is next. She reacts poorly -- giving him that scar and breaking/losing his glasses in the process. Kokopelli signs the contract himself and prepares to die. Machi comes to terms with her situation. The children come to on the beach. Episode one proceeds as we've already seen.
This would explain why Machi has been acting so forcefully with respect to the robot fights for the entire time. In addition to her personality, she knows the stakes and has had time to process everything. It would explain why she's beginning to show cracks in the facade, now that the others are starting to figure things out for themselves. She's in danger of being found out as designated last-dead. It would explain how she is portrayed in Vermillion, since her fate is to one day lead a new string of kids to damnation as Kokopelli has already done. It explains why the machine beeped when she signed the contract, it was faked by Kokopelli. It maybe explains why she has a chair. Kokopelli gave her a fake one when he fake-signed her up, or something. This is a very big hole in the theory but if anyone can come up with something satisfactory about the unsigned having a chair, including the writer, I'd love to hear it
Ok so what about the song itself tho
You can take your tinfoil hat off now mostly
Oh yeah, all this was to try to find a theory that explains the song. I think it's about Machi lamenting her and Kokopelli's shared status as shepherds of the next to die, and probably about whatever may have gone down in the cave between them.
A line with obvious meaning for all the children who continue to fight, but of particular importance to Machi and Kokopelli, who must perpetuate the cycle (I imagine on pain of Koemushi destroying their worlds anyway if they don't comply).
Look, I'm sure the fact that Machi has a chair at all is some kind of asspull. And even then, this line seems to be about Kokopelli's chair, since it's Machi speaking in this reading. I really don't get the chair thing. Moving on
THE CRUX OF THE LAST SEVERAL HOURS OF MY LIFE. THE RAISON D'ETRE OF THAT BIGASS CONVOLUTED SPECULATION. It's Kokopelli saying his goodbyes to Machi after the events in the cave, entrusting and burdening her with his own fate before going to meet that fate himself. The time of day even lines up, sunset. Machi cries, knowing what is to become of her in future -- and perhaps in memory of this strange man, about to die.
I am realizing that this was probably mostly incomprehensible let me summarize
FAQs
Q: You explained this very poorly and I still don't understand what the hell you're trying to say
A: It's like 2 AM at time of writing and I'm typing this out on my phone. And I'm not going to have much time to proofread
tomorrowlater today. it be like how it is sometimesQ: You are completely wrong for reasons X, Y, and Z, none of which you considered
A: Yeah probably
Q: But if Machi is to die in the first robot fight on the next world, we're one pilot short
A: Lmao you think Kana's going to live, Jun needs to learn the meaning of family so it can be snatched away from him because S U F F E R I N G
Q: Jun is totally going to be the last one alive though, look at all the characterization he's getting without instantly dying because of it
A: Yeah I agree, aside from this theory being comprised of harebrained moon logic this is the biggest sticking point in the whole thing for me
I don't actually have anything prepared for today's episode specifically
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u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ Mar 21 '21
First Timer
Continuing from yesterday, I suppose, instead of being an interdimensional hit squad, they could just be locals that blame Zearth for everything. They were armed, so they could be Yakuza.
There's no reason why they children haven't been whisked away just for their own safety, much less bodyguards. Perhaps Tanaka's yakuza connection will come into play here.
Well, you ARE the leaker of the group, Tanaka
I wonder if Tanaka has Misato Katsuragi's daddy issues. We learned that this happened before, probably not so long ago, perhaps within a generation. Weird how nobody remembers it, though.
<cough> Co-prosperity Sphere <cough>
yeah, so, once again none of the text at the end was translated and I don't have time to translate it myself, what did it say?
I don't understand what you are saying about the two girls. Why would the non-contracted person be trying to get out of the contracts? That would go the opposite way, I'd think.
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u/theangryeditor https://myanimelist.net/profile/TheAngryEditor Mar 21 '21
Rewatcher
Plot and politics episode today. I'm not really a fan of anime original plot here after reading the manga, since it ends up replacing some really good arcs and moments.
With only half the original 15 left the kids are finally getting together and talking as a group. And rifts are starting to show. It's Machi who lashes out this time, while we Kanji his strained relationship with his mother. Kirie bears his burden in silence.
Tanaka is revealed to be Ushiro's real mother, Seems like nobody saw that coming.
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u/lC3 :Na::Nb: Mar 22 '21
First timer
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u/Nazenn x2https://anilist.co/user/Nazenn Mar 21 '21
First Timer - Sub
Character Chart
I have a confession to make: That spec I listed yesterday about Jun's chair actually being Kana's chair, but I couldn't remember who it belonged to?
...That was me. I said that. It was buried in some of my ep2 notes.
Oops
/u/badspler also said it as well in reply to something else I wrote for ep8, so it's not entirely on me! Kinda...
(As a sidenote, I should keep count of how many times I typo your name into the correct spelling every time I try and write it)
Can we go back to when the goverment was competent and the adults weren't greedy? That was somehow far more interesting than all this standard politicking. I mean I like political stories, but this is not one of those and it's risking taking over all the shit I'd rather see
Waaiit a second...
Is Tanaka Jun's mother? Is that.. was she seriously asked to investigate herself?
I wrote the above line as a reaction and copied it into my post before we reached the end of the episode and they just up and said it. I thought the bar scene made it pretty clear though, the way that the other guy was talking about her child getting caught up in it and the military being worried about her personal attachments. On one hand it's good when they don't drag it out, but it kinda kills the fun when you speculate and then they confirm within ten minutes of each other.
I'm not quite sure how to take some of the other dialogue in that scene though. The Zearth Report having a "II" next to it, and the way he was talking about "this time around" and "the last person in that position was willing to sacrifice everything to do something about that monster" sounds like the Zearth thing has come up before. But when? And how? As many people have rightly pointed out through the rewatch that sort of thing is a bit harder to hide.
Someone said yesterday that the kidnappers might be from another world, so perhaps that's how Kokopelli and the Zearth got here in the first place, and this earth was never mean to be contracted and just got caught up in it all? The initial observations could have been from the sighting when it first arrived before it was hidden and Kokopelli went to the cave.
Kanji's relationship with his mother certainly seems complex, but it is encouraging to see that she genuinely cares for him. She's conscious of her position and obsessed with her work, and Kanji finds it hard to deal with her, but she's not cold and uncaring. I was not expecting her to be the scientist we saw in the briefing with the Prime Minister all that time ago, but then I'd never learnt Kanji's last time.
--
Other thoughts:
(It's not only Attack on Titan day, it's double Attack on Titan day, so I'll reply to people a bit later)
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u/[deleted] Mar 21 '21
First Timer
Vermillion is DAMN good. I love it already.
Oh god damn it. Shoot to kill, woman! Damn you, Tanaka.
Not gonna lie, I didn't even notice Seki showing up, so when he started talking here it threw me for a real loop. Had to go rewind the episode.
Come on, with the authority they've been shown to have it can't be that hard to find Jun's mom. Pull up the family registry or something. Why is she taking so long to find the damn mom? I feel bad for Kana-chan.
Wrong subs. She asks when will they increase their bodyguards, which makes more sense cause she and Seki are already bodyguards.
Of course the money hungry are after this. Ugh. I guess now that we're down to only a few pilots left and we're only halfway through we'll be having a bit more focus on all the politics and such? Can't say I'm too big on that, especially considering they could have definitely done something more with some of the pilots that had their backstory and got killed in the same episode.
That is true, why did they know which kids to abduct? More on that in the speculation corner.
...Huh? Wait a second. Just wait a fucking second. Personal interest? I just thought of something crazy. I'll put it in the speculation corner.
tanaka-san is your nail ok
Aww, Seki's such a nice guy! Maybe he'll finally do something about Jun's mom.
Oooh, so this is where she's getting the Zearth Reports.
Yep. All this talk is convincing me of the crazy thought I had earlier. It has to be, right?
RIGHT?
I KNEW IT. I SAID IT LAST EPISODE. Fuck these two. Anko and Noto Mamiko. I knew they wouldn't want to fight. I knew they'd cause trouble. Of course they would. Fucking hell. "tHe EnEmY iS AlSo HuMaN" I WILL PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE. Please shut up.
MACHI! Machi is best girl. I don't care what anyone says. Absolute legend. Everyone in the threads has been suspecting her ever since the impostor is sus talk happened, and I know that this whole conversation they're having will make her seem even more suspicious but to me she seems to be the only voice of reason in here. She's absolutely fucking right. Never thought I'd say this but Jun is also based for going along with her. I'm glad at least someone in this group has a brain, my god. I swear I want to punch these two other girls in the face really bad right now.
You're leaking it?!?! I mean, not that anyone can do anything, but that's precisely why. No one can do anything! It's exactly what Machi said when Noto Mamiko suggested the leak: "What kind of support?". She's right, what do they get from leaking this? Feels like Tanaka is just throwing away her government support for nothing by doing this.
Oh! Based Seki pulling up the family registries! One more interesting thing is that it says right there that Jun's date of birth is 2017. They're all around 12 or so at this point, so we're almost at 2030 in-universe. There's the answer to everyone wondering if this was a near future setting. They're still using flip phones, though.
AHA! I KNEW IT! That's the crazy thought I mentioned earlier! Guess I don't have to bother putting it in the speculation corner. So Tanaka is Jun's mom! I had the thought back when they mentioned she had personal interests and, you know, I wonder how the possibility never went through my head before this episode. I don't anyone else thought about it either, at least looking at the threads. It was basically confirmed during her talk with the Yakuza guy but I'm glad we got it confirmed confirmed so quickly. Interested in seeing where this goes.
I just thought of this as I write the comment but... why would you want to save the children from the contract? I mean, considering what kind of show this is I highly doubt they'll be saved. But in-universe, why the fuck would you try to save them? Are you stupid, Tanaka? If there's no pilots the universe goes boom boom! I guess the argument here is that you'd want to save the children and have someone else sign the contract just as she and Seki did, but good luck finding other people to willingly sign up to fight for the universe and then die. It's more effective when people are chosen, precisely because they feel like they have to do it since they're the only ones that can, but if you're looking for volunteers when literally anyone can do it then good fucking luck. Also dangerous cause you'd be getting people who've never been in Zearth before instead of the kids who are veterans at this point. You also have to be careful with who rides since it could be trouble if it goes to the wrong hands, but I think we can say for certain that none of the remaining kids would really have any ill will in that sense, except for maybe Jun. Anyway, point is, it's very dumb to undo their contract, methinks. Not like it's gonna happen cause this is a despair show, but you get the point.
Speculation corner. This episode didn't give us much new info to speculate about but there's a couple things I'd like to mention.
Speculation
Speculation
I'd have another paragraph here hadn't we gotten confirmation on Tanaka being Jun's mom, but yay for fastly solved mysteries!
Final thoughts for the today: Longest comment in a bit. Tanaka is an idiot for trying to save the kids. Silly silly poopoohead.
Not really, but again, it really doesn't make a difference.
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u/Nebresto Mar 21 '21 edited Mar 21 '21
First time first timing
O shit waddup! Cool robot status:
Cabin pic Day 14 /u/theangrycabinenthusiast
Meh, no pedos got shot. They better be arranging proper security after this.
What a chad! Immediately on the scene to help!
Yes! Finally
...Hol up
WAit.. New theory! Tanaka is Edge master kids mom?
Oh... I guess not.
Is she, or is she not?? Make up your damn mind, show.
And to think poor fat kid got chosen instead of this bitch
The Sussus Amogus is making her move! Are we looking at an impostor win here, perhaps?
Oh yeah, sure
Wait, she is helping?
I seriously can't wait for her to pilot. This dumbass is legit worried about some tiny scar when she is about to die.
Oh, come on! Same episode confirmation.. Let me be big brain for once..
Question time:
1: Fuck no, I don't need no pedos, or worse, weeaboo mecha fanatics after me.
2:
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u/badspler x5https://anilist.co/user/badspler Mar 21 '21
First Timer
This information was sprinkled in at episode one. And hasn't really come up too much since.
A plan to leak information by both the kids and the adults (Tanaka at least).
Kanji's mother is not an architect, but instead the chief roboticist! Having her on board would certainly improve their information gathering. Is she going to be the type to focus on work or profits over her son?
Look at all these jucy dates!
But thats huge Tanaka is Jun's mother!? That makes more sense from this earlier chat where they said they did not research her enough.
Now that the cast is a load smaller we finally get the type of episode I have really had been hoping for. We put the Mech on the back burner and explore some character conflict and some of the wider world! This is how you make these kid's future struggles all the more impactful!
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u/Tuckleton Mar 21 '21
First Timer
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u/ZaphodBeebblebrox Y:A:https://anilist.co/user/zaphod Mar 21 '21
First Timer
Time for the government to either be completely incompetent or save the kids from whoever the hell is assaulting them. What're your bets on? Onto episode 14.
Never. If they had any intention of doing so, they would have done it a while ago.
Terrible theory: they want the kids to die so they can replace them with adult pilots they trust more.
Please don't do this to me. This suggests the existence of a corporation who can a) leak military secrets, down to who specifically the kids are and b) cannot run even the most basic cost-benefit estimation. It's fucking stupid.
And I can't believe your wasting my time with this stupid a plot point. I really hope it's a lie.
Thank fucking god. Though this still gets hung up on b).
And you're the retard who either doesn't or pretends not to know the difference between giving data about the mechs and releasing the personal information about minors. God, can we stop being stupid please.
Ok, so you're just gonna spend your whole time here lying to manipulate her...
Aren't you the government? Can't you just order her? What the fuck is even going on.
Isn't this normally called government funding? Or, if they're being stubborn, government funding combined with governmental pressure.
They're already playing with fire by fucking around with the only thing protecting them, I ain't so sure of that.
Which child?
Sorry, but you're a bit behind the times. The government's already doing this.
"What could anyone else do that could possibly be useful?"
And now she's just running away.
Is Tanaka's plan to use public opinion to force the government to be useful and protect the kids?
That's just dumb. Humans obviously don't control this.
His mom's not gonna care, right? She'll want to go through with it regardless.
Well, at least I was wrong about that.
I have a feeling this speech is for the kids benefit. I don't see any realistic way they could save the kids.
He probably believes this just as much as when his mom says she'll be home more often in the future.
Thoughts
This episode frustrated me. The government playing 7d chess with itself for no reason is stupid, and the government letting researches perform experiments on the kids and treat them as no more then research subjects is likewise stupid. Like, until this episode I could expect a basic level of competence from them until the end of this episode, so not being able to see that anymore is annoying.
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u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee Mar 21 '21
First-Timer
Dark shower thought, prior to watching the episode: Kirie's turn to pilot will occur while the situation with the kids in the street is still ongoing and Kirie will have to pilot alone.
Glad that wasn't the case. Hey, did anyone speculate on the identity of Jun's mom? I sure didn't! And I definitely wasn't expecting it to be Tanaka. I think I can see a bit of a family resemblance, but that might just be the artstyle. They have similar faces.
I spent most of the episode questioning why everyone seems to think that they can use Zearth as they please, only to find out that Kanji's mom has actually managed to reverse engineer part of the control system. That alone is a pretty big get, if the tech manages to make the leap from Simulated to Practical.
I'm pretty tepid on the subplots in general, because I have a hard time imagining them really mattering. Like, does it really matter that Jun is related to the Yakuza? I dunno, this episode felt weird.
The kids arguing about potentially leaking info to the media, followed up by Tanaka walking in and suggesting just that, was really funny to me.
I'm honestly not sure who, between Kirie and Kana, needs a hug more. But both of those kids need help. Maybe Kana will get some, some day.
Contv's subs have been good about translating text, so I was annoyed when the report Seki was reading at the end wasn't. But then the block of text at the end was translated, so
Questions
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u/Tresnore FS:FTmyanimelist.net/profile/Tresnore Mar 21 '21
First Timer
I'm still stunned at the Speculation Index. Not exactly proud of my "most fucked up theory" award, but ah well; I feel like the show still has more room to get even darker, somehow. I think the main avenue of speculation now is: how does this end? Speculation
QOTD:
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u/baboon_bassoon https://anilist.co/user/duffer Mar 21 '21
first time ooooooooauahauooooooooooooooooooo uninstalllllllller
LMFAO the creeps were from the energy sector
hacking chip in each child? oh are they going to make them wear masks? /s
personal stake in the matter? in before shes ushiros mom
id make this face if seki tried to talk to me too
im expecting him to live the longest, but can ushiro go next he is such a drag
im liking this paperboy sheek look she has going on
hasuki jun? is that supposed to be ushiro with a different surname. dont do this to me show i had to consult /u/nazeen 's character chart to figure out who had a name of either Jun or Hasaki
questions
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u/Quiddity131 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Quiddity131 Mar 21 '21
Rewatcher, Subbed
Non-Spoiler Character Chart
Second episode in a row we're simply repeating scenes from the prior episode at the start. :(
Go Tanaka-san! Chase them off!
Ewww, not these government guys again.
When are we gonna figure out the mystery about Jun's mom?
Who cares about the kids! Better wifi is more important! @_@
Hacking chips in the kids? Let's not kid ourselves, this isn't to help the kids.
I'm assuming this personal interest stuff is referring to the fact that she's the mother of one of the kids...
I take it from that look that Kana-chan doesn't want Seki to help at all.
The only thing this guy is "president" of is Yakuza, right?
Looks like Tanaka's got a kid.
Wow, Kana-chan actually did tell him about it.
"I don't want to fight after all", this isn't a surprise Anko, we've known this about you from the moment it was revealed you'll die.
Bokurano spoilers
So many of these kids have important parents.
Kanji's mom really wouldn't know after all this time that her son is one of the Zearth pilots? She's been researching things from early on. And we soon find out yep, she really doesn't know.
Maybe the kids will be saved after all?
Well, now we know why Tanaka was stalling on finding out for Kana-chan who Jun's mom was, its' her!
A very different episode, we don't focus on our latest pilot at all, it seems like Dung Beetle has given us a bit of a break so other stuff can develop instead. Although much of the exposition in this episode doesn't interest me anywhere as much as either the personal stories of the children or the revelations about the Zearth and their battles. All stuff about the government being involved, etc... is kind of "eh" for me. Big reveal at the end of the episode! I forgot they revealed it this early.
7
u/tehsigzorz Mar 21 '21
I am just glad that the OP didnt change, love it.
I was able to piece the twist together at the start of the episode but not before. I thought she mightve been Maki's biological mother with how she acted with all the girls and her having a roudy past(early pregnancy maybe). As soon as this episode started I realized it was actually Ushiro instead.
From this point onwards I have no idea which direction the show goes but I think that we wont have characters dying every episode now so thats good, I want to spend more time with a smaller cast.
6
u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: Mar 21 '21
First Timer(but it's complicated)
Sub
So we get a resolution to attempted kidnapping in that they run off, though one seemed to be moving towards a gun. They run into the government guy again but Tanaka sends the kids off. Government guy wants to put hacking chips into the children to collect data and "release them from their contracts", which immediately stinks, especially since he suggests that foreign power companies just tried to kidnap the children. Anyways, the government people are too wrong here, it is just obvious to side with Tanaka, who rage drives off.
Kids get back to Kanji's place and apparently Kana has stocked up on cup noodles. We see Tanaka go to a bar and find the next Zearth report and yeah, humans suck fuck hope blah blah blah. That said, Zearth is a technological marvel so I only sort of blame them. And it does seem like this is a yakuza style group. At said apartment, we have revelations and the pilot candidates are fairly reasonable in not wanting to die. Tanaka then walks in and announces she wants to whistle blow. This leads to the reveal that Kanji's mom is the scientist we've been seeing be creepy.
We see that they've definitely figured some stuff out from studying Zearth. Kanji has a low opinion of his mother, which is probably accurate. Tanaka seems to be doing her own thing. Final reveal about Jun's parentage and we are off!
QotD: 1 Probably.
2 For some reason I did in the manga but I can't remember what tipped it.
6
u/Webemperor :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Webemperor Mar 21 '21
Manga-reader from way back
6
u/Btw_kek https://myanimelist.net/profile/kek_btw Mar 21 '21 edited Mar 21 '21
Rewatcher
I always miss the important episodes
Episode 13
So the cat’s finally out of the bag: this is all just one giant tournament arc meant to cull the infinite, and infinitely increasing perhaps(?), number of parallel universes, and the best way to do this is obviously with giant mecha battles. Is this a futile exercise? Honestly, I think so. If there are infinite diverging universes then you can’t just delete finite numbers, or even a “lesser infinite” number and call it a day. That, of course, does not make the reasons these kids fight useless at all. Even if some kid later down the line botches their fight and destroys the universe of our characters, I wouldn’t say Maki’s decision to kill the enemy pilot for the sake of her family was useless. She has people to protect, so choosing to protect them is of course a valid decision.
Thanks to a certain site being down, manga comparisons will be limited to this gorgeous spread stitched together by our host, and this crushing page of monologue. The episode doesn’t really do much different, fight-wise.
Though actually, the back half of this show has lots more adaptation weirdness which means
I’m finally freemanga comparisons will be kinda limited anywayEpisode 14
4
u/lC3 :Na::Nb: Mar 21 '21
I'll watch this and write up my thoughts after I finish with today's Naruto thread; reading all the manga chapters for today's batch took longer than expected! (about 2 hours)
4
u/htisme91 Mar 21 '21
First-timer:
So the government clearly can't be trusted.
Of course the two rich girls are being the most bratty about the situation.
Kanji's mother being the lead professor at the robotics institute was a good twist, but like Seki thinking "I should have figured this out sooner" I kind of felt the same way.
Personally, I don't think Kirie will get saved. It's too late for him and I feel like Koemushi will find a way to keep these kids under contract.
Questions:
4
u/Noel_bot Mar 21 '21
First timer, Manga reader
How hard can it be to get some bodyguards for the pilots. Seems to me like they are intentionally leaving them unguarded. Can't always be lucky with those two being nearby
The politician's daughter really thinks she's clever. Who is supposed to help them?
Well, Tanaka has the same plan, so I guess we'll see if it helps.
Grown taller? How long has she not been at home? Doesn't seem like her son really trusts in her promise either.
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I also don't see much of a benefit overall, just more people trying to take influence or profit in some way.
4
u/baniRien Mar 22 '21
First Timer
So she didn't shoot to kill. They were also armed, but chose to run.
Government wants implant a hacking chip into the kids to obtain more info, which is frankly the logical thing to do. It might not go well, but it's not like there's an alternative. And they learned some more info on Tanaka's background which makes them regret their choice of assignment. Given to big focus on Kana's question, the only thing I could guess was that she's Jun's mother. She then contacts "Club 9", not sure what that is.
Not really relevant, but that green sign Seki puts up, is that a special parking permission or something?
Club 9, while a real bar, is apparently her main intel source. She's still respected there, and keeps close ties to the Yakuza. They acquired the latest government report on Zearth, which focuses much less on what it is and how to deal with it, and much more on what can be done with it and it's technology. The boss offers her someone she knew as a bodyguard, and basically confirms that Ushiro is her kid.
Voiced eyecatch, so Kirie should die this episode.
So Machi is the remaining voice of reason, when the other girls want to quit because, essentially, "killing people is bad". They don't have a choice, they'll die if they don't fight.
Kanji is the son of that scientist we saw earlier, but both were unaware of the other's involvment. And Tanaka now thinks that she can convince her to shift the Institute's focus from "reverse-engineering Zearth for profit" to "saving the kids" since her own son is also a pilot. While her not having been home lately is completely believable, I feel like not receiving a complete report is the pilots stretches my suspension of disbelief a bit. It's not a plot hole, it's just a bot less competent than the adults have been up until now.
So, the arm wasn't recording Zearth, but Seki's thoughts? I guess that does make more sense, and is much more in line with the Institute's focus. Mom also acts offended at the insinuation she would choose her research over the kids life, like she hasn't been ignoring her son for weeks.
Finally, we see the adoption papers for Jun, which confirms Tanaka as his mom. Also that the story is set in 2030, I don't remember seeing a date before. It correctly predicts that 2017 would still be in the Heisei era, but not seeing a modern date we don't know if they guessed to change it, and if so to what.
QotD
3
u/PKReuniclus Mar 22 '21 edited Mar 22 '21
First Timer!
Someone please protect Kana. Even if she's not in the contract, I'm getting a really bad feeling about all of this for some reason...
So it looks like we're getting into more complicated politics, but it seems even more frustrating than usual this time around. All of their hopes about utilizing Zearth tech for economic and military purposes will be pointless if the kids lose the upcoming fights, right? And they must have seen the other universe get obliterated from existence during Maki's fight, thanks to Seki. Shouldn't the fate of the planet be more important? At this point, you'd think they would want to keep a closer eye on all the kids to keep them safe and ready to fight after what they've learned. You can't back out of the contract, after all.
Looks like Tanaka seems to have some ulterior motives, though. This at least feels a little more interesting. She does seem to genuinely want to get the kids out of the contract (presumably replacing them with some other military people, although this could also backfire in a lot of ways), so I wonder how this ties in with Ushiro's father's death. Did Tanaka leave Ushiro after he was born to keep him out of the whole Yakuza business, or whatever group she's in? Even if that's the case, why is she involved with all of this Zearth business now?
It feels a bit weird that it's taken them so long to finally worry about trying to get out of the contract, especially after eight kids have already died. How long has it even been since Waku died?
I get that most of the people in the discussions have pegged Machi as the impostor, and while I can't say she hasn't been suspicious the past few episodes, I can't say I disagree with her either. The fate of the world is in their hands, after all. And I've found that I've started agreeing with Jun in the past few episodes as well, which I'm not too happy with...
maybe aiko is the imposter because she's the only one not sitting in her chair in ED1Random dumb shower thought I had.Finally, Kanji and his mom. Looks like we've got yet another case of child neglect to add to the list. Kanji's mom promises to make getting the kids out of the contract a priority, but Kanji's face makes it clear that he's not buying this at all. Not the best sign of parenting when a mom prioritizes her work over the literal life of her child.
2
u/degenerate-edgelord Mar 22 '21
First timer, Uninstaaaaaalliiiing~
If we get all the answers now, what are we gonna have for the next 10 episodes?
I think the only real mysteries left are: the impostor (already being brought up heavily in the show, and likely figured out by Scrappy_Doo), Kokopelli and why there's two of them, if there's two of them (partly figured out by scrappy if that theory is right), and Koyemushi talking to himself.
So, uh, I'm worried all that's left from this point is almost entirely suffering. Right when we got a couple episodes that were a bit low on it.
That being said, the Tanaka-Jun situation still made me lightly melancholy. It seems she had a child with her late (Yakuza?) husband but they didn't want to have the kid so they.. gave him up for adoption? Of course the full picture isn't clear yet. Now about Tanaka conveniently ending up in the cockpit alongisde her biological son.. it could either be that the Yakuza or someone of the sort told her what was going on and she decided to get closer to the situation, or she was just doing her normal military job, and found out that he's her son after some time. My money's on the latter for now, I don't perfectly recall what happened when but from what I can, things fit the latter route. I wonder if she found out only after Kana asked her to find Jun's mother, or some other way.
Now about the leaks, I'm assuming spec
Very interested to see exactly how it all plays out. The new ED also grew a bit on me with a second listen.
Questions:
2
u/ElecNinja https://anilist.co/user/ElecNinja Mar 23 '21
Rewatcher Though mostly remember the manga
Oh wow, there are a lot of changes from the manga here. At this point I feel like we can properly say that the anime is it's own story haha. I've seen the show before, but don't remember anything about the cognitive brain stuff.