Monday, May 23, 2016

Rahxephon Part 6 Episodes 20-23


Ayato returns to TERRA but must face the consequences of his trip to Tokyo Jupiter.  After losing Hiroko by his hand, Ayato is at a crossroads.  And it just so happens so is Humanity.  Makoto takes control of TERRA and announces plans to destroy the Tokyo Jupiter barrier.  At the same time, Mamoru emerges in the real world, determined to kill Ayato for the death of Hiroko.  And has Ayato really gone insane or is that Ixtli at Makoto’s side?  The gauntlets are thrown down and the first casualties of the final battle will be losses that will shake TERRA to its core.  Ayato can’t outrun destiny forever.  The time has come for him to make the ultimate choice: Humanity or the Mu?

Well at some point, the writers had to say it’s time to cut it with all the crypticness and dole out some answers.  And we did finally get some…but not all.  Makes sense given that this was basically part one of a giant two part finale.  It’s been building in this series for a long time and, if this set was any indicator, this is gonna be one helluva final fight.

First, a moment of silence…for JIN MOTHERF*****G KUNIGI!!!!!  Oh man did the commander of TERRA go out like the boss he’s always been.  His heroic final stand against his old adversary was rough to watch, especially since I meant watching Narai Kanai get destroyed in the process.  Those kinds of scenes have always been hard for me personally, watching places you’ve grown to enjoy fall to the horrors of war.  Ayato and TERRA lost their main base and home…but Kunigi didn’t let it go so easily.  Man…he’s gonna be missed.

That all adds to the fact that even though we haven’t spent a lot of time with this supporting cast, we do give a damn about them.  I just wish we had more time to spend with them.  Seeing Soichi get so choked up having to accept Kunigi’s final orders to evacuate was especially tough.  So admired Kunigi a great deal and often brought out a side of him we rarely saw.  Seeing him do his best to hold it together was tough.  Worse yet, Kunigi finally opened up to Ayato and asked him to get together some time for dinner…a dinner they will never have but at least these two found a measure of peace.  Speaking of measures of peace, good on Elvy making peace with Ayato too and telling him about Haruka (more or less).  She’s earned some points back in my book now after the last couple of weeks of douchebagery racism.

Kunigi’s sacrifice may have been the stand out moment of this week.  But there was a lot going on too.  With Makoto temporarily taking command, we got a nice taste of much deserved just rewards when everything came crashing down around him.  Having Ixtli show up in a physical form was an odd touch.  But it was worth it when she vanished from Makoto’s side right when he needed her and no one could even remember her.  It’s strange he dropped the “et tu brute?” line on Itsuki when he sided with So, but really Istuki and Makoto haven been friends in a long time.  Icing on the cake really.

And yes, we did finally find out who Ixtli really was.  As I may have guessed, IT, yes I said it, is the soul of Rahxephon and it’s sibling unit sitting in Quon’s egg, taking on the form of the one the instrumentalist wants the most.  For Quon, that’s Ayato (go figure, though if what Maya said about her at the end of this week is any indication…then grosssssss).  For Ayato, it was actually fitting to see him reject his Reika Ixtli, saying she’s not who he wanted.  Still, Ayato managed to find a compromise: use Ixlti and the Rahxephon to protect the one dearest to him.  So I guess we’ll see how that turns out when we return next week.  It will probably make more sense than anything going on at the Babhem Foundation.  With old man Babhem taking over Helena’s body…im just at a loss for why they were needed for this story at all.  But I guess they have their own SEELE like plans to intervene with Third Impact, er I mean the Tuning or whatever.

Lastly, Mamoru popped up to kick things off (I guess ive been telling events in reverse).  His arrival signaled a nice little turning point for Ayato as the Rahxephon pilot discovered his other former friend was not just a Mu but also ready to kill him and Megumi for the death of Hiroko.  It was kind of hit and miss for me, Mamoru’s psychological game with Ayato.  But I did like that his Dolem could give the Rahxephon some trouble.  I’m looking forward to their inevitable showdown next week.

When that was pretty lengthy but I guess a lot of ground was covered this week.  Coming out of a sort of disappointing return to Tokyo Jupiter, we got some great character moments, actual answers and a great setup for things to come.  Finales don’t get much bigger than this Independence Day level event that’s about to hit.  Rahxephon’s had it’s bumps but ive enjoyed it.  Let’s hope it can finish just as strong.  See you next week for the final episodes…but is it the end of the story?  Not quite.

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