Xebek\’s Blog

Ryoko has been restored in the fake world except without her emotions and Kyo tries to be with her, all the while trying to deal with if they are alive and what the point is of things, still being effected by the server reset.

Summary:

We start off with a report from the bridge. They are done scanning Ryoko’s data and they have found out that the missing data that didn’t allow her to function has been restored. Lu Sheng says how it is impossible to restore lost data but one of the A.I.s says that it was more like a transfer; Sin gave her something to fill those in. Shima asks if this will jeopardize anything but the A.I.s say they can’t find any trace of some hidden program or anything. Kyo asks if this means Ryoko is back to normal. One of the A.I.s says no, her emotions are still in the Altair, that basically she is still only herself in the Altar but now the her in the fake world can function, just emotionlessly. Later, we see at school Shizuno transferring in just like she did in the last server lifetime. We then see a rather robotic like Ryoko just sitting reading some movie script or book. Mizuki approaches her, introducing herself. She notes what Ryoko is reading and tries to be friendly but Ryoko just answer the bare minimum. Mizuki is called away however and Ryoko goes back to reading, but soon after Kyo comes by telling her its time to go home, that they should walk together. Kyo and Ryoko walks home together, Kyo trying to talk to her like everything is normal. He says things like they should do things together, that they should explore the server more. Ryoko manages to say don’t force yourself. Kyo says that he isn’t, he really does want to spend time with her. He tells her he wants to stay with her, and asks her if there is anything she wants to do. She says nothing in particular, but then looks at a nearby movie store. They rent a lot of movies and Kyo goes over to Ryoko’s place to watch them with her and her brother. Eventually her brother goes to bed and the two of them continue to watch the movies together. Kyo asks if Ryoko liked the movie they finished and she just says she supposes she liked it, but she doesn’t know. She tells him again not to force himself and he just yells that he isn’t’. They continue to watch the movies and Kyo thinks to himself why Sin did that, infiltrated without fear of danger and asked all those questions. Ryoko tells him that she really wants to know the reason why they fight. She tells him what she said to Sin and then tells him, “The swimming club, okay?” She reminds him that Shizuno transferred over today and Kyo lashed back to when he was first meeting her in the span of this series, and the kiss he had with her. He then looks at Ryoko, and her lips and gets closer to her, almost ready to kiss her but stops himself, and changes the movie and they keep watching.

On the Oceanus, Shima wakes up from a nightmare with Minato by his side. She serves him some coffee and they discuss about if they really have dreams, because they are fake. They are fake, like their dreams, so does that mean the people in their dreams dream? Minato says then maybe they themselves are someone’s dream. Shizuno arrives and Shima tells Minato she can leave now, kind of disappointing her. Shima tells Shizuno that time cannot be stopped, looks like its earlier then planned. She asks him the chance of success. He says that depends on her and Kyo’s condition. We then see Kyo and Ryoko out on a scouting mission, Ryoko the normal self with emotions. They talk and she mentions about the movies thy watched together, that she remembers everything that happened to her in the fake world. She then teases him about the almost kiss. Kyo gets embarrassed saying that’s not it and she just says she didn’t know he was a shy guy. Their mission comes to a close and before they transfer out Ryoko gives him a kiss on the cheek, thanking him for always staying with him. The next day at school, emotionless Ryoko is in the library when Mizuki runs in trying to hide from her club mates so she doesn’t have to do anything. Ryoko and her kind of bond, although Ryoko doesn’t do much. Mizuki notices the script she is writing but is caught and has to leave her. Meanwhile we see Kyo not in school, on a park bench just thinking to himself about the artificial world. Kei comes up to him and asks where he was, that he wasn’t in school all day. Kyo says to forget about it and when he goes to get bread for them, Kyo heads down the street. From the nearby arcade on the side of the street, the three guys who were friends with Kyo before the reset, but originally had a thing against him come out. They confront him, not being friendly at all and Kyo just kind of blows them off. He starts to say to them how it doesn’t matter what he does, and that even though he missed school he tells them exactly what happened as he remembers it from happening before. He starts to rant at them in anger about how this is all fake but sees Ryoko in the distance and shuts up.; Him and Kawaguchi then get in a fight. A bit later Kyo is with Ryoko on another scouting mission and she lectures him that he shouldn’t’ have fought with them, that they will be his friends. Kyo says it doesn’t matter because he has to do the same thing over and over but Ryoko just says that because of that he should try and have a happier approach.

Kyo and Ryoko arrive above a large field of flowers and they land. Meanwhile on the Oceanus, Shima tells the A.I.s to change the ships course to head to Japan, to the Maihama server. Everyone is shocked at this, and Lu Sheng says if they go there the chance of enemy detection for the server is greater. Shima doesn’t say anything but Shizuno defends the decision saying it is for maintenance. Ryoko and Kyo are waling around near the Altair in the field of flowers. Ryoko is unable to touch them and they get to talking and Kyo asks Ryoko if they are no longer human. He starts to rant about what is real and what is fake, that this is the real world but they are unable to do anything, and the other world is fabricated. Ryoko kind of says that they are the ones who are fake. Kyo goes kind of crazy; yelling why can’t eh touch the flowers. Just then Gards-Orm show up and Kyo and Ryoko fight them. Kyo still all emotional from that easily defeats the Gards-Orm. In the fight the field of flowers is burned and Kyo and Ryoko just look at them. Kyo then vows to himself and Ryoko that he will one day touch flowers like those.

Impressions:

This episode was almost hard to watch, with Ryoko being emotionless in the fake world. It’s almost worse then her being in a comma. Although, at least Ryoko remembers things she did in her walking comma state in the fake world. Although it’s hard to say how much control the real her, which is everything bundled together; her in the Altair, it’s hard to say how much control she has over the actions of the emotionless self in the fake world. It’s also a bit painful to see the three guy friends that Kyo had, now that the server is reset hate him. Although if Kyo does the right things it will end up the same, its still a bit hard to see them act that way knowing how good of friends they used to be in the future. Wow, normally that sentence doesn’t make any sense, its confusing uses tenses when talking about time in an anime like this

The other really big thing towards the end was the whole emotion burst that Kyo had about being real or not. Although, he seems to have kind of has gone through the exact same angst before when he was first realizing the truth, and now it just seems like he is dealing with the exact same thing, sparked forth by the whole reset and that the Gards-Orm like Sin are real.

I really started to think about where this show will end up in the end, and I think that somebody has to die. My guess is that Kyo, Ryoko, or Shizuno will die in order to save the other(s); I don’t necessarily think Kyo will because that leaves two open strands of Ryoko and Shizuno. Maybe Shizuno will die so Ryoko and Kyo can be together, or Ryoko will die, but Kyo dieing seems to leave too many open ends as there is still Ryoko and Shizuno. I know it’s not bad for the main character to die in the end because it’s a sacrifice and so on, but the situation seems wrong for that.