stormmaster
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I like viking/migration era swords
Posts: 7,647
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Post by stormmaster on Nov 28, 2016 6:13:42 GMT
I don't think I've ever actually considered watching Guilty Crown, come to think; I've been partly turned off by the way people talk about it, I suppose. Though I really shouldn't let that stop me, since they say the same things about Aldnoah.Zero and Koutetsujou no Kabaneri and, for all their faults, I enjoy them. Speaking of anime that have some decidedly negative airs about them, Code Geass is apparently getting a sequel in addition to a compilation trilogy; the staff behind it has announced that the show, titled Lelouch of the Resurrection, will feature the titular Lelouch himself, not a clone or alternate dimension version, which is curious if you know how the second season ended. I rather enjoyed Code Geass, but the middle of the second season is just horrible. On another note, here's something that ought to please Random: they've announced a new Panty & Stocking project that, according to the Twitter announcement, is neither pachinko, mobile game, or a blu-ray dvd. Kinda hard to conclude it to be anything other than a second season. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, Code Geass was a perfect ending, dont ruin it u monsters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wtf it was the best ending god damn I dont wanna see how they will play it off
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Nov 28, 2016 7:42:47 GMT
It largely depends on how they do it. Given the title, they may not be trying to hand wave it or ignore it, unlike other series (such as Gundam SEED Destiny that took an amazing sacrifice and made it pointless).
That said, I agree the ending it got was pretty perfect for it, though I would like some explanation towards C.C.'s words at the end.
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stormmaster
Member
I like viking/migration era swords
Posts: 7,647
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Post by stormmaster on Nov 28, 2016 8:28:37 GMT
It largely depends on how they do it. Given the title, they may not be trying to hand wave it or ignore it, unlike other series (such as Gundam SEED Destiny that took an amazing sacrifice and made it pointless). That said, I agree the ending it got was pretty perfect for it, though I would like some explanation towards C.C.'s words at the end. i think the point is to let the audience decide, maybe CC was talking to lelouch or maybe she was just reminiscing, but this just makes lelouch's whole season 2 sacrifice pointless, better not be some time travel or resurrection bs I swear, will probably still watch it though, just to see if they muck it up or not, and if they bring him back, how will he live in the world? he is like the most hated person on the planet and everyone knows his face, or will he take back the mantle of zero, but why, cant they just leave the good memories alone. I actually shed a few tears at the finale all those years ago, but this time I hope i dont shed tears of rage
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Post by randomnobody on Nov 28, 2016 9:55:32 GMT
I'd heard/seen something about a new PSG "project" via either Reddit or Facebook or some such. I was very briefly excited, before almost immediately collecting myself and preparing for disappointment. We'll see... As for the rest...words.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Nov 30, 2016 1:14:38 GMT
Sometimes I hate daylight savings; went to bed half past noon and woke up about 5:30pm, but because of how dark it was outside and how long I thought I'd slept, I thought it was 5:30am, which caused a mild panic attack when the clock was telling me it was still Tuesday.
I finally got around to Matoi just now after putting it off in favor of finally starting a modded playthrough of Fallout 4, since PS4 finally got mod support almost two weeks ago (but, as is usual for me, I had my nose in a series of books for the entire time they've been available). Not that I'll get to do much with it, since I rented Final Fantasy XV; after waiting for it on and off for the past 10 years, it's kinda hard to believe it's finally out.
Anyway, Matoi. Not a bad episode and I got a laugh pretty early on when Matoi goes to fight in her old PE uniform, buruma included. Her reasoning is surprisingly sound: since her clothes get dissolved whenever she Unifies, it makes more sense to wear old clothes she no longer needs rather than constantly depleting her wardrobe. Hilariously, Yuma breathes a sigh of relief, having assumed Matoi was doing it to boost the show's ratings through fanservice. After a bit of teasing from the plot, we see Matoi and Shingo attempting to act like a normal father and daughter, which starts well with him buying her a cute outfit she wanted, but was going to turn down due to the price (spending 1/4 of your budget on a single item when you need close to a dozen isn't very smart regardless of what you're buying) and kinda falls into awkwardness when they run out of their very limited conversation pool; much like an actual father and daughter who haven't spent much time together. Hilariously, Clarus' handler calls out Luciela (and Yuma) to set up info exchange and has them meet him at their hideout, but doesn't seem to understand Luciela's embarrassment over being invited inside... Because he doesn't seem to realize that their hideout is a love hotel. Once told, though, he's literally begging forgiveness.
Afterwards, Matoi and Shingo get trapped by a Night in one of those observation deck restaurants (that they remark is conveniently empty right before the attack) when it erects a barrier that not only prevents Matoi from drawing on the majority of her powers, but also rapidly lowers the temperature. We get further hints that Shingo knows the exorcist girl is Matoi when her powers start failing her and she has the same reaction her mother did; Clarus and Yuma work together to punch a hole in the barrier so Matoi can draw upon her full power and completely break it, cracking the limiting crystal in Clarus' briefcase in the process. The Night returns, furious, and is, surprisingly, dealt the final blow not by Matoi or Yuma or Clarus, but by Shingo using the broken tip of the sword Matoi attempted to call forth earlier (but lacked the power to do so fully). It attempts to possess him after he passes out from hypothermia, only for the omamori we've seen numerous times to reveal itself as the real thing and reject the Night, taking on the ghostly form of Shiori and destroying it completely. Surprisingly, in the after credits scene, when Shingo awakes in Matoi's arms, he calls her name and she mentions her mother really being an exorcist. I wonder if that's them acknowledging that the other knows or just a bit of delirium and relief talking.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Dec 2, 2016 19:34:59 GMT
Finally got to Drifters. Good episode with some interesting tactics to take the armory town where the dwarves are enslaved. They finally make use of the explosives Nobunaga's been working on to devastating effect, especially when the elite troop, complete with heavy armor, takes the stage near the end of the battle; Olminu uses her stone wall spells to enclose them and the elves throw in a couple bags of explosives, defeating them with contemptible ease. Despite that, the defenders manage to close the gate/drawbridge, but with a bit of vague help from Hannibal, Nobunaga has Olminu and Yoichi use their stone wall spells and archery, respectively, to create large platforms jutting from the castle walls to serve as stairs. Amusingly, they free the dwarves, who are in a literal concentration camp and suffering severe malnutrition, and basically start a dinner party... Without even taking the keep. Surprisingly, it has a bit of strategy to it: Toyohisa tells the defenders what's going on and tells them that if they flee before the dwarves finish eating, they won't chase them, but if they're not gone by then, they'll kill every last one of them. They quickly surrender after a brief discussion, though the end up fleeing in panic after Toyohisa beheads their lord, who refused to commit seppuku. We then find out that the Black King is building a monster civilization, intending to become their "savior", as well as having a massively powerful ally joining his side.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Dec 4, 2016 4:34:56 GMT
Overslept a fair bit and just now got to Izetta. Leaving off on a pretty desperate note last time, this time we find Fine and most of her cabinet survived the bombing and escaped through a secret tunnel; Izetta is, surprisingly, rescued by a group of soldiers and the surprise reappearance of the Eylstadt air force. Meanwhile, however, Sophie obliterates most of their defenses with far more agile versions of Izetta's bombs. We then get the whole story (naturally) of what Izetta's grandmother told her about the White Witch: she's a traitor not only because she meddled in human affairs, but because she stole the Magic Stone, a relic of the first witch that grants incredible power in exchange for a witch's life, to do so. After learning this, Izetta wakes up and we find it's been a month since her defeat. We're then informed that the Magic Stone is pretty much exactly what I thought: a magic battery that works by absorbing magic around it and storing it for later use. Sieg Muller reveals that his ancestors were loyal to the Moellers, the prince's wife's family from the story, and worked with them to capture and sell Sophie to the Inquisition, which he found out thanks to a diary left by his ancestor, though he only found it after Fine and Izetta left for Britannia. Meanwhile, Londenion (Britannia's capital) falls to an attack by Sophie and Germania, but the plus side is that the half of the Magic Stone Sophie has is placing such an incredible strain on her body that it'll likely kill her in a week or two; it's being extended by some drug given to her, but that's implied to be little more than a painkiller.
It's not much of a plus side, though, when it's shown Izetta is paralyzed from the waist down; surprisingly, though, the old military guy in Fine's cabinet, the kind of guy who would normally be pushing the doctor's to get her better so she can keep fighting, is instead pushing the doctor to do anything to fix her because she saved their lives and she's only 15. It was rather sweet. Fine calls things quits because she can't bare the though of Izetta being harmed again. Germania, meanwhile, is developing what's heavily implied to be an atomic bomb powered by magic and intends to force peace on the Allies before invading the Volga Federation (whichever country that is) with their sights then on Atlanta and, eventually, world domination. Right before the end, though, when Izetta's at her worst, Sieg comes in offering hope in the form of the other half of the Magic Stone; at least he has the decency to look like he hates himself for offering it.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Dec 4, 2016 16:49:58 GMT
Gundam was quite good and surprised me a bit, which isn't easy, since many aspects of the various Gundam series tend to mirror one another. The main thread of this episode is finally revealing the mobile armor that Tekkadan unearthed several episodes back; most fans have known since then that it would be a mobile armor because of the gunpla pre-order that was put up on various sites. Here's where the surprise comes in: in every other Gundam series, mobile armors are just giant machines piloted by regular pilots, sometime by several (such as Gundam 00's Trilobite), and are often more powerful than mobile suits because of more space for larger power plants, bigger weaponry, etc., but lose in mobility, being essentially scaled down battleships. However, this mobile armor, named Pluma, is revealed to be completely autonomous and to also be one of many responsible for the Calamity War we've heard so much about. This also marks the first time where a catastrophic war is not faction vs faction, but rather humanity vs rogue AI; it's also revealed that the Gundam frames were developed specifically to counteract the rogue mobile armors, which themselves react to mobile suits' Ahab Reactors, as seen in the end when Iok moves his mobile suit just a bit too close to the Pluma, causing it to activate. More surprisingly, but perhaps not so in hindsight, the Pluma reveals IBO's first, and potentially only, beam weapon. I say in hindsight, because with IBO's very medieval theme, the mobile armors become the vicious monsters and dragons that the knights set out to slay, making the Pluma's beam weapon, conveniently fired from its "mouth", equivalent to a dragon's fire.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Dec 6, 2016 19:18:42 GMT
Matoi's moving steadily towards its end game with the reveal of the Nights' ultimate goal: opening the gate to the highest dimension, merging all dimensions into one, which the Nights will then rule over. There are implications that the gate is opening as a natural reaction to Matoi's growing powers, though this raises more implications with the reveal the same happened ten years ago; the same likely happened with Shiori, but since the gate apparently disappeared soon after opening, what does that mean for her? The elder shrine maiden makes an amusing return appearance before Clarus and her handler; you expect her to mention some vague, arcane method of finding them... Nope: tracking device. Of course, things take a turn for the serious by finally explaining just what happened to Shiori, as they know it; the door to the highest dimension opened on its own and she shut it by traveling through it, apparently a one way trip unless some external force is preventing her from returning on her own. Though, since her Union spirit is now in Matoi's possession, I doubt she's still alive. Naturally, they need Matoi to do the same to close the door this time, since she's the only one who has the power to travel all the dimensions. From there, the remainder of the pair of Nights from last week makes an attempt at revenge and things happen more or less as you'd expect: Matoi overcomes her crises of faith at the last moment and beats him fairly handily. However, afterwards, things progress in a fairly unexpected direction starting with the surprise reappearance of the Creed Killer, who reveals that Set, the one giving the orders, is actually a fake. It sheds its disguise to briefly reveal a being of light in roughly the size and shape of a human before disappearing. Meanwhile, Shingo is mulling over to himself about how the truth was right in front of him, but he didn't want to accept it, so you think he's referring to Matoi, but then comes the bigger surprise when he shows up in front of Pochi with gun drawn, wondering why he's after Matoi.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Dec 8, 2016 15:35:18 GMT
In semi-unrelated news, I was checking ANN to see what news I've missed the last few days and found two interesting little tidbits. First, Renai Boukun, a comedy manga I've been following for awhile, is premiering its anime adaptation in April; would have been funnier, given the theme and content, to have it air in January alongside Gabriel Dropout, but this works, too.
Second, the basic plot and characters of the upcoming Trinity Seven movie have been revealed and I'm now quite hopeful for it. The plot is that Arata accidentally touches Lilith's grimoire and gets transported to the Eternal Library from the first season where he meets a young girl named Lilim that refers to him and Lilith as her parents. Sealed in the Library is Last Trinity, the White Demon Lord, and a being brought into existence to defeat Arata.
Despite sounding relatively generic (and rather similar to the old Tenchi Muyo: Daughter of Darkness movie), the reason I'm hopeful is that Lilim is canonically Arata and Lilith's future daughter from a light novel side story and the person responsible for bringing Last Trinity into existence is Anastasia-L and Master Akasha, two antagonists who make their debut in the Magic Tournament arc that takes place after the Sky Library arc (which starts immediately after the end of the anime). The fact that Anastasia and Abyss Trinity, antagonist of the Sky Library arc, also made cameos in the OVA really makes me hopeful we'll see a second season after the movie.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Dec 9, 2016 19:15:19 GMT
Drifters was quite interesting, showing off both Drifters and Ends in equal measure, particularly with the Dwarves back at full strength. Nobunaga asks them to reproduce a musket and, once they see it for themselves, they reproduce the barrel by the next day; when asked how many they could make, their representative says about 7-8, maybe 10 once they get used to the process. Nobunaga is disappointed at first, but cheers up when they (naturally) clarify they were talking on a per day basis. Throughout the episode, everyone's amusing reaction faces are on full display, but the best had to be the elder Dwarf who was sweating bullets having to listen to Yoichi's drunken ramblings, followed by Saint-Germi's underlings being easily defeated by the appearance of Hannibal, who fits the tastes of the one who prefers older men, and Yoichi, who appears right after the other mentions his type is specifically young men with ponytails and bangs over one eye. The most interesting part of the episode is the reveal that Saint-Germi is also a Drifter and was a personal acquaintance with Hitler during the founding of Orte. Now I'm really curious who he was in our world.
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stormmaster
Member
I like viking/migration era swords
Posts: 7,647
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Post by stormmaster on Dec 10, 2016 3:42:15 GMT
just watched the movie Your Name directed & written by Makoto Shinkai, very intresting movie, absolutely beautiful with the hand drawn animations which honestly I prefer as there are too many cgi movies nowadays, I really love this guys movies, they are always really touching and feel good movies, this one is actually a happier ending then most of his past works, would highly recommend if you liked 5 Centimeters Per Second, I personally feel that he decided that his movies were too sad so he made this one alittle happier, great watch alone but absolutely the best when watching with your significant other as this movie made me appreciate mine more.
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Post by Adrian Jordan on Dec 10, 2016 3:48:56 GMT
I've been meaning to watch that one. I'm again behind in everything, hahaha.
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Post by Onimusha on Dec 10, 2016 23:38:20 GMT
Drifters was quite interesting, showing off both Drifters and Ends in equal measure, particularly with the Dwarves back at full strength. Nobunaga asks them to reproduce a musket and, once they see it for themselves, they reproduce the barrel by the next day; when asked how many they could make, their representative says about 7-8, maybe 10 once they get used to the process. Nobunaga is disappointed at first, but cheers up when they (naturally) clarify they were talking on a per day basis. Throughout the episode, everyone's amusing reaction faces are on full display, but the best had to be the elder Dwarf who was sweating bullets having to listen to Yoichi's drunken ramblings, followed by Saint-Germi's underlings being easily defeated by the appearance of Hannibal, who fits the tastes of the one who prefers older men, and Yoichi, who appears right after the other mentions his type is specifically young men with ponytails and bangs over one eye. The most interesting part of the episode is the reveal that Saint-Germi is also a Drifter and was a personal acquaintance with Hitler during the founding of Orte. Now I'm really curious who he was in our world. I read a lot of the manga before the anime came out. Pretty sure I know who germi is, but I won't spoil that. It finally hit me who the black king is in episode 7 or so. I have to say, it's an interesting take. It really makes sense, in hindsight, considering the origins of the other ends. Gotta go catch up on episode 10.
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stormmaster
Member
I like viking/migration era swords
Posts: 7,647
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Post by stormmaster on Dec 10, 2016 23:39:32 GMT
Drifters was quite interesting, showing off both Drifters and Ends in equal measure, particularly with the Dwarves back at full strength. Nobunaga asks them to reproduce a musket and, once they see it for themselves, they reproduce the barrel by the next day; when asked how many they could make, their representative says about 7-8, maybe 10 once they get used to the process. Nobunaga is disappointed at first, but cheers up when they (naturally) clarify they were talking on a per day basis. Throughout the episode, everyone's amusing reaction faces are on full display, but the best had to be the elder Dwarf who was sweating bullets having to listen to Yoichi's drunken ramblings, followed by Saint-Germi's underlings being easily defeated by the appearance of Hannibal, who fits the tastes of the one who prefers older men, and Yoichi, who appears right after the other mentions his type is specifically young men with ponytails and bangs over one eye. The most interesting part of the episode is the reveal that Saint-Germi is also a Drifter and was a personal acquaintance with Hitler during the founding of Orte. Now I'm really curious who he was in our world. I read a lot of the manga before the anime came out. Pretty sure I know who germi is, but I won't spoil that. It finally hit me who the black king is in episode 7 or so. I have to say, it's an interesting take. It really makes sense, in hindsight, considering the origins of the other ends. Gotta go catch up on episode 10. jesus christ it was such a twist, am i right?
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Post by Onimusha on Dec 10, 2016 23:41:05 GMT
I read a lot of the manga before the anime came out. Pretty sure I know who germi is, but I won't spoil that. It finally hit me who the black king is in episode 7 or so. I have to say, it's an interesting take. It really makes sense, in hindsight, considering the origins of the other ends. Gotta go catch up on episode 10. jesus christ it was such a twist, am i right? I seeist what thou didst there. He kept talking about becoming a savior. Then he showed some scars on his arms, and I said, "oh no he didn't". Then he said, "I tried to save man, and they rejected me." "Holy #&!$, he #;&:!!@ did!"
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Post by Verity on Dec 11, 2016 0:40:24 GMT
I recently finished Asterisk War. I liked it. :)
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Dec 11, 2016 9:05:35 GMT
jesus christ it was such a twist, am i right? ;) I seeist what thou didst there. He kept talking about becoming a savior. Then he showed some scars on his arms, and I said, "oh no he didn't". Then he said, "I tried to save man, and they rejected me." "Holy #&!$, he #;&:!!@ did!" Jesus is the most common figure for the Black King's identity, according to what little I read on Reddit at the beginning of the season, and it makes sense, what with the Ends being made up of, for lack of a better term, famous martyrs; that said, there was another person mention who I can't recall that was also a candidate for the Black King. As for Germi, since the anime started really catching my attention about episode 4-5 despite my misgivings, I decided to read the manga once the anime finishes up, so I'll find out who he is sooner or later, so thanks for not spoiling.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Dec 11, 2016 13:46:44 GMT
Finally got around to Izetta thanks to having more or less slept through the entirety of yesterday; also got Gundam thrown in as a bonus since I slept that long. Been awhile since I've had two shows to watch in the same day. Anyway.
Izetta was good, though I didn't actually see the surprise raid on Fine's hideout coming; I kinda figured it'd be a little more secure. Germania's also apparently fed up with Berkman, with the man leading the raid implying he's been ordered to execute him, though he doesn't get the chance as, after forcing Fine's surrender by executing a couple of her captured soldiers, Izetta shows up wielding the half of the Magic Stone Sieg offered her and filling the hall with a storm of bricks. Surprisingly, we get a flashback of when Sieg handed the stone over, with Bianca (naturally) vehemently opposing it, but the whole time, Sieg looks like he hates himself for offering it and, even tough he offered, he's still hesitant to actually give it to Izetta, knowing what it'll do to her. Berkman shoots the officer leading the raid and surrenders, then offers information on the new bomb (actually a missile) that Germania has perfected in exchange for his life because he figures an Eylstadt victory is the only way he survives the war. Upon learning of it, Fine decides the best course of action is full surrender so that Germania won't launch their missile at the capital, which results in the most shocking moment yet: Izetta, of all people, slaps Fine. And then calls her by name, which snaps her out of the malaise she'd been exhibiting. Amusingly, after the plans are made, Izetta takes Fine on a moonlit broom ride to apologize where Fine tells her she forgives her, but only if she starts calling her by name; she even coaches her until Izetta can say it without hesitating. Everything's really shaping up for an epic finale.
Gundam was quite good, naturally featuring the battle against the Mobile Armor; last week, I called it "Pluma", but I was mistaken. Pluma is just the name of the little sub-units it carries and there are, surprisingly, dozens of them instead of just one or two. The Mobile Armor itself is named Hashmal, which brings further interesting implications regarding the Calamity War, as Hashmallim is the fourth choir of angels in Jewish angelic hierarchy; McGillis directly calls the Mobile Armor an angel. Makes me wonder if there were 10 Mobile Armors in total throughout the war, to correspond with each angelic choir. There's also a rather interesting fan theory that Flauros and Barbatos are the ones that fought Hashmal during the Calamity War, given their proximity; Flauros was found in the same crater, roughly, as Hashmal, and Barbatos was apparently found nearby by the CCG's owner pre-Tekkadan, who turned it into a power plant. They plan to ambush the Hashmal as it makes its way to Chryse, but want everyone to evacuate in case they can't stop it; interestingly, Kudelia refuses to evacuate, as there's not enough room at the shelter, so her going would prevent someone of a lesser standing from getting in. Meanwhile, Akihiro's team is tracking the Hashmal and preparing to report when Iok the Idiot shows up and fires on it, causing it to change course. They try to get it to change back, with Ride going on ahead to evacuate the agricultural plant in its path only for the worst to happen: Ride gets in the way of its beam weapon and takes it straight to the cockpit, but his suit's nanolaminate armor causes the beam to fracture and strike its original target, the plant and all the civilians, as dozens of smaller beams. Mika manages to save Ride as the Plumas begin to overwhelm him and Vidar shows up in front of McGillis, who was on his way to help.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Dec 13, 2016 16:50:05 GMT
Matoi's penultimate episode was quite good, starting quite tense as Shingo lists all the evidence against Pochi before dropping that the gun he's holding was borrowed from Luciela, meaning he's not speaking as a cop, but as a father; naturally, it cuts to the OP as he pulls the trigger, so you think there's going to be some last second thing that negates it all, but surprisingly there wasn't. When it comes back, the gun goes off and Pochi is unharmed, a Night's protective field popping up in front of him. Even more surprising, however, is that the thing possessing Pochi isn't actually a Night, but is rather heavily implied to be the Fake Set from last week, and reveals that far from wanting to hurt Matoi, it was "guiding" her in order to close the gate that's currently opening and threatening to merge the dimensions (which would, conveniently, destroy Earth as we know it); before leaving, it points out that Shingo can probably stop Matoi if he tries. Interestingly, while they have a short phone call where nothing much gets said, but they each know what the other wants to say, neither actually sees the other until the last couple minutes of the episode, so there's no big emotions trying to convince the two one way or the other like there normally would be in a situation like this. Instead, both come to terms with it on their own and Matoi decides to get her mother back after hearing that the gate is actually starting to shrink then spends a little while using her power to heal those who were possessed by Nights. Amusingly, after all that, she tries to sneak out of the house on the big day, only for Shingo to be standing right behind her and scolds her for staying out all night only to head out again, just like a normal parent; in fact, all he does for that scene is give her a bit of normalcy even though both know without saying it that they may never see each other again. Yuma and Clarus, naturally, decide to go with her, so it should make for an interesting finale.
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