I was excited about Kiyoko being around and thinking "So cool!" while she told her story just to be slapped by reality later. I'm too naive... I also got the idea that Tatsuya is actually a clone. Since they mentioned it a couple times with the lizards before? And all the money etc. That would also explain why the other children look like some of the researchers in the photo if they were experimenting with cloning themselves and implanting Dynamis.
It's my first time hearing about a living funeral, too, but maybe this old guy was the head of the experiment or something and the kids will find out more about themselves. The plot progression is very well planned considering this "reveal" is being done in episode 13.
Episode 13
Well what I got from this is that Kiyoko is in love with his father and his brother because his mom and the Countess were, too lol and since she can be comparable to them etc... what is with all the incest!
So it was this guy and not the robots what kept Gilgamesh away. Man, this guy must be sick powerful. I wonder if the girl really is the one who used Dynamis, but it would make sense to have her be around the doubles. Also, not much was revealed at all! They need to stop teasing
Episode 14
So Fu and Isamu huh. Yeah, it was expected. It seems Tatsuya is not interested though. We'll see if anything develops there.
It seems the focus has changed to Kazamatsuri and I guess they're justified. The guy has a nasty personality. Well, pretty much every adult in this series does...
Also, the sky is clearing!
Episode 15
When Gilgamesh appeared I realized I didn't really missed them much. It was very impressive how they used the building's security measures to destruct the tower though! So very crafty. The background music in the distruction scenes was really eerie. Fitting.
So this is the real power of this nasty guy. It makes sense Gilgamesh were so eager to run away last time. It's a bit ridiculous that he showed up only after the tower was destroyed, but I'm sure his excuse would be something like he had not been contacted.
I wonder if Kiyoko will help the blond guy
Episode 16
Isamu has become my favorite character now for being the most sound of mind. Kiyoko ended up helping that guy. The scene at her apartment was really nice. The tension and stuff. The dialogue feels complete even if there's a lot unsaid.
The "dummy" girl came back. She has a tremendous amount of power it seems. I'm sure she'll become key later on.
Kazamatsuri said they had killed 4 and 6 remain, but what about the guy who self-destructed? Is he included in the 4 tallied? I guess eventually we'll find out, but now we know Enkidu/Dr. Madoka stole the Gilgamesh from the experiment. It was predictable, but it's good to get confirmation
Haha, yeah a lot of teasing this episode but not much information, only more mysterious characters. But at least it was satisfying to see the Countess all flustered after she had fallen for the double :>.
Also Fuko is definitely going to die of anime disease at some point considering how much time they spend on showing her sneezing :(.
Episode 14
Kazamatsuri is definitely interesting but for now I'm mostly looking forward to seeing whether they can really return the sky and what consequences that has for gilgamesh, dynamis and all that stuff.
Episode 15
I also liked how the Gilgamesh boys used the security system to help them destroy the lab. But damn, Kazamatsuri and his 'troops' have some legit destructive power. To the point where I have to wonder why Gilgamesh seems to be giving them any trouble in the first place.
DID THE EYE THING REALLY HAPPEN??? Ahem. So, more about the plans the professor has are being revealed. The Sheltering Sky has a purpose. If I recall correctly, they say this has a lot to do with the clones being born with power, so then why is Gilgamesh trying to fight them? Although maybe it's the other way around and Orga are just set on fighting Gilgamesh to the point that they retaliate.
It is also possible that the race being reborn still has not happened and the Dynamis passed down to the clones was something else.
I'm curious to know on what grounds is Kazamatsuri accusing Tatsuya of aiding the terrorist, too.
So now it has been revealed how members of Gilgamesh spawn and why so many keep popping up. I'm really curious to know the mother now. I'm thinking tha La Blattaria maybe didn't have the same resources before and that's why they seem so overly powerful now? This guy just keeps having aces up his sleeve!
More things were somewhat revealed, but nothing has been cleared up!
Episode 19
The dream sequence at the beginning sure is packed with Freudian and Jungian goodies! I also caught that returning to the womb bit. It should be related to the pupa and the Sheltering Sky.
So Kiyoko's coworker is Kazamatsuri's woman... I see. Some parts of this kind of feel like a soap opera, but I can totally eat them all up haha.
The truth about their existence is very interesting and it's more or less what I thought it would be. The light emitted-thing called Tear could be the type of Dynamis that Tatsuya and the Gilgamesh gave out during the tower attack, maybe?
The development at the end of the episode could've been thoroughly predicted, but I let my guard down and it caught me completely umprepared. I'm impressed with how different the conversation went compared to last time! I'm looking forward to the next episode.
Episode 20
That sure was a trippy episode! The dream sequences were very interesting and I'm sure they pack a lot of symbolism that may aid in understanding more about the story. It seems Kiyoko is also a clone, possibly? That would explain the siblings' fascination with each other and their jealousy. I was sad about Kiyoko. I think she had become a powerful character in the show and now she's gone!
As a side note, I'm quite intrigued to know what Isamu asked of the yakuza guy.
Episode 21
This episode was very entertaining. The meeting between Azusa and Dr. Madoka was strangely touching and the discovery that gave way to Heaven's Gate was wonderful! The strange qualities of the cavern and its origin. So amazing.
So my suspicion that Kiyoko is also a clone was too hasty, it seems. Things got very tough for the Countess as well. Isamu, Fu and Toru seem to finally got confirmation of their origins and I hope it's said what they learned soon. Also, we get another instance of a womb-like cocoon with the shelter Tatsuya prepared for him and Kiyoko.
Yup, that weird girl is definitely very powerful. No wonder the chairman hired her. I also agree that the scene with Kiyoko and that guy was pretty good. I have no idea where this part is going though, maybe Kiyoko will finally meet her dad. And based on what Kazamatsuri said there must be a bunch of gilgamesh that we haven't even met yet. I though there were like 4-6, not 10. That's interesting.
Didn't expect Kazamatsuri to go down the 'official' road to antagonize the Countess and 'kidnap' Tatsuya. I'm interested in seeing where this leads and also about Kiyoko, her role in all of this is still kinda unclear.
Episode 18
The clone theory seems to be confirmed for now but with all the action this episode there wasn't any time to discuss it, but I'm sure Tatsuya will bring it up again next episode since he's probably the most curious about it. The new information and new Gilgameshs was also interesting. Plus it's good to have Kiyoko back!
Episode 19
Definitely an exciting episode. Our suspicions about their origins were confirmed and I was definitely caught off guard by that last scene as well. What a cliffhanger too. I can't wait to watch the next episode :>.
Episode 20
Things got very surreal in those dream sequences. I also thought that Kiyoko might have been a clone of her mother as well after watching this, but who knows?
It's definitely sad to see her go in any case :(.
Seeing what happened before the incident of Twin X and afterwards with the Countess really is eye-opening. The trial must have been difficult. The scene with "Tatsuya" that repeated seems to imply Terumichi visited. I still want to know who Toru's mom is.
Episode 23
I originally skipped this episode... but then after ep24, I went back and watched it. I guess it's weird I didn't think anything of the long-haired woman being at the hotel and the cocoon Kiyoko was in.
I found Reiko's story very interesting. Touching at times yet still sad overall. I wonder who she comes from, since it seems she's the same as the rest of them. I'm thinking possibly the Countess. They talked about Kazamatsuri's origin, but not hers. It was also unsettling to learn about La Blattaria and see what they look like under the mask. The fact that they come from sheep is most likely a tongue-in-cheek symbol for how he leads them.
Episode 24
The music in the opening scene was really cool. So, it is confirmed that there are 10 of them and they are basically immortal. I guess it makes sense they're called Gilgamesh. I wonder what the new Dynamis is and what it does. It seems to have confounded members of La Blattaria.
I wonder if there will be an ark? The mentioned Noah when they flew over Mesopotamia. Maybe the hotel... I'm glad to see Fu and Isamu are back.
Uh, not sure what happened to my ep 21 comment, I'm pretty sure I typed one but maybe it was in the wrong tab or something like that, it was pretty late/early already when I watched those episodes yesterday.
Episode 22
I agree with your interpretation of that last scene. Overall this episode had some interesting backstory for the Countess but I felt like most of the flashback parts were just roundabout ways of still not telling us what actually happened back then which was a bit frustrating.
Episode 23
Haha, I once skipped a whole season of working! without getting too suspicious (instead of episode 12 of season 1 I watched episode 12 of season 2 and ep 13 after that ^^) so I know that feeling.
But yeah, the additional backstories this episode were nice and the Blattaria are super creepy with their fly DNA and sheep parents. Still so many unanswered questions though. I'm getting a bit anxious with only 3 episodes left :>.
Episode 24
The Gilgamesh power-up seems to work pretty wall against the Blattaria, but their numbers just seem endless. And I am also glad to see Fuu and Fujisaki back. Your theory about the ark/hotel is quite interesting as well. The whole flood talk definitely points in that direction.
Episode 25
The theory of TEAR controlling the 'original' Madoka is quite interesting and would solve the question how the nice guy in the flashbacks became a terrorist.
And that Kazamatsuri tank was pretty overpowered. Of course he still had an ace like that up his sleeve.
That final scene was pretty intense and I can't wait to figure out what the fuck is actually going on. Definitely a worthy cliffhanger before the final episode.
Episode 26
Damn, this was a heart-wrenching episode. I didn't expect a bad ending like that to be honest. First we have to watch everyone die tragically and then that final scene with Kiyoko stabbing tear even ruined any kind og vague hope tied to the potential new mankind. Pretty brutal and nihilistic ending. Which I can appreciate since it's a rather unusual thing to do. But on the other hand the 'explanations' were really generic/bad in my opinion. For this anime having this somewhat scientific approach the whole 'tear is just the bad feelings of the Countess' deal felt just silly and the whole 'I'm sad so all of humanity must be rebuilt' motivation is also pretty classic for 2 dimensional anime villains. And misusing the term evolution on top of that is also a pet peeve of mine. So overall I'm split about this final episode, but I think the emotional parts and the unexpected final scene pushed this from a 6 to a 7 after all, though maybe I'll change my mind after a while.
Looking forward to seeing your thoughts about this episode. You must be as shocked as I am after watching it.
Oh Toru... there goes your first crush... so Reiko is a boy. Wow, it was impossible to tell. The dining scene was very touching. Just at the height of it, Kazamatsuri bursts in! It was a bit soap opera-ish again.
So the machine showing that they have the same waves might explain the light at Turangalia. Also, I didn't expect the figures in robes that were shown before to be these 4! It was a shock.
Episode 26
Well... that was disappointing! It's just as you said. The ending was just so generic, even if it was unexpected. The characters that we have been learning to like were just murdered like that and at the end the Countess' jealousy bringing tragedy to the whole world seems childish. She was presented as this holier than thou woman, but then she was just a kid pining after a married man. We were never even told what her role was at Heaven's Gate, so I'm reluctant to think she even had a relevant role there, since we were never told she was a scientist. Also, I never quite understood if Reiko was a clone of the old man or of the Countess?
I'm kind of angry that after all this badass build up, we just get a bunch of "yes, erasing humanity is the best just because the guy I wanted had a family." I resent that. I resent all the misplaced symbolism and how thought-provoking I thought this was. It's true that they said man should not look for eternal life and maybe this was how they wanted to deal with Gilgamesh and Tear from a scientific point of view or whatever, but even after mentioning a religious conflict and including so many religious symbols (red cross, that Shall we gather at the river song, mentions of Noah, etc), it was better to make it a moral issue and not this shit!
I've seen the "Humanity is corrupt and we have to re-start it" on fiction several times and here it's one of the works where it feels a bit out of place? It's like they decided to reveal it completely at the end, but the problem with doing that is that it didn't feel like the purpose of the story throughout the series. It feels like the pulled it out of their ass if you weren't paying close attention to all the details. The use of the "we've been around longer than you, so we know more" twist in the adults vs. children argument is so cheap too. I definitely think the show was good before this and the way the young characters developed was amazing, but the planning left a lot to be desired if this was the ending they were going for. Maybe they wanted it to be a shock and that's fine, but if they could just bring this cleaning flood from the beginning, why push the fight between Orga and Gilgamesh? It just seems not needed.
I honestly tell you that I don't know what I expected. It just seems a petty "the man I love doesn't like me, so why not destroy everything? If I can't have him no one can" and this kind of doomed narratives related to romantic love in this anime really pissed me off. It's a 6 for me.
Would you like to watch something else in a couple of weeks? I was considering RahXephon if you're up for it.