SoulTaker Episode 13 Discussion

What did you think of this episode?

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Aug 4, 2011 3:21 PM

HawthorneKitty

Offline

Sep 2008

7062

THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE.
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Darn, Runa just had to turn back into her loli form and then get absorbed.
I was a little confused at how the ending played out, but that was probably because I didn't like it.

Poor Komugi-chan.

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Feb 16, 2012 11:55 AM

Eudaimonia

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Sep 2011

719

Shiro took the words right out of my mouth. Runa acted like a bratty, immature kid all this time wallowing in self-pity and blaming other person for her misfortune, though it's not a surprise. Kids do tend to develope desptoic tendencies when left on their own.
The whole episode basically revolved around bringing her to reason therefore left me a bit disappointed. The design for the inner world Runa created looked nice, though.

Sep 30, 2012 4:20 PM

Stark700

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Nov 2011

130783

Hmm, I didn't understand this anime watch although I guess it ended well in a somewhat happy way. I had to watch this subbed (oh God the horror), but the ending looked peaceful enough.

*opens windows*

Sep 23, 2013 1:26 PM

BurntJelly

Offline

Feb 2013

6197

Runa opening her eyes in the womb... freaky stuff.

The final showdown, Runa vs Kyosuke. The bittersweet ending was fitting.

Feb 13, 2014 4:16 PM

souledge94

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Jun 2013

3020

Yeaaaa I dont know wtf just happened. Did he kill his sister or did she join his soul?Also whats with the end was that fake or real.

Sep 5, 2020 9:09 PM

Catalano

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Oct 2010

21963

it took me 9 years to finish it, I even had to rewatch the first 6 episodes. It was interesting overall but the ending was so so. I rooted with Runa and I was sad that Kyousuke did that to her, well, aliens can't die that easy.
The last scene was again weird, what mother was there? Tokisaka? we may never know
6/10

Feb 13, 2022 5:22 AM

sketchy12

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Apr 2015

160

didn't understnd wtf that ending was

Jun 13, 2023 1:27 AM

Coolzweg2

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Apr 2019

280

Profoundly post-Evangelion. I'm starting to wonder why the japanese are so fixated on the allure of omnipotence. A cool series overall.

Oct 25, 2023 3:02 PM

Zudoba

Offline

Feb 2018

225

Not sure if he can just take Runa back out when she sees that not all humans are evil. The mom is the flicker copy of Tsubaki Runa made of a loving mother since she released every flicker she had created back out which may mean Saki is alive, but some may have been permanently destroyed and won't come back.

Dec 20, 2023 1:42 AM

#10

Archean-Return

Offline

Dec 2022

5909

Crazy ending. Kyousuke's moralising about Runa's killing of Yui and the decrepit alien rang hollow due to both of them having malicious intentions towards Runa, but he did make the decision to absorb Runa into him at the end, rather than killing her, so I guess he isn't entirely unreasonable.

Aside from the post-credits scene, this anime isn't nearly as difficult to understand as I've seen it being made out to be. It's just a truly masterful anime that throws you into the depths of a plethora of chimeric and psychologically complex scenarios, but keeps it mostly comprehensible anyway. Add some enchanting visual direction to the mix, and you've got an anime everyone with a true interest in the medium should consider checking out.

ｲ乇刀乇乃尺ﾑ乇

╔⏤═⏤╝

╚⏤═⏤╗

☽ Shaded Horizon ☾

Jun 8, 2024 3:19 AM

#11

Ronninn

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Jan 2020

2369

What the hell happened in the ending, wouldn't that mean the baby is an alien too?

Overall if this had slightly better writing, this would've been the greatest anime of all time, I'm not even joking lol.

Oct 14, 2024 6:46 PM

#12

AshRayKay

Offline

Sep 2018

135

Reply to Archean-Return

well-put.

i struggled with this show earlier on but once i stopped fighting it and just rode with it it got a lot more enjoyable. turns out i didn't need to understand every detail of every nuance of every word in every cut. after all is said and done, it was pretty good.

Sep 3, 3:05 PM

#13

Darkdaxter

Offline

Mar 2016

436

Oof. Where to even begin with this one? I watched through episode 7 at low quality, and then rewatched it once I found a higher quality sub. I'm glad I did. It was much more satisfying actually being able to see everything and hear the characters talk.

The first glaring problem is that for a story shrouded in mystery, it sure hates being mysterious. Every episode it introduces some new plot point, a character teases you that it could very easily be a lie, and then that same character (or sometimes a flicker) assures you that it is 100% the truth. A story with this kind of presentation would have greatly benefited from maintaining some ambiguity and mystique. It would easily have led to multiple different interpretations, something that Le Portrait of Petit Cossette did quite well in comparison.

That kind of thing isn't the end of the world though. Lots of fast paced shows with short run-times do so, and so it remains an enjoyable watch until episode 11 or so. When Yui's motivations are revealed the entire plot completely falls apart. Yui lost her lover and so murdered her brother's girlfriend in a quest to bring him back, completely unconcerned that she's inflicting the same pain to quite literally everyone on earth through her ruthless rampage. She just unquestionably believes the alien (that consistently mocks her about how it can't be trusted) will bring her beloved back to life, and that any being has such a power. Only if he had that power you would think he'd revive his own species instead of concocting this horrible plot.

Kyousuke's father fares no better. You would think he would consider his own infant children to be innocent, but he immediately forsakes them and assumes they're tools of the devil. He doesn't think of talking to or joining with them, he just fights them to the death over and over until he dies. He never really accomplishes anything, and his true goals would be far easier fulfilled by working together with his adversaries.

Every family member is "redeemed" in the same way. Their grandfather experimented on every human that passed through his hospital, let his daughter take the blame, and then "he's not so bad" because he did it in order to cure incurable diseases. Only he also lusted for power (even after he physically died), but we'll ignore that. Takisaka effectively abandoned and tried to murder both of her children, but it was in order to awaken their special abilities (abilities that they were being hunted down for in the first place and could end the world). Mio did the same thing. Never mind hiring another person or letting them fall off a cliff or something. We have to do the edgiest thing possible and pretend that she had no other recourse. They decided to make their children literal devils and then run away and abandon them (because why be a guide, protector, companion, or source of comfort anyways). As if they couldn't possibly have any other options against the Kirihara group. By the time the flickers and the Mio's clone were enemies at the end, I was just rolling my eyes.

When SoulAnubis is introduced the power-scaling is completely broken. Kyosuke is now immortal and strong enough to destroy Kirihara whenever he wants. An episode later he's getting his butt kicked by SoulCrusher, and an episode later by flickers (who are essentially regular women). How exactly does combining random flickers create SoulAnubis and SoulKiller? It's not like they have mutant powers, themselves. They don't share Runa's DNA, just a fraction of her soul. How would combining their corpses create powerful mutants? If Runa can freely control SoulAnubis, why can't she control SoulKiller later?

The final confrontation with his sister is extremely underwhelming. Somehow the vaccine is capable of killing uninfected humans, and Runa decides to kill all of them and procreate with Onii-chan. Kyosuke is somehow unable to convince her otherwise and absorbs her loli soul after killing her. I feel like it would be relatively easy for these two to fly off into space together after destroying the missiles, but I guess we need a pointlessly tragic ending after 99% of the cast already died. Maya and the flickers were absorbed back into Runa, so they're back in Kyosuke too. Which means Shiro is still alone without a girl or a job as president of Kirihara. And Kyosuke doesn't even get to be with the catgirl. At least one waifu survived.

I really wanted to like this show, and it was genuinely fun to watch. You can't get past crap writing though, so everything inevitably unraveled. The decision to make EVERY character sympathetic was an idiotic one. The story would have been much stronger if Richard was the only redeemed character. Having Kyosuke live a peaceful life near the sea with (the finally discovered) Takisaka might be poetic, but it's the weakest conclusion they could have done. He might as well have just stayed in one of the dream worlds at that point.

7/10. Kyosuke had so many waifu options. Where's the actually good ending here? The cowards didn't even have the courage to commit to the incest either, even though they teased it relentlessly.

DarkdaxterSep 3, 3:13 PM

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» Have ya'll watched this beyond 480p anywhere? Ronninn - May 31, 2024	4	by Darkdaxter »» Sep 1, 10:51 AM
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