I guess cats and dogs are destined to go to war.
— The first half of the episode is one long, extended flashback that pretty much explains Soya and Ginko’s origins. This is why convenient amnesia is such a lame storytelling device. There’s really no rhyme or reason as to why the kid is suddenly recovering his memories. All we did was reach a certain point in the story, so it feels annoyingly arbitrary.
— So Ginko is actually a princess, and she hails from Riel. I like how everyone behind her also has green hair. Maybe Rielians all have green hair because they’re vegans.
— I also like how she’s the princess of the entire planet. Even though Earth is full of nations and sovereignties, whenever writers come up with a new planet, it’s always a planet that is under one rule. Plus, princesses? If you are advanced enough to know all about space, why do you still have a monarchy?
— Anyways, the Siriusians attacked Riel just because they felt like it, I guess. Or maybe for resources, but either way, Soya’s homeboys were not exactly good people. Sensei showed up just to save Ginko in the nick of time. Everyone then heard, however, that the dreaded Dragon was currently laying waste to Sirius.
— Even though she’s a princess of an entire planet, Ginko told Sensei that she wanted to accompany him. All she does nowadays, however, is act as a maid. When they go on missions, she never does any of the fighting. She just swoops in to provide support from time to time.
— As Sensei was leaving Riel in order to stop the Dragon, Generalissimo told the cat to hold back. The Dragon was too dangerous to fight! Needless to say, Sensei ignored that advice.
— So when he and Ginko got to Sirius, and the whole planet had already gone up in flames. Somehow, Soya was the only survivor left.
— The 3-D Dragon doesn’t look so hot.
— Neither do these lasers. Basically, the Sirius Fleet came back to try and stop the Dragon, but they didn’t have much luck.
— Finally, Sensei and the Dragon get into a mini-debate of sorts. The Dragon thought that the entire Siriusian race were evil, so they all had to be killed! Even innocent children! He literally demands that Sensei handed Soya over just so he can finish off the Siriusians once and for all. Sensei countered by arguing that he’ll raise Soya to love, and this will show that the Siriusians could’ve been redeemed! I mean, c’mon, I don’t even need to tell you why this is lame storytelling.
— All of a sudden, the rest of Nebula showed up to punish the Dragon. I don’t know why they didn’t do this earlier. Was it not possible to stop the Dragon from wiping out an entire planet?
— Anyways, we’re now back in the present. Soya sees these past events as dreams, so I’m not entirely sure if he takes them seriously or not. It would be kind of dumb if he didn’t. It would also help if he would just ask either Sensei or Ginko about them, but it seems like he doesn’t want to bother. Why? Beats me. Maybe it’s just not narratively convenient for him to do so.
— Soya gets to school, but he finds the place practically empty. Even if he did manage to save the city, no one wants to live here anymore. But on the plus side, he still has Nozomi.
— As our hero tries to sort out his feelings on the school rooftop, this conspicuous-looking girl shows up out of nowhere. She’s obviously Kogane, which means our dog secretary can somewhat change her appearances. She also has the ability to hypnotize people. She could’ve come up with a better alibi, though. Yeah, sure, everyone else is transferring away, but I’m transferring in! Totally makes sense. Not suspicious at all.
— It just doesn’t work on Nozomi for some reason, so the show’s love interest is special after all.
— At this point, it’s plainly obvious that she’s interested in Soya. She holds hands with him just because Kogane had done it. And when they walk home together that night, Nozomi even suggests that they do something together on their off day. It’s almost like a date! Unfortunately for Nozomi, Soya’s mind is elsewhere. He seems restless. Logically, the battle is over because the Dragon is (presumably) dead, but revenge isn’t going to bring back your entire race. Soya is not fulfilled, so he can’t really focus his attention on anything else right now. Plus, I don’t think the concept of romantic love has ever really cross the kid’s mind. But hey, he still has to prove that Siriusians can love, right? Maybe this is his golden opportunity.
— After Nozomi heads home for the night, Soya suddenly comes across a dude who looks a whole lot like his late brother. The being, however, is not his brother.
— Instead, it refers to itself as the People of Paradise, which is supposedly the oldest living race in the universe. And the being takes on whatever form Soya wants it to take. Right. More importantly, it claims that the kid’s battle isn’t over yet. But that’s it. That’s all it has to tell us. Soya is too emotional to engage anyone in a conversation. He’s pissed off at this being for just looking like his brother, so he somehow awakens to his psychic powers and destroys an innocent swing set. And just like that, the being leaves. C’mon, man…
— Soya gets mad again and activates his psychic powers. This inadvertently reveals that Kogane has been stalking him this entire time. She was just cloaking herself along with Benika and Yosuke. What’s odd, however, is that those three couldn’t see who Soya was talking to.
— When Kogane tries to hypnotize Soya again, it’s Ginko’s turn to show up and protect the kid. Anyways, it’s time for the Sealing Faction to make its intentions known. They still intend to seal away humanity’s evolution, because we’re too dangerous and all that jazz. When we finally awaken to our psychic powers, we’re totally going to go conquer other planets and stuff. That’s what the Sealing Faction believes. Generalissimo and his ilk think it’s totally impossible for multiple factions to exist within a race, apparently. The pacifists among us — myself included — would just magically disappear somehow. It’s dumb.
— In any case, Benika and Yosuke have joined the Sealing Faction, because they don’t want Earth to end up like Sirius. But y’know, the real reason they’re here is because Soya hasn’t had the opportunity to fight against either of them yet.
— Soya, however, is still down in the dumps, so he walks off and claims that he’s done fighting. Sure, sure. We’ll just spend another episode to convince him to fight. He has that date with Nozomi, right? Maybe she can knock some sense into him. It’s almost obligatory, however, for the main character to undergo some sort of internal crisis at this juncture in the story. I half-expect him to fall to his knees and scream, “What am I fighting for?!”
— Either way, Planet With has shown most of its hand by now, and it’s disappointingly weak. Underdeveloped characters and blunt storytelling just won’t get the job done.