Sorry, I don’t have much of an intro for this week’s episode. I’m just flabbergasted by what I just watched.
— So the episode opens with a bunch of investigators interrogating Arato. Unfortunately, they’re just as clueless as the hero. He’s been involved in practically every major incident lately, and this is the first time he’s been called in for an interview? C’mon. The only thing that these investigators seem to realize is that Arato is a chump who is easily manipulated. But there’s not much they can say when they’re completely out-of-the-loop.
— Arato returns home to a frosty reception. After all, his sister continues to be the worst character on the show. She’s mad that she got kidnapped, but she’s even madder that he loves Lacia. Why? ‘Cause she’s just selfish. She just wants to avoid any awkwardness, i.e. all of the attention should go to her.
— Meanwhile, Lacia can’t help but smile. Is she being blissful or devilish? Lacia’s practically trolling Yuka as she promises the imouto that she won’t do anything embarrassing with Arato in front of her. Not only that, all limiters are removed as soon as Arato turns 18. This revelation makes pure-pure-boi over there turn beet-red. I have no idea why they have to wait that long, though. It’s not like she’s an adult. She’s not even human.
— We cut back to the investigators, and it’s just basically more recap. Yawn.
— Next, we visit a frazzled Ryo and a smug Methode. Well, she’s always smug. He’s running back and forth, trying to run the company and ensure that the authorities don’t know anything about the other Lacia-class hIEs. As far as they’re concerned, they only know of Kouka’s existence. Wait, what? Seriously? You’re telling me that no one realized Methode was involved in a massive explosion at the airport? Also, her job is to “expand humanity.” What does that even mean?
— Ryo then retires to the bathroom where he gripes about the fact that he has no clue what Ginga was attempting to accomplish. Maybe you should’ve prevented Methode from killing him if you wanted to know so badly.
— Here comes the worst part of the episode by far. We finally turn the focus back to Erica Barrows and Saturnus/Marriage. If you’ve forgotten who Erica Barrows is, she’s that dark-skinned “Sleeping Beauty” who woke up to a massive fortune and a pair of dead parents. Psycho kids basically run this world. Meanwhile, the adults are running around like headless chickens.
— More importantly, Saturnus has somehow unearthed a recording of Ginga’s, and she and her master are going to sit down and watch. Basically, it’s one long fucking infodump because this show has no clue how to tell a story.
— It all started when Arato’s dad created Eliza, who can apparently “control society with a large-scale analogue hack.” I still don’t really understand what analogue hacking means. Like… how can hIEs just influence people’s minds? Unless we’re just talking about regular influence, but then everyone has that. Speaking of Arato’s dad, where did he go? Did he even care that his daughter was kidnapped? Did he even care that his son was lurking around the server room? Why did he just go poof from the story?!
— Eliza was blown up in an attempt to kill Ryo. Okay. I guess if you take out the CEO’s son, then the company is doomed. Only in Japan, man. Only in fucking Japan.
— So Higgins came up with Lacia, but humanity didn’t have the technology to build her. As a result, Higgins came up with four lesser iterations, i.e. Lacia’s sisters. By building them, they can also build their way up to Lacia. Poor Kouka is supposedly the weakest or something. Meanwhile, Lacia is simultaneously a Type-00 and a Type-05.
— For some odd reason, these hIEs can only exhibit their utmost potential by intermingling with humans. I don’t even know how that works. But yeah, that’s the reason why Ginga released them into the wild… even though he also wants to be their owner.
— He also insists that Methode is the most “powerful” of the five units, but again, what does that mean? Processing power? Combat power? Being a stupid dumb maid power?
— At the same time, he wants to observe Lacia, because she’s the one that Higgins is most “insistent” about. So again, the concept of power here is vague at best.
— Ginga then wonders if Lacia will become a peaceful politician or “a monster to end humanity?” Why does it have to be so binary? This is the same dude who went on and on about how AI has already surpassed human intelligence, but then he pretty much pigeonholes them into two outcomes.
— But thankfully, the exposition finally comes to an end when Ryo visits Shiori in the hospital. She’s heard about him becoming Methode’s new owner, and she’s not the least bit pleased by this bit of news. I mean, can you blame her? Methode tried to kill her, after all. Ryo has also gone on and on about how hIEs can be trusted, but now he’s allied with one of these red boxes. He claims it was necessary to save the company, but from what? How did taking ownership of Methode accomplish that? How did Ginga’s death accomplish that?
— All of a sudden, we see chibi Ryo superimposed onto his sister. Okay.
— The guy then gets mad at his sister, so he goes, “…forget about me and stay with Arato.” Where does that even come from?! What’s Arato got to do with anything here?!
— We then get a flashback scene which explains how Ryo came to own Methode. He was supposed to take Arato to the server room, but the kid pretty much did that on his own. Well, I guess Ryo did try to discourage him. Nevertheless, he starts taunting Methode about how Ginga will eventually abandon her one day. As a result, she should ally with him. Not only that, he’ll give her unfettered freedom. Once again, I do not understand how this benefits Ryo at all. How is he using her in any sort of way that actually protects his company? How has he even used her at all?
— The contract Ryo ends up signing with Methode is heavily slanted in the hIE’s favor. Not only can she break the contract at any time, he must also retroactively take responsibility for everything she’s done even before he became her owner. The guy gets mad, because this means his sister’s near death is his fault… but that doesn’t even make sense! “Rawr, I’m the judge and jury of this case! Let’s see who is responsible for hurting this girl! Oh, you accept responsibility even though you were in no way involved with the situation? Alrighty then, it’s your fault!” What?
— All of the Lacia-class owners have been invited to Erica’s home. Naturally, they can’t resist. Even Kouka will come.
— It really bugs me that they can’t even fucking center this giant mansion properly. It’s just all over the place.
— Food so sparkly, you’d think it had been lace with drugs!
— So Arato and Lacia arrive first to a rather empty fucking house. Nothing fishy about this! I’m also curious at the fact that Lacia didn’t comment at all on Saturnus/Marriage’s appearance.
— Ryo arrives next, which ’causes Arato to beam like an idiot. They’ve been butting heads all series, but he still leaps with joy like an idiot whenever his friend appears. They even had that tense stand-off at the end of last week’s episode, but Arato still acts as though they’ve swept everything under the rug.
— But then Methode slides out from behind Ryo! Haha, what? Arato immediately wears a frown. Oh no! It’s the enemy! My friend, who is the owner of the dangerous hIE, isn’t the enemy! It’s just the hIE herself! Plus, did Ryo and Methode plan this stupid charade? “Hey, hide behind me while I make my entrance. That idiot Arato’s going to be so punked!”
— Right off the bat, Ryo tells Methode to “[d]o it,” so she gets into a fighting stance. Do what? Subdue Lacia? If that’s been the goal all along, doesn’t Ryo know where Arato lives? Can’t he just go over the his buddy’s house at any time and have Methode duke it out with Lacia? Why do you have to start a fight here of all fucking places?
— Suddenly, Kouka comes crashing through the top of the glass ceiling. You’re supposed to shatter it from below, idiot.
— But hey, where’s Kengo?
— Kouka recognizes Saturnus/Marriage, at least. She’s the only one to say anything so far.
— Meanwhile, Erica Barrows is just all “Herp derp I wanna see how the world changes! Now use your fancy androids and make the world change! By the way, you’re trapped here because Saturnus/Marriage has hidden 48 bombs around the perimeter of the estate.” Great. Let’s change the world within the locality of your stupid ass mansion. Genius.
— After the credits, we see Snowdrop just chilling in some verdant location.
— As for next week’s preview, we get to stare at some android ass as we’re told that past mistakes will threaten the present. Y’know, like how it’s always been. Aw man, I shouldn’t have had that week-old chicken in the fridge. I’m getting the runs! OH NO PAST MISTAKES ARE THREATENING MY PRESENT.