Get in the Other Simulwatch - RahXephon! [ep26-22/05]

Episode 12

More new characters from a mysterious agency (SEELE and cloned family members anybody?) who's motives and interest in Quon we don't understand yet.

There were snippets of nefarious and mysterious relationships throughout the episode that all continue to sow seeds but we don't understand the context yet.
 
Episode 13

Another fairly dense epsiode. You can feel the emotional weight and trauma weighing down on people especially Ayato and Haruka. Which reaches it's strange crescendo as he watches Haruka and Dr kissing and he just stands there unable to respond as if he just shuts down temporarily.

Aside from that the show finally starts to ask serious questions about Quon. It seems she may be significantly older than she appears and not actually related to Dr at all. She is still being drawn to those songs though and the ending suggests things might kick up a notch in upcoming episodes!
 
Been pretty stressed out with work over the past few days, so I had a couple of nights when my brain could not pancake crystal elderly beyond old reruns of Mock the Week. Should be back on track by tomorrow night, but as we’re hitting the half way mark, would anyone like to take a break for a day or two?

Ep9-11

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Now wash your hands.

Would also agree that it was nice to get some back story for the commander, but I think 11 was definitely the standout here - perhaps the strongest episode so far? It feels like a neat inversion of Evangelion’s famous dreamworld sequence, with Ayato instead left angry and afraid by the apparent idyll he finds himself in. It’s interesting that, while the hallucinations seem to be brought on by the dolem, this is possibly the most development we’ve yet seen from Ayato’s mother, perhaps suggesting that she (and presumably the other blue bloods) have a more direct link with the dolems than I would otherwise have thought. I was also surprised that it’s Haruka, rather than Megumi or Quon, who seems to be the manifestation of Ayato’s sexual desire, I kind of assumed he wasn’t especially interested in her in that way.

As I particularly like the OP and ED themes for the show, I’ve been letting them run in full each time, so I was struck to notice in the credits that ep11 is the work of Chiaki J. Konaka, screenwriter on Lain (and, in an amusing bit of synergy, Parasite Dolls), so that might explain the extra oomph in this instalment.
 
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Episode 13

A great episode to reach the halfway point of the series and I really like the sense of escalation as the RahXephon produces the bow that leaves everyone in an almost terrified awe and the glimpse of something new at the very end of the episode starts the setup for the second half of the show.

Also happy to take a break if it helps others.
 
Episode 14

Wow, what an amazing episode, best of the series so. It repositions a few pieces round the board so to speak. Sayako is rumbled and Makoto and Itsuki want nothing more to do with her. Haruka now seems to be fully cooperating with the reporter and he's now uncovering lots of key details and we get the introduction of the Vermillion, a great design and we get a fantastic battle scene and stand off between Ayato and Elvy and that time shift is going to be important will Haruka pick up on it any further after what Helena said?
 
Ep 13-14

I feel like the series has really pulled its socks up as we're going into the second half - it's suddenly ramped up its sense of dramatic tension all over the place, and the characters are definitely becoming more fleshed out. Itsuki in particular seems to be building into quite a nasty piece of work; his indifference to Sayoko having pushed her down a unexpectedly dark path, and his forceable smooch with Haruka apparently as much to get a rise out of Ayato as anything else. Ayato's sudden loss of purpose after the introduction of the Vermillion really adds to his character too; having coped remarkably well with everything the series has thrown at him so far, it's actually refreshing to see him thrown into full on personal crisis.

It also looks like I must have gotten further into the series before than I thought. For whatever reason, that scene of the commander having to push the cat out of the way stuck in my mind clearly, and the upcoming episode with Itsuki and co as kids looks familiar too. If I got more than half way into it, I'm genuinely surprised I didn't just finish it.
 
Epsiode 14

Cracking episode. Ayato really goes through the wringer here! First overhearing the Major and Elvys argument about him and then in his face off with Elvy. I really like the Major as this sole voice of reason. He seems to be the only person who wants to do the right thing without bias or agenda.

I'm intrigued to see what the reporters push on Haruka will lead to as well especially coupled with the time anomaly at the end.

Shows like this are often scared to have trained adults be able to do what the kid heros can do so the inclusion of the Vermillion is very welcome. And its immediately got to the core of why. It makes Ayato much less special now. How will he bounce back I wonder?
 
Episode 15

Interesting change of pace. A full flashback episode and were still none the wiser about what is going on lol. I have to say this show has a remarkable capacity to focus on characters emotional states and ignore giving the audience information on what is actually happening. That's not meant to be a complaint but an observation.

I actually enjoyed that we got to see a brief episode into the youth of three side characters. The fact that the show made me empathise with the creepy, scheming Earth Federation guy is a pretty remarkable feat. Also seeing Dr as a timid sidekick is pretty amazing! It certainly fleshes out the world more. These people haven't been one note sinister types their whole lives. Once they were innocent kids, who were abused and beaten and tried to help a weird clay monster but failed. Its deeply tragic and makes me wonder what the endgames of their plans are.
 
Episode 15

Yeah, I definitely remember this one - even by this series's standards, it's a weird episode.

WMD said:
I have to say this show has a remarkable capacity to focus on characters emotional states and ignore giving the audience information on what is actually happening.
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I think that's putting it really well. This episode definitely gives us plenty of of insight into Isshiki in particular, but it's also casually dropping concepts we've not seen before (not that I necessarily mind that) and telling us about Helena, so there's a lot to take in for a mere 20 minutes. It feels kind of odd giving us Helena's backstory here before we've really learned much about why she's relevant in the current time, but it's an interesting gambit nonetheless.

It's not super subtle, but there's an amusing bit of synergy in the fact that they've dubbed the artificial creatures golems, in the same episode that seems to confirm the shifty organisation is also creating artifical humans. The golem as a man-made creature is a familiar enough idea, but out of curiosity, I was looking up the history of golems as a concept (seemed like a sign that RahXephon is leaning into Judeo-Christian mythology, much as Eva did) and apparently, in the Talmud, Adam himself was originally created as a golem.
 
Episode 15

This is the 4th time seeing this episode and I always find the dramatic shift in pace and story focus compared to the previous episode incredibly jarring and I think it's a bit of an odd episode as well. I like the way it puts so much attention on these characters and gives a bit away about the Bahbem Institute having gained the technology somehow generations ago, but yes it doesn't really tell us a great more about what any of its significance is.

I feel this episode should have come a bit earlier and possibly didn't need to spend a whole episode saying what it did (whatever that was!).
 
Professor Irony said:
It feels kind of odd giving us Helena's backstory here before we've really learned much about why she's relevant in the current time, but it's an interesting gambit nonetheless.
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Indeed. Especially as the 2 boys are pretty villainous as adults. Or at least are running their own schemes separate from the team. Helena on the other hand is painted as the antagonist in this episode. Will she still be that way? Will she have softened up? I hope we get time with the three of them together as adults. Will be interesting to see how their dynamic has changed or if it remains similar.
 
Epsiode 16

Well after wondering about the relations of the three kids from last epsiode now as adults we immediately find out they are working together but it seems the Dr isnt quite as on board with the plan as the other two!

Theres a sad duality that plays out this epsiode between Ayato and Megumi. Megu especially really gets shafted this episode. She emotionally loses one guy she likes and physically loses the other! Ayato again is only treated to cryptic conversations by the adults which understandably has him lashing out until he finds out the Quon is both a Mu and OK with it. I have to say I find the way Haruka is written in this show to be very perplexing. Even if my previous prediction is correct it still doesnt explain why she lies so much and then is getting so upset about others being angry at her.
 
Episodes 13-16
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Finally caught up after having been distracted by bad gacha games. Gotta agree the past few episodes have been a big step up from what was a decent if sometimes weak 1st cour. Episode 15 was a bizarre episode since it really had no setup for such a change in focus. On its own the story was still pretty cool especially with it's leaning into biblical symbolism.

The revelations in the other episodes certainly make things interesting as characters are shown to have their own schemes and Ayato makes his return to Tokyo Jupiter. Ayato said he's gonna get in the robot and it's gonna be everyone else's problem.

Being Megumi is suffering.
 
Episode 16

Seen this one before as well. Honestly, I'm amazed I got so far into the show without actually finishing it - what the heck must have stopped me?

After the brief respite last time around, we're back into quite dour territory anyway. No one gets what they want, the cleaning staff find a lot of abandoned lingerie... Bad times all round. The penny finally dropped for me about the familial resemblance between the Terra Chief of Staff and Ayato, but it was only mere moments before he started telling Ayato about his son, so I can't take much credit for that one.
Haruka's uncle bringing up the tale of the bamboo cutter was quite funny - that's certainly a reference I'm sure would mean a lot more to people now than when the series was first released in English. I am quite surprised that Quon and Ayato made no attempt to hide their bid to leave from Haruka and Itsuki, but maybe I'm still expecting Ayato to behave like Shinji...
 
Professor Irony said:
am quite surprised that Quon and Ayato made no attempt to hide their bid to leave from Haruka and Itsuki,
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With Itsuki I think it makes sense. The idea they could sneak past him seems more absurd to me. Also he makes the comment about altering the camera feeds so maybe they knew they needed his help. At any rate it seems Quon knows him much better than his co conspirators!

With regards to Haruka I totally agree. The way Ayato has been going on at her I'm surprised he was so kind to her here. I dont think we saw this but it could be assumed Itsuki brought her along for the goodbye. He knows Haruka very well at the end of the day. I get the feeling he knows how important Ayato is to her better than anyone else.
 
Episode 17

More of a plot centric episode this time as characters get moved around the board. It seems odd that having just said goodbye Haruka follows him into Jupiter Tokyo immediately. I feel it would have done her good to cool off for a bit! Though I'm glad Elvy is there a she seems to want to work out what is happening!

The rest remains pretty cryptic. Still no one will tell Ayato what is going on and we get confirmation of the population having some sort of mind control on them. If it's those things in the sky why doesnt it affect Haruka and Elvy?
 
Episodes 16 - 18

Episodes 16 and 17 continue the drip feed of tidbits of information that don't actually give anything away and finally a few things start to get explained in episode 18 (WMD your hunch was right, but I didn't want to say anything earlier) but even then it creates a few more mysteries of its own!

After everything he's been through it's hardly surprising that Ayato decided to run but he's really put through the wringer in episode 18 and looks like he's going to fully descend into madness at one point.

WMD said:
Episode 17

Still no one will tell Ayato what is going on and we get confirmation of the population having some sort of mind control on them. If it's those things in the sky why doesnt it affect Haruka and Elvy?
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Maybe only affects people with blue blood or the Mulian wave (or whatever it was called)?
 
Episode 18

Everyone's having a bad time in this epsiode! I dont know what drug Ayatos 'mum' gives him but boy does it make him look like a corpse for a while!

Totally called it about Haruka and Ayato! Though it does seem a bit redundant that she even followed him in and he ends up getting out without her pretty quick. If she'd waited hed have returned pretty quick!

Tosugai being a Mu agent was pretty shocking and hes a terrible boyfriend so I hope he doesnt get his way on anything going forward!
 
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