Synduality: Noir – 20 – A Better Way

Synduality takes a pause in its present-day narrative to tell two separate stories of yore. First up is a recording of Pascale both telling and showing Kanata, Mystere, and Noir the story of how she, a child of Amasia, went up to the surface to explore the real world with her Magus by her side, soaking everything up.

She didn’t believe Magus were merely computational dolls, but had the potential to become just as “real” as humans. She carried a journal containing a list of things she wanted to do, from tasting real grass to smelling the real sea and witnessing a real rainbow, all with her companion, student, and friend Mystere in tow.

When they located a signal up in space, Pascale had Mystere hack into it. On the same carrier wave Mystere used to access Histoire, Histoire send a signal back: Noir. Pascale never told Mystere, but Noir wasn’t just her safe mode alter-ego, but an independent entity, eager to learn and absorb information, albeit with no body of her own.

Pascale was pursued by Ideal, and in one scuffle, she is seriously wounded. Rather than give Mystere or Noir up, she has Mystere return to her unconscious safe mode in the museum where Kanata would find her several years later. The recording of Pascale regrets that she had to lie to Mystere, but urges her to see through the dream they shared of reaching Histoire. Mystere is understandably emotional, wanting so bad for the recording to be interactive.

As for Kanata, Pascale asks him to take care of her “girls,” and he fully intends to. But first, they locate Pascale’s grave under a great tree, and pay their respects. It’s then when Noir runs her hand down her chest and suddenly asks, “Where’s Ciel?”, heartbreakingly unaware that Ciel sacrificed her life so she could live. Like Mystere with Pascale, Noir lost someone precious to her in Ciel, but must keep moving forward.

The second story, is that of Macht, told while he and Schnee are just chilling in the present day. Macht, Licht, and Weisheit were all elite Coffin pilots given equally elite Magus. Weisheit got Ciel, whom he immediately started to treat and use as a mere tool, while Licht and Macht formed more human bonds with Mouton and Schnee, respectively.

Weisheit decided that the only way to reach Paradise, i.e. Histoire, was for all the youths to rise up against the adults who were administering them. That meant dirty work had to be done, and Weisheit had Ciel do a lot of it. Macht fell in line, as he believed in Weisheit’s dream, but Licht didn’t, and was imprisoned and marked for elimination.

There’s a clear parallel between Pascale and Licht/Tokio in that neither got much out of staying below ground in what remained of Amasia. They also felt that Magus were more valuable as friends and companions than as mere tools or weapons.

When Mouton sprung Licht, Macht had one more chance to choose a path: to go with Licht to the surface, or remain with Weisheit. We know which he chose, but judging from Schnee’s consistently forlorn tone both in the past and the present, you get the feeling she wishes he’d chosen differently.

Even so, once her “Lord” made his decision, she dedicated herself to him until the end, and he started donning his black mask. That mask symbolizes both his embracing of Weisheit’s darkness, and averting his eyes from the reality that it’s not too late to change his (and Schnee’s) path. He can still side with the good guys.

Synduality: Noir – 19 – Guiding Light

On their way to Old Amasia, Ellie and Ange detect DaisyOgre and find Kanata sitting in the rain with Ciel’s lifeless body in his arms. It’s understandable that he’s not in the best emotional state, but Ellie tells him that whatever is wrong with Ciel, the lives of Noir and Mystere also hang in the balance.

They track down Alba, who determines that Ciel’s Master tried to format her and wipe her memory, but she was able to refuse the format and reboot thanks to the plugin she had Kanata activate. Refusing a reboot is death for a Magus, and it seems Ciel chose death rather than lose who she was. Alba can’t bring Ciel back, but her Type Zero body could be used as a host for Noir.

I honestly still don’t have a clue what Tokio/Licht is up to, or what he’s trying to gain by continuing to interact with Macht and Schnee. Perhaps he wants them to team up with him and Mouton to bring Mr. Weisheit down? Again, I have no idea. I just know that Weisheit pours out some wine in Ciel’s honor, as she exceeded his expectations to the last.

Alba tells Kanata that Noir and Mystere might not last another day, so he has a choice to make: accept Ciel’s death and allow Alba to transfer Noir to her body (which could very well be Ciel’s wish), or hesitate and lose all three Magus. As he recalls all the sides Ciel showed him, he wonders if they were all lies, until he finds Noir’s camera. The images convince him they weren’t all lies. Ellie said as much to him: Ciel loved him, and couldn’t bear forgetting who he was or becoming his enemy.

Kanata decides to give Alba and Ada the okay to transfer Noir into Ciel’s body. Ellie takes his hand to support him as they stand and watch the technicians work. It doesn’t take long for them to hit a snag: while the connection has been made between the bodies, Noir’s consciousness appears to be “stuck.” Kanata tries talking to the unconscious Mystere, in hopes of getting Noir’s attention.

But it’s not Kanata’s voice, but Ciel’s form who ultimately guides Noir to the beacon of light in her dreamscape that represents the path to her new body. This must be a small remnant of Ciel’s personality that remained just long enough to save Noir and Mystere, for once Noir starts heading to the beacon, this Ciel avatar smiles then vanishes, her work complete.

The transfer is successful, and Ada cuts the connection between the bodies. Mystere is the first to wake up, and seems to be her usual prickly self, with her talk of Hacks and Duds. But Noir wakes up shortly after, not knowing whether to tell Kanata “Thank you,” “Sorry,” or “Good Morning.” Kanata simply says “Welcome back,” and Noir smiles.

We have Noir and Mystere finally facing each other then the flesh, but their separation also triggers a stored message from within Mystere. It’s a projection of her old Master, presuming Kanata to be the new Master of “her two girls.” Ciel died so that they could live. Now comes the living part.

Synduality: Noir – 18 – Songtress of the Sky

When Ciel reports to Weisheit, she plays things cool, but it was clear from the start that she remains conflicted. It’s all over her face, and Weisheit, who was apparently her Master all along, would doubtless be able to see it too. Why else would he shove the captive Kanata in her face and tell her he’ll be eliminated if he can’t find a use for him.

After awarding her a necklace with what I assume to be the crest of Amasia, he sends her off to relax, and she ends up crossing paths with Tokio, AKA Licht, AKA White Mask. If there’s any doubt about his loyalties, it’s eliminated when we see him and Mouton fixing Kanata’s Coffin. Ciel doesn’t remember Licht or Mouton were with Weisheit in the past, because she no longer has those memories.

Mouton says Weisheit always liked to “play with his doll,” and when he inevitably gives her the choice of killing Kanata in exchange for her freedom, it occurs to Ciel that all of this has happened before. Weisheit reformats her and wipes her memories, then presents himself as her ideal master. But she feels there’s no escape from the cycle. She’ll always follow his orders because she always has.

…That is, until now. Kanata reminds her of her dream to sing for as many people as possible. She tries to tell him following Weisheit’s wishes makes her happy. He tells her if that’s the case, why she looks like she’s crying. Then she tells him about the endless cycle she’s stuck in, and he tells her it’s messed up and unforgivable, which is is. Then he tells her he’ll save her. He’ll break the cycle.

Kanata takes her hand and walks out into the corridors. As he does, Ciel considers if she’s doing exactly what her master predicted by turning against him and going with Kanata. Even if that’s the case and this ends the way all her past lifetimes have ended, she’s going to live this one to the fullest. They board Daisyogre, and Tokio leads him to a lift back to the surface.

As they make their escape, Ciel has Kanata give his consent to create a ring she wears on her pinky which will “keep her safe.” She then asks him to be her master for real, which consists of him placing his thumb on her throat chip. They’re surrounded by Macht and Ideal Coffins, but Ciel keeps her pinky promise to Kanata and sings her new song. And when she sings here, it neutralizes all of the other Coffins.

When Weisheit sees that Ciel has made her choice, he activates the necklace he gave her, which he can use to remotely reformat her. Once that’s done, his first order for her is to kill the man she loves. Only the order goes ignored, because the reformatting never takes place. The ring her contract with Kanata made blocks the reformatting. But it also apparently knocks her out, perhaps permanently.

After getting Kanata out of Ideal HQ, it looks like her plan was to prevent any further resets, even at the cost of her life. It stands to reason her Type Zero body could then be used to separate Noir and Mystere. If that’s true, it’s a noble but tragic end for Ciel, the Magus songstress who fell for a human.

Tomo-chan Is a Girl! – 08 – The End of Now

This week was a non-stop smorgasbord of excellence, starting with a girl’s sleepover in which Carol perfectly imitates Misuzu when Tomo won’t. That is to say, Sally Amaki perfectly imitates Hidaka Rina, while Takahashi Rie voices Tomo with her usual exquisite blend of haminess and sweetness. Sweet ham!

When Misuzu wins “King”, she orders Tomo to ask Jun to go to the fireworks together—just the two of them. They all go next door, Tomo asks, and Jun agrees easily, but also seems a little out of it to Tomo?

That night, as Carol snuggles with Tomo, Misuzu is almost on the verge of tears as she rues the day she ever set Tomo on a path that would only take her further away from her.

And yet Misuzu also quietly declares there’s “no going back”, and probably wouldn’t even if she could. That morning, she mysteriously wakes up right next to Tomo while Carol is sleeping peacefully in the bed.

Carol also invites Misuzu to join her and Kousuke at the festival, and while Misuzu doesn’t want to be a third wheel, Carol won’t let her be alone. That said, Kousuke demonstrates how easily Carol gets lost in crowds, and how quickly he’s learned how to retrieve her. Misuzu says he must “have it rough”, but Kousuke would never say or think that.

As for Tomo, she shows up looking so damn good in her red yukata, she is briefly too dazzling for Jun’s eyes, and she causes a sensation with the festival workers who can’t believe what a beauty she’s become. She and Jun-bo are notorious for winning every game they can throw at them.

And yet, as tough as Tomo is, she still freezes up when a couple of older guys try to chat her up. She makes the mistake of saying she doesn’t have a boyfriend, which only makes them more interested. But when Jun firmly pulls her away, the guys can just tell that a real Capital-C Couple is walking away.

Tomo starts to think that Jun’s shift in behavior is because he’s finally starting to notice her, but the truth is he hasn’t stopped noticing her since she confessed her love to him. Turns out he assumed she didn’t mean that kind of love. These two…I swear to God…

Tomo decides she’s going to try to confess again before the fireworks, but then realizes that when she does, it will be “the end of now, and the start of something.” That’s pretty damn poetic for Tomo! But it also happens to be true: not being quite sure exactly what “something” means, it’s always easier to settle back into “now”.

But “now” is already long gone for Jun, as after Tomo says goodbye to him, he admits that while he hasn’t quite sorted out all his feelings, he knows for sure that he’ll never be able to punch Tomo in the face again.

The next day at school, Tomo is full of long, restless sighs, as ever since the fireworks, Tomo has seemingly treated her with kid gloves, only grazing her shoulder with his pinky in the morning (which I agree is creepy!) She tells Misuzu and Carol about it, and Carol later tells Misuzu that exactly what she planned is going down…and Misuzu doesn’t want to hear it.

She may have helped facilitate Tomo getting closer to Jun, but she’s starting to regret it, in part since it could mean less Tomo for her down the road. It’s not clear whether Misuzu has romantic feelings for Tomo, but you could definitely interpret it that way.

Needless to say, she’s in a sour mood, which is not improved when the thugs who Tomo and Jun beat up before decide to target her. Her sharp, venomous tone and dark aura momentarily stun them, but alone aren’t enough to keep them at bay.

When Carol shows up, Misuzu tells the thugs that Carol “has nothing to do” with her or Tomo. As they start to escor Misuzu away, Carol whips out a stun gun and zaps the hell out of the thug leader. But when Misuzu takes her hand for them to escape together, Carol twists out of her grip…and faceplants in a mud puddle.

Misuzu and Carol hide out in a warehouse, where Misuzu says she only said she had nothing to do with Carol to protect her, and even says the truth is she considers her like “something of” a friend. That’s enough for Carol to forgive her and try to give her an enormous Carol Olsten bear hug. But it’s also enough to give away their position the thugs.

Fortunately, Misuzu and Carol don’t have to stew in terror for long, as that terror becomes the exclusive property of the thugs once Tomo and Jun arrive. Misuzu actually called Jun and specifically told him not to tell Tomo, but of course Tomo could see the murderous intent in Jun’s face (even Jun has an amazing face game this week!) and insisted on coming along.

When Jun makes it about him and accuses her of not trusting him to handle a few punks, she immediately corrects him. This isn’t about her not thinking he can handle himself. It’s about how completely against her entire being to sit around in safety while her friends are in danger. Her friends, her fight. Jun does smack one of the guys unconscious with withering nonchalance before Tomo yells at him to stand down and let her cook.

I hasten to add that Kousuke also learned that Carol was in danger and followed Tomo and Jun. While those to are fighting, he looks for the girls, and finds Misuzu helping Carol take off her wet muddy clothes. Kousuke assumes the thugs did something indecent to his Carol and Tomo and Jun have to work hard to keep him away from said thugs before Carol clears up the misunderstanding. I see you Ko-chan!

After the fight, Misuzu tells the others to buzz off so she can have a private chat with the defeated thugs. She explains to them that Tomo is the only daughter of the head of the Aizawa Dojo (whom they know to be a famous master delinquent) and promises the thug leader that he’ll be held personally responsible if any of the punks he’s gathered come near her, Tomo, or Carol again. It’s Mizusu at her most hostile, threatening, and scary.

Jun hangs back anyway to walk Mizusu home, citing the fact that scary she may be, she’s still a girl. Mizusu points out that so is Tomo, and immediately regrets it as Jun then starts talking about Tomo in a way Mizusu would rather not hear. She doesn’t want to hear it from him or “that squishy bitch”, which might just be the best nickname ever.

Balancing genuinely funny comedy with genuinely sweet romance and genuinely powerful drama…it’s just Tomo-Chan Is a Girl! and its immensely talented seiyuu firing on all cylinders.

Shokugeki no Souma 3 – 19 – Light at the End of the Tunnel

While Rindou has Souma and Erina hanging in suspense for a hot minute about the fate Megumi and Takumi, she ended up passing both. With just the four of them left, Souma proposes they challenge Central’s Elite Ten for their seats. With Erina and Akira they’ll have a majority of seats, and thus the power to reinstate their friends, and possibly sack Azami, stopping his grand plans in their tracks.

The only problem is, the Elite Ten members have to agree to even have shokugekis with the rebels. When Souma simply barges in and asks Rindou straight up, she laughs in his face; it’s not going to be that easy. Seemingly out of options, Erina decides she’ll appeal directly to her father to pardon her friend, hoping his love for her will sway him.

My peeps, it does not sway him. He has no reason to overturn the expulsions, and as someone who has carefully conditioned his daughter to do what he says, he’s not about to reverse that power dynamic just because Erina turns on the waterworks.

Souma calms Erina, and asserts the only way to make things right is in the kitchen. He formally asks for the right to challenge the Elite Ten, as it would solve once and for all whether Central’s cuisine truly is best, but Azami quite logically points out that Souma has nothing to offer to persuade Azami to allow the challenge, and so he will not do so.

That’s when Souma’s pops, Saiba Jouichirou, appears, along with Azami’s father-in-law Senzaemon.

Jouichirou repeats his son’s plea (after mussing Souma’s hair and angering him), but he is actually able to make it worth Azami’s while: if the rebels are defeated, he will bend the knee to Azami and his gastronomic philosophy.

Since virtually everything Azami is doing  with Totsuki is a means to beat his senpai Jouichirou, once he has assurances Jouichirou is serious he quickly agrees to let the challenge go forward: a Team Shokugeki between Central’s Elite Ten (well, eight of them anyway) and the rebels.

While aboard the train to the port that will no doubt take them to the island of this momentous shokugeki, Souma, Megumi and Takumi get a crash course in what a team shokugeki is: Individual team members duel with those on the other team, until only two remain. However, as the teams fight, they are able to help one another as needed, making up for one anothers’ weaknesses and filling gaps in the culinary work.

The kids later learn is was Doujima Gin who summoned Junichirou and Senzaemon, thus single-handedly saving the rebellion. He and Juni will be training them, and they decide the best way to do so is through trial-by-fire: a mock team battle. Gin, Megumi, and Takumi form one team, while Junichirou, Souma, and Erina form the other.

The one officiating and judging the battle (and who decided on the team makeups, as Gin and Junichirou constantly bickered over it) is Senzaemon-sama himself. He adds an extra wrinkle of difficulty by banning all chefs from verbal communication throughout the mock battle. With Gin and Junichirou as their teams’ respective captains, the kids serve as their assistants.

Both Takumi and Megumi quickly catch on by watching Gin make preparations for the featured dish (shepherd’s pie) and are able to have what he needs ready without his having to ask.

Team Jouichirou…has a bit of a rougher time at first. Jourichirou is one of the few people who can truly throw Souma off his usual happy-go-lucky, it’s-all-good vibe. It doesn’t take long for the bickering father and son to break Senzaemon’s no-talking rule, but since it’s a mock battle they’re merely sternly warned.

Erina, who is just chuffed to be cooking alongside her beloved idol Junichirou, has to serve as peacemaker…though even she breaks the no-talking rule while scolding Souma. Ultimately all four youngins start to realize their captains aren’t making run-of-the-mill shepherd’s pie, but putting their own individual spins on it (in Gin’s case, he’s making a “haute cuisine” version of the dish).

That’s key, because the whole point of challenging Azami and Central is that there are other paths to achieving great gourmet cuisine. Down-home shepherd’s pie ain’t gonna cut it. But more than that, the kids have front row seats for an unofficial but still heated duel between two former classmates in Gin and Jouichirou who are at the top of their games in very different ways and will never pass up an opportunity to go at each other.

That alone makes this training session well worth it, because as good as the Elite Ten kids are, these two are probably quite a bit better, owing to their experience.

GATE – 06

Pina Co Lada’s forces are being massacred by the more numerous and experience (and bloodthirsty) brigands, and all the death is arousing Rory, until she can’t take it anymore and rushes towards the east gate. We see just how much you don’t want to mess with her when her blood’s up.

Rory as a concept remains a bit silly in an otherwise straightforward low fantasy setting, but not nearly as silly as what GATE pulls when it’s time to call in the SDF cavalry…or to be more precise, the air cav.

I’ve always had conflicted feelings about the “Ride of the Valkyries” Helicopter Attack scene in Apocalypse Now, which I think is the point. On the one hand…America, Fuck Yeah! On the other hand…Why the fuck are we in Vietnam indiscriminately slaughtering random villages? 

There’s a different kind of conflict in GATE’s homage to that scene because it so thoroughly, accurately lifts entire shots, music, and dialogue from that scene, it’s really less of an homage and more of, well, a knockoff. Which, I’ll be honest, was a little lame.

The situations in both works are the same: a overwhelmingly superior force eviscerates a pitifully under-equipped enemy. But Apocalypse Now did it first, did it better, and did it in a way that I really didn’t need to see so shamelessly copied.

Mind you, for the elements of the audience who’ve never seen the film, this probably came across as pretty snazzy war porn. But it’s pretty clear the creators expected viewers to catch the references. If they didn’t, then it would be as if they were trying to pawn off an iconic scene from another work as their own.

In any case, the battle itself, and the parts that aren’t ripped from AN, work well enough. Watching Kurebayashi pair up with Rory and go Medieval on some folks was pretty fun to watch too, even if I’m a bit dubious about the efficacy of rushing in and fighting at close range when there’s plenty of long-range weaponry to defeat the enemy from a safe distance.

Then there’s Itami taking all female prisoners (coincidence, eh?), and when Pina’s comrades in the Rose Knight Order intercept his convoy, he sends his team back to base, making himself the prisoner of two very tough, very beautiful “chicks.” These get Itami back to his roots as an otaku looking to meet all the exotic characters he can…but you’d think all the vicious slaughter they just carried out would be a little more sobering.