Re:Creators – 18

Whatever wasn’t working for me last week as the Chamber Festival kicked off, it mostly worked this week, while the best thing about last week—Suruga’s gutsy confrontation with Blitz and the reunion with her resurrected daughter—was carried to a satisfying climax: Blitz switches sides to protect Erina.

The merging together of Blitz and Meteora’s stories was accepted by the audience because, well, who doesn’t like parents reuniting with children thought dead? Also, Suruga was wearing one hell of a bulletproof vest, so she’ll be fine; she didn’t have to sacrifice herself to save the world…yet.

Yuuya and Shou go at it, and because Yuuya doesn’t have Hangaku, he’s at a distinct disadvantage…until Extreme Final Legend Martial Artist Hikayu appears, perfectly matched to Yuuya’s skilled set and ready to bring the pain…while retaining Hoshikawa’s easily-embarrassed personality.

I’ve loathed Oonishi since he appeared, but have to give him props here. Armed with a dating sim protagonist with no fighting abilities, he converted her into a badass fighting machine, and the audience just rolls with it, because they truly DO like ‘this kind of thing’—that thing being fanservice.

What held back last week to some degree was the absence of the most intriguing creation, Magane, who until now has been merely observing. The ‘side’ she ultimately chooses to ‘put her money (or pyrite) on is Souta, and Souta alone, whom she sees as being “just like her” in how the ends justify the means.

Souta has decided to move beyond selfish regrets, and gotten better at knowing how to talk to Magane, but she still gets him wound up, allowing her to use her Infinite Deception of Words. Fortunately, she uses it to his advantage, promising him his creation will not only be set into motion, but be accepted and stir people’s hearts.

I like the move: it feels like something Magane would do to make things as entertaining as possible. She likes fun things, and believes she’ll get to witness a lot more fun if Souta is free to do his thing, so she offers him this indirect help against Altair as an endorsement that however he handles things is okay with her.

As Shou, Hikayu and Yuuya bicker over who will fight whom, Blitz arrives, and Shou assumes he’s there to back him up. But Blitz shoots at Shou instead, Hangaku suddenly reappears beside Yuuya (Souta lied about Magane not giving him back), and we have ourselves a three-on-one fight (four-on-two if you count the dolls).

Shou holds his own until Hikayu brings down the hammer with her Killing Cosmo Hell Fist (summoned with a lot of mumbo-jumbo about Arhat and Vajra and accompanied by calligraphy) to put him out of commission. I love how useful Hikayu has suddenly became this week.

Even better, Shou doesn’t get back up or try to fight to the death, because Hikayu and Yuuya also manage to convince him of the truth: Yuuya didn’t kill who Shou thought he killed. Yuuya blurts out some spoilers about the mastermind in their story, but somehow the audience—entertained so much by what’s gone down thus far—also roll with that, and the story remains stable.

That brings us to what has ended up the least interesting part of the Festival so far: the aerial battle with Altair. Don’t get me wrong; I liked Altair’s spinning array of sabres and her ability to stop a Vogelchevalier’s blade with one hand was badass, as was Alicetaria’s big smile while riding Gigas Machina.

But throughout the match there’s the underlying feeling that whatever more powerful thing Selesia, Kanoya, and Aliceteria throw at her (and they finally get her in a cage, separated from her weapons), she’ll be ready with a countermeasue and a smirk, making all the action to that point somewhat pointless. But even that is a a common thing in drawn-out shounen battles, so it’s at least consistent.

We’re also well aware that while she’s lost Mamika, Aliceteria, Blitz, and Shou so far, she still has Charon in her back pocket, and Charon seems fully on her side, despite his history with Selesia. Indeed, I am not sure Meteora, Selesia & Co. were even aware of Charon’s existence, rendering him the latest wild card that would muck up their plans to cage Altair.

How will Selesia deal with her former ally (and lover?) fighting on the other side? Will they be able to muster some on-the-fly writing that will bring Charon to their side? Four episodes remain…plenty of time for more twists and turns.

Re:Creators – 17

After another week off for another special following a calm-before-the-storm episode, Re:Creators has been giving the impression that it’s not keen on ever ending, even though it must five episodes from now. The supposed “final” Chamber Festival battle has been built up and hyped for so long, its beginning was always going to be hard-pressed to live up to it.

In a distinct case of “be careful what you wish for,” this episode finally initiates that beginning, and is almost all action, with physical, magical, and verbal ammunition filling every nook and cranny of the screen. Selesia and Kanoya fight an arrogant-as-ever Altair, who deflects all their attacks with her infinite arrays of sabres.

As they dual the boss, Yuuya faces off against his old buddy Hakua Shou, which made me wonder when Selesia’s partner would come out of the woodwork and present her with the unexpected scenario of having to fight him. Even Magane shows up to scare Souta, suggesting all of their best-laid plans are far from certain to end this conflict.

Indeed, Altair kinda does what I did with these battles, which is shrug. She seems all too aware of the artiface that has been building around her, and the perfect nature of the military weapons being deployed against her screams Meteora. Even when Selesia uses a powerful “infinite gate” imprisonment protocol, Altair simply slips out of it and comes at Selesia from behind, as Magane did with Souta.

But if all of this is just foreplay, and Altair isn’t falling to (or for) it…why should we care? Sure, the crowds seem entertained, but to me it feels like various groups of combatants sniping at one another with increasingly insipid slogans, Altair being the most guilty of this. For all the evidence this battle has begun, there’s still the feeling that some stalling going on.

That’s why I appreciated the final scene, in which Blitz just kinda casually walks into the stadium’s locker room where Suruga is alone smoking, fully prepared to kill her before moving on to his other enemies. Suruga may be “his god” but he can’t stand that fact, because she’s the one who decided to kill off his daughter to make her story “more interesting.”

For a moment, I thought Suruga was not only expecting Blitz, but okay with him killing her. Hearing her talk about the pain and sleepless nights and despair she endured before she gained success isn’t quite enough to make Blitz stand down, but Suruga’s status as his creator is, as a strike team blasts into the room, accompanied by…Blitz’s very not-dead daughter, Erina. Has Team Meteora poached another ally from Altair?

Re:Creators – 16

Those hoping for Re:CREATORS to deliver an action-packed episode after a two-week wait will be disappointed, unless their idea of action is more than half of the episode being spent lounging around a hot springs inn.

The reason everyone is at the retreat is to recharge and celebrate all their hard work, and is itself cause for celebration: it means that the Elimination Chamber Festival is finally, finally going to get started.

While there’s not a lot to note in the inn scenes, there are some nice character interactions between creators and creations alike, with particular focus on how the more time creations have spent in the human world, the more they come to appreciate it, as well as mundane things like the smell of the hot springs.

Also, Kikuchihara is a stern drunk.

At last, Nissan Stadium is filled up, Meteora and her comrades are powered up, and the grand premiere party of ECF is kicked off by animated versiosn Selesia and Rui’s real-life seiyus, Komatsu Mika and Amamiya Sora; a nice meta moment.

The team prepares and baits the birdcage, and Selesia is finally reunited with her Vogelchevalier (which I’m sure she prefers to a government-owned Toyota 86, as nice as that car is), and we cut to Altair and her crew, clearly ready to dive in.

Of course even promising, exciting build-up is just that: build-up. The pieces are in place, but we’ll have to wait yet another week to see how it all shakes out. I would be very surprised—and even disappointed—if everything goes according to the good guys’ plan.

Re:Creators – 15

Hoshikawa Hikayu is the newest member of Team Meteora, but as she’s the heroine in a dating sim, nobody’s sure what use she’ll be quite yet, and in the meantime she’s very disoriented with everyone knowing who she is.

After a rare in-show flashback in which Blitz tries in vain to save his daughter Erina, he meets Hakua Shou, who is an enemy of Mirokuji Yuuya, since Yuuya killed a friend and a sister of his.

Off on her own, on no one’s side but her own, is Magane, living it up half-naked in a luxurious penthouse, bathing in cash and drinking milk by the quart. Watching horrific news stories on TV makes her giddy for the possibilities for mischief this world so readily presents to her.

She’s even more intrigued when Aliceteria shows up, asking her to “make things really fun”, as the knight is now willing to make a deal with the devil in order to stop Altair.

As Meteora develops a spell, based on newly-created material, that allows her to gauge public acceptance of the new character and story changes, Hikayu’s creator Ohnishi appears, and he’s a total creep and a pervert who initially doesn’t understand that Hikayu (and Celestia, and Meteora) are people and not playthings.

Kikuchihara manages to restore order by underscoring the importance of their collective mission. And while Meteora isn’t sure about a dating sim character suddenly gaining powers (just as she’s unsure about Souta’s contribution), Ohnishi says it’ll be no problem…with a “fan disk.”

Speaking of fans, Altair knows she has many, and they imbue her with new powers by the day, so many she doesn’t even know about some of them herself. Yet to Blitz, she still remains a character almost designed to be weak, like a kingdom created just to be destroyed. He couldn’t save his daughter, but he’s committed to saving her.

We’ve met some new people, checked in on all the existing people, and gained a few new insights into the coming battle, but the battle remains “months” away by Altair’s reckoning. It’s fitting Meteora brought up structure, because it will be interesting to see whether Re:Creators continues with the structure of this episode—shifting from one pair or group of people in a room talking to another—for the next seven episodes, or if, say, Magane makes things a little more fun.

Re:Creators – 14

With the nature of the operation to bring down Altair in place, Kikuchihara brings in dozens of creators to brief them on how things are going to work. The anime that will unite all of the Creations’ worlds and stories will be called Border World Coliseum, and it will be unveiled at the “Elimination Chamber Festival” at Nissan Stadium.

The goal is not to make the best anime ever, but to create an anime—and source material and spin-offs of the existing anime—that the public will “accept”, as in, win their approval and fandom. Only then do they have a chance against Altair, who has no one, set, official Creator.

As such, the Creators are the ones who take center stage, with the Creations in the background searching for the new arrival. It’s a hit-and-miss affair; watching a limp battle between a bunch of thinly-drawn characters’ personalities in a nondescript room doesn’t exactly set the heart aflame.

However, it does demonstrate the problems that arise from sudden unexpected alliances in the industry, combined with a need to collaborate with one another despite wildly-different styles, all with tight deadlines many Creators are used to blowing by without consequence.

When Suruga draws an awesome drawing really fast right in front of Marine, who takes longer to produce art and doesn’t have a lot of confidence, Marine storms out to have a little cry. When Souta goes out to reassure her, he tells him there’s nothing he can say to convince her she’s not “bad”; all she can do is the best she can and hope this whole thing works out.

The grind of doing so can be painful and make her feel useless, but as the episode title continues, “it’s fun nevertheless.” That gets (the very useless-feeling) Souta thinking: maybe he should contribute something creatively to the operation. We don’t hear any specifics of his idea, but Matsubara and Suruga seem to think he indeed has an important contribution to make.

As for the newcomer, or rather newcomers (there were two such phenomena detected, suggesting two of them), the first appears before Selesia and Kanoya while they’re simply walking around town. She’s a high school student in a green uniform with rose-colored hair—an echo of Mamika’s pink. 

The new OP (with a nice new theme) suggests she’s from a Romance while the new ED suggests she’ll be on Team Beat Altair. Either way, there’s nothing like a couple of new players appearing on the board to freshen up the game.

Re:Creators – 13

One thing on which Oigakkosan and I can agree is that one of the best scenes of Re:Creators to date comes at the end of the very first episode: a smash cut from the serious end credits to the newly-arrived Meteora and Celestia going on a convenience store snack spree on Souta’s dime.

It’s a successful scene for so many reasons, among them that it establishes the clever fish-out-of-water dynamic that was later largely abandoned once the battle with Altair began in earnest.

It was also a strong indication that the creators of Re:Creators had a sense of humor, and unlike some Troyca shows, wouldn’t mind cutting loose and having a little fun from time to time.

Aside from some in-show commentary from Chikujouin Magane, Re:C hasn’t done as much as either Oigakkosan or I wanted with the potential established in that first episode’s final scene. Heck, they even killed off my favorite Creation at the time (Mamika), the one with the most ridiculous attacks and sound effects.

Fortunately, and quite to my surprise, that cheeky, mildly self-deprecating tack returns with a vengeance in this, the ostensible recap. It turns out to be more of an Osterreich recap, as Meteora delivers a fun and amusing fourth-wall breaking commentary, even embellishing her own importance and appearance in the story.

Where her potential had been somewhat dulled by being trapped in the show, with Meteora free to discuss things like the synopses of the various characters’ anime (often lifting it verbatim from the official websites), she morphs into a neat audience surrogate, and share her opinions on how things have gone thus far the normal format of the show wouldn’t allow.

The show’s willingness to pull Meteora, the talkiest of the talky creations, out of the world of the show and into ours matches the premise of the show, and reestablishes that first episode potential by making sure my smile rarely leaves my face throughout her recap.

Initially portraying herself as far “sexier” than she really is; taking great pains to explain why Celestia lost her first battle against Mamika so badly; criticizing Yuuya and Alice (AKA Grasshopper Glasses and Muscle Brains) for so easily falling for Magane’s deceptions; it’s all great stuff.

At the same time, we’re getting little glimpses and tidbits of their stories before they became a part of Re:Creators.

After appearing again as a statuesque, scantily-clad pool hustler (with the other characters represented as balls), Meteora saves her most biting verbal venom for the show’s villain, Altair, tearing her character design apart as needlessly, annoyingly complicated, and suggesting that the producers change her outfit to a tracksuit and sandals (which we unfortunately never see, but which I’m sure a fan will draw at some point). Badly karaoke-ing “World Etude” was also a nice touch.

In the final scene, we’re back in the conference room from the previous episode with all the characters assembled, everyone but (regular-looking) Meteora frozen in time while she walks around with a spotlight above her.

Here, before returning us to the “normal format” and those final moments of the last episode in preparation for the show’s second half, Meteora aims to assure those who are concerned about the future of Re:Creators that, far from a sign of diminishing quality and an “industry in crisis”, this recap was always meant to be.

As a recap, it succeeds in going over the various players, where the sides stand, and what’s at stake. But what makes it a far better recap than I could have imagined—and a more effective episode than some of the normal format ones that preceded it—is its willingness to let its hair down and have some fun with its admittedly cool premise.

In doing so it demonstrated bolder, more creative thinking, and gave me fresh hope the show will find its second wind. One thing’s for sure: I’ll never watch Meteora—or listen to her many measured words—the same way again.

Re:Creators – 12

For an episode that purports to have new urgency by doing without the usual OP, this was a jet-cooling return to the less-than-stellar form of some of Re:Creators’s earlier episodes, in which far more is told than seen, things we already basically known are repeated to us so the characters can catch up (almost never a good look), and stakes and details are painstakingly set for a pivotal battle…later.

First off, Souta completes his confession, which was a little puzzling to me, because we, the audience, learned nothing new about what happened to Shimazaki, unlike last week. We knew he chose not to do anything to help her, and that eventually led to her offing herself, and that he ran away and tried to forget about her.

There’s at least a little bit that’s new as we get more interactions between Alice and her creator, whom she’s even more disappointed in after watching Selestia’s creator demonstrate his love for his creation by quickly revising her in the battle. She wants the same thing for herself, so she can save the world, but her creator says it’s up to her.

As he dangles from her flying horse high over the forest, she gets him to admit an embarrassing truth: he actually does love his creation, doesn’t want it to be cancelled, and believes it’s a world that’s worth Febby sacrificing her blood to protect.

She releases him and tells him to draw what he wants for the time being. The bond they’ve forged may make it difficult for him to join the other creators, so perhaps she succeeded in taking a potential weapon against Altair off the board.

Speaking of that weapon, the static group in the boring beige conference room has a nice long chat about Altair’s power and myriad, constantly-multiplying special powers, thanks to fandom. Clearly many a consumer felt a connection to Altair’s aesthetic and background, and she’s all too happy to draw power from people living in the very world she intends to overturn.

There’s great discussion of some clever concepts, including using the resources and reach of the (dubiously reliable) government to build up their own levels and abilities, as well as construct a kind of “birdcage” in the story world with which to capture Altair.

To maximize their power and have any chance against her, they have to create a gripping narrative that will capture and, more importantly, hold the interest and stir passion in their audience. They have to save the world with a story.

Altair may be singleminded but she’s no fool, and wouldn’t be surprised to learn that there’s a plot afoot to stop her using the same means from which she draws power. But she’s confident she still has the upper hand in the situation (no doubt fueled by the deep-seated despair that brought her into existance in the first place).

She also has a new member of the team to replace the KO’d Mamika: Celestia’s partner, whom I highly doubt Celestia will want to fight. With his arrival, and the popping up of two or three more creations she hopes to get to first, Altair likes her odds in the battle that’s coming.

Re:Creators – 11

Meteroa and Celestia quickly recover from the injuries sustained in last week’s battle. Matsubara is by Celestia’s bedside when she thanks him for the drawing and story that ultimately induced Altair’s retreat. Matsubara believes the people who deserve more of the credit are the masses who saw and liked the art. He also clarifies that he wrote her story as proof he lived, not simply for fun.

While taking Souta on a head-clearing, exhilarating ride in the Gigas Machina, Kanoya talks about how differently the creations all seem to approach their reason for being, but notes they’re all the same in that all they can do is what they’re meant to do: save the world, in the case of heroes (and threaten it in the case of the villains).

Creations like him who save the world only exist because worlds that have to be saved exist. Kanoya recognizes and respects Souta and the other creators’ role as the makers of those worlds, whether as proof they existed, or any number of different motivations creations simply don’t have access to.

Kanoya gives Souta a lot to think about, and at the first meeting with Meteora back on her feet, discussing how a change in strategy is necessary, Souta provides the reason why: Altair’s creator is already dead, and he killed her.

From there, we travel back to Souta’s first contact with Shimazaki Setsuna, when she praised his drawing of Celestia. He liked her drawings, and she liked his, so they started an online friendship that eventually led to an in-person meetup.

When they meet at the station, we learn Shimazaki’s real name isn’t Setsuna, but Yuna, that Souta is exactly how she had hoped he would be. Yuna is also kind, beautiful, and adorable, in a way that makes watching her and Souta enjoy the day together, while knowing her ultimate fate, that much more heartbreaking.

Their day is suddenly infused with danger and dread but also intimacy when they arrive late to a presentation and Souta decides they should go up to a catwalk for a better view. Yuna slips and almost falls to her death, but Souta grabs her (thankfully well-made) purse strap and saves her.

The two are suddenly in each other’s arms, heavily breathing, and Yuna is excited by how much of an adventure the day has become. Souta then lends her his glasses, which she takes without hesitation and asks how she looks.

We know that despite the sweet start to their relationship, things gradually turn bitter, and while we had the broad strokes of how and why Shimazaki ultimately offed herself, it’s instructive to get the heartbreaking details.

Souta, who is, after all, only human and just a kid, gave in to envy and resentment as Shimazaki’s popularity on their art boards took off while he stagnated. Souta found he couldn’t be the supportive voice Shimazaki wanted and needed, and he drifted further and further away.

His supportive voice would’ve been of great help to Shimazaki with enduring the storm of hate that hit the boards when another poster—possibly also jealous of her—started the rumor of her plagiarizing work. From there, the mob was off to the races, viciously attacking her and suggesting she kill herself.

Throughout all this, Souta was merely an observer. While he initially felt he had to step in and try to help Shimazaki, he felt paralyzed by a number of things: the possibility of the mob turning on him, as well as the slight satisfaction he can’t deny he got from some of the criticism.

So while Souta didn’t plunge a sword in Yuna’s chest, he did nothing to stop others from doing so. It was a choice he made; the kind of choice Kanoya said creations don’t have; and it was the wrong choice.

Now the world is a place where Yuna is dead, her creation is loose and on a quest of vengeance. But his choice to come clean with the others wasa good one; hopefully the first of several he and the others will make and bring an end to Altair’s tempest.

Re:Creators – 10

Believing Chikujouin’s lies about Meteora being Mamika’s murder, Aliceteria goes all out against the sorceress, who borrows several missiles but can’t connect on any of them. Alice also counters Meteora’s summoned weapons with sommoned warriors of her own, who surround Meteora menacingly and try to catch her in a tangle of red laser beams.

Souta calls Kikuchihara, but she and help may not arrive in time, so it’s up to him to try to stop Alice, and he actually gets her to at least pause by coming between her and a wounded Meteora.

He tells her that far from being entertained by the horrors in her world, he’s always felt sad about them, has rooted for her to win a better future for that world, and looks up to her as a lofty role model: a paragon of chivalry, courage and honor. I appreciated Souta finally putting his life on the line for his friend rather than staying on the sideline, even if he’s only armed with words.

Like so many creations now in Souta’s world, Alice doesn’t feel like the heroine Souta describes. She’s something different, and someone she believes doesn’t deserve his esteem. But however flawed and fallen a person she has become, she takes stock in the fact she’s still a knight, and will still avenge her friend’s death, come hell or high water.

While this is taking place, Mirokuji is fighting Chikujouin, who considers their sparring a form of flirtation, and gets him to agree to hand over his female samurai Hangaku (whom he calls a “curse”) if she beats him.

Once Alice has had enough even of the innocent Souta’s talk, she lunges at him, but this time it’s Meteora who gets in the way, taking the full force of her strike. It’s the only one Alice gets, however, before the timely arrival of Celestia. She’s to neutralize Alice, and Kanoya Rui is floating above it all in his Giga as a last-resort.

Just when we thought Rui was going to have to be the difference in this battle, Altair appears and attacks him with a clone of his own Giga, thus neutralizing him. Blitz takes his place by Altair’s side, and suddenly all the (living) players are on the field at once.

Altair also guides Alice’s weapon so it impales Celestia, delivering a seemingly mortal wound. It’s up to Matsubara to throw caution to the wind and quickly “revise” her character by having Marine post a new illustration of her, full of power and resplendent in flames.

The post catches fire itself, gaining thousands of likes and follows, thus imbuing Celestia with the power of that illustration, combined with his written words describing it. While it strains credulity for such a post to go viral so quickly, it’s neat to see the creator ability finally make a difference in a battle.

I also like how Matsubara considers it a matter of pride as a professional creative that his protagonist not lose to the creation of an amateur doujin artist (though it’s a dig at someone whose full story we’ve yet to see, so I’m still reserving judgment on her).

In the act of revising Celestia, Altair is somehow adversely affected, and seemingly shifts slightly out of sync with the world, the opposite of what she was going for. She beats a fast retreat, as the stars are “not yet in alignment” for her.

It would seem she’s been foiled, but only temporarily. Worse, once she dissipates, Celestia reverts to her pre-revised state, complete with acute blood loss and gaping chest wound; she’s rushed to the hospital where hopefully she’ll be okay.

And even worse still, We learn the end result Mirokuji’s battle with Chikujouin: she stole Hangaku from him, which surely drops him way down on the Creation Power Rankings. Still, everyone is still alive (for now) and the world still stands intact; that’s not nothing.

Re:Creators – 09

1

While I’ll truly miss her if she’s truly dead, Mamika’s bleeding out marks the first time Re:Creators should be lauded to finally committing to something that will be very difficult to take back, assuming it sticks to its guns with her loss.

As luck would have it, the first one the dying Mamika encounters is Chikujouin, who hears the dying words Mamika wants Alice to hear, then doesn’t hesitate to rearrange them for her own entertainment, telling Alice when she arrives that it was Meteora, not Altair, who killed Mamika and is trying to destroy the world.

Normally I’d protest a character like Alice being so conveniently gullible and obtuse, but in this case I’ll allow it: in addition to being a rigid, noble knight, she’s in emotional turmoil after witnessing the untimely death of another friend; her only true friend in this world.

Felling she’s on a roll, Chikujouin calls in Souta, who arrives right on time at their meeting spot and buys her a soda.

This is a nice world. The food is delicious, the drinks are good, the sky is deep, the air is fresh and everyone is so stupid!

Just as Chiku is the perfect antagonist for generally moral people like Alice—or Souta—this world is the perfect playground for Chiku, and she can barely contain her glee with this fact. Sakamoto Maaya continues to  bring a playful, invigorating joie de vivre everyone else lacks, which gives her more serious, threatening moments more impact.

There’s a creepily predatory vibe to Chiku’s verbal and physical stalking of Souta, growing closer until her legs are wrapped around his head and he’s facing her crotch, subverting what would be the cause of blushing and/or a nosebleed in a comedy.

Still, Chiku seems to abandon Souta as a messenger to Selesia furthering the lie about Meteora being the villain, as she admits Altair is the true mastermind. Just when Chiku seems ready to do another number on Souta, Mirokuji Yuuya arrives. Chiku mockingly plays the troubled maiden before the “bad boy”, but Yuuya has a comeback even she has to admit is pretty cool:

“You’re not a person. You’re just a laughing peice of skin hanging over a bunch of lies.”

While Yuuya keeps Chiku busy, Meteora arrives to comfort Souta and apologize for not getting the truth out of her sooner. She tells him not to forget the mistakes he’s made, whether he was to blame for Shimazaki and Mamika’s deaths or not, because “the world requires choice and resolution”. It isn’t the time to give up and despair, wallowing in the rotting bath of past mistakes. Rather, he must keep learning from those mistakes; discovering and striving to do what’s right.

When Meteora tells Yuuya about Chiku’s cause-and-effect-reversing power, he uses his summon to counter it, but his battle with her is interrupted by the arrival of a furious—and grossly misinformed—Aliceteria February, who doesn’t look ready to stand around and hear all the whys and wherefores. In light of the impending confrontation, and what she told Souta, I wouldn’t rule out Meteora letting Alice kill her, if only to convince her she’s not the true enemy.

In any case, Chikujouin has made a fine mess that she’s quite proud of. She’s living the dream in this playground of a world, and regardless of her alignment (or lack thereof), it’s fun watching a master work.

Re:Creators – 08

I found last week’s episode a bit plodding and tedious, but as Altair’s identity is discovered by all and a confrontation of ideologies mounts, this week’s sequence of emotionally-resonant conversations and its closing confrontation earns it a higher grade.

The briefing to the group proper on what they know about Altair so far kinda goes off the rails when Yuuya’s creator appears with a dismissive, aloof atitude, and Yuuya, sees it as provocation to sic his esper on him. Blitz’s artist is also there, but these are merely intros for people who may or may not play key roles later.

Showing Yuuya as an unpredictable hothead was nothing new, but I appreciated Meteora’s meet-up with Souta, in which she senses he’s trying to get something off his chest and tries to make it as easy as possible.

Souta still dances around matters far too much for my taste, but it’s definitely a start, and Meteora shows how she’s morphed from a fish-out-of-water game character to a warm, patient, understanding person who considers Souta a friend and hopes he feels the same.

Despite their wildly clashing worldviews (and for the record, Alice’s take on the “world of the gods” isn’t all that unfair or inaccurate) Mamika continues to embrace Alice as a dear friend; one she believes in an hopes will believe in her.

Alice does, and can, as she can tell from her words and actions that for all her naivete Mamika has a strong and pure heart. But Alice is caught off guard when Mamika suddenly jumps off the skyscraper they’re both perched on (Tokyo City Hall) and heads off on her own, indicating it could be the last time the two friends see each other, either on the same side, or at all.

Chiku’s been busy tailing Souta during his meetings with Mamika and Meteora, and she’s pretty sure not only that Souta knew Altair’s creator, but that the creator is dead, and Souta feels at least partially to blame. Not willing to wait for him to spill the beans, she used what he’d given others to paint a larger picture for herself, and Souta’s reaction makes it clear she’s spot-on.

As such, Chiku now has leverage on Souta, and isn’t about to let him get away with avoiding the reckoning she feels should surely await the protagonist of a world as messed-up as Souta’s. So she swaps contact info and promises him they’ll go on a “date” soon. Unless he wants to be exposed, he’ll do as she says.

As for Mamika, her ultimate destination this week is Altair’s lair (an ‘Altlair’, if you will) to confront her with the knowledge she’s gained, affirm that she considers her a friend too, and offers to help “save her soul”, and that of her creator. For all the talk of creators and/or creations expressing their affection for one another, Altair is having none of it.

She hates everyone and everything and wants to destroy it all, and her response to Mamika’s olive branch is to launch a fusillade of sabres into Mamika’s body. If talk failed, Mamika was always prepared to do what was necessary to stop Altair from destroying anything or anyone else, so she casts Magical Splash Flare in a thrilling finish to the episode. No matter who emerges from the resulting conflagration, things will never be the same.

Re:Creators – 07

I realize Re:C is a 22-episode run, enabling it to take its time when it deems it necessary, or when the plot demands it. But despite a couple of characters gaining important information for the road ahead (or at least drawing closer to it), I really struggled to figure out what actually happened this week, which is hardly ever a good sign that the episode itself was necessary.

The interesting multi-vector battle on the riverbank never met its potential, as Mamika flexes her mahou shoujo muscles to put an end to the duel between Celestia and Alicetelia as well as between Blitz and Mirokuji.

As a result, the Celestia/Meteora and Alicetelia/MUP factions go their separate ways, and we’re treated to the former faction….simply sitting around doing nothing yet again.

Chikujouin Makagami also goes off on her own, but only to visit and promptly murder her creator off-camera, no doubt using her power of words. In the process, she reads her own source material, starts to understand her situation better, and vows to “regroup” and continue her “Miracle Great Emperor Plan.”

I like how Chiku is only on her own side at the moment, but there’s such a thing as being too far-removed from and un-invested in everything else going on.

Meanwhile, Kanoya Rui’s creator has a hunch about MUP being the creation of a doujin artist on a DeviantArt-style site, and hits paydirt—before Souta comes clean about knowing her.

Souta’s continued refusal to do so is becoming a liability, not just in terms of the safety of creators, but in that all Souta’s character is, at least so far, is the secret he carries. I want more.

Perhaps my favorite part of this somewhat stingy, uneventful episode is one in which Mamika reaches out to Souta, believing they’re alone together, but actually being shadowed by Chiku.

Mamika admits that she may not be in a world where everyone like her gains power from simple “belief” in things, ideals, or people, but that doesn’t mean she’s willing to give up on her usual way of doing things; just modify it to better suit her new world.

She manages what no one else could: get some info about MUP out of Souta. Specifically, her name is Altair, and most likely hates the world of the creators, which definitely makes her capable of “planning something very bad”, as Mamika puts it. I just hope that “plan” isn’t just a MacGuffin.

We’ve seen people suffer and die, but recently, only by Chiku’s hand (well, words). When is whatever Altair is planning actually going to organize into something that actually threatens the world?

Re:Creators – 06

Souta realizes who the MUP’s Creator is (or was), but he’s reluctant to tell Celestia, who is back in normal clothing and is having fun with her new smartphone. And that’s pretty much it for Souta; he carries his secret with him and will have to resolve his moral dilemma another week.

This episode is all about the arrival of another new Creation, Chikujouin Makagami, who is nothing but trouble. Her arrival sparks the big multiplayer confrontation we knew was coming, while being an eminently fun-to-watch player in her own right.

As befits a dynamic-shifting character, Chiku is voiced by the illustrious Sakamoto Maaya, unquestionably one of the best in the business since her debut in Escaflowne two decades ago. She has a lot of fun in what sounds like a fun role to play.

Like a similar scenario in Captain America: Civil War, an eclectic combination of heroes and villains of diverse backgrounds, powers, weaknesses, and worldviews come together and we behold the beautiful chaos that ensues. To its credit, Re:Creators gives characters on both sides the opportunity to express their views one way or another.

The unlikely friendship between Alice and Mamika—one from a war-torn dystopia, the other from a Tokyo not dissimilar from the Creators’— continues with the two discussing how they should deal with the newcomer.

Mamika believes as long as someone is a “good person” they can be a powerful and worthwhile ally, even if their goals don’t mesh with your own. Alice hears her, and compliments her for “knowing where justice lies.”

Chikujouin will test everyone’s sense of justice, because she’s a trickster who loves flipping things upside down and inside out, including lies. When she catches a bookstore clerk in a web of “lies about lies” it seems to give her the power to summon beasts that tear him to shreds.

Kikuchihara and a normally-dressed Meteora (a subtle but nice touch for both her, Celestia, and Rui) determine Chiku is a villain (duh) and start their search, but Alice and Mamika have already found her.

The initially cordial encounter soon sours when Alice smells blood and malevolence all over Chiku, and Chiku realizes she has another mark in Alice with whom she can provoke into “lying about lies.”

Alice, naturally, dismisses everything Chiku says, calls her a “buffoon”, and charges straight at her. Before Chiku can make Alice stab herself with her own spear, Celestia arrives, with Meteora by her side.

Mamika and Meteora plead for calm—everyone’s in the same boat; there’s no need to fight each other—but hotter heads blow over, as Alice thinks no more of Meteora’s musings than Chiku’s.

Alice and Celestia won’t back down, so the two warriors go at it, and Meteora must defend Celestia with her shield. Tokar Blitz enters the fray on Team Alice, but first tells Mamika that she has the power to stop the fight. Mamika knows this, but is afraid to use her powers again after what she did to Celestia when they first met (justifiably so).

And yet it’s Tokar, disabling Meteora’s shield with a gravity round then preparing to finish her off, when Mamika finally says enough and intervenes, saving Meteora and destroying every bullet Tokar fires.

In a battle of clashing powers from clashing genres, I love how it’s the magical girl abilities that seem to be the most powerful here, precisely because they come from such a vague, whimsical, and non-scientific source.

From the moment Celestia and Meteora appeared, Chiku is on the sidelines, literally, and once the swords start to cross and the bullets start to fly, she kick back, cracks open a juice and enjoys the show.

I for one appreciated this approach, because beyond its meta value (she, like us, is eagerly awaiting what will happen next) it’s in a trickster like Chiku’s nature to play sides off each other, then step aside and let everyone beat each other up, leaving her unscathed.

This was the Re:Creators episode I’ve been waiting for, and it felt the fleetest of the lot so far. It’s an episode where everyone’s disparate personalities are on display and where interesting things happen when they butt up against each other.

Having Yuuya and Rui sit this particular battle out keeps things from getting too chaotic too fast—though I’m sure we’ll see larger and more complicated battles in the future.

I’m also glad it’s Mamika, who not only has the “purest” powers but also the “purest” sense of justice, who not only has wherewithal but also the moral compulsion to stop the fighting before someone gets hurt too badly.

She may be “naive” and may not come from as bad a place as some of the others, but she knows what she needs to know: that there’s a better way to solve problems than trying to kill each other. As such, she’s emerged as an important bridge between the pro and anti-MUP factions.

Those who don’t like it better be ready to taste an assortment of colorful hearts, stars, bows, and crescent moons.