Impression
This episode made a surprising turn, shifting it’s focus to the siblings’ conflicts. Before I start I have to tell you, even with all my notes I was taking and having watched it twice, I am still confused and haven’t been able to quite grasp what’s going on, so spare me if I am end up missing points or seem off the mark.
We learned today that in order for Masumi to exist/presence/whatever, Mayura and Manatsu must follow the condition of the two of them sharing the same image of Masumi as they are only able to pull this off through their own will power.
It feels like, Manatsu knows that he is going to die or something- especially after he had said:
“Humans have the ability to actively put things to an end rather than simply accept what fate has in store.” It felt like it he was not just talking about Tabi but about his own fate. Then we see in his text to Mayura that he hadn’t changed his mind about becoming what Masumi is, which implies he has known and have been thinking over this decision for a very long time.
So now here’s the question, are the three of them cursed or something? As of right now, I can see this going two different ways, one is the point as I just mentioned in the above about Manatsu being aware of his fate, and the other is about questioning Masumi’s role in this whole perhaps “Family-Curse” thing – considering how Mayura reacted by running out after having read that text and immediately calls their father claiming that Masumi was going to take Manatsu away from her. Actually, one of the things that struck me, (although I don’t know whether this is a typo on CommieSubs’s part or not) is that Masumi tells them that his time as Masumi will come to an end once his siblings stop sharing the same views. Could this possibly imply that he is not Masumi itself, but just a manifestation of him? On top of that: for a split second when Kisaragi was doing her purification ritual dance, he had that ominous aura… or more accurately a mask (much like the Persona ones)– and Izumiko did sense it. Perhaps Masumi being by their side isn’t like the whole ‘Guardian Angel’ thing I initially had in mind, but perhaps exactly as Takayanagi, said, possessed (or something along the lines) by something else entirely.
As result this raises questions about Masumi’s role in this whole thing – especially how Mayura runs out after having read that text and immediately calls their father claiming that Masumi was going to take Manatsu away from her.
On the other hand, while all of this is happening Izumiko is having a bit of her own problems as she is increasingly growing more and more frustrated at not knowing what’s going on, or what and who she is and of course- being absolutely useless. As of right now, nobody – as far as I’m concerned has actually explained to her what the Himegami is. Manatsu actually remarked about the fact that Izumiko doesn’t seem to notice that that she is constantly being used by others. It makes me really sad for her because we know that she wants to change, she wants to be normal even though she will probably never get to be a normal girl. She is left in the dark about who and what she really is, nobody had explained anything about the purpose of the school to her and if that’s not bad enough – she feels guilty for being the very reason why Miyuki isn’t able to continue living a ‘normal’ life. That’s a lot of burden and frustration that Izumiko has on her shoulders. Honestly speaking, while the Himegami specifically had asked Miyuki to do everything in his power to prevent her frmo awakening, I wouldn’t be surprised if sooner or later Izumiko just snaps– which ironically by the way could almost be considered as the very result of wiping out humanity.
That’s all from me this week, I am just too lost on this. Hopefully the next episode will clear things up. /DEAD
