Impression
This week’s Jibril features Chitanda Eru!
I’m always amazed by how strong Sora and Shiro’s deductive powers are – while it may have seemed rash to interact with the Eastern Federation in such a reckless manner, it turns out that they already held every answer to the mysteries surrounding the Warbeasts. I’d have actually disliked how everything was so casually unveiled (without any thinking on our part) were it not for the fact that this is all, in reality, just exposition – which ends up making it more impressive in a way. With not much magic at their disposal, it turns out that the Eastern Federation have prospered through using their own specialities to their advantage – namely, they’ve exploited the fact that their tech is far superior to any other nation’s, even exceeding the knowledge possessed by Jibril. At least, if Jibril didn’t recognize a display screen even if she’d challenged the Eastern Federation before, it’d make sense that their game involved technology. A video game would be something completely incomprehensible to Elvengarde, whose magic ability probably gives them little need to develop tech and infrastructure – to the point that, even when they somehow realized what the game was after four attempts, they still didn’t understand why they had lost.
Alongside that, they’ve got all the hot air they intentionally created over being able to read minds – which would keep other nations wary and cautious when dealing with them. If Sora exposed that to the other continents, it’d be game over for the Warbeasts – so it would be to Hatsuse Ino’s benefit if he wiped their memories from them in a game. But equally, the very fact that Sora and Shiro know all this already gives Imanity an advantage – and in addition, Sora’s after literally everything the Eastern Federation has. Every single Warbeast would fall under the control of Imanity should Kuuhaku win – imagine, they’d get an entire country full of foul-mouthed, gap moe Izuna-tans!
Man, this show has so many great lolis. Anyway, By betting Imanity’s very essence, their “Race Piece” (plus Steph’s panties) Sora’s essentially forcing the Eastern Federation to play – and Ino knows he has no choice but to agree. At that point, I think we were supposed to go along with Kuuhaku’s overwhelming confidence – Sora and Shiro are from a world that’s technologically advanced, and video games should be their forte in a world where only one country even knows what they are. But somehow, I’m thinking that this one country can play them really, really well, and that Steph’s lack of faith is actually justified – because if there’s anything I’ve learnt from the games thus far, it’s that nothing ever turns out to be conventional.
The crackling static and Sora’s little “farewell” pep talk was enough to instil this feeling that something went horribly wrong at the end there – the discoloured, mangled ED with Sora completely missing was just the icing on the cake. While it’s all really confusing, I’m glad that Shiro will be able to take center stage with Sora’s disappearance – supposedly in a reality where no-one’s ever heard of him, and Shiro instead grew up alone. It almost seems like either Shiro or Sora was “sent” into an alternate reality, which could be the setting for this game – which, in turn would mean that the game’s already started.
Watashi kininarimasu! 😉
In other news, that ending was mind-screwy. Yeek.
Creepy, right? At first, I thought it was a technical issue on my end. Then the ED never blossomed into colour, Shiro continued looking hopelessly lost and everything sort of fizzled out and died.
Great bit of ingenuity on Madhouse’s part! It’s a nice follow-up to their wonderful success in animating yesterday’s long-awaited Hunter x Hunter episode.
Can it be possibly that he never existed?
Very possibly – in the reality Shiro’s currently in, at least. Presumably she’s still managed to become Queen of Imanity by herself, somehow overcoming the bit of trouble she had during that game with Kurami.
Then what about Jebril? The library, everything? WHAT HAPPENED!
I’ve got no idea ;_; We only saw Steph there, so Jibril might not be with them – that battle may not have happened at all in that world. I’m assuming Shiro beat Kurami based on the fact that she woke up in a big bed in the palace, though. What I said before about the game having already started was because of all that static, which hints at technology having been used – but thinking about it again, something like an alternate reality sounds an awful lot like magic at work instead. And the Warbeasts don’t even have much magic…
Gah. My guess is as good as yours!
Have you read the Light Novels? I am just asking.
I’ve been tempted to on occasion, but I haven’t. I will after the adaptation’s over, though!
But didn’t he bet the Race Piece, further elaborating he bet ALL the lives of Imanity? If he lost, Shiro and Steph would never be talking right now since they would be dead. Unless he added another thing to the prize pool, like erasing Steph’s and all other Imanity’s memories of him, them losing his memories as a cause of his loss would be impossible.
If he simply bet his existence, why does Shiro remember him? If he never existed, they will never have met at all.
The race piece signifies Imanity’s position as one of the races in Tet’s system. By betting it Sora was declaring that Imanity was willing to give up their position as a “race” and would not longer be considered “people” so far as Tet’s pledges govern the world. In short, the pledges would no longer apply to them. Most importantly, pledges 1 and 2:
All murder, war, and robbery is forbidden in this world.
All conflict in this world will be resolved through games.
…would no longer apply. People could kill them. People WOULD kill them. It’s not that they would die immediately if Blank lost, but that they would end up in a situation that would result in the extinction of Imanity.
I’m suspecting whatever’s going on with his existence is part of the game itself, rather than an outcome of a completed game. As Kuuhaku operates together, it’s possible that Shiro still remembers as she’s his “other half”, so to speak. So maybe she’s a participant whereas Steph or Jibril might not be.
Remember, they’re step-siblings(actually, it still wouldn’t change my theory if they were blood-related ._.). Sora’s father remarried. If Sora hadn’t existed at all, and his father had remarried then Shiro would have been alone.
I can’t believe I’m still trying to think about this rather than just wait for Episode Nine xD