Up until now I honestly didn’t think much of Nanako’s character. She was simply just there. So naturally it struck me when I came to the realization how this girl – unless the President was speaking through her, never spoke. We maybe heard her a couple of times, but we have heard so little of her it’s hard to think back and come up with an average. But what stood out to me the most was how emotional this episode turned out to be. Since she was a character that was just lingering around with no real role aside from being the voice for our little alien, it was unexpected for her to have such a sad and lonely back-story. It managed to make me choke up from time to time, but the scene of impact was how she and the alien had met, and how it was a drawing she and her brother drew together of how they imagined an alien, something which they had promised to see together. On top of that, the alien is not ‘officially’ a Pleiadian, it is another thing she and her younger brother had came up with.
It made me sad for her to be separated from her brother, when it was implied how they were close. Although they did not provide a solid explanation, it looks like her parents had been divorced, and so that’s why she feels betrayed and can’t trust adults because they lied how she would see her brother again. We know her mother and her little brother go traveling around the world together, but she hasn’t seen him since the day the two of them had left.
Due to being so used to loneliness, Nanako was the one to volunteer for the long three months journey of 0.25 light years away to the very edge of their solar system in order to provide them a connection to immediately teleport there. They couldn’t travel altogether because it would take too long and they simply could not be MIA for 3 months either. They may be in a different world than they are originally from, but it would cause problems if their family thinks they have all gone missing. In order to create the connection, Nanako was required to call them from her heart and that’s how they would get to their destination.
When she had located the fragment, she came across a planet which had not been discovered. She identified it to be lonely like her and names it Apate, the Goddess of Fraud and Despair (*not sure about the despair part though).
It was po-warm how Nanako had wished to return to the day or two before she left. The importance was her birthday, which the girls were not aware of at the time. It was great because Nanako knew after reaching them that she was no longer alone, she had friends and a warm place she is now apart of thanks to her fateful encounter with our dear alien. After all, it was she who had found him and broke him out of the rock he was in. She and the alien have a special bond that the others do not have. It was a bit unclear to me whether or not the gift is from her brother or the alien himself (I think the the gift may have been from her brother, but the scribbled letter was from the alien), but regardless it was a nice way to end the episode.
One of the many charms of the episode was how Subaru had provided Nanako a Travel Guide across the Solar System and wanted her to take a look at some places in her stead ahaha. She was really excited about the journey. Subaru stay perfect! It was also funny how Itsuki went on about how she’d send letters or texts but then someone would reply with a reality-check of why that wouldn’t work. There was also the part how the alien can shape-shift as Nanako, but can only say two phrases.
Next week, it is culture festival time and it looks like Minato will be participating in it!
