Gatchaman Crowds Insight Episode 8: Cluster

“Hajime-chan. If we all don’t become one, something bad might happen.”

Of course those things weren’t going to be innocent. They creeped me out from the very beginning even though they were getting along with everyone. Like Joe, I also caught the “Let’s all become one” thing they all kept repeating, and that’s what made me uncomfortable with these things. And of course with what Berg Katze mentioned before, I was immediately on edge.

Kuu-sama, as everyone decided to call them. Are….things, that come out of the red speech bubbles of the people. They’re gentle creatures that hug everyone and helps them out, like what Gelsadra did before. Obviously these things were made by Gel but even he doesn’t know what these things are. Which I find odd because of Berg mentioning that this has happened before. How could he not know what these Kuu-sama are?

Well, these things are helping the people and help in what Gel and Tsubasa wanted: for the people to become one. And the Kuu-samas say this over and over again, wanting to become one. These things have some sort of hypnotic aura, as whenever they reach out and embrace someone, said person enters into a hypnotic sense of pleasure and comfort. Tsubasa was concerned over Kuu-sama, but when one of them held her she brushed it off and loved the feeling. The exact same thing happened to Rui, which was so disheartening for me to watch. He’s completely lost it. There’s a horde of those things in his home, Rui completely under their spell with X having no success in snapping him out of that trance. He even says out loud, he’s become an ape, like Rizumu said. If this continues on, the whole world really will be like “apes”.

Paiman claims the Kuu-samas to be peaceful creatures as they came from Gel, but the rest of the Gatchaman disagree. So far the riddle from JJ has been playing out. We have gentle beasts appearing, but it’s the last line that leaves the team stumped. They all share many names. I thought that meant that these things are individuals because they all came separately from people’s speech bubbles, but I don’t think it’s that simple.

Well, wanting to know more about what these things are, Hajime sets out to speak with a group of them. For one thing, these things know her name. They also knew the names of the other Gatchaman. Second, the Kuu-sama admit to not even knowing what they are. But it doesn’t matter because they just want to become one. And if they don’t, something bad might happen. Hajime asks what, and immediately they all become silent and just stare at her. Then one just runs at her to hug her, but she dodges and runs off to find Gel and ask him what’s going on. And of course Mommy/Big Sis/I Don’t Care Tsubasa is right there next to Gel trying to defend him again when Hajime arrives to ask what’s up. Hajime also asks how can she be so sure that these things are peaceful when she doesn’t even know anything about them? How can she trust them so easily when she doesn’t even know where they are? And like Joe, Hajime notices just how much Gel has changed. But Tsubasa of course brushes her away. This is when Berg makes an outburst that Gel shouldn’t act like the victim. You know, I really wish Berg would just out and say what happened when he encountered Gel. Because from what he said, the Kuu-sama are shittier than he is. And that’s scary.

And it definitely is scary when one of the Kuu-sama up and eats Joe’s friend. THAT’S THE BAD THING I GUESS? The whole time, the Gatchaman team minus Paiman wanted to something, like attack the Kuu-samas. But they couldn’t because these things were always around the people. Also, the people love and trust the Kuu-sama, so if they just went off on these things that would make them look like the bad guys. So they held off. But now we know that these things want to “become one” so badly that they’ll just eat and dispose of the people that oppose this idea. When one of the city people said that those that go against them should just disappear, I knew things were going to turn ugly later in the episode. And that was basically foreshadowing what would happen in the end.

If the mob mentality is wanting to become one, then they’ll just get rid of the people that don’t think the same way. And the Kuu-sama are the ones that will do that. And sure enough, chaos will ensue.