Episode 4
Meteora and Marine go to see Meteora’s creator, but they are shocked to learn that he died in an accident. Unsure of what to do next, Meteora asks for some space and spends the night alone in an internet cafe playing the game she came from.
The next day Meteora returns to Takashi’s apartment and apologizes to everyone for making them worry. Meteora also reveals that she had complicated feelings about her creator, and that she was concerned about what he was thinking when he made her and the world she lived in. As she played “Avalken of Reminisce”, she looked for signs that he cared about her world, that he put thought and care into her existence. If he hadn’t, Meteora shares that he had planned to just watch the human world burn.
But she was relieved to see that she didn’t have to worry. Meteora saw herself in the game and realized that her creator had put a lot of thought and care into it. She was able to see herself in the game, and even admits to having fun while she was playing it. So, personal crisis averted, Meteora is once again ready to work to prevent the different fictional worlds from colliding with the human world. 
Meteora goes on to say share her hypothesis that as more fictional characters start to appear in the human world, the latter is at a greater and greater risk of being destroyed. The human world contains forces that try to make things make sense, but as more fictional characters appear reality would be pushed to its breaking point. Nevermind that the characters who are brought to the human world have physics-defying abilities that of course don’t exist for ordinary people. Too many contradictions in the human world mean that the equalibrium mechanisms ruling the laws of the creators will be damaged, and this could lead to an eventual “reset”. A “great destruction” if you will. Scary thought no?
Over dinner the group discusses the Military Uniform Princess (MUP) and her potential motivations for why she’s doing what she’s doing. Everyone agrees that she’s trying to destroy the human world – they just don’t know why. Meteora asks everyone to help her look for the other “creations” that appear in the human world, and says that the person who created the MUP must exist in the human world somewhere.
Elsewhere Aliceteria drags her creator in front of the MUP and angrily says that she must go back to her world. Aliceteria wants her creator to make some positive changes to her world, but so far they aren’t working, and she is still unable to return home. Aliceteria is also furious that her creator created such a chaotic world for her to live in and use it for the entertainment of humans.
Suddenly a (drunk?) older man steps out from the shadows and verbally spars with Aliceteria; his name is not revealed. The MUP interjects and asks Aliceteria to go stir the pot by disturbing the human world. And once again, Mamika is watching from the shadows.
Afterwards Mamika offers some of her brand name curry for her and Aliceteria to share. The two have an odd friendship – Mamika seems to simultaneously look up to Aliceteria while also treating her like she’s much younger? I don’t know quite how to explain it. Maybe it’s just because Mamika appears to like taking care of people? Anyways, Mamika doesn’t want to fight anymore and just wants everyone to get along, whereas Aliceteria is very determined to save her home world. I wonder if this will cause a rift in their friendship later in the series…
Back at his apartment, Takashi gets a phone call from Masaaki Nakanogane, a screen writer from a production company called Studio Urban. To Masaaki’s shock and bewilderment, a character from one of his series has shown up at his house. But not just him – his giant mecha too!
Episode 5
Souta and the others travel to Masaaki’s house to meet Rui Kanoya, a meek-looking blue-haired youth. Well, meek until he gets defensive or upset, in which case he switches into toddler mode and has a tantrum. Which is what happens when Selesia and Meteora try to explain to him that he’s in the world of his creator, and what’s going on with the MUP. Rui has a hard time adjusting so he flips out and holes himself up in another room in Masaaki’s house.
Later that evening the group is ambushed by a bunch of military troops who are revealed to be from Japan’s Special Defense Force. Acting as the group’s spokesperson, Meteora arranges for everyone to be taken together to speak in front of the Special Situations Countermeasures Council.
There they meet General Coordination Officer Kikuchihara and some other various Japanese government officials. Once it’s clear that the Japanese government actually has somewhat of an idea of what’s going on with the creations appearing in the human world, Meteora and the others readily provide what information they have on the MUP and her intentions. In return, Officer Kikuchihara shares the Meteorological Agency’s information about abnormal levels of radio interference and magnetic fields, and shows pictures of different fictional characters in the natural world; the MUP is in many of them.
By the end of the meeting, Meteora’s group are given special protections (Souta included), and Rui, Selesia and Meteora will also be given citizen and government official statuses. Meteora also asks that the characters who are appearing, and their creators, be protected as there is the potential for them to be in danger; Officer Kikuchihara says that she will submit a proposal to the Cabinet to grant this request.
After the meeting Meteora and Officer Kikuchihara exchange some quiet words outside the boardroom. Selesia arrives to meet with Meteora, and then everyone heads home on the train.
Meteora confirms that their current plan should be to find the other creations and ensure that they don’t start doing whatever they want in the human world. Meanwhile Souta is clearly bothered by the MUP, but can’t quite put his finger on why. Marine asks if Meteora and Selesia will continue to stay with her, and they happily agree.
Back at home Souta does some research on the internet and comes to the shocking realization that he knows why the MUP looks familiar. She’s the creation of a young woman named Shizuna Shimazaki, and her name is actually Altair.
My thoughts: I finally figured out why the MUP Altair seems “off” to me: her head is really small for her body, IMHO. She’s got all this hair and these bulky military clothes, but her head seems a little out of proportion for her character design. Or maybe my glasses just need to be adjusted. xD
I think the case for a link between an increase in radio interference and abnormal magnetic fields and fictional characters manifesting in the real world has the potential to be really interesting if the show goes into it in more detail. Even if there’s no scientific basis, I’m curious what the link between the two is.
The exchange between Meteora and Official Kikuchihara about the stolen military weapons was pretty funny. Our girl’s a badass yo. 8D
We’re almost a quarter of the way through the series (since this is a split-cour), and we’ve now just learned who the Altair really is and who her creator was: the blue-haired girl from the first episode who killed herself. Now the question is why she committed suicide. I also want to know why Altair appears to recognize Souta – is there a link between Souta and Shizuna? Will Souta reveal what he knows about Altair to the others, or will he keep that information to himself for awhile? Is Shizuna’s suicide the reason why Altair came to the human world, or vice versa? Ahhhh I just have so many questions!
Someone translated the Internet text in Ep 5’s final scenes:
Long story short, Altair’s a fanmade character, based on another work called Megalosphere – The Eternal Great War.
The video’s description contains a chilling message from Shimazaki:
“I loved drawing pictures.
I appreciated all the support.
A lot happened.
It all started from a trivial thing.
This is Shimazaki Setsuna’s final work.
I doubt we will ever meet again.”
I’m pretty surprised they revealed Altair’s identity so early on. Most 2-cour shows I’ve seen would keep a plotline like this under wraps until the 20-something episode mark (Personally I’ve never liked that approach – it makes the earlier episodes feel like they’re stalling for time).
A post-interview with the staff revealed some fun trivia.
– Rui’s personality is a combination of characters from major mecha series, such as Evangelion’s Shinji.
– Writer Hiroe Rei purposely depicted the Govt. Council and Kikuchihara as competent and reasonable – he wanted to avoid the cliche of government being incompetent morons in crisis fiction.
– Rui’s mecha is 55m tall (a bit shorter than Italy’s Leaning Tower of Pisa at 55.86m). Celestia’s mech from Ep 1 was only 17m tall.
PS. I think Altair’s head looks small because of how big her hat, uniform collar, and hair are. Forced perspective.
Ohh thank you for the translation! That could explain part of why Souta looked so shocked.
I can’t help but think of the only other split-cour show I’ve covered, Endride, and like you said the major plot twist was saved for like 4 episodes before the end. It worked, in a way, but at the same time Endride was so horrible for the first half that the twist became something to look forward to. If Endride had had better pacing and content, like Re:CREATORS, I might not mind the wait so much and would be less impatient.
Having Setsuna’s identity revealed so close to the beginning of the series makes me excited for the rest of the show. If that’s not the big finale of the show, there are so many directions could go in now.
OMG I can see the Shinji in Rui now that you mention it! Ahh! xD
I agree with you about the forced perspective…. I just don’t like it lol.
Thank you so much for your feedback!