Re:CREATORS – Episode 16 [This is the Actual Beginning, Isn’t It?]

“You guys are so weird. You go crazy over something that’s make-believe. Like you think it’s actually real. You can’t stop yourselves from feeling happy.”

It looks like there’s been a bit of a timeskip because the Elimination Chamber Festival is right around the corner. Finally, the ball is going to get rolling on this massive event.

Selesia picks up Souta and drives him to the onsen (hot springs) where all of the creations and their creators will be meeting up, plus Kikuchihara too. Yuuya, Rui and Marine beat everyone to the onsen, but it’s not long before the other creators and Meteora arrive at last. Masaaki shares with the others that there is going to be a huge premiere party, to hype up the festival and increase the audience’s acceptance. Lots of important people will be attending including the voice actors from the upcoming crossover anime.

The onsen scene with everyone bathing was cute. Masaaki gets really worked up over Yuuya’s amazing physique, especially when Yuuya calls him fat and tells him to lose weight. (Which sends a bad message I know, but honestly it was just funny watching Masaaki fume and turn very red in the face.)

Over on the women’s side of the onsen, things are a little calmer. Hikayu is a little nervous about the upcoming battle, but Meteora emerges from beneath the water’s surface (out of nowhere!) to reassure her. Shunma dislikes having a bath so much that she eventually climbs out before the others, and as she does Meteora says that she’s read Shunma’s part, and it’s suggested that Shunma has written something questionable that will happen to one of her characters.

After Shunma’s departure, Selesia, Meteora, Marine and Hikayu remain behind to enjoy the sights and smells of the relaxing evening. Meteora says that Altair would likely be unable to enjoy the freedoms of the human world because she hasn’t been allowed to, by design.

Later on all the creators and their creations, along with Kikuchihara, meet up to share a meal together. Takashi asks Kikuchihara if she will be drinking and she says she’s not, but the creators notice she’s actually drinking an alcoholic drink. Kikuchihara notices that the guys are not listening to her and so she starts scolding the creators for the excuses they kept giving her while the festival was being planned. This was probably my favourite part of the episode because even when drunk, Kikuchikara is still a badass boss. 8D

Plans for the festival are discussed, and at the very end everyone puts their hands into the middle for a celebratory huddle (and someone props up Kikuchihara’s sleeping body so she can join in too  o.o ).

The next day Kikuchihara holds a meeting with everyone to go over the finalized plans and details of the Elimination Chamber Festival. Afterwards the

public starts heading to the gigantic stadium for the premiere party. Everyone is super excited, which is a positive sign. Marine, Takashi and Masaaki are planning on watching the festivities from up in one of the MVP boxes, but Souta’s watching from one of the balconies instead. There are lots of lights, glowsticks, loud music and fireworks – the party has begun!

From elsewhere in the stadium, Meteora climbs onto the special platform which will allow her to cast her spells. Blue lights surround her body as she says the spell which will activate the magical Grimoires, which I’m guessing have something to do with security? Kikuchihara warns the creations that Meteora is about to begin a ritual to summon Vogelchevalier (Selesia’s mech) now that magnetic field disturbances are starting to appear. Yuuya tests out his weapon and notices that it is more powerful than before.

Everyone’s ready for the Elimination Chamber Festival to start. Let the battle begin!

My thoughts: This episode was rather meta. Selesia’s comments to Souta at the beginning of the episode remind me of anime and other imagination-based hobbies that exist in our world. Things like Pokemon and Magic the Gathering cards, anime, comic books, and so on. People love these things so much that they have competitions and huge conventions based around them. Fans drop insane amounts of money to travel to these events and buy assorted paraphernalia, or meet the creators of these hobbies. It’s easy to say that these things are silly and a waste of money, but I really liked Souta’s reply, which was that such pastimes are stories through which people can view the world via another lens.

I’m curious about what Shunma has written for her characters. Maybe she’s going to kill off Blitz, or hurt him in some way?

I’m super excited for next week! There’s been yet another one week hiatus, so there was no new episode yesterday. *pouts* I want to see what this big birdcage battle is really all about!

Author’s Note: I thought that there was going to be a new episode yesterday and so I was planning on making this a double-post, but as I just mentioned above there’s been yet another break so this is just a super late review. Again. I’m really. sorry. T__T  Work was stupid busy this week and when I wasn’t working I was trying to get what sleep I could. Thank you for your continued patience with me. I will do my best to be on time with next week’s review.