Now that the first attack is over and the dead have been laid to rest, the Elders want to make Suou the new chief of the Mud Whale. However this is mostly a farce – the Elders want to sink the Mud Whale into the sand, and take everyone with it. Suou’s role as the new chief would be to help keep everyone calm and encourage people to see this as the “honorable” route. Their attackers are going to come back in a week and slaughter everyone anyways, so wouldn’t suicide be the more preferable option? That is the logic of the Elders Council.
After some input from one of the oldest, and most “addled” Elder, Suou resolves to put up a fight and not go along with the other Elders’ plan. New information about the Mud Whale’s attackers is also revealed – the citizens of the Mud Whale and the attackers are all from the same country! Many, many years ago, the ancestors of those who live on the Mud Whale were exiled to the sand sea for a “particular sin,” although what that transgression is isn’t specified. That is why the people of the Mud Whale continue to live on the sand sea and away from The Mainland. The Elders also know damn well that the purpose of the attackers is to execute everyone, not invade or occupy the Mud Whale. Suou continues to try to ask questions of the confused elder, but is knocked out from behind by the blond man with the eyepatch and taken into the bowels of the Mud Whale.
Elsewhere on the Mud Whale, the guard Ginshu finds Chakuro carving some words into a rock in a state of delusion, and she tries to cheer him up by pointing out that although Sami died, Chakuro was able to save others. After she leaves, Chakuro scales the Mud Whale up to a lookout point.
This is where Nelli finds him. She uses an ability that allows him to see the spirits of everyone who died in the recent attack, including Sami. Her spirit comes to Chakuro and kisses him, and she shares that she wanted to be his wife one day. As Sami appears to leave, Chakuro reveals that he loved her too, and always thought that if they were going to be together one day then he knew “everything would be alright.” Chakuro asks Sami to take him with her, but she says she can’t because he has a mission to carry out.
Chakuro sees some other visions, like a conversation with the now-deceased Taisha and then falling through space towards many galaxies. Nelli directs him to a
specific galaxy, where Chakuro lands then picks up a sword buried in dirt. Except pulling out the sword makes him covered in an injured Ouni’s blood. Chakuro sees some other trippy things before Nelli brings him back to reality.
The little girl shares the Elders’ plan with Chakuro, and naturally he’s shocked and upset. He knows he must do something to prevent the plan from being carried out. Nelli tells Chakuro to find Lykos, which he does. Together the two also find Chakuro’s friends Nezu and Rou, and Masoo, and the three young men decide to join the fight. The five travel to the top of the Mud Whale to find Ouni but he refuses to help them, so the group of five leave him and head down towards the jail.
They have to sneak past some guards, and Chakuro uses Ginshu’s feelings for him against her when she shows up to investigate what’s going on. Chakuro and the others manage to break through the wave of guards and leave Ginshu behind to take the fall for their actions.
Once the group makes their way into the bowels they encounter the still-unnamed guard captain, who boots up his thymia but walks past them without saying a word or using his thymia against them. Chakuro and the others continue onwards to try to find Suou, while we learn that Ouni has followed Chakuro and he’s who the guard captain wants to fight. Chakuro’s group splits up – Nezu and Rou will try to break Suou out of his cell with their new invention (once they find him), while Masoo, Chakuro and Lykos will head further down into the bowels of the Mud Whale.
The trio reach the mechanical centre of the Mud Whale, where a surprise is waiting for them: some kind of creature of nature is sitting in a massive chair, overgrown with moss and fauna growing out of it. The being appears to be tied to the chair too? Or there is tubes coming out of it? Regardless of what it is, Nelli is sitting on the arm of the chair and does not appear to be fazed by the arrival of Chakuro, Masoo and Lykos.
My thoughts: What a great episode! Lots of action and excellent pacing make Kujira no Kora an easy show to watch. We’re a third of the way through the season now, and I’m really pleased to see some of my questions about the Mud Whale and the people of the Mainland being answered.
The scene with Chakuro playing upon Ginshu’s crush on him was really cute, even though I felt bad that Chakuro left her behind to get stuck with his punishment. I hope that doesn’t come back to bite him in the butt later.
I wonder who will win the fight between Blondie and Ouni. They both look to be very powerful thymia users, but I imagine the winner will come down to who was the bigger drive. Who wants to win more? The guard captain who is protecting the Mud Whale and obeying the Elders, or the criminal who is upset and angry and lashing out at those around him?
The obvious question is, WHAT is the thing that Nelli is sitting next to? I am assuming it’s what’s powering the Mud Whale. Will killing it sink them all? Is it the “Falena” the confused Elder was talking about when he was rambling earlier?
So many questions! Can’t wait for next week!