Episode 7
Episode 7 is aptly titled ‘Rebellious Shiroe’! This time around we meet Shiroe again, but he’s grown older and he’s not attending the education station E1077 and he’s become a kind of troublesome guy. The episode begins with him getting in trouble with some of his teammates for being too arrogant, but soon enough Keith and Sam are stepping in to break up the argument.
It’s been four years since Sam, Swena and Keith have been in the education station and they’re now 18 years old. As they look at the new students, Sam wonders if they were as nervous as these kids when they first arrived. It’s only Keith who always seemed really self-possessed.
Shiroe muses on his own about how this calm and self-possession the older students have is nothing more but a taming done by the computer to make them protect SD and never question it. It was a very interesting and bold statement and Swena warned him about saying that sort of thing. Shiroe’s personality seems to have become very abrasive in the last four years and now he’s mostly concerned with trying to rile up Keith.
Keith on the other hand is completely aloof to the whole situation. He just looks on while Shiroe challenges him and brashly tries to overtake him. Sam does get riled up, but Keith seems to think it’s not worth the effort, which hurts Shiroe’s pride even further.
Eventually Shiroe does find a way to rile Keith up after Swena announces she’s going to leave the station and marry. Sam is shocked by the news and Keith is once again detached. Swena is frustrated by his attitude, but she still goes through with her plans. Shiroe takes this chance to pick on Keith and call him an unfeeling machine, someone who doesn’t understand humans.
This seems to affect Keith, ever so slightly, but somewhat. At the same time we see a hidden side to Shiroe, the fact that he’s carrying some trauma from his adult examination and he feels like his past life which he treasures is slowly fading and he doesn’t want this to happen. It’s really touching to see this very human contrast in Shiroe. How he’s a hurt little kid who pretends to be this pride wolf.
Due to several rumors and his own suspicion, Shiroe starts digging information on Keith and he realizes that something isn’t quite right about Keith’s origins. How come he doesn’t have any memories, people don’t remember him and there aren’t any records? It’s all too shady.
Later Shiroe sees Keith in the recreation room and they play a game together. Sam is surprised Keith took on the challenge, but once he wins, Keith asks Shiroe to leave him alone and desist, as results have spoken. Shiroe gets angry and lashes out at Keith verbally, calling him a machine again. This is the last straw and the most shocking thing happens when the episode ends with Keith hitting Shiroe.
My favorite part from this episode was Sam comparing Shiroe to Jomy! Their character designs and attitudes are kind of similar, but also the fact that they’re both Mu makes it even more significant.
Episode 8
After the commotion of Keith and Shiroe’s fight, everyone is a bit shaken up. Sam takes Keith away and Keith is still very puzzled by his own reactions. Rumors run amok in the students and Sam keeps getting more and more upset about people talking behind Keith’s back.
I really like this arc to be honest! Well, Keith is my favorite character, so that makes sense, right? I just think he grows tremendously in his contact with Shiroe and Sam. Shiroe is pretty busy continuing his investigation and it definitely pays off when he ends up infiltrating a secret part of the station where he finds bodies in different stages of development, all looking like Keith. And so we learn the truth about Keith! He’s basically custom made. I wouldn’t say he’s exactly a machine, as it seems in these universe all babies are created, but he seems to be a result of modification and experimentation.
Shiroe is overjoyed by his discovery, but unfortunately he’s caught by some security guard and a psion check is forced upon him. I’m sure you can tell it won’t necessarily end well for Shiroe.
On the other side of the ecuation, Keith went to see Mother Eliza who advised him and tried to settle his heart. Keith is very troubled because he’s not sure what he’s supposed to do or why things are affecting him that way. I’d say it’s part of his development to find these things out though.
Keith and Sam are doing flight training and they talk a little bit about their plans for the future. It’s here where we can see how supportive Sam is of Keith and how Keith sees this as natural, but he also wants to support Sam and Sam doesn’t seem to think he deserves it. Either way they get into a bit of an argument that ends tensely and suddenly when their instructor comes back.
In the aftermath of this there is a glitch in the mission when Jomy Marquis Shin sends a message to the ships as the leader of the Mu. He wants to make contact with the Parthenon and negotiate peace. The psychic connection leaves most of the crew unconscious and it’s Keith’s expertise who saves everyone again.
After this Sam is very shaken up because he’s recognized Jomy as his school friend and Keith is trying hard to understand him and console him, but people around him are giving priority to other things. We can see here that Keith is actually very gentle and he doesn’t lack feelings, he’s just much more self-possessed than others in views of certain duties.
Later on as Keith is going back, he finds a very unstable Shiroe hiding behind some bushes. Keith is once again affected by this and he goes to Shiroe’s aid, wondering what is going on.