That was quite the episode and I’m still trying to piece it all together. But I will admit, for me, one of the most enjoyable parts of this anime is seeing how everything connects. I had no idea that we would end up where we are now but having little bits of connection given to us in each episode has made it exciting. And with each bit of information that we are given I think that it really shapes our perspective of what is currently going on as well as what we have previously seen. Someone we originally thought was an enemy early on can turn into an ally or even just proves to be a manipulated piece in a much larger plan – and I just think that’s really neat.
For this episode, I liked the conflict between Nir and Echo as they both have very strong conflicting feelings. Echo, as Mu’s partner feels a very strong urge to help her and rescue her from the situation. Nir on the other hand wants to put an end to Mu due to previous actions. I think it’s interesting how it changes from “I’m going to fight Mu because she killed Lyde and Ritchie” to “Mu is an Earless and I will destroy her” and I like that Nir can still be angry at Mu even after the discovery of Teen Spirit and Tommy’s use for it. I’m glad that they didn’t opt for the “oh, there’s a bigger evil and Mu is just a puppet. So, let’s band together and save everyone” in this episode. I don’t think I’ll mind it very much if they decide to do that in later episodes, but I think Nir’s anger and frustration about the whole thing is understandable.
Not only that, but even the short battle between Nir and Mu was cool. And while it was over quickly, I think the words that were exchanged were helpful in realizing that Mu the Mu we’ve come to know over the past 8 episodes. And that impacts Echo significantly, he’s realized that he’s lost the person that he’s spent all this time with. That their quest didn’t turn out to what they wanted it to be – that they were brought into a trap and now there’s nothing he can do to stop it. And for that reason, I’m excited to see what the next episode will bring us because Echo is currently in a state of despair. He doesn’t have the power to save Mu in their current state and by him not escaping the train I hope that next week will be an Echo focused episode. One where he comes to realize what is needed from him to help save Mu. There’s a lot of potential as to what could happen in the next episode after what we’ve seen this week.
Lastly, as much as Tommy is in control of the situation, I have a feeling that his Second Coming will be much worse than the original Project Freedom. But I think what makes him scarier is that he has brainwashed a lot of people into believing in his plan that they would be willing to die for it. But there’s a reason why the first one failed and that was an act of “betrayal” and there’s plenty of opportunities for that this time around. Yeah, he’s killed Ace, in that moment Sally was disturbed by his actions. While I’m pretty sure she’ll stay loyal to him for a little while longer, I can imagine her abandoning him in the near future. And what’s more important, is that while Tommy has control over Mu, Mu has been having conversations with Jimi. So far, I really can’t tell what the effect of them will be, but at some point they’re bound to talk about the original Project Freedom and why he made the choice he did, right? Either way, I’m interested see what new pieces we’ll get next week!
