This definitely feels like the cooldown episode considering what happened in the past few episodes. After a week’s hiatus of being left on quite the rude cliffhanger, we finally get to see the continuation of Aqua and Himekawa’s conversation of being half siblings. The conversation ended up being a lot more lowkey than I expected. Especially since Himekawa didn’t seem particularly shocked about the information. He actually seemed fairly happy and excited to have a relative. Though considering what happened to his parents, it kind of makes sense. I am curious as to how their relationship will go from now on. However, the information we learn about Himekawa’s dad was probably tragically shocking to Aqua. After putting so much time and effort into finding his dad to get his revenge, I can’t even imagine how it must have felt for him to find out that he’s been dead for a number of years. It probably must have felt like he had been wasting so much of his time trying to find someone who couldn’t be found anymore. It would probably feel unsatisfying as well.
Despite feeling absolutely lost after finding out that his dad is already dead, it actually seemed like Aqua was ready to live his life and be happy. And while, I feel like it’s obvious that this isn’t the end to his revenge story, I am glad that he feels compelled to continue to live his life. Especially since it seemed like he was ready to end his life when Ai died. Though I think this momentary peace allowed him to see that there are a lot of people who care about him and would be devastated if he were to “disappear.” It’s honestly comforting to see him realize this and actually accepts the fact that he can “live” now. To which, he even ends up losing the star in his eye… which I didn’t even NOTICE until at the end of the episode… ON A REWATCH. I felt so incredibly slow at that moment lol. The star in his eye almost seemed to symbolize his drive and motivations. But once he lost his reason for revenge, the star also disappeared. He seems almost relieved that this burden he placed upon himself was gone and we finally got a true genuine smile from him that had no fear of being tainted by grief and guilt. Even bringing “light” back into his life, symbolized by him opening up the curtains and allowing him to bathe in the sunlight despite having lost the “light” in his eye. It was such a poetic moment and I am just dreading the day where all of this peace gets ripped away from him again. Especially since he’ll be visiting the place where he originally worked in his previous life and also died. With how ominous that ending was, I’m really worried at what will happen to him next.
We finally see what’s been going on with the new B-Komachi while also getting a rundown on how youtube works in Japan lol. But man, this part was honestly hard to get through because I was experiencing severe second-hand embarrassment from Kana during her daydream about being with Aqua. She’s so dumb I say lovingly. Putting that aside, we also get a little more of Ruby, who has been mostly absent this season. Ruby is such a pure soul but is also bogged down by her own feelings for Ai’s death. Seeing the shot of her in front of the blinds while also wearing a striped shirt makes me think that she has a lot more complex emotions towards the subject than she lets on. Almost makes her look like a prisoner. Despite that, the fact she wants to continue on being an idol while keeping the fact she’s Ai’s daughter a secret forever is quite the feat. It seems like she wants to be able to share it, but also believes that this secret should go to the grave with her. We also learn exactly why she named her group the same as Ai’s. Not only did she want to continue her mom’s legacy, but also in hopes of catching Goro’s eye and they would be reunited. Even finding out that he went “missing” didn’t stop her from hoping that he’ll find her one day. With how strong her feelings for Goro are, it does make me curious as to how she’d react if she found out that Aqua was his reincarnation. I can only HOPE that things won’t get weird between the two.
After having done covers after covers of the old B-Komachi songs, Memcho brought up a good point on finally singing an original song for specifically for their group. As good as the old songs are, to eventually gain their own identity as an idol group, they definitely do need their own songs. Though Miyako already had that covered… kind of. She hired the person who actually worked on a bunch of B-Komachi’s songs. However, he seemed to be stuck in a rut of lacking motivation that left him procrastinating the request. I definitely related to Miyako in not wanting to bother him further about the request and would much rather wait than engage a possible confrontation. Not to mention it could come across as rude and ungrateful if you told them to “hurry it up.” I admit that I did get mildly offended at Ruby wanting to hurry the process up. Even going as far as to act like a child throwing a tantrum that didn’t really do her many favors in my eyes. Though I also respect that Ruby understands her time with this particular group is limited. Especially since she acknowledges that Kana will want to go back to being a full-time actor and Memcho is getting… older. Oh my gosh, I felt Memcho on such a spiritual level lolololol. That whole scene just had me: STOP! STOP! SHE’S ALREADY DEAD! Anyways, I think after the play, Ruby realized exactly where Kana’s true passions lie and probably didn’t want to trap her as an idol forever.
While Ruby can be childish, she does show more a certain amount of maturity for her age from time to time. Not to mention that her very positive and outspoken ways can also be used as a great motivator for others. Shown by convincing Miyako to try and get into contact with the song writer again. Her passion and determination reminiscent of Ichigo’s dream of having B-Komachi perform at the dome. And honestly, seeing the very brief flashback of Miyako and Ichigo together was so bittersweet. Especially since it seemed like the two had grown closer over time and actually started sharing the same excitement over B-Komachi’s success. Only for Ichigo to seemingly abandon them to who knows where. And while we don’t know how Miyako feels about Ichigo just up and leaving, it seems like she still looks back at some of the moments they shared fondly.
Ruby’s positivity even went as far as to affect the song writer as well by sending him a personal video of gratitude of excitement for the new song. Giving him the motivation and inspiration to most likely come up with a banger of a song. While it may seem small, I think showing gratitude in this way really goes a long way. Especially since I think it’s very different from just getting a commission from a “faceless” person through messages. Actually seeing and receiving the person’s gratitude face-to-face is one heck of a motivator and also giving the person the willingness to follow through with the project they were given despite the set backs.
And with that, the month of the Tokyo Blade stage play comes to an end. I am a bit disappointed that we didn’t get to see first-hand how it all wrapped up. And I’m also miffed that we didn’t get Aqua’s breakdown in relief animated in the actual series like how it was portrayed in the opening. I understand that it was demonstrated when he was visualizing Ai, but still. It would have been nice to hear his current self putting all his feelings of disbelief and relief into that final scene. But oh well. It looks like everything ended on a good note despite it feeling unsatisfying as a viewer. Speaking of unsatisfied, it seems like Aqua doesn’t know what to do with himself now that he isn’t desperately searching for his dad anymore. While he seems much lighter, even Kana noticed, he also seems listless. Old habits die hard as he seemed to forget that his target was dead and went on scheming on how to get close to the song writer. Only to remember that he doesn’t need to do that anymore. Now that the play is done, he is given the opportunity to tag along on B-Komachi’s R&R to Miyazaki. And SURELY nothing will go wrong on that trip~ Things are sure to go very wrong on that trip... I don’t know what, but considering this will be the first time they’ll be so close to a place that their previous lives existed, things are sure to hit the fan in some form or another.
I meant to post this on Saturday, but I got sidetracked and forgot to altogether.
It is physically impossible for Seishuurou to be Taiki and Aqua’s father based on the timeline presented by Taiki, and if Aqua had thought of the facts instead of be in shock over the double suicide info, he would’ve realized that.
Taiki is 20, and Aqua is 16, so when Taiki was 5, his “father” commited double suicide, which was when Aqua was 1 year old. However, Ai was still in contact with Aqua’s father when Aqua and Ruby were 3, which shows that Seishuurou is not Aqua’s, or consequently Taiki’s, biological father since Seishuurou died when Aqua was 1.
So the double suicide of Taiki’s family and the murder of Ai were likely planned by Aqua and Taiki’s father for whatever reason.
Taiki’s mother, Airi, was either raped by Aqua and Taiki’s father, or Airi cheated on her husband with that man through an affair that ran for who knows how long.
Anyway this episode really sold how dull and lifeless Aqua is when he’s not chasing the ghost of Ai with his quest for revenge, and it really worked for me since the decision to present it like this was most likely intentional.