The Third – 03 – Deep character development

When you ask people about the women who can really think for themselves, featured in anime which came out this season, you most often hear Firiel and Shiurei. Honoka, however, is mostly left out of this, while she has all the right in the world to belong in this category. She’s another one of these female main characters that really is unique in her own way, can think on her own way, and has her problems her own way. Shiurei has an amazingly strong personality and great morals. Firiel has her incredible curiosity and self-confidence. Honoka has an extremely cheerful personality and some very sharp observation skills. I don’t think I’ll be able to determine the best among the three of them.

It does seem, however, that this anime will manage do delve better in the mind of Honoka. The narrator was a very good idea, as he is able to inform the viewer about the unspoken and unwritten events that happened.

The episode immediately starts with the footsoldiers of The Third forcefully separating a man from his wife and kid. Lots of drama, though surprisingly nowhere it gets over the top, turning this into a good scene. We then switch to Joey, suspiciously watching Honoka and Ikus talking while he actually should be performing maintenance on Bogie. Honoka says goodbye to Ikus in a bit of a slow discussion. She feels a bit sad when he leaves.

We then get a bit of info about the town which Honoka frequents. It’s called Emporium Town, it’s a rather large-scale settlement in the Rokugou Desert. It’s also good that the cities actually have an explanation for their source of foods, in contrast to a certain Trigun. It appears that The Third loans bio-plants to these settlements, while they can build up their own, self-sustained system. This makes me wonder about The Third. They provide food for settlements, but they also just kidnap people and take them to somewhere remote. Are they good, or are they evil? Anyway, Emperium’s a bit different from other settlements, because of the huge number of mechanics (or Technos) and great mechanical skills posessed by these people. Thanks to the narrator for informing me on this.

Honoka’s meanwhile on her way to a doctor, just in case her wound appears to be something dangerous. On her way, she meets up with a lot of mechanical shops, and she really needs Bogie to remind herself that she can’t spend any more. She also runs into some guy named Kevin. The two of them apparently know each other. He pokes a bit of fun at her, but then he tells her that a certain “Blue Breaker” has started moving.

I also noticed that a fair number of people keep reminding Haruka that she doesn’t look too feminine in her outfit. Still, I have to say that I like it. It’s so much better than the generic maid-costumes. Anyway, Honoka arrives at the doctor’s office, but then it appears that the guy’s a huge pervert. I was fearing the worst, but Honoka’s reaction to this was actually pretty funny, rather than annoying like in most anime. The doctor also mentioned the “Man’s Romance”, which totally reminded me of PopoloCrois.

The doctor examines her arm a bit, and gets a big smirk on his face when he realizes that Hokona might have someone she loves. They also talk a bit about how she fought with the 4th model, and how he adviced her not to get involved with Jouganki anymore. He also mentions that the foot-soldiers from The Third are more active than usual, and that they seem to be looking for someone. Ikus directly comes to Honoka’s mind.

After she left the hospital, Honoka contacts Bogie for a bit, explaining that she’ll be working for a bit while he warns her about the Blue Breakers again. Whoever they might be. Honoka spends the rest of the afternoon taking on small jobs in order to earn enough money for the things she bought last time. Joel, meanwhile, still wonders who Ikus might’ve been. Honoka also hears about the event which happened at the beginning of the episode. It then appears that the guy got kidnapped because he was using too many technologies, as The Third only allows a limited technology. Lawbreakers will be regulated strictly. This is called the Technos Taboo (thanks to the narrator for this information again).

That evening, she suddenly sees Ikus, acting like nothing’s going on, while he’s the one being searched for. She takes him to a bar, which Kevin also seems to be frequenting, and tries to talk some sense into him. Ikus, however, has no idea what she means, so she gets a bit startled by this. Honoka also explains that Kevin works as a mercenary soldier. Ikus then admits that he’s had fun while staying with her, startling Honoka once again. We then get a very small taste of the plotline in future episodes in the scenes which follow.

To begin with, Ikus mentions that Honoka’s more special than any life since he’s been there. The fact that he uses “life”, instead of “humans”, or “people” must mean that there are other sentient beings wandering on the planet besides humans. Then, the series really gets entertaining when the foot-soldiers enter the bar, and approach Ikus. They demand him to come with them and go to the place named Hyperius. He refuses, and Honoka tries to do something. She forms some kind of strange energy in her hand, though before she gets to use it, Kevin smacks the foot-soldiers standing in front of her, pretending to be drunk. What follows is the other people in the bar suddenly getting the motivation to smash some foot-soldiers as well, giving Honoka and Ikus the chance to escape. Still, these scenes to suggest that there’s something special to humans in this world. Honoka is special in some kind of way. It’ll be interesting to find out which kind.

Joel really gets annoyed when he finds out that Ikus asks Honoka to allow him to travel with her. He offers a large sum of cash for this. Honoka accepts after a bit of thinking, but deep in her heart, she’s happy that he comes along with her (thanks to the narrator for this info, once more. He really needs to have some kind of name if this continues). He has his own reasons for joining her, though he doesn’t want to tell her yet.

Honoka definately is one of the most dimensional characters ever. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a character with so many different sides as she has, no character acts as natural as she does. In most anime, I’m able to tell how a character feels. Character A feels happy at this moment, character B is embarrased, while character C is thinking. In The Third, I need the narrator in half of the cases, as I just can’t describe how Honoka feels with just one or two simple words. The best examples of this is probably when she meets Kevin for the first time, and when she says goodbye to Ikus.