This episode once again was amazing, even though I can assume that the manga-fans will dislike it. The greatest parts of the episode were the revelations at the end of the episode. Chizuru’s story was toned down from the things I’ve heard about her. I think this was to be expected, though. Gonzo does remain notorious for not keeping to their original source-material. I’ve yet to see one of their adaptations that wasn’t frowned upon by the fans of the originals.
But, having not read the Bokura no manga, I don’t care. This show rocks!
Chizuru’s downfall may have not been as shocking as Masaru’s, but certain parts of the episode were really touching. I originally thought that the flashback of episode seven happened before the events of episode five, but now it seems that Chizuru found out about her teacher somewhere in-between episodes 5 and 6. She still hates the guy, and in fact she plans to use Zearth to kill the guy. Her sister manages to save the guy, and even then he leaves the show with a bad impression, fleeing away like a little coward while his girlfriend can die any minute now.
Chizuru raises some interesting questions, reminiscent of the end of Jigoku Shoujo. If you’re going to die, why not take someone along with you? The only difference here is that Chizuru has ten people around her, who see her do these things. In the end, though, nobody can find a good reason to stop her from nearly killing her teacher.
The things that happen afterwards, though, are even better, when Yoko convinces Chizuru to fight the enemy. Especially when she told her that everybody’s going to have to do the same thing, which is quite ironic, see below. The then finishes off the enemy, and turns silent, while holding her hands around her belly.
And then the aftermath comes, with a really disturbing revelation. If you look at Zearth’s face, you could see a number of lights on it. When Chizuru died, two of these lights disappeared. In the end, these lights turned out to be the life-energy of the different children. When Chizuru died, the baby she carried also didn’t survive, which caused two of these lights to disappear.
But now the strange thing: there are eleven children left, but Zearth’s face only has nine lights left burning. This means that Kana will be surviving this whole drama, since she never enlisted. That, however, leaves another child who will be spared. One child will remain alive, while witnessing all her friends die in front of her eyes. There’s still the problem of Kokopelli, who seems to have mentioned that there will be fifteen enemies. Now that four of them have died, eleven will be left. This problem, however, can be solved, when it seems that the army is willing to offer sacrifices for the last two enemies. But who could the person who will survive be? After looking at some screenshots of the first episode, I think I know.
It’s Yoko! Remember, every one of the children enlisted properly, though she refused, and Takashi took her hand and forced her to sign up. I have no idea why, but that seemed not enough for her to become a pilot. Hence the irony when she told Chizuru that every one of them will be piloting Zearth and dying afterwards as well: everyone will, apart from herself. That’s why the OP features her, standing right next to a destroyed city! Obviously, this is 100% speculation, but it makes by far the most sense from all of the children.]]>
Bokura no – 08
Well, speaking as a fan of the manga, I’m definitely glad they didn’t skip over Chizuru’s child or (apparently) her rather vengeful use of Zearth. They certainly did her back-story something of a disservice, but it sounds like they got this bit pretty much right.
And that’s definitely an interesting bit of speculation about Yoko… (I’d wondered along similar lines.) I also can’t help feeling that, what with at least one of the Japanese military officers in line to pilot Zearth, the early mention of how it could wipe out the US military in 48 hours (a rather key length of time) might well prove to be, er, Chekov’s Giant Robot.
Safe to say, there are quite a few more nasty surprises left to come even before they overtake the manga.
As a manga reader, I haven’t seen the episode but I can already tell you that I approve of it, since Gonzo didn’t cut out the part that was actually important (Chizu being pregnant, resulting in 1 kid other than Kana who might survive). 🙂
Adam: I actually didn’t pick up how they mentioned that the US military could be wiped out in 48 hours, and I agree that this has a good possibility to become a Checkov’s “Giant Robot”, in order to tie in with the scene of Yoko in the op. I’m actually really curious about what kinds of shocks the rest of the anime will bring, since every malicious character apart from Jun has been wiped out already.
thx for keep us post with the summary. This anime is potentially disturbing, standout from the rest of this seasons’. It annoys me badly during the ep 5 about the talk between Isao and Chizuru and the fact that the pilot will die one after another. Am trying to get to read the manga since the sub version comes out rather late. Also, i ‘d go along with your speculation about who will eventually be the survivor.
[/spoiler]According to wikipedia, in the manga Ushiro (Kana’s brother) was the one who also wasn’t contracted, but maybe Gonzo changed that in the anime. [/spoiler]
if I had to guess, i would say it is Yoko in the anime. Just based on the OP sequence alone.
I am a great fan of the Manga and hence I am somewhat disappointed by the anime. It’s good, but the manga is better IMO. It’s darker. Yes… even darker than the anime :P.
I’m a bit puzzled about who the child will be who isn’t bound by the contract. Judging from the anime’s opening and episode one, it HAS to be Yoko, but according to wiki, that’s not the case. As some others have pointed out, gonzo may have simply changed that, but I’d dislike it. I find Ushiro being the one quite ironic yet fitting, to be honest. But I don’t see how he cannot be bound by the contract in the anime.
Well, if the only source is Wikipedia, even manga-readers don’t know who the person might be, and the fact is that Gonzo has to come up with its own ending due to the manga not being finished and all, I think it’ll indeed be Yoko. After all, Wikipedia is open-source, and anyone can change it.
haha i do know who it is because it was revealed in the last chapter. I always had a feeling who it would be, but i won’t spoil it for you =)
I’m up-to-date with the latest manga volume on OneManga.com, and I haven’t seen the anime but judging by your review I’ll have to say that there were some really drastic changes. Yeah, I hate Chizu’s teacher, too, total bastard =P.