A tip for everyone who is going on an adventure: if you want a complete stranger to do something for you, make sure you tell him what to do, in order to prevent him from biting you in the back later.
Fractale certainly used a bunch of strange plot devices in order to get its story started. Phryne just leaves something seemingly important as Nessa in the hands of a complete stranger? If she wanted to hide Nessa, couldn’t she just have hidden it at a random place? Later on in the episode, she says that she didn’t expect Nessa to actually wake up, but that just asks a whole bunch of mew questions, most notably: why was Clain able to do it? You’re not going to tell me that in a few episodes this guy is going to turn out to be the key to switch off the Fractale, right?
Nitpicking aside though, I’m impressed that for four episodes, A-1 have kept up a consistently high animation quality here, that really gives the characters the opportunity to show their personalities and emotions, and there really was a lot to like about this episode in the story department. The aftermath of the previous episode and especially the death were given ample time to sink in, and I also give Clain all the right to try and run away from these people.
Now, at this point it’s pretty obvious that the Fractale is evil, but in terms of the details there still is quite a bit of mystery in this series: why are these stars so important for the Fractale System? What happened in the past between Nessa and Phryne? What is the link to these stars and those two? Beyond Phryne’s strange actions, the characters are also still doing pretty well. They’re nothing amazing, but most of them are not complete stereotypes and have an actual personality here, even though their personalities are sometimes really out there (Nessa most notably).
One thing that I hope that the next episodes will do is to make the Fractale system, and especially their attack squadron into a threat. I mean, when they showed up they looked really intimidating, but in the end, what did these guys actually accomplish?
Rating: * (Good)
*Warning this is a spoiler comment!*
This episode really did not live up to my expectations. The last episode did a great job or completely changing the tone of the series in an appropriate manner, but this one felt like it went back to the tone of the first two episodes with the action of the third. It just didn’t work. Also the fact that Phryne is not allied with the temple or is some sort of double-agent really ruins the plot. This could have been some excellent plot twist or story navigating between two extremes. Instead, now all of the characters are relatively on the same side and the temple has become generically evil. What a waste.
I second that comment. LOL UFOs. They keep adding questions without answering the old one, and the characters are really getting on my nerves.
lol Clain = Neo?
fail
You forgot another question: Why the flip are there TWO Nessas, one of whom is Phryne’s sister!?
If the temple people are evil, then what about the terrorists? A lot of people died and yet /cares. They even threated the fat dead idiot as an hero after all thet did was a massacre of innocent civilians. LoL. I think the authors just wanted to show how none of the opposing parties are in the right, but i wonder if they could have handled it a little better there.
Even Phyrine reveals her true colors here and that’s another LoL. Complete change of character for her, and I actually must admit I preferred the old one.
PS: The ‘stars’ are actual signal repetitors for the Fractale system, and i guess the temple haven’t got the skill to repair them or make new ones when they fall.
Yeah, I don’t think it’s obvious that Fractale is evil and the Lost Millennium are good. Part of this is because I think the only good thing about this show is its ability to portray a morally ambiguous scenario, as it is failing on multiple levels in execution (annoying characters, poor voice acting, cardboard characters, convenient plot devices…).. For example, is entrance in to the Fractale system mandatory. From what we’ve seen, it doesn’t seem to be, since they knew about the village and let them be. There are still questions, like whether people in the system are actually presented with the choice to leave, and how. How this aspect of the series ends up will basically depend on how well they can tread the morally ambiguous line. Once the creators take a side, I think loses its only strength.
Hoorah another series to look forward to!
I stating to like this show, and damn the animation in this episode is awesome