Okay. If this isn’t a mindfuck then I don’t know anymore.
I have one question about this episode, but that is for below. First, I just want to praise this series for its absolutely wonderful rendition of Aika, who in two episodes really has become my favorite character of this series, with already an incredibly strong cast. The way she just blew Hakaze away with both her logic and powers was amazing.
In fact, this episode was so damn logical. That she killed herself: it was given the circumstances by far the most logical possible cause for her death, considering that she’s incredibly strong and the complete and utter lack of alternatives. But the reasons why really blew me away. The irony was wonderful: the way in which she decided to kill herself in order to be able to set the story in motion, in order to be able to defeat the tree of Genesis. Time travel is always tricky to write, but I really like what this show did with it. I also really liked the details at the end of the episode: Yoshino running past Hakaze, not knowing what will happen after half a year.
I just wonder: was suicide really the only way? What if Aika did not commit suicide, and instead used her knowledge to make things progress smoother? Could they have stopped the Kusaribe clan? Wouldn’t that have lead to a bigger chance of being able to stop the Tree of Genesis? Or was there some other kind of risk that I didn’t take into account here?
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)
Yeah, I had the same thoughts you did. I still think it was awesome, they made me buy it and like it.
I can’t wait for the next episode.
Ok, as you said Time Travel is hard to do correctly. Basically If Aika doesn’t die, Mahiro has no reason to help Hakaze so she never escapes the island and when Samon wakes up the tree of Exodus (which in turn woke up the tree of Genesis) The tree of Genesis would destroy the Tree of Exodus (Hakaze was the one that stopped that when she returned from the past) and basically Civilization would fail the ‘test’ and be reset/destroyed. (as it has many times in the past if you follow the legends they talk about)
Basically Aika determines during the fight that Mahiro/Yoshino reacting to her death are the key to passing the Tree of Genesis’s test.
I have to say Aika wasn’t the only one to shine this episode. Hakaze didn’t do to badly either.
You got to admire the sheer grit of a lovestruck girl who is willing to risk her love’s hatred by killing his old love – just so that the old flame’s death won’t be meaningless for Yoshino and he’ll be spared a bit of extra pain.
Even if it does make you question her grasp on reality…
If Aika didn’t die and instead changed history, the guys wouldn’t have ever met Hakaze, so Hakaze would never have been able to go back in time and tell Aika that she was going to die…
Although Hakaze did technically change history to get Aika to kill herself anyway…
But if getting Aika to kill herself was a precondition for Hakaze to meet mahiro et al and Aika meeting mahiro et al was a precondition for getting Aika to kill herself, isn’t that a paradox?
This is the kind of confusing stuff you always get with time-travel plots :). The way I see it, the fact that Hakaze shows up from the future to tell Aika that she will die is what convinces Aika that she in fact must die. She realizes it is predetermined, because she knows from Hakaze what future will come to pass.
I guess what the series wants us to buy (and I’m buying I guess) is that Aika thought, “if I die, the world defnitely moves towards the Tree of Genesis is being defeated. If I live, then… anything could happen”. It was a choice between (almost) certainty and chance.
I’m sure Aika fears the ‘butterfly effect’. Who knows how screwed up the result of changing this timeline could be. The chances of the next timeline having a better outcome are pretty slim.
They’ve executed it well enough that I’m buying it, paradox and all.
Or they could just do it the steins;gate way…
And who said they didn’t?
If Aika is a sorcerer powerfull enough to make her suicide looks like a murder, she might as well fake the death itself, and if that was her intention she would obviously not tell Hakaze.
But even if its not the case I will not complain because even if somebody else got Aika’s power it was Yoshino who inherited her heart and the whole poetry of the situation is awesome enough.
If that’s true then Hanimura wouldn’t get his power. As was explained in the episode, his power awoke prematurely, because Aika’s death wasn’t expected.
Odd as it is, this makes me wonder… we still don’t know who his girlfriend is. Would be hilarious if it was Aika and she gave him that power knowing (via this conversation in the past) that he’d have that power in the future >_> Doubt that’s what they’re doing but it’d be cool 😛
I’m thinking that Aika simply didn’t want to risk it. Whether she decided spare herself and went for other options, or whether those options may cause a paradox or not, are not actually important here; in the future that she’s being told, it’s almost certained that if they followed down that path, and all went well, Tree of Genesis will be defeated, Yoshino and Mahiro (who are really the only people she cares in the whole world) will live on, that will be enough for her.
But shall she decide to try out other method without her dying, she would be facing great uncertainty, the future may go very wrong, and in the end cause those two to die…so to her, why risk it.
Question. How did Aika know that the tree of genesis would eventually destory humanity? Hell how does she know all this info in the first place. Sure you can pull the “She’s the princess of Exodus” and say that’s why but in that case why is the princess of genesis clueless about all this?
Looks like you didn’t watch the show carefully. Since her early childhood, the moment she’s been granted with the power of Exodus, she also received all the truth and information that comes along with it.
She knows so much, more than anyone in this world, that if she wasn’t fated to die, she would be the one to explain everything to those who wish to defeat Tree of Genesis.
I disagree Psgels. Dont get me wrong I enjoy the show, and this episode in particular was great. However for a shows that has the notion of being ‘logical’ on certain things, it is actually so illogical on a lot of instances.
Anyway I did enjoy this episode. Aika’s character is presented well.
Illogical indeed. Even with this episode. For example in this episode Aika has not thought of the fact that her death may delay the destruction of the world but without the Mage of exodus the world is damned later on. Therefore negating the point of her death. Also her entire logic for this is from the representative of her enemy with no guarantee that shes telling the truth. Which seems to be a running theme. People making rash decisions based on theory with no evidence.
>without the Mage of exodus the world is damned later on
You totally missed the part where Aika herself said that maybe it’s not the job of the Mage of Exodus to directly defeat the Tree of Genesis by him/herself. And the probability of something like that never meant to happen. Opening the path to defeat the Tree of Genesis has already served her purpose as the Mage of Exodus. And the fact that the Tree of Exodus has always has a backup mage to replace its current one. Also, the Tree of Exodus feed her with all that information when she awakened her power as its mage, a rather common theme for someone ‘chosen’.
And let’s not forget that she deduced that Hakaze is telling the truth since everything that she told her fits with all the things that she, Aika herself know about the whole situation, and some facts that Hakaze knows about her that can only be heard from Yoshino and Mahiro themselves.
And let’s not forget that the Kusaribe clan are not exactly her ‘enemies’. Hell, they’re not really the Tree of Genesis’s representatives, it’s more accurate to call them its tools, a fact even its current generation of the clan has realized which leads to Samon’s actions. They’re just regular humans who basically carry out the Tree of Genesis’ will only since they thought they’re protecting the world, and the Tree of Exodus as the real threat to humanity, but with all things going bonkers, even Hakaze who never doubted that fact before started to question which is the right course of action should they take.
Taking all of these things into consideration, it’s really nothing rash for Aika to deduce that Hakaze is actually telling the truth. Even the time-travelling doesn’t seem too far off when she herself is a mage with vast knowledge of things that people have never been aware before the Tree’s awakening.
“You totally missed the part where Aika herself said that maybe it’s not the job of the Mage of Exodus to directly defeat the Tree of Genesis by him/herself. And the probability of something like that never meant to happen. ”
Theory. No evidence.
“Also, the Tree of Exodus feed her with all that information when she awakened her power as its mage, a rather common theme for someone ‘chosen’.”
Lazy plot device.
“And let’s not forget that she deduced that Hakaze is telling the truth since everything that she told her fits with all the things that she, Aika herself know about the whole situation, and some facts that Hakaze knows about her that can only be heard from Yoshino and Mahiro themselves.”
Theory. No evidence. As for the things Mahiro and Yosino know about her there is nothing that says she could have learned that by becoming involved with them and not revealing darker intentions.
“And let’s not forget that the Kusaribe clan are not exactly her ‘enemies’.”
But the princess of Genesis clearly is.
I agree with everything that you said. This is becoming like the ending of occult academy. Time Paradox fail.
I found myself largely unsurprised by this episode, and despite the naysayers everything is indeed logical. However, much like Hazake I wasn’t ready nor am I now able to accept tragedy. See, I hate Shakespeare… and I hate tragedy. It’s just too said for me. Why can’t Aika live? And that’s where I really empathize with psgels last point. Did she really have to die? Wasn’t there some other way?
Steins;Gate indeed holds the answer, well not completely. A false death may have worked but the latent mage of exodus would not have arisen, changing the future a bit. Though that depends on the details of awakening, whether it’s based on information or the existence of the mage of exodus.
I can’t really accept it. The world has been repeating, with each reincarnation of the world failing to get it right in the eyes of Genesis. So then the question remains if the best option really is to defeat the trees as a way to “pass the test”.
This show quickly grew from what I thought was going to be a mediocre bore fest to something quite delectable.
As of right now I can’t really made predictions. The ending in this case is going to be determined, I assume, more by the writer’s emotion rather than logic. Belief and values over a sense of right or justice. I haven’t thought about it really, and don’t care to. I’ll let this ending come to me on its own.
Remember guys, another Shakespeare story involved a fake death .. Romeo and Juliet .. Juliet was supposed to fake her own death to escape her forced marriage and escape with Romeo .. things ended up tragically when Romeo thought she really died and killed himself .. then she woke up and killed herself as well -for real this time- when she realized what happened … with those people talking about how Aika could have faked her own death to set things in motion made me think of R&J .. after all .. why just limit things to the Tempest and Hamlet.
True, but as the episode mentioned the details of the latent mage of Exodus’s awakening has a part in that. It appears that the only way he would have activated was upon real death, unless there is something we don’t know. I’m just going to wait out on the ending. I’m only interested in solving mysteries when the show actually asks the question.
Remember that people who serve the tree of Genesis get similar powers to the princess of Genesis .. there is nothing preventing Hanimura from being just a servant of the tree of Exodus .. in fact anyone who serves that tree will be way more powerful than anyone serving the tree of Genesis becasue of the limitation removal (the fact they don’t need to sacrifice anything to use magic) .. what we don’t know is how someone becomes a servant of the tree of Genesis or Exodus .. probably just getting selected by the corresponding princess is the condition.
For all i care Hanimura’s girlfriend could be Aika who handed him part of her powers to set things in motion.
Sounds like wild speculation, but I suppose nothing is certain.
This is an astute deduction,
and if it really was true, it would also contribute a lot to the coherence of the events, which I consider a crucial determination base for the quality of time travel stories.
However, I am frowning about the way the script writer likes to resolve any conflict through dialouge and plot twists. It’s just too comfortable, and feels a litte bit constructed.
True, the end leaves much room for speculations, even too much for anyhing specific at all, which is good I guess.
But let’s be optimistic: BONES can atone for all screwed up endings with this series.
In case you’re wondering. I deleted a few posts which went totally off-topic into a bash-fest. Those involved know who I’m talking about, and should be ashamed of themselves. Please refrain from doing that again.
From what I have seen so far, a particular person is always involved when it comes to that. What does that imply… I wonder…
friendship 🙂
Whoever could that person be….
(Shift eyes back and forth)
*smiles*
Holy,what was going on in this thread. Half the comments were deleted.
friendship 🙂