「紫色の夜明け」 (Murasakiiro no Yoake)
“Purple Dawn”

After the climatic epiphany moment of last week, it seems that the tension has died down dramatically (as in there was a distinct lack of drama, not an oxymoronic point about—y’know what? Never mind). Most of the mystery was temporarily set aside, save for a bit snooping around and idle speculation about escape routes. Instead, a good half of Purple Dawn was mostly some calm moments between Souhei and Moe, set to a literal purple dawn. Watching the sunrise, enjoying a hearty breakfast, it’s like there is no murder mystery currently unsolved under this roof (also, on top of it). I suppose the initial excitement is winding down, everybody’s tired, the police can be called in, and we can all go home.

Thing is, it’s hardly the trouble even if they hand it over to the authorities, because Souhei and Moe, complicit with the lab, are conspiring to hide the fact that Magata Shiki had apparently been murdered from the police for an entire week. Words can scarce describe what a terrible idea this is. Even if we put aside the ‘responsible citizen’ angle (for which the cast is setting a very poor example for the kids staying up secretly to watch late night anime at home), how are they going to explain to the forensics team why the body had been decomposing for a week? And that the crime scene, and the trail for the murderer from there, has been chilling all that time? Arguably, it makes everyone involved an accomplice for murder. And no, Moe, calling for your uncle and informing him of the situation doesn’t make it any better; it will make him an accomplice too. Except he’ll also have to face corruption charges as well. What fun! What we’re witnessing, ladies and gentlemen, is the unfolding of the kind of scandal that destroys influential families like the Nishinosonos. Maybe Subete ga F ni Naru is actually a documentary. Moe’s parents must be rolling in their grave.

Unfortunately for us, none of that is likely to come to pass, since by convention our protagonists should be able to solve the mystery before the police ruin things with their fancy ‘professional training’ and ‘legal authority’. The quiet of the first half of the episode, besides from fleshing out Souhei’s and Moe’s relationship a bit, seems to have been the calm before the storm. And by ‘storm’ I mean Souhei overdosing on hallucinogen again, this time seemingly harder than than the previous (in episode 03). Sakurako-san‘s undead Noah’s arc sequences have nothing on us (Look at all our ostriches! I’m sure they symbolise something, but don’t ask me what). Well, I don’t know what he figured out the first time he went into this surreal trance, and I’m not sure what he’s figured now, and it’s unlikely he’ll tell us anything before the end. The ‘detective’ is more Moe’s role, the Souhei’s simply someone for her to confirm her guesses with. So, Moe is us by proxy, always one step behind, not equipped with as much hard logic, but having enough tools to figure things out eventually.

I suspect that ‘what’ happened is not going to be the main point (though an important one, nonetheless), but rather it will be the ‘why’; Subete ga F ni Naru has always been more concerned about plumbing the alien mind of Magata Shiki than anything else. With this episode, the story of her childhood draws to a close. Or rather, it did last week, but this week’s epilogue brings it up to speed with the present. What it does seem to confirm is that Shiki was interned within the lab, and apparently happily, though how trustworthy her uncle’s account is. In fact, most of what we understand of Shiki’s mindset is through the lens of her uncle, so an air of mystery still remains there. And, of course, we still don’t know why she was interested in the death Moe’s parents; all we know of that story was, really, that her parents died and Souhei was around. I refuse to believe that this episode wraps that up. There must be more to it. We shall see what, I’ll bet.

By the way, folks, I’ve come to realise that I have no way of telling what’s a spoiler and what isn’t, and I suspect some have been unfairly liberal with them, so if you would keep your mystery speculation in spoiler tags in note them as such, that would help all readers. Thanks.

17 Comments

    1. Trying to make sense of this it’s as easy as trying to make sense of a psychedelic trip xD Anyway the ostrich eggs are a symbol of creation in countless religions/holly buildings and in the tribal dance you could see a pregnant woman…

      Kiritsugu
  1. I have this crazy theory in my mind, without no evidence or any other source whatsoever than my overactive imagination!

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Anyway it would fit the part where Nishinosono says that Dr Magata looked very young and small, also why she had the gloves; it was a countermeasure against fingerprints… Anyway it’s just a theory!

    Editor’s note: Does anybody even read the posts any more?

    Kiritsugu
    1. it is rather more likely, Show Spoiler ▼

      of course all of this is still wild mass guessing, but I think we see the road if not the destination already…

      ewok40k
      1. It’s the same theory Show Spoiler ▼

        Kiritsugu
  2. ..”Moe, calling for your uncle and informing him of the situation doesn’t make it any better; it will make him an accomplice too. Except he’ll also have to face corruption charges as well.”

    Well, its consistent since all she’s done so far is to throw her family name around (and show possessive jealousy)

    howdoyoulikeyoureggs
    1. It’s funny that she called her butler and told him to come as soon as possible, then told him to notify her uncle, and only then should he notify the police! Priorities!

      Bamboo Blade Cat
  3. I think I know what does F mean.
    F is for Fibonacci. 7 is the loneliness number.
    Please bear with me, my maths isn’t good. But lonelny number has to do with the Golden Arc formula which is related to Fibonacci numbers. And Fibonacci is shown everywhere in nature. From the formation of a sunflower to etc..

    Can someone please recap exactly what Magata sensei said about 7 being the loneliness number?

    Ornehx
    1. If you divide the numbers from 1 to 10 in two groups of five and then multiply those numbers, the final results for group 1 and group 2 will never be the same; despite the combination of numbers that you picked for each group. This is due to the presence of the number 7, ’cause the group in which the 7 appears will have a multiple of 7 as the result, the same is not possible with the other group!

      Anyway, if you reach to a cool conclusion drop a line xD The fibonacci 7th result is 13, if it were 15 i would believe you were on the right track…

      Kiritsugu

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