Posted by  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
「千の風、美の尋めゆき」 (Sen no Kaze, Bi no Tomeyuki)
“A thousand wind, the search for beauty”
The revelation of exactly who Nostradamus’ Key is didn’t come as any surprise at this point, but it didn’t take away from the epic feeling of the climax to the story either. From Chihiro and Mikaze’s aerial clash of magical proportions to Smile and JK’s struggle with the twin granny demons, the rapid development where everything finally came to light made this series as a whole one hell of a ride. The most shocking thing was Chihiro getting what appeared to be mortally wounded at the hands of Mikaze, and providing some final instructions to Fumiaki before she collapsed. To a lesser extent was Maya’s father still being alive because Chihiro faked his death — confirming the suspicion that the commander in the future is him — and Maya still having the notebook he left for her thanks to Chihiro planning ahead for that as well. In all cases, this episode just went on to show how Chihiro was absolutely nothing like we were led to believe all this time, and made it kind of sad to see her go with the way she put up valiant effort to the very end. Judging from the preview, I’d like to believe that she and her faithful demon-in-disguise assistant are still alive somehow, but I haven’t ruled out the possibility that it might just be a flashback.
As for Maya and Fumiaki picking up where she left off, the confirmation that Mikaze is the key still had impact in my eyes. After all the build-up surrounding it for the entire series, it just wouldn’t feel right unless the suspicion was spelled out in clear writing to drive that point home to both the viewers and the characters themselves. Following the big revelation, Fumiaki proved to be surprisingly cool by reading out parts of the spell and Maya intuitively repeating the incantation after him to ultimately cast it. All the while he was getting beaten and tossed around by Mikaze yet managed to get up every time from all the abusive “training” Maya’s given him. At one point, I actually wondered if Chihiro had cast a protective spell on him with her kiss, but there wasn’t a lot in the way of suggesting that she did. As such, we just have to chalk up saving the future to Fumiaki’s help and the Waldstein Academy that Maya’s father built to activate the spell to rid the world of Mikaze for good. Subsequently, the cliffhanger the episode left off on about the future remaining the same didn’t really come as a surprise to me though.
When it comes to time travel and the possibility of going back in time to change the past, I’m inclined to believe that things would adhere to a “split timeline theory.” In other words, any changes made to that past would set it towards a new future and not salvage the current future from which time agents are sent from. If we were to adopt the single timeline theory, the whole operation would be fruitless since any changes they attempt to make in the past would lead them to exactly where they are now — a barren future invaded by aliens. If stopping Mikaze saved the future that Fumiaki came from, he would have never been sent back in the first place, thus creating a time paradox from the discontinuity in time. In short, it would come down to the situation of, “Which came first? Stopping Mikaze or Bunmei being sent back in time?” As seen here, the latter directly resulted in the former, but if the former happened then there would be no latter. This is where the single timeline theory falls apart.
Based on Junichirou’s reaction (or lack thereof), it looked like he was well aware that their efforts would only ensure that Maya has bright future and purposely withheld that information from his team. Assuming that’s the case, it raises the question as to which future Fumiaki would return to since he seems intent on going back to his own time. Given that he’s currently on the timeline where the world was saved, he would theoretically go thirteen years in the future where the aliens never invaded the Earth. In this new future, another grown-up version of him would already exist though since that’s not the version of the future that he came from. However, seeing as he could contact his barren future even after Mikaze was sealed away, it suggests that he can return to his barren future which is now considered an alternate reality to the one he’s currently in. Why he would want to return to that is beyond me — especially after Maya finally confided in him — so I’m thinking he might just stay in 1999. Oh how I love time travel theories and how there are so many problems with all of them. 🙂
Preview
 |
 |
 |
quite an intense episode it was….now im quite curious about whats next and what fumaiki is gonna do.
I thought Fumaiki didn’t get injured because he already started reciting the spell. Mikaze was getting weaker with every word. At least that’s what I saw when she was looking at her hands and wondering why he wasn’t getting hurt.
It seems Mikaze was gradually being weakened by spells lines… Fumiaki getting suddenly all cool and heroic is so WRONG after all his cowardice and falling for Mikaze’s tricks, but I assume there was no other way.
I wonder what we will see in the last episode?
Personally I think that the future taken over by aliens was going to be destroyed to make way for the new future, and when Fumiaki tries to return to his future he’d find that he is unable to(or at least that’s what I’d want to happen). I hope Fumiaki really will get to stay in 1999. I think it would be really interesting how thing would go from there 🙂
I can’t help but wonder where Junichirou was at that point. I guess he was preparing for the alien invasion leading him to become the commander in the future.
Quote Divine: Oh how I love time travel theories and how there are so many problems with all of them. 🙂
You should definitly check out steins;gate when it comes out, or play the game, if you havent. Great story telling with the time travel aspect.
My guess is that Fumiaki needs to return to the future for the timeline to readjust. Mikaze acted pretty stupidly this episode. She could simply tear the book away from Fumiaki so he can say the lines for Maya to repeat then simply burn it like she did with Chihiro’s diary.
Speaking of Chihiro, she looks a lot better in her white witch dressing and the animators reduced the width of her mouth i think
Actually,she couldn’t touch him because he was holding the spell book with the protective charms Maya’s dad gave her.Remember her saying she couldn’t touch Maya because of the book?
It works only in Maya’s hands as its keyed to her and her dad, which was why Fumiaki saying the words don’t really have an effect. He need Maya to repeat them.
Which reminds me, she could simply have killed Maya also as an alternative strategy since she no longer has the book in hand and is not protected any more
But remember, Mikaze was getting weaker with every word they said. I don’t think her trying to kill Maya would have made any difference since Fumiaki was able to stand up again after being hit.
Fumiaki is a total wimp (given she could kick him onto the floor even after the spell recitation started) so if she went for the book, it would not be too hard to tear it away from him.
On the chance he fought to hold on to the book, the spell recitation would stop creating more time for Mikaze to react and in the best case for Mikaze, extended lapses in the recitation would require a complete recitation again.
If Mikaze went for Maya (she needs to repeat the words for the spell to take effect as th book is keyed to her, notice when the book starts glowing) she simply needed to prevent her from repeating. This would be as simply as sticking something into her mouth (like a fist perhaps), throwing her off the tower, keep yelling in her ear so she can’t hear anything, etc
I love when anime throws us curveballs like Chihiro being a good white witch and not the villian. I mean seriously did anyone see that coming (that hasn’t read the manga or light novel or whatever this series is based on)?
I would like the final episode to give us some insight on Mizake’s past but probably not enough time to do that in finale.
This show is anime-original, just like the other anime-no-chikara projects are.
I think the one who invited the aliens is little Bunmei. There was not only Mikaze, but also Bunmei in the photo. We still don’t know why and how he lost his powers.
good point, besides he never took a photo of himself before like maya did
I believe this to be the case as well. The show made a point to have Mikaze and Bunmei in the same shot. He was actually the key, not her.
but how does the photo thing work really? she needs to think of destroying the one she’s taking a picture of, right? she would have been thinking of destroying mikaze and mikaze only when she took that picture. not unless she took it twice, the first one for mikaze and the second for bunmei.
It was theorized that it’s actually Fumiaki that’s the key. This also explains why Mikaze knew many of Fumiaki’s favorite things(the car, the curry, being called Fumiaki, etc.).
That could work but they would need to explain how come Maya was thinking of Fumiaki’s destruction since that’s one of the conditions of using the camera
Actually, I am still inclined to think that Maya may still be the key afterall. The scene never showed that she took a picture of Mikaze or Bunmei and that there was a look of determination when the photo was took which may indicate that she had the courage to confirm Bunmei’s theory last episode. On the other hand, WOW, this episode was great! The animation quality took a leap several notches and that this episode had me glued near the screen the whole time! HOORAY for the Occult!
I also think that Bunmei is the key rather than Mikaze. That would explain why the future hadn’t changed. Bunmei has to die to save the future. And Mayas Dad knows this! This is why useless Bunmei was sent in the past.
getting rid of bunmei in the future would have made more sense if that was the case.
I dont think so. Because if they had killed Bunmei in the future the past would have still remained unchanged. Because no one would have stopped the alien invasion!
@Divine : last two paragraphs of review ” なに ” LoL
That’s why I hate time travel. It gets so confusing. Is back to the future all over again 🙂 One of the reasons I like Natsu no Arashi time traveling is because it doesn’t matter what they do, is always fun without huge paradox implications. Take the spoiled milk back thru time!!!
I have to say this series as a whole has redeem itself for me (Fumiaki is still so-so). I absolutely love the dark witch and white mage character designs. It’s really sad that they came to light at the end. Won’t mind at all to have a couple more of fights among them. Maya riding the panther/demon was nice too. Let’s see how they warp things up next time.
mikaze cant be the key, how can the villain who is trying to destroy the world be the key. It’s like the ” i win” button again. And how are the aliens related to the demons again? could this whole thing lead to another villain>?
I don’t get the logic behind your statement. The story is set up until now as
Key=if destroyed before Aug 21 no aliens/demons
Mikaze= waiting for Aug 21 to open so if Mikaze destroyed=no one opening.
About the aliens and demo0ns things. Aliens = demons and vice versa, only from which PoV you’re looking at. If a creature with horns appear, is he a demon or an alien? If a magical portal is simply an activated quantum teleportation gateway, is it magic or technology?
Am I the only one who enjoyed their spell casting duet? :<
So… in the end, Fumiaki never used telekinises, huh?
I think the possibility of Fumiaki or Maya being the key is still there. Until it’s confirmed/denied next week I can’t believe that the future not changing, Maya’s dead not showing any emotion (in that scene), and us not knowing who the picture was really taken of doesn’t mean something.
I’m still digesting the whole plot but oh mang! this has been one of my favorite animes this year =]
The fights in this episodes were displayed very nice. Final chapter coming soon 🙁
Actually, I believe the Nostradamus Key had nothing to do with the future at all. It was the beam of light of Mikaze’s sealing that alerted the aliens. That’s why the future didn’t change.
This one really made me confused. Why would Mikaze have her brainwashed victims chanting ‘kill the witch’ if she herself is a witch? How would Mikaze be the Nostradamus Key if she’s a witch and the invaders are aliens (Raw’s theory frankly sounds like the best)? How is it that Mikaze summoned all those monsters (including the mothmen) to target Maya when the mothmen killed #5 before she showed up and most of the monsters only went after Maya when she got too close to them?
Hopefully the next episode will clear things up a bit and I want to see if it’s a Maya/Fumiaki pairing now that the other two are (apparently) dead.
I get what your saying about the mission resulting in nothing but. STILL. It doesnt result in nothing. Think about it. At least now the humans in the future have a past that they can go to..They just have to time travel like Bumei did. If Bumei didnt save the past, the humans would be stuck in the future with no future. heh.
am I the only one thinking that the magic duel between Mikaze and Chihiro the gave off Nanoha vibes? you know, fighting high up in the air, and flinging magic spells at each other, complete with token magic stick and in costume?