「追いつめられて」 (Oitsumerarete)
“Cornered”

First Phryne, now Moeran? I may have gotten the purple hair and eyes look I was hoping for, but she’s 26 years older than Phryne. Try as I might, I can’t say it’s going to have the same appeal on a 40-year-old character. Of course, that was just the fallout of Barrot’s implication that Moeran is just another clone of the original Phryne, namely the 141,923rd one. The Phryne we know on the other hand turns out to be 152,589, which by the power of math tells us that at least 10,666 others were created during that 26-year span. In the sixteen years since, I would imagine more than half of that amount have been created, putting the overall scale of the cloning operation into perspective.

As horrible as that sounds, I’ll be somewhat disappointed if that’s the extent of the “dark secret” behind the Fractale System. To be fair, it was pretty eye-opening to learn something of that magnitude’s been going on and countless girls have been killed because they didn’t meet the requirements of becoming half of the key, so any disappointment is from having ample time to let all that sink in and being hungry for more revelations. It’s almost as if the writers sprung the surprise prematurely and now I’m left in anticipation of more given the handful of episodes remaining. However, the details on how combining the personality of the original Phryne stored in Nessa with the perfect copy of her body will restart the Fractale System have yet to be revealed, so there’s still that avenue to be explored.

Incidentally, the sheer number of clones and the crumbling state of the Fractale System suggest that the Monastery’s been unsuccessful in producing the perfect clone for some time now. There hasn’t been any explanation as to why that may be, but I would say it’s very likely that Phryne will turn out to be a perfect one. The thought of that leads me to two possible conclusions to this series, both of which have a sorrowful aspect to them. The first would be the Fractale System isn’t rebooted in time like Lost Millennium hopes to do with their all-out attack, which would lead to the loss of Nessa once it goes offline. The second would be that Clain learns the Fractale System needs to be kept online for some world-ending reason, and Phryne sacrifices herself to reboot it after having Nessa’s personality transferred over. If things actually turn out this way, it’ll be a very heartfelt finale since Clain will likely have to choose who he’s going to sacrifice.

Despite the semi-uplifting latter half of this episode with Lost Millennium rallying its troops from all over the world, the group picture with the Granites family had death flags written all over it. I originally thought it meant that someone like Enri would bite the bullet, but in order to truly have some impact, it would probably have to be one of our three main characters. The possible endings I have in mind coincide with that, so I’m really curious if the plot will go down that route in the final two episodes. I feel like I’ve been emotionally “baited in” with how well they’re getting along, which includes Clain’s confession that he likes Phryne. If one of them died now, it would be a huge shock.

* Phryne’s letter is possibly the best English I’ve ever seen in an anime. A-1 Pictures or Ordet clearly got someone who actually knows the language to write it. It’s not perfect but it’s close.

 

44 Comments

  1. I’m speculating a very happy ending… I hope… :(… Because I like happy endings! One possible conclusion could be that Phryne and Nessa combine to make the original Phryne/Nessa, and she lives happily ever after with Clain!… and make babies…

    Justin
    1. Babies? I thought you liked happy endings!

      And as for making an impact, impact in Japan often seems to mean “let’s kill off all the side-characters, since we assume people actually care for them just as much as for the main characters”. However, I do think Nessa is probably going “God of the Matrix” at the end, saving the rest.

      But yes, hoping for happy endings as well. Seeing and being reminded of Nessa throughout their lives seems like a happy ending to me as well.

      SpacyRicochet
  2. What a name: Moeran O_o;;….
    Nessa Nesas Nessa ;A; But what i’m most happy about this episode is that HE LIKES HER AND WILL CHASE AFTER HER. With Nessa in tow. That group photo…. ;_; hope there’s a happy ending to reflect it.
    Two side of the keys though hmm. 2 episodes left, can’t wait!

    Rei
  3. death flag? yes, it is all over the place… normally when someone pulling an all-out attack, likely there will be death…
    though clain finally manned up a bit by going after phryne and trying to get her back. good to see.
    can’t wait to see how the end comes about

    jrj
  4. Damnit Phryne! Stop running away already! What is it with chicks in anime that compelles them to run off on some idiotic mission all the time?

    That aside I hope for a happy ending as well.

    GP007
  5. I have one speculation which follows your speculation that Phryne is the special one. Show Spoiler ▼

    I wonder how it goes in the novel since I can’t read that.

    Knowngni
    1. Now that’s a good speculation! The idea is perfect. Clain likes Nessa and doesn’t want her to disappear but he doesn’t have any romantic interest in her. She’s more like of a little sister/daughter type. Clain loves Phryne and obviously he doesn’t want her to disappear either. Your idea would be the perfect ending.

      The Story You Don't Know
  6. It seems that during the most recent episodes it is hinted that Nessa is actually some sort of living thing and possibly was used by the temple for their own benefits (as a “God”). I wonder what are other “doppels” then …

    SpoilerMaker
  7. …so… just a thought.
    If they had enough resources to build ~160,000 clones… why couldn’t they have just manually repaired the fractale system? You know, with the same machinery you used to build it in the first place; or the new machinery you could have built with the knowledge from the fractale and the resources to make giant cloning operations. And I cannot see how a piece of data could even physically repair a server… (unless of course there are repair bots or something whose control mechanism lies too deep in the fractale to access…)

    Really think this is a Red Herring, and even if Nessa and Phryne end up sacrificing themselves, the Fractale system will still be broken. The idea that it could even be repaired this way is probably a myth that developed as the whole “fractale religion” thing developed.

    kwantum0
    1. The catch is that no one knows how the Fractale System works anymore and no idea how to repair it other than “rebooting” it like they’ve always done.

      Cloning on the other hand seems to be something that Barrot figured out to achieve that.

  8. I really dont know how the key to reboot can be born by matching data of Nessa with living body of a real girl. Still the extent of the cloning operation is heart-wrenching. I think equally pitiful was plea by Phryne for clain to sleep with her and therefore make her uneligible to become key.

    ewok40k
    1. Wait, as I understood it, she was afraid of those nightmares and simply didn’t want to sleep alone. Nothing to do with losing her virginity. And as you see it later, they’re all 3 together sleeping in the same bed.

      boingman
  9. Aw…so we know the possible ending already. Well, most animes rarely end on happily ever after tones (ie. TTGL), but Fractale did seem the fairy tale type (+bloodshed).

    @Divine: sorry for nitpicking, but “It’s not perfect but it’s [a] close” doesn’t seem to be grammatically correct. I though that was ironically funny. ^^;;

    xcswmboy
  10. Divin why did you not mention Clain’s speech where he says “Those who love Fractale and those who hate it. Those who would fight to destory or protect it. But regardless of those peoples wishes, the world is still beautiful.” I though that was the most important scene in this episode next to the scene where clain is told not to fight because he is not one of LM.

    mario2man
  11. @conyo985, no you’re not the only one. I think we all thought the same thing…well most of us anyway. 😛

    Any who, this is shaping up to be one of the better series this season. However the next few play out, i still think it can still hold that position. that is unless it ends up being all a dream or everyone dies, or everything is reset.

    Snicket

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