「兄の意地」 (Ani no Iji)
“A Brother’s Determination”

This was basically watching a boxing match on TV while a commentator explains all the subtle nuances and terms we, as viewers, might not understand right off the bat.

Shinra is head to head with his little brother, Sho, who we know has a connection with the Evangelist. According to Sho, his Adolla Burst is much stronger because he’s blessed by the Evangelist. By his graces, he can manipulate time by “stealing the heat of expansion.” Let me be honest and say that a lot of the ‘science’ or in this case, convenient explanations, are difficult for me to comprehend and I wonder if it’s because they just make no sense at all. With each additional explanation comes a whole set of “huh? What was that now?” I feel as though the science behind the abilities themselves isn’t entirely necessary.

Personally, combining poorly explained scientific theories with a very subpar description of the belief systems only adds to confuse me. I can’t speak for everyone, but I do wish there was a consistent, if not, more profound explanation of either. If I had to choose, I would rather the latter than the former and simply explain their abilities as “Divine Intervention.”

We didn’t get a good view of what the rest of the Company 8 is up to, however, the episode did bring us back to the 1st Company to introduce us to a fire soldier called Onyango who is pulled out of retirement after what went down with Rekka and the bugs. Why though? It seems to have to do with the events surrounding Shinra’s family home burning down. But aside from that, we have yet to know. Apparently, being a few episodes away from the finale means we needed to add more mystery to the mix.

With all the talk about Adolla Link, Adolla Burst, the other dimension/world, I can’t imagine us needing more mystery. Things aren’t as clear as I’d like them to be, but that hasn’t put a damper of the series for me. I know I’ve sounded quite pessimistic throughout this post, more like a rant than an analysis, but I’m still thoroughly enjoying the story. I can tell that it’s a lot more focused on developing the characters, introducing new dynamics, and pushing some fierce battles our way. And this episode is a prime example of that. Shinra never stops believing in his baby brother. I believe his idea of ‘catching’ and ‘playing tag’ with Sho, is so he can remind himself of who this fierce opponent truly is and what he means to him. He keeps playing the role of the big brother because he has no other choice if he wants to save Sho rather than completely annihilate him. It’s actually quite endearing and it’s a refreshing take. It keeps their battle, Shinra’s goal, and their relationship ‘light’ without adding intense drama like many other shounens do.

There are just so many questions still to be answered. I’m waiting for characters we met in the early episodes to return (Joker), I’m waiting for someone to tell me who destroyed Iris’ convent (was it the Evangelist?), and so much more. How many powerups can Shinra have? And why does it have to be so convoluted? Through his Adolla Burst, he can connect to this other dimension where his burst exists in the first place? And with his Adolla Burst, he can Adolla Link? And through his Adolla Link, he can then link to Sho, who is linked to the Evangelist, thus the power up? And then I wonder why I’m confused. If you’ve got a simpler explanation, go ahead as I’m about to scour the internet for the answer.

But for now, it seems like the Devil himself has taken Shinra over. With absolutely no regard for his life, he’s still playing tag, in it to ‘catch’ his brother and protect him, as he promised his mother so long ago.

6 Comments

  1. Seems like we’re getting into some Event Horizon territory here with hell being an actual dimension that’s leaking into their own. At least I hope that’s where they’re going with this.

    qwert
  2. This ep gets into some physics nerd stuff. I appreciate it a lot because he is playing with some real scientific ideas here but they’re probably pretty confusing to others.

    Sho creates his own bubble universe by manipulating the energy of the universe. There’s an ultra-nerdy concept involving the expansion of the universe. The idea of a person managing that is pretty overwhelming even in a world where kids can shoot flames from their bodies at will.
    This is not a scientific comparison but I recommend thinking of it like an RPG ice mage who slows everyone around by freezing them. Sho’s sort of doing something with a similar result but he’s “icing” the entire universe!

    Fo Shinra, the idea is that he’s sped himself up so fast, he’s surpassed light speed. Current real physics believes that matter can’t reach light speed. Matter has to convert to energy to go as fast as.. well, light energy. So the goofy idea is that Shinra’s managed to go so fast his body dissipates into pure energy (light speed) but he returns because he bursts so fast (faster than light speed) he’s going backwards in time, momentarily.
    This is based on the real idea of “tachyons”, a hypothetical particle which travels backwards in time because they’ve going faster than the speed of light. The idea here it that as long as Shinra can keep up the speed bursts, he can go fast enough to go backwards and restore his body. He’ll fail to return to physical form if he can’t burst to faster than light speed when he’s at light speed.
    (BTW, there’s no proof that tachyons exist but you’ve heard the term if you ever watched Star Trek.)

    It’s super nerdy but I appreciate this; sci-fi stories often play with these ideas a lot but I’ve never seen one play with these ideas in this way. I like the goofiness. Basically, this ep shows both brothers being supremely OP in ways that totally breaks physics even in their world.
    The Adolla stuff is totally non-scientific but I’d like to see why the brothers are so OP and what their connection to Adolla is!

    Danny
    1. FTL

      Do not the Air Space he occupied somehow burst into Flames because of the Energy Heat these FTL reacts with the O2 Molecules?

      In a way, if he moves FTL then he create some kind of Microwaves that are very very Hot?

      worldwidedepp
      1. Still missing some Edit functions

        Look at the Airplanes. Mach 3 and faster create very strong Heat.. So how do these Kids counter that? 🙂

        In Space there is Vacuum, so no heat is created only touching the Sun Wind molecules..

        If you want to go real, i can follow a bit your steps

        worldwidedepp
  3. Loved the episode. But I have learned to turn on my suspension of belief hard.
    The Adolla stuff is more fantasy but it does explain a link that allows both sides some access to the others memories and thoughts.

    The rest is normal light Sci-Fi technobabble that is based on real concepts but can’t actually be used the way described.

    I agree might be describing tachyons. Otherwise as the speed of Causality cannot be exceeded. Causality is what holds light from going faster but idea of full nature of Causality came after the notice of light having a maximum speed. PBS Space Time is great at covering concepts covered here but be prepared to rewatch over and over again trying to get it as the more serious episodes break your mind. Relativity and Quantum Mechanics literally are not something our brain is designed to understand. Reality is extremely counter intuitive. I recommend a old black and white You Tube short series on Frames of Reference before going deeper and it will help with other things than Physics.

    Instead of tachyons they might be describing as Causality cannot be exceed you travel back in time instead. Traveling back in time is theoretically possible in Relativity while traveling faster than Causality is not. Actual CERN experiment on time travel used data encoded on almost indestructible tiny metal object they would try to send back in time as the forces involved would tear anything else apart. Guy doing it sated more likely than not experiment would fail and by now I assume experiment has failed.

    Star Trek and others cheat the Causality limit as one thing appears to be able to exceed the speed of Causality and that is SpaceTime it self. So a Warp Bubble is created to pull the Universe by you instead of you moving allowing faster than light travel even though your not moving.

    Other Sci Fi use hypothetical other planes like Hyperspace or SubSpace to leave the normal universe so allowing faster than light travel when you come back out at different location.

    Milferd Jones

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