Listeners – 05

「ビートに抱かれて (When Doves Cry)」 (Bīto ni Idakarete)
“In the Embrace of the Beat”

Let me be completely honest. I thought this episode was mediocre and messy. The only real information I got from this episode was that the pair needed to make some extra cash so they could continue their pursuit of Jimi Stonefree. And, that they needed to get some information from ‘Denka’ a.k.a ‘Mr. Kid.’

The rest is all up in the air. Somehow, Denka was informed that his city’s newest residents wanted information about Jimi Stonefree, to which he responded they must ‘debut.’ Is this debut the final act we saw between Echo, Myu, and Lisa and Wendy? Was the purpose of the debut to discover whether or not Myu had Jimi’s power, or whether or not the duo was worthy of Denka’s time? Because, if that final head to head battle was meant to be a debut, it really only served to show Denka’s use his palace as an Equipment. Was this necessary at all?

Overall, the present time events happening in the city of ‘love & sexiness’ didn’t make much sense to me. Denka’s motives weren’t clear. They were wrapped in his love for flamboyance and over the top drama. Although this character is inspired by Prince, I couldn’t really appreciate his personality or ostentatious behavior. Technically, there was no need for a debut since he’d already befriended both Echo and Myu. He saw the core she carried with her and he knew that Echo’s intentions were founded in kindness. So, again, why the battle? For what purpose?

I’m still baffled by what I watched.

I do have a thought gnawing at me. Perhaps one of you could offer some insight. In the second episode, Echo had been taken aback by Myu’s humming. It would be nice to see this topic explored further. I have yet to understand whether or not the Equipments are offering music of any kind during battles. For example, when Myu uses her ‘Top Boost’, is there a loud soundwave producing noise (a note) that comes out of the Equipment? Is it musical energy that combats the Earless? Was the high school we went to last episode a place where musically inclined children learned to become Players? Or is the show just using music as an underlying theme on which to build the foundations of this world and its characters?

That isn’t to say this episode didn’t offer anything at all. It revealed in a way how responsible Echo and Myu are, and how connected they remain to each other. It offered some salacious themes but not without a mix of innocence. Watching Echo blush at the sight of Wendy or get flustered at the thought of enjoying a ‘sexy’ call with a girl was, to me, endearing. It just proves that he has a long way to go before he can sweep Myu off her feet if he ever does. Most likely, it will be the other way around.

On top of the small bits of fun, the episode revealed more about what occurred when Jimi disappeared. Denka, alongside the Valentines and others, was leading the attack on the Earless 10 years ago, but not without duping Jimi and his people: the people of Gnome. These people are said to be Mystics who wanted to coexist with the Earless. If Jimi was of the same mind and found himself to be betrayed, it’s only normal that everyone sees him as a ‘rogue’ player. It was revealed that the Earless were people who failed at becoming Players… And If Jimi believed there could be a peaceful way of coexisting with these beings, there was no way he would allow the Earless Core to be used to destroy them.

In addition, we find out that Jimi had a younger sister, Myu. This would explain why she has his core but it doesn’t explain why her memory has been wiped. Does this mean that Myu and Jimi originate from the country (state) of Gnome?

In the end, I’m glad the kids are making their way out of this incoherent city. It’ll be nice to see them on the road again. Denka offers them a map to Gnome where he hopes they will find Jimi. And it seems he believes, just like the Valentines, that the new ‘Love Revolution’ which he tried to make happen so long ago, could happen now with these two new players at the helm.

 

ED5 Sequence

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