First Impressions / Series Introduction

Summary:

Sitting on his bed, Shin contemplates whether or not he should get a copy of the “A” list for the inspector. After Ryou’s words pop into his head, “You and Jun need to move away immediately,” he decides to copy the files. Standing in front of Ryou’s computer, Shin begins to hesitate as he pulls out his memory stick. All of a sudden, he hears a loud crashing sound from the shed beside the house and runs downstairs to see if Jun is alright. There, he finds Jun rummaging through their childhood belongings, and Jun finds an old test of Shin’s that had a hand drawn picture of Eiko on the back. Embarrassed, Shin grabs the test and tells Jun that he will find something to embarrass Jun.

Across the city on a rooftop, the inspector tells his partner that he asked Shin to get the “A” list. The inspector believes that the series of murders were not random acts, but rather targeted at specific people and that all of the information that they have so far has been fabricated by Chief Kanzato. Back in the shed, Shin and Jun look through their family album, and when they find a photo of Ryou with Shin on his shoulders, Jun wonders if they would ever become a happy family again. He walks over to the bookshelf and picks out the book Kujira no Hane (Whale Feathers), the last book that their parents wrote. Jun then hears the sound of Ryou’s car, puts the book down, and goes downstairs to greet him. Ryou had come home just to change clothes, but Jun insists that he stay home for dinner since the three of them had not eaten together since their arrival to the city. As Shin and Ryou sit silently in the living room, watching TV, Jun chatters away while cooking in the kitchen. Shin then starts to ask Ryou a question, but Ryou hands him floor plans of various apartments that he wants them to move into. Shin feels that the house belongs to all of them and not just Ryou, however, Ryou coldly tells Shin that he wants them as far away as possible. This causes Shin to stand up angrily, but in doing so, he accidentally knocks into Jun who was carrying over their dinner. Ryou then gets up to leave when he receives a phone call, and Shin tries to go after him, but Jun pleas for Shin not to fight with his brother.

Later that evening, still mad over the night’s events, Shin downloads Ryou’s list into his memory stick. He goes back into his room and begins to dial the inspector’s number but stops as his stomach growls in hunger. Shin goes to the kitchen and eats the untouched dinner that Jun made for them earlier. He then heads to Jun’s room to thank him, but he finds it empty. This causes Shin to panic, and he runs outside looking for his brother. After looking around, he calls Ryou in a panic and tells him that Jun is missing. Elsewhere in the city, Jun wanders aimlessly with his hand clutched on his chest. By now, Shin is waiting at a bus stop contemplating where he should look next when a white feather falls near him. Looking up, he sees a red hair girl floating in front of him, and so he picks up the feather and walks towards her. Meanwhile, the inspector following Ryou around gets caught up at a red light and loses sight of Ryou’s car. Ryou is at this moment rushing around trying to find Jun, and a whirlwind of white feathers suddenly appears before him. As the feathers disappear, Shin appears in front of his car, and Ryou slams on his breaks just in time. Shin then climbs into Ryou’s car and tells him about the feather girl. He also questions why Ryou is looking for Jun if he wants them to move out so badly, and Ryou replies that he is merely fulfilling his brotherly duty. Because of this, Shin reveals that they didn’t move because their aunt wanted them to, but rather because Jun was being bullied at school for acting weird. Jun was lonely in Tokyo, and Shin was often worried about him because he would speak in different voices. Shin also admits that all Jun wants is to get along with Ryou like they used to in order to become a family once more.

Meanwhile on the beach, Jun walks towards the ocean with his hands still clutched on his chest when he gets a memory of Yuki with their mother walking along the waterfront. Yuki had asked their mother what the whale feathers were, and her mother had explained that it’s the story of everyone precious to you becoming happy. She had then given Yuki a feather that she referred to as a happiness charm. Back in the present, Jun reaches into his shirt and pulls out the feather that he had been wearing around his neck. As he lets the wind carry it away, Shin and Ryou arrive at the waterfront and run towards him. They now see Jun as Yuki, and a Persona emerges from her. Looking at her brothers, Yuki says that Ryou’s voice is the only one that she cannot hear. As the Persona disappears, she collapses and returns to being Jun. Ryou then runs to Jun, holds him in his lap, and strokes his hair while covering up a scar on Jun’s forehead.

When morning arrives, Shin leaves a message for the inspector telling him that he did not find the list that he was looking for.

Preview

Thank GOD this episode finally had some real substance. I’m relieved that the writers are finally focusing on the Kanzato family and how their lives are intertwined with the Persona. The lack of action in this episode is made up by some intense dramatic suspense – I was literally at my seat’s edge when I saw Jun turn into Yuki. Now there have been speculation amongst you kitties on whether Jun has been Yuki all along, but here’s my insight: I think that Jun is really Jun, but that somehow when Yuki died, she became his Persona (hence her reflection is the Persona) to protect him. Let me know what you guys think? Am I going to tune into next week? If it continues like this – hell yes! Also, if anyone knows anything about the little chickie in red, please share.

Sanada_kikyo

34 Comments

  12. JOhn Cena – Wow that’s a really intelligent comment. Why didn’t I ever think of saying that, then I wouldn’t have to bother with blogging on why a show “sucks”. I love the vocab of kids these days – future leaders of the world =).

    Rauzes – I’m with you man, what the hell is a Rebis. I’ll get into more of that when I put up my summary and actual blog.

    DmonHiro – I wouldn’t blame you; however, I’ve already wasted ten hours of my life to this, I’m going to stick to it till the end – or till I really can’t watch this anymore.

    Sanada Kikyo
    Reply

  13. Finally! The focus is back on the three brothers *_* So many interesting events here. I’m getting really excited to watch the subbed version ^_^

    Thanks for blogging this by the way. Looking forward to read the summary ^_^ And don’t let negative impressions regarding this show discourage you in watching this . . . because it’s too awesome not to be blogged. Hehe.

    Sapphire Pyro
    Reply

  19. A Rebis is also one of the goals of traditional western alchemy. By creating a true union of male and female into one the human can be elevated closer to the divine. After all the original human, before the old testament stories, was a perfect union of Adam and Lilith.

    Zzz...
    Reply

  21. Continuing from my comment(why did it cut off half way??!)….I think I’ll stick with my gameboy advance for now.While the game didn’t score fabulous review with my friends who actually played it(Friends:Oh its an anime now?Well the ps2 game sucked.)I can honestly say that the opening song was nice but as for the content I can only decide after I catch up since the screenshots tweaked my interest again.

    God~knows
    Reply

  22. I think Jun is actually a SHE, the girl-twin. Why?

    1) Jun doesn’t like the middle brother to barge in and he mentions something about “what’s wrong between two guys?”

    2) When the eldest brush the hair in ep 4, we see that Jun has a scar…and I think that scar is what the girl twin probably got when she jumped off from the log (ep 1 or 2)…which the twin also apologized for. Jun said it’s because he is a twin but I think Jun really was the one who jumped and thus apologized.

    I guess Jun still could be a rebis since male counterpart resides in him/her.

    Jin
    Reply

  29. Yeah the girl with red hair did look like Chidori. Gotta wonder what her connection with the ‘Whale Feather’ is. I did find the episode rather boring (no Megumi), but I’m interested to see what happened to the other Kanzato family members and what the trinity brothers connection with Persona is. Maybe their souls form an all-powerful Persona ala Voltron. Or not. Needs more Persona battles!

    seamus ignoramus
    Reply

  30. Once again Younggeary…

    …a Rebis here is a perfect union of a male and female person into a single entity. This being is in a higher and more pure state of being than base mortals and closer to the Divine (the ultimate goal of a alchemist) according to western alchemy tradition. God is after all both male and female & the original Human was made in that image. It isn’t exactly a hermaphrodite, not in a physical sense, since many many references of the rebis indicates that it is actually androgynous (*ahem* Jun). The male/female here is more conceptual than purely physical much like the eastern Yin/Yang dichotomy although you must remember that back then the division between male and female carry much more conceptual weight.

    Zzz...
    Reply

  32. Zzz… thanks for your excellent explanation of a Rebis; however, I still believe that you guys are all WRONG – unless you’ve played the game before and know for sure that you’re right =).

    Seamus – who the hell is Chidori? Are you talking about FMP?

    Sanada Kikyo
    Reply

  33. Sanada- I take it you haven’t played P3? She was one of the antagonists, looked ALOT like this girl with the red hair with feathers. Don’t know how she could fit into trinity soul, though.

    seamus ignoramus
    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *