First Impressions / Re:CREATORS

「さまよいの果て波は寄せる This is perfect! She couldn’t have been any more perfect!」 (Samayoi no Hate Nami wa Yoseru)
“Waves Approach the End of Wandering”

Oh Re:Creators, you definitely know how to toy with me. You annoy one minute with the ridiculous one pot debate scenes only to turn around a week later and show (literally) how it’s supposed to be done. Multiple character foci? Twists on the pre-established plan? An enemy knowing far more of the heroes’ plan than initially apparent? All the parts of a balanced story diet featured this episode without any—well, much—of the drag prevalent during earlier weeks. We might still be a while away from the bigly yuge epic climactic battle of the century seasonTM, but hey, we’re at least making progress.

Ignoring the X-rated porn bait for a minute, what struck me this week was Altair. It should probably be unsurprising the military princess knows exactly what Meteora and friends are up to, but I’m still amazed nonetheless. This likely has to do with the other reveal of Altair’s continuously increasing skillset, particularly her new tarot-based predictive ability, as I never once thought her fan base was still that devoted to her character. It’s an intriguing development because it not only provides the wrench to disrupt the later festival, but also the means to disrupt others at will beforehand. Altair knows exactly what Alice is up to for example, and by extension what Magane has planned for her fun and games. Simply give the Miracle Maid a better deal and Meteora suddenly has worse (or better) things to think about. Then there’s the missing tarot “card” in Altair’s setup, which almost certainly is destined for Souta’s future creation and implies even at this late stage that all the pieces are not currently in play. It’s to Re:Creators’ credit that its ending remains stubbornly secretive, we have all these components and yet no real means to predict an ending. Some may dislike this strategy, but I’m loving the thinking it encourages.

The other interesting bits of course concern our Mamika replacement and (for once) Blitz. As expected cutie pie #2 comes from a romance game, and an ecchi one at that. No matter poor Hikayu’s questionable skillset, at least she has some new friends to help fend off the worst excesses of creator imagination. I’m not sure how exactly she will be used, but her creator’s mention of a fan disk and the Mamika similarities suggest a magical girl power up is a possibility, particularly given (as far as I can tell) her Altair tarot is Empress (involves summoning, commanding). As for Blitz we have finally learned his backstory and now have a reason for his alliance with Altair. Daughter replacement might be a stretch, but Blitz certainly sees his family in the princess and drives him to protect her. Makes it all the more surprising he has another goal and that Altair told him to go pursue it. Blitz’s motivations and his new mission lend credence to the idea the upcoming “final” battle is not the actual end of the story, but simply the start of something else. Altair isn’t just going up and die now after all, plus no one has any idea what Magane intends to do. Unless Souta’s character proves the (deus ex machina) key to it all, the beginning of the end this buildup is certainly not.

In the immediate future, however, we have two other issues to deal with: an angry, Yuuya-hating nunchucks wielder and one giant robot pilot with a Celestia problem. With Meteora determined to find and talk down neutralize these two, it’s only a matter of time before something interrupts the merger of worlds. Every story step forward seems to take us two steps back, but so long as Re:Creators can keep things interesting and not rush an ending, I’m quite content seeing where these chips fall. Plus a little Magane fan service never hurt anybody. Come on, you know you want it.

60 Comments

  1. Hikayu and her creator entertained me a great deal on multiple levels. I’m surprised we haven’t seen a creator like him up until now lol.

    Blitz on the other hand was a curve ball. Knowing his motivations makes him A LOT more sympathetic.

    FlameStrike
    Reply

    1. Agreed on Blitz, finally having something on his motivations makes his character much better, especially when it’s not some cliche save/end the world proclamation. I’m really curious on what his secret agenda is though, it doesn’t appear related to his affection for Altair.

      Pancakes
      Reply

  2. https://randomc.net/image/Re%20Creators/Re%20Creators%20-%2015%20-%20Large%2008.jpg
    So apparently the death of Leuloch caused Nunnaly to cross over to another story. Will Spinzaku spin in to save her?

    https://randomc.net/image/Re%20Creators/Re%20Creators%20-%2015%20-%20Large%2013.jpg
    Porn bait Hikayu or ever so awesome Magane?

    https://randomc.net/image/Re%20Creators/Re%20Creators%20-%2015%20-%20Large%2024.jpg
    “My waifu is real!”
    Man I was expecting subs to have that. Heck, I’ll react the same way if Hitagi croses over to the real world. Anyway, about Hikayu, I’m guessing she’s going to make a contract with her creator and fans and turn into mahou shoujo. Same thing happened to Nanoha Takamachi. Though despite not being a mahou shojo from fan disk, she did become a mahou shojo in her spin off which spinned into an entire franchise by itself.

    Velvet Scarlantina
    Reply

  5. https://randomc.net/image/Re%20Creators/Re%20Creators%20-%2015%20-%20Large%2035.jpg

    i’m noved when seeing the interaction between blitz and altair, it’s shown that altair not some selfish and revenge-driven only villain.

    https://randomc.net/image/Re%20Creators/Re%20Creators%20-%2015%20-%20Large%2004.jpg
    (when i hear the title hoshizora i’m almost thinking hoshizora no memoria hahaha)

    well she can showing panties and seduce man hah! that’s savage really!

    https://randomc.net/image/Re%20Creators/Re%20Creators%20-%2015%20-%20Large%2029.jpg

    this guy is really no good, but i admit he’s smart..FANDISC FTW!(too bad meteora creator already gone) or you can made ero-doujins where she can hypnotize guys and girls and posted it on h*ntai site instawin!

    maou
    Reply

      1. You are not the only one.

        Looking back, I think Mamika also saw right through how fragile Altair really is, although her attempt at hugging her end up badly. Like real bad.

        SMinstrel
        Reply

    2. (too bad meteora creator already gone)

      Actually, Meteora seems to have realized what many pointed out back in the day: that the Creator of a video game is not a single person, but the whole studio. She corrects herself about that point when she says they must contact the company.

      What’s more, the crossover with Vogelchevalier has allowed Matsubara to give her a new spell: that machine that can measure public acceptance of the story (a “suspension-of-disbelief-meter”). Meteora doesn’t need AVALKEN’s producer anymore.

      Interestingly, while her discovery of his death and her subsequent reaction was played for drama, its current irrelevance in the great scheme of things is barely acknowledged.

      Mistic
      Reply

    3. The whole balance of this series is tilting, and I’m increasingly being won over by Altair’s side. Whether the whole thing causes an adrenaline rush or just vertigo though is I suppose very much in the eye of the beholder.

      A few episodes in, I wondered how they were going to keep it going for as long as 2 cours. Now, I have no idea how they are going to finish it in as few as 2 cours.

      Angelus
      Reply

  6. Blitz is projecting his daughter on to Altair hard enough that he ignores or doesn’t care about her murdering another young girl in a fit of rage.

    On the other hand poor Hikayu realized that her private and intimate moments were basically shown to the world. It was like she became a Jav star unknowingly because someone recorded and leaked it to the internet. Then her creator acted like that. Poor girl. At least it is an eroge not a nukige.

    Also I am sure Yatoji played that game going by his blush and retreat.

    RandomAnon
    Reply

    1. And ah, that unfortunate situation where you meet your creator, and he is not a majestic god like one imagines

      Now that you point it out, has there been a meeting between a Creator and a Creation that fulfilled their expectatives?

      -Selesia didn’t like her Creator either when she met him. It was only with time that Mr. Matsubara became best dad.

      -Altair and Meteora put their creators on a pedestal, but only because of the classic “dead authors are the best”.

      -Alicetaria was angry and disappointed with her creator, and almost killed him.

      -Yuuya almost killed his own creator too.

      -Magane directly killed him.

      Mistic
      Reply

      2. Rui’s Intial encounter with his creator’s prolly the most normal of the group (sort off).

        Also it also got me wondering which ver. of Hoshizora got ported over? the Regular Dating Sim ver or the X-rated ver. O_O. Since Selesia is the Anime ver that got ported over.

        Devastator001
        Reply

      3. Rui’s was probably normal only because of the food. If his creator was all out of snacks, the kid would have lost it lol.

        @Devastator
        That’s actually interesting to think about, looking back on it her reactions seem to suggest she comes from the normal version.

        Pancakes
        Reply

  10. when you realize that you are an eroge character hahaha
    I absolutely loved Hikayus character and the comedy it brought along

    I seriously hope that they bring all the re:creator girls to Akiba for the special episode

    I’ll be sorely disappointed if this series ends without them discovering doujins/oppai pads/dakimuras etc of themselves

    Wiley
    Reply

    1. The absence of the hero from Selesia´s world makes me really worries me, we first and last saw him talking to Altair and he´s obviously in command of the mecha Meteora mentioned but I hope he´s not dead beacuse Altair couldn´t manipulate him. Most likely he´s going to be key in developing Selesia one way of another.

      haseo0408
      Reply

    2. What a nightmare that poor girl is having, the whole world knows what she did with her boyfriend and is now trapped in a world with no special powers to defend herself or help her get back. I don´t know how that fandisk is going to fix her powerless problem but better be a freaking masterpiece in order to work.

      haseo0408
      Reply

  16. Alicetaria has become cunning.

    I check her conversation again, and I notice how our vengeful knight didn’t let Magane set the pace of the conversation. Sometimes, when Magane addressed her directly, she chose to stay silent rather than say something she shouldn’t. And she was vague when needed. Who would have thought that “Muscle Brains”, as Meteora called her, would learn so quicky.

    In hindsight, it’s clever. Altair revealed a problematic thing for our heroes: she knows what they’re planning. They’re saved only because of that typical villainous overconfidence. But Magane? She’s the Wild Card. Not even she knows what she’ll do to make things “fun”. Will that be enough to throw a spanner in the works?

    Then there’s the missing tarot “card” in Altair’s setup, which almost certainly is destined for Souta’s future creation and implies even at this late stage that all the pieces are not currently in play

    Actually, it’s possible that the missing tarot card is Magane’s. Check the image: while Altair’s and Meteora’s forces are neatly positioned in their places, Magane’s “Clown” card was moved to be besides Alicetaria’s.

    Mistic
    Reply

    1. Note that even if the subtitles translated Magane’s title as “Clown”, what was written on the card was “Joker”
      I think the writers are very well aware of who Magane’s archetype is.

      Nemonowan
      Reply

    2. It could, but it would seem strange for me given her Joker card is already on the board. A more likely option is either Shou or Charon IMO as one of these two is currently missing if we assume Altair isn’t represented by a card.

      Pancakes
      Reply

  18. Well Alicetaria has a 3* of 5 in int according to the stats they put out. She just needs to use it properly. Someone translated it, not sure it’s accurate or not.

    INT,STR,DEF, Dangerousness, Special stat
    Altair: 4, 5, 5, 5, Tenacity (5)
    Mamika: 2, 5, 1, 2, Purity (5)
    Rui: 3, 0, 0, 2, Ultimate weapon (5)
    Yuuya: 4, 4, 3, 4, Living in his own way (5)
    Blitz: 4, 3, 1, 3, Mystery (4)
    Magane: 4, 3, 1, 5, Wickedness (5)
    Selesia: 3, 3, 2, 3, Sexy (4)
    Meteora: 5, 2, 4, 1, Sense of homor (1)
    Alice: 3, 4, 5, 4, Simplicity (4)

    Anon
    Reply

  19. I love that the characters change clothes and wear different outfits. Except maybe Government lady who has to wear roughly the same work outfit like all the other government drones.
    Governments actually can be quite good when dealing with emergencies when the serious of the threat over rides the bureaucratic norms. Disaster response has been done poorly some times but disaster response has been done very well at other. Heck, they can even do a great Department of Moter vehicles as the local agency in my county has done a fantastic job for quite awhile under an elected leader. But mainly it money losing things like defense where governments can really shine.

    This story is based on things that can only be discovered by research and magical means thus Meteora and Altair research. As TV Tropes reminded me tropes are not bad not even the bad writing tropes are always bad. I wonder how the expert researching and telling what they know became so disliked. Yes sometimes showing not telling works better but if you confine yourself to that the type of stories you can tell becomes more limited. And this is a genre thing, hard sci fi is marked often by lengthy explanations of how things work, same with political drama at times.

    If Sota comes up with an ending saving idea it cannot be deus ex machina as machina require no prior warning. In fact, the plays that the term comes from were not deus ex machina even though the machine lifted the actor playing the god onto the stage as god involvement was clear during the story so a god solution could be expected. This is because deus ex macina has come to be known for a un foreshadowed solution.

    RedRocket
    Reply

  20. Good episode. Another plus for the show IMO is Alice. At the start she was a meh character IMO – one dimensional at that. Didn’t think much of her, especially how easily she was tricked. She’s improved quite a bit, and I like how the show used “becoming more human and less of a character” as the analogy. Still wonder if she’ll ever suspect Magane’s part in Mahou Shouko #1’s death.

    Blitz finally got some depth with the traditional tragic backstory. Serves it’s purpose for his motivation at least. Altair constant power-up is what I feared given the one-sided plan by Team Protagonist. Awesome. You’ve doubled your power and Altair has quadrupled hers. Way to go. >_> Pretty clear that Souta’s secret plan (playing coy once with that is fine anime, but twice or more is obnoxious) is the likely wrench in thrown into the Altair machine.

    Still don’t know why they can’t do more in terms of offset stories to limit Altair. Could also have set employees act as critical fans of new works. Post comments like “Nah, that’s too way to hax. It ruins any balance for her as character” for new or even old submissions. Popularity (aka approval) can wane as well a wax. At the LEAST they should monitor all the new fan-fic stuff so they know what new powers Altair might have. Oh well. I DO hope that Altair isn’t built up too much since that great disparity between the final boss and protagonist tends to lead to some ass-pull.

    Expected or not, I thought the intro before the OP was hilarious and props to the show for putting in something that a lot of the audience is thinking. The super otaku creator wasn’t nearly as funny for me, but I did like the fan disk work around.

    All in all, show continues to stay consistently good.

    @Pancakes. Magane fanservice is OK, but I’d think of better starting with sexy Meteora.

    daikama
    Reply

    2. I don’t think people are actually giving Altair actual “powers”. Remember her mimic power? That comes from a chibi video. The creator of that video is just making a cool or cute work from what I get. No one could call that Hax. Yet Altair used it to clone a giant mecha. So if someone makes a video/art of Altair playing music via flyig swords, She can now control swords.

      Altair’s real power is to not have rules and limits that come from having a canon and to be a favorite charactor people can use freely to make videos/arts. She is basically a vocaloid/Miku. It is likely that more than half of her so OP please nerf powers aren’t even intentionally created.

      The best they can do is to list out her possible powers imo.

      RandomAnon
      Reply

  24. Finally some background on Blitz! could not wait enough for him to reveal his motives. We still have nothing on his goals, though. Revenge? Reviving dead daughter? Saving his own world?

    Magane is another star of the week (she has been consistently strong whole series…)
    Fanservice shots aside, she proves well, interesting in her ways of making things, intersting.
    Give her a few years and she will end up making offer to buy Hell from that loser Devil. (Megatokyo fans will know what I am talking about)
    Even more interesting is Alice(taria) in her newly found role as rebellious agent. Against all odds she didnt go frontal assault – rather she has chosen underhanded method , using dubious ally.

    And then there is bombshell drop that Altair knows prety much everything about everyones actions. But, beware, such knowledge is not fulproof against defeat. Just ask Muad’Dib.

    ewok40k
    Reply

  26. There’s a few eroges that I know of that got this popular spin-off treatment like Triangle Heart and kiminozo. But they didn’t really buff up popular characters. I guess Mitsuki might count, lets take that as an exception since she’s really just a side character in Muv-Luv. It may not be as straight forward as that.

    Of course there is one that has done something similar. As Devastaot001 already mentioned, To Heart 2. A VN turned Eroge and then got several spin-offs including one in a fantasy setting.
    https://randomc.net/image/Re%20Creators/Re%20Creators%20-%2015%20-%2003.jpg
    If this girl is going to imitate Tamaki Kousaka, she may end up as the most versatile character besides Altair. Dungeon Travellers is an RPG where the girls can pick up one of several classes IIRC. Just imagine getting access to all the skills of each class.

    theirs
    Reply

  27. And another thing. When the creations are in their own world does everyone look like normal live action people to them or are they animated? What do the creators and our world look like to them?

    sealouse
    Reply

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