(L) Vivid Red Operation

[The Green One]

Also Rei is working from her limited point of view too.

[Keroko]

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

Untrue and unfair accusation. Akane was hounding Rei for weeks before that, long before Rei finally gave in and agreed to show up in the hope of finding something out about the engine. And Rei never offered friendship like Akane did. Even when she did show up for the study session, her presence was grudging and uncertain at best. She never offered to be Akane's friend, nor tried to be. Rei has no need to prove her sincerity, because she's made no claims to be sincere about. Akane, on the other hand, has made a great many claims about the friendship she's trying to forge with Rei and why she's doing it, and that suddenly seeming to all be a lie after it finally got through Rei's defenses would indeed be a great betrayal.

Ah, see, Rei never truly befriending Akane's pretty much my point. She pretended to go along with the whole study and friendship thing purely to get access to information about the engine. That's deception of the same kind that she's now accusing Akane of.

This is, of course, added to her stupidity of believing that the guys who try to destroy the lives of billions are the guys who can bring back your world. Even though they have no evidence to back up that claim whatsoever, and have already shown themselves to be cruel and deceptive.

I know they were going with the whole "dark magical girl" cliché, but the execution when it comes to Rei is... lacking in the extreme. When she was first introduced, I was thinking she was trying to destroy the engine because it had unknown side effects that would destroy the world or something. But as it turns out, she's juggling the idiot ball.

Even worse is that Akane is probably going to be devastated by this barage of accusations, conveniently forgetting that this girl is helping the guys who show no disregard to killing people, and want to plunge this world back into chaos.

[Triple_R]

This is how I think Rei sees it...

Akane is this girl that was, as Random Wanderer pointed out, hounding Rei for weeks. Rei was initially annoyed greatly by that, and did her best to push Akane away. But Akane persisted, and Rei's tough girl front was slowly broken down by this.

In her exasperation, Rei had two reactions to this. One logical (this came first) and the other emotional (this came later, and was focused on this episode).

Logical: Well, she clearly isn't going to quit, so I might as well make the most out of this and see what valuable information I can gain from her.

Emotional: I have to admit it's touching how hard this Akane is trying to befriend me. I thought I never needed friends, but maybe I was wrong, as the idea of being friends with Akane makes me happy. In any event, Akane is clearly a very wonderful and sweet person. I'll make a pleasant farewell to her, and apologize for destroying her tomato, to pay her respect for being such a wonderful person.

There's no false pretenses here. Rei was never like "Akane, you and I should be BFFs!" Rei simply shifted from an initially harsh response to a largely passive "fine, if you want us to act like friends, I'll go along with that since you want it so badly". It's just that in the process of passively "going along with it", Rei found that she was actually finding it pleasant and heartwarming.


Rei is upset after seeing "Superhero" Akane because it greatly shifts Rei's perception of Akane.

"So that's why you were so friendly to me?!" is what Rei is now thinking. For understandable reasons, Rei now thinks that Akane was hounding her, and going to incredible lengths to try to befriend her, simply as part of something akin to an entrapment launched by the police. Rei's suspicions here makes a fair deal of sense, especially from a cynical perspective.

Rei never "played" Akane like how Rei now thinks Akane "played" her. Akane initiated just about everything in their relationship. Akane constantly went out of her way to win over Rei, and befriend Rei. Rei never went out of her way to win over Akane - She simply responded positively after Akane's dogged persistence proved overwhelming.


So sorry, Keroko, but your accusations of stupidity and hypocrisy really are a bit unfair. Rei has been slightly manipulative in her treatment of Akane, but it really is a world of difference between that and what Rei now suspects that Akane did to her. Rei now thinks that Akane did nothing less than entrap her with completely false promises of friendship.

It's important to remember that Rei is just a young girl, and that she's hoping that the Crow is telling the truth due to how dearly she wants her parents back. What Rei knows about the Alones and the Crow are that these guys are powerful. If they're powerful enough to cause this much destruction, are they also powerful enough to undo similar destruction? I can understand Rei taking hold of such a hope.


All of the above being said, the writers made a debatable choice with how Akane and Rei's big revelatory meeting was handled. Akane ought to be every bit as shocked as Rei is. Akane arguably should be saying "You're the one who's been aiding the Alones all this time?! Why, Rei, why?!" But of course, if Akane said that, it would make Rei's accusations towards Akane not work as well, and maybe not even work at all. So the story chooses to put Akane on the defensive instead of Rei. That's fine for the dynamics between just the two of them, but I hope that Rei is put a bit on the defensive herself next episode.

Somebody really should say "Your actions almost killed Akane, do you know that?! We all tried to be friends with you, and this is how you repay us, Rei?!"

[EroKing]

[APNki]

Volume 2 Blu-ray cover.

[Shimapan]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Emotional: I have to admit it's touching how hard this Akane is trying to befriend me. I thought I never needed friends, but maybe I was wrong, as the idea of being friends with Akane makes me happy. In any event, Akane is clearly a very wonderful and sweet person. I'll make a pleasant farewell to her, and apologize for destroying her tomato, to pay her respect for being such a wonderful person.

"And I'll apologise for helping to destroy her world by helping the Alone to take out the Incarnation Engine, which will plunge the entire world into utter chaos and cause the death of millions, if not billions of innocent people. But hey, I apologised for it, so it's gonna be ok."

Yeah, right. Either Rei is as cold as ice and doesn't give a damn about millions of people dying if she would actually succeed, but that has already been proven wrong, especially by Rei saving that boy.
The other solution is that Rei *does* have a huge amount of stupidity (so Keroko would be right there), if she's unable to realise that, if she should actually succed in her "mission" to help the Alone destroy the Incarnation Engine, millions of innocent people will die.

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Somebody really should say "Your actions almost killed Akane, do you know that?! We all tried to be friends with you, and this is how you repay us, Rei?!"

Yes, Rei definitely needs to be confronted with that. Rei also needs to be confronted with what the consequences of her actions would be, if she actually succeeded in helping the Alone.

[RX-78GP04G Gerbera]

Rei is basically trying to keep denying to herself that if she succeeds in her mission, then countless children of various ages all over the world would be put in the exact same position she found herself in, and worse, all for her own happiness that isn't even guaranteed; simply going on the word of a talking crow (a bad omen in itself), with glowing red eyes (even worse) that appeared out of nowhere.

[Triple_R]

"If you destroy the main energy supply for an alien/alternate world that's not your own, it will bring back your own world and bring back your parents."

Insofar as you truly believe these words (which I admit may be foolhardy itself, but again, we're talking about a desperate young girl here), it shouldn't be hard to see why they'd be tempting.


Rei isn't stupid. She knows, at a vague level, that "harm" will be done to this alien/alternate world if she destroys that power supply. This is precisely why she was initially pushing people away. She didn't want to make friends on this world because that could undermine her resolve to take actions that will harm their world. It's easier for her to carry out her objectives if she simply blocks out the full moral ramifications of her actions. And it's harder for her to block that out if she starts to care about people on this world.


Rei wants her parents back. She doesn't want to cause harm, but she desperately wants her parents back. That is an absolutely overriding concern and desire for her. And it really shouldn't be that hard to understand. It's just human nature for people to reflexively prioritize their closest friends and relatives over nameless, faceless crowds. It takes a certain degree of moral reflection and consideration to overcome the famous Stalin quote of "One death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic."

And Rei is purposely avoiding such reflection and consideration because at some level, I think she realizes it would force her to give up on her parents. And if Rei gives up on her parents and her world, then what's left for her? This is where Akane must bring hope and light into Rei's life.

[APNki]

Extended preview for episode 11: http://www.vividred.net/next/11.html
Youtube version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCB3tvxRvM8

Additional screencaps: http://news.dengeki.com/elem/000/000/614/614565/

[MisaoFan]

Originally Posted by APNki

Extended preview for episode 11: http://www.vividred.net/next/11.html
Youtube version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCB3tvxRvM8

Additional screencaps: http://news.dengeki.com/elem/000/000/614/614565/

I really hope Akane will try to save Rei, since I didn't like how the crow threatens her so badly, but still. Akane, you need to convince Rei for all those things she has done !

[Jimmy C]

I hope they're flying to stop Rei from escaping and not something stupid like trying to spring her.
Does anyone think the Crow is lying about Rei vanishing after she uses the last arrow? I don't. Because it wants her to use all her arrows if she has to.Telling her a lie like that would only risk her not using that last arrow when they need her to. They're better served by not telling Rei about that last arrow. We can't yet tell if they're lying about bringing back Rei's world, but at least they are unlikely to be lying about the arrow.

[FlavoryFantasy]

Originally Posted by APNki

Volume 2 Blu-ray cover.

Is it wrong that I would have preferred seeing her face in disgust with Akane eating tomatoes for the cover?

@APNki thanks for the links.

[Kanon]

On the topic of Rei's mindset, it's important to note she believes destroying the engine will ultimately be a good thing for this world. She knows there will be casualties but she thinks her actions will prevent this world from ending up like her own. Accomplishing her mission will save this world and her own, two birds with one stone. Her actions are completely justified in her mind.

Of course, she is most likely misguided but the poor girl is too desperate to see that.

Originally Posted by Jimmy C

I hope they're flying to stop Rei from escaping and not something stupid like trying to spring her.

I'm under the impression that's exactly what they're doing in that preview.

[Triple_R]

Here's an idea I want to throw out there, just for consideration.

I think that most of us, maybe even all of us, thinks that the Crow is just BSing around, and that the Alones are just destructive, harmful predators on an almost cosmic scale. And maybe there's some truth to that.

But this episode included a short bit of background information for Kenjiro Isshiki that I think might end up being pretty important.

With this in mind, let me draw a possible analogy between this show and Gurren Lagann.

Spoiler for Gurren Lagann:

What if Dr. Isshiki somehow tapped into this universe's equivalent to "spiral energy"? That's what enables the almost magical Manifestation Engine and Vivid System to work. It's the ultimate synthesis of technology and magic in the form of an incredibly powerful energy with seemingly magical potentiality.

Now, let's say that this Crow and these Alones are like the Anti-Spirals of Gurren Lagann. They fear that humans can't handle this energy, and will misuse it/overuse it to ends that will threaten the universe itself. Perhaps they saw how Rei's people, who are very similar to the humans of Akane's world, failed to properly use this "spiral energy", which led to the destruction of their world.

It's possible that this narrative will be pretty clear-cut when it's all said and done. But I think it's also still possible that they could go in a different direction that will really challenge Akane, and somewhat vindicate Rei.

I'm fine with them going either way, but as "mean" and ominous as the Crow seems, and as inexplicably destructive as the Alones seem, I don't think we should rule out the possibility that the story may yet offer an intriguing twist or two.

[xizro345]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

But this episode included a short bit of background information for Kenjiro Isshiki that I think might end up being pretty important.

I already noticed that, but I sincerely hope it's not the case. I hate that kind of development, it tends to ruin the story.

[mangatron]

Originally Posted by APNki

Volume 2 Blu-ray cover.

........I.... I CAN'T HELP IT, LOOK AT THOSE THIGHS, THOSE GLORIOUS SMOOTH THIGHS *clang* mangatron is suddenly staring at bars

You crazy Flavory, how dare you still fantasize about torturing Aoi-chan with tomatoes

Originally Posted by Kanon

I'm under the impression that's exactly what they're doing in that preview.

lol.... if it does happen, you all can blame me I didn't like it because I knew about it already, though I'd be happy to be wrong. But the evidence is there,

Spoiler for episode 11 maybe:

...And with the 4 girls inside Rei-chan's room, it looks like they'll come to an agreement that in order to save their friendship with Rei-chan, they must break her out.

Aside from my jailbreak prediction, there was one thing in particular that I want to happen: for the episode to at least end with Vivid Red. Since this series only has 12 episodes, having it cliffhang to end episode 11 and have a beautiful final fight for episode 12 sounds like a wonderful conclusion to me. These events should hopefully have episode 11 focus on Rei-chan's involvement with the Crow (such as her key), or maybe we'll find out what really happened in episode 12, but that's what I want to happen, and hopefully it will go as planned

[The Green One]

Anyone else find it funny that they're not restraining a known terrorist? Just leaving her by herself in a chair she's not even locked into. I hope they at least locked the door to her cell or something.

[Midonin]

pixiv already has two tags established for this series' couples. AkaAo and WakaHima, both are obvious. And the lesser used WakaMomo. But when I try to search for Akane/Rei, the AkaRei tag leads me to pictures of Akane (Hino) and Reika from Smile Precure. Now, I like those two as a couple (for they both can be paired with Nao), but Akane Isshiki/Rei needs more love.

[EroKing]

[Gravitas Free Zone]

That seems like it could go bad at any moment.