Wait! Wait! Wait!

Since when did this series become so much better? It suddenly feels that the new arc has brought a sudden increase in awesomeness. It just suddenly feels like this series has technically become a lot better. The pacing was great in this episode. Lots of things happened, though things remained clear and understandable at the same time. Not to mention that Pinon’s and Marco’s reaction to their parents being petrified worked out great. This really showed their care towards their parents.

Sure, the first half of the series was entertaining and all, but it wasn’t really anything special. If we are to believe the translator’s notes, the current half will turn out to be awesome. I’d love to find out. A good start has already been made. Hilda’s back, and more awesome than ever (her singing is as good as usual ^^), and the newly introduced characters work out great. ^^

That was a great episode. It’s another arc split in three parts. The first episode served to introduce the problem, the second to solve the problem and the third to explain the problem. Sakon has solved the problem, all that’s left now is to explain it. A quick rundown:

- Someone used red paint to paint all sorts of scribbles on the walls of the study-room.
- Nobody walked up to the scene of the crime at the night of the murder, except for Sakon and the others and a certain policeman.
- Someone killed Akazuki, then brought him to the scene where he was found.
- Something which can influence pH was or is buried under the hydrangea, growing behind the Byakko Shrine.
- A statue was stolen, about as large as a child, but very heavy. It was returned to the police station, all muddy, though.
- Sakon reckons that the murderer used this in order to test out how the body would fall.

I loved the different characters in this arc. Especially the way that each of them has a unique role to play, and that some of them even assisted Sakon in his research. It’s great when you have more minds, seriously thinking on one case. One person may see something the other didn’t, and opposite. The sister’s worries about their father also worked out in a great way. They all react differently, but it all comes down to the fact that they’re sad that their father’s gone.

I have to admit. When the episode ended, I still had no idea what went on. I was still struggling between the police officer and Oki. During the previous episode, both he and the officer were acting suspicious. The fact that a certain police officer drove up to the road also confused me a bit. It could be any of these two, but I wasn’t really sure how the body ended up where it ended up in the first place.

But then, as I was typing this, it suddenly hit me, and I suddenly understood how the culprit did it. After looking at Yoshida’s bike, I suddenly realized that it would never be able to carry a body such as Akazuki’s. Oki is the murderer after all. He killed Akazuki, and stuffed him inside his van. He parked the two cars tightly next to each other, in order to make sure that nobody would be able to look at the back of the car, where the body was hidden. He then rushed inside the house, and played his little act, directing the people to the way he wanted to. Somehow, he set it up that the phone went off. He probably grabbed a second telephone in the house and called while everyone was looking the other way. He then rushed in, and pretended he had a conversation with Kyouichi and hang up. Although he was told that Akazuki was in his study room, he as so focused at the plan he made, that he forgot about it, and that´s where he made the mistake. Anyway, the three sisters went in their car and headed off, while Oki, Sakon an Fujita left afterwards. Oki made sure that both of them didn´t get a chance to look at the back of the car. He then kept a reasonable distance from the sister’s car, and then he crashed, right above the scene of the crime. The back of the car wasn’t entirely shut, so it flipped open and dropped the body at its designated place while Oki blamed the fact that he didn’t know the road too well. A couple of days before, he also experimented a bit with dropping the statue, in order to know the right angle at which he should crash his car in order to make the body drop at the right place. I think he chose that location in order to try and fool everyone. I think he wanted to have a crime scene in which he wouldn’t be thought as suspect. He worked very fastly, and he actually rushed to come to Akazuki’s house as fast as possible, so that his alibi would get as little doubts as possible.

Nice one. Very nice one. Now the question remains, am I right? But more importantly, why did he do it? What’s Yoshida’s role in this? Why were the previous murders nessecary? And what happened to Kyouichi?

And we’re finally back in Romdeau, in which Ergo Proxy has three episodes in order to conclude its story. So far, strange things have happened, interesting things have happened, twisted things have happened, but these things haven’t been anything amazing yet. Let’s hope that the final two episodes will be able to deliver.

Anyway, we start the episode in the Usagi. It seems that Vincent left first, after he didn’t return after a while, Real went out in order to check up on him. That was Thirty thousand two hundred thirty three Usagis ago. Pino then gets sick of waiting and goes out on her own. It seems crisis struck ever since Raul launched the rocket, and more and more autoraves have been infected with Cogito. It seems that the citizens of Romdeau are fiercely battling against the infected autoraves. For some reason, the autoraves are now referred to as “entourages”.

Back to Real, she’s been wandering around in Romdeau, meeting different people At times, she saw glimpses of Vincent, though he was in Proxy-one-mode at that time. Even after the episode ended we still have no idea why this happened. Anyway, she first meets up with the Autorave Control Department, otherwise known as the department where Vincent started working at the beginning of the series. Next up she meets some kind of government official, who acts a little strange. He just sits behind an empty desk, thinking that it’s full of paperwork, a computer and a keyboard, and he actually moves like he would move if they were actually there. In any case, he mentions the ADW-project.

Next up, she meets with Daedalus. He’s been getting weirder ever since. Meanwhile, Pino is seen, running through the streets and we switch to Vincent. Not as Ergo Proxy, but as Proxy One, mentioned above. He finally arrives at Monad Proxy. He finds the things Donov has done to her horrible, even though he was the one who killed her. He then realizes she has a name tag: Proxy #13. And it indeed seems that every Proxy has its own number. Ergo is #1, Monad is #13. And now that I think of it, remember the late Kazkiz Proxy? He mentioned that each Proxy is some kind of emissary. Ever since that episode, I never saw any traces of those emissaries again. What’s up with them?

In any case, it also seems that every Proxy has a pendant, with its number engraved on it. That explains why last episode’s Proxy had one. Then, the fake Real runs into him. For some reason, she isn’t scared of him at all. Proxy One does show that he still knows Real, when he’s surprised when the girl has the same name as she does. The fake Real then suddenly claims that she also loved Monad Proxy. And she suddenly runs away. I think it was because she was about to lose confidence.

Back to Real and Daedalus. Real apologizes to him that she couldn’t do anything that she set out to do. Strangely enough, Daedalus has really convinced himself that the fake Real has become the real Real, and he sees the real real Real as a traitor. Daedalus then reveals that a mysterious thing called the Eumesis was destroyed. No idea what that might be, but Vincent seems to be behind it. Because of that, the “Aus Der Wickel”-project was started, the human restructuring project. It was bound to fail, and I didn’t really get this explanation. Anyway, the light Raul sent at episode 17 appears to be “Rapture”.

We then switch to Vincent, who plans to invades the city council room. For some reason, the statues refer to him as “The Creator” in a rather cryptic near-monologue. Could it be that Proxy One has created Romdeau in the first place? Anyway, some references to Descartes later, and Proxy One attempts to strangle Donov. Probably in order to get revenge on Monad. Meanwhile, we see Pino arrive at the house where she used to live, hearing someone play piano. Nothing is shown about her afterwards, but when you consider some events that happen at the end of this episode with Pino’s original master, before she got infected with Cogito, things shouldn’t be that hard to figure out.

Anyway, Real has also arrived in the same room, and she sees Vincent, attempting to kill Donov. She tries to shoot her, though she can’t save her grandfather. She’s also very hesitant to shoot him. Vincent then turns to her. Then, Raul comes from out of nowhere and shoots from yet another Proxy-killing pistol. While Vincent is slowly dying, Raul begins to laugh maniacally.

So they did turn him into the main antagonist after all. I wonder what they’re planning to do with the final two episodes. Without a doubt, some huge revelations are about to come. After all, this story has so many unanswered questions left that I won’t even bother to try and list them. But what about Vincent? Surely, the dying process can’t take two whole episodes, or can it? Will he really die, or will he be saved miraculously?