Cruel Angel Theses

Poor Mina. Admirable attempts at portraying a woman of Indian ethnicity (as the Bindi on her forehead, name, and skin tone will attest to) aside (she looks waaaaaay too Japanese, and by Japanese I mean the general anime-ish look of wide-eyed innocence), she’s one of my favourite characters for being so damn sweet, and one of the more solid one-off characters that exude brevity by their mere presence.

For the record, I have a bone to pick with inexplicably obtuse reviews or statements that utterly miss the point and fail as a result, and as ANN’s take on the third DVD which contains this arc falls into that category, as does digitalboy’s comment about it on Twitter, you could say that I’m also doing this for personal reasons.

“When Something Lost is Regained Inside the Wall”

The episode title this time around is a lot more meaningful in Japanese, as they have two types of kanji for the ambiguous, rendered-in-hiragana “mono”, that can either mean 者 as in person, or 物 as in object. As both objects and people are regained while Hei goes about his mission, you could say that it’s a very fitting title, once again.

As always, the opening scene from the episode denotes the focus of the entire arc–you may get what you want inside the Gate, but it comes at a price; kinda like alchemy, when you think of it. Obviously, the three main characters in this arc, namely Hei, Mina, and Nick, all gain and lose something.

But this recovering of something lost within the Gate comes with a price, and while I’m puzzled at the translator’s choice of rendering what is usually translated as “obeisance” into “(…)has to be paid”, it makes sense, eventually.

Before we get into all of that, however, it’s nice to know that the rules for the arc are immediately established, negating any and every possible ambiguity that naysayers and detractors could use to attack the arc with. As far as faults go, any possible ones lie in the viewer, not the show, for not noticing all of this:

Or even this:

Obviously the structure of the arc itself is flawless, and not without reason. With this framework in mind, it’s easier to explain later events that may seem incomprehensible.

Take for example the question, “Do contractors dream?”–is it pretentious, a red herring, meaningless, or merely rhetorical?

First of all, what is a dream? The product of REM sleep, or hopes and aspirations? Perhaps both, as evidenced by Hei’s randomly lapsing into a flashback sequence that has him in a lake of blood, contrasting sharply with the clear blue that his sister wades in, and presumably a nod to all the Contractors and other people that he’s killed so far.

Incidentally, the lake is only blue due to the sky that it reflects. With this in mind, could the red be partly due to it reflecting the fake sky?

So Contractors can dream in good old-fashioned REM. What about dreams of the more abstract kind?

This scene in which Hei first discovers the telescopes inside the room while being brought on a tour of the place spoke volumes to me–I mentioned in the first post of episodes 01-02 that Hei could very well have had interest in stargazing and astronomy before he became a Contractor, and I’m glad to see that I got it right.

The shot of his ID also raises the question of who or what exactly is his real identity? When DtB first aired I was under the impression that Hei was his real name, and Lee Shen Shun an alias, but surely that could not be true, considering the ethnicity of Yin and Huang, among others. It’s also a timely reminder that it’s pretty difficult to determine who’s the real Hei when it comes to his identity–is it the one with a penchant for stargazing and trips to the riverside under the moonlight with his younger sister, the dour-faced, taciturn, and impassive adult, or the kind and affable guy? Or all three, and more?

I found the Hei-Nick relationship to be perfectly natural, considering that they’re both doting older brothers to their younger sisters, and also have a thing for stars:

More importantly, why does Hei go to such lengths to encourage the dreams of Mina? Is it because he’s given up all hope of dreaming himself?

Then why does he not believe in Nick’s dreams?

Maybe it’s due to his defeatist attitude.

Compare and contrast this observation to Nick, an evident fighter:

It’s probably the only thing in which they differ–they’re like peas in a pod otherwise, and I do think that this juxtaposing of characters serves once again as a mirror and foil to Hei, for it shows him at his most human, his failings, and his once-dreams.

But is Hei really that fatalistic? I’d like to think that it’s this glimpse of Bai he has that makes him change his mind towards the end…

…and surely not the bloody flashback with her handing the Meteor Shard to Amber (so that’s the last thing he saw before everyone disappeared!).

Let’s return to Mina for a moment. Her development over a mere two episodes can be seen in the way her tone shifts, from that of Don’t Disturb Me:

To that of Let Me Help; marked interference, much to Hei’s chagrin. Why does she do all of that, though?

While I’m loath to think that the stereotype that all scientists are sexless work-driven machines was used to great effect here, I’d be lying to say that it wasn’t. This is what Mina discovers: Her feelings for the opposite sex.

However, it’s this very gain of hers that drives her to lose something else; in letting Hei know her suspicions about Nick she loses him as a result, as he’s never to be seen again.

Leaving her all tearful as she presumes Hei to be dead.

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The Kuleshov Effect is at work here (thanks, jp!): It’s a theory that involves in viewers attributing expressions onto a neutral face shot based on the shots exposed to beforehand, and it worked very well in those shots of Hei listening to Nick.

What’s going through his mind in these scenes? Betrayal? Regret?

Whatever it is, though, it’s probably changed by the time we get to the surreal golden clouds:

In order for this sequence of events to make sense all we’ve got to keep in mind is that the two things depicted here–namely that of the true sky and rocket flying into space–are that of Nick’s dreams; it also entails the fact that this is not of Nick’s doing, for why on earth should he have stayed at PANDORA all this while if he could have just done this and flew away?

So it stands to reason that Hei is responsible for this; Hei believed in Nick’s dreams, and, together with the power of the Meteor Shard, granted Nick his wildest dreams, giving him his youth and innocence, a presumably healthy younger sister, and the two things he’s always wanted.

How Hei accomplishes this is another story altogether, but let me assure you that it’ll make sense during the ending, and that’s a promise.

This isn’t really a spoiler, even if it overlaps into the next arc’s explanation: As a Doll, Yin is programmed with the barest of functions necessary to keep her alive, as do all other Dolls, presumably; this would explain the visual resemblance of the surveillance spectres to that of amoebas. If that is true, then why does she appear in this scene for no visible reason?

Maybe it’s just to reassure Hei despite all he’s went through, which makes the ending of the arc a whole lot less depressing, considering what was regained at the price of what was lost, and that’s a heartening gesture, if there ever was one.

~

Hige says:

For perhaps the most controversial of the filler episodes (well, the most disliked) it certainly felt like a crucial part of the wider whole. We get a guided tour around Hell’s Gate, learn about PANDORA and Hei’s character development moves ever onward. Quite apart from those useful contributions we get another two things that are certifiably vital to the series: exposure to Pai/her powers and the Meteor shard. I’ve done a complete 180 in opinion on this arc and I stand by it now as an important component in the greater scheme of things.

My attitudes towards Mina, however, have not changed. She remains an embodiment of everything I hate about the way women can be, and often are, depicted in anime. Mousy, submissive, cloying and spineless; everything a socially maladjusted otaku would want in a woman. I’m not saying all women have to be boot-stomping feminist-approved badasses, but equally they can’t always been these infantised nonentities either. Owen goes some way in justifying Mina – she’s studious and romantically inexperienced, I get it – but still. I can’t stand how pathetic and wet she is. Let’s call it personal distaste and leave it at that.

Oh, so I want to pose a direct question: do you think Nick was real? The more I thought about the ending the more my acceptance of his actual existence began to unravel.  Like he says himself, he’s a mirror image of Hei right down to the powers and younger sister, and he exhibits all the traits of Hei’s more human persona even though he’s meant to be a Contractor. We’re given plenty of foreshadowing about the ghosts and hallucinations that haunt PANDORA, so could Nick just be one of these hallucinations? Or perhaps more plausibly a creation of Pai? It’s also worth noting the fact that Amber, the girl in the cap, appears shortly after Nick regresses in age and ‘flies away’. I’ll avoid spoilers, but the age thing is very important.

My batshit theory is that Nick didn’t really exist. The power of Hell’s Gate seems capable of maintaining a physically manifesting phantom, and I’m not even going to get started on what Pai’s capable of. The idea probably doesn’t have much of a leg to stand on, but the more I think of that ending the more I find it questionable (in a good way).