Smooth as always.

Episode Summary
Kube thinks Amara and Moco are assisting him and Macbeth Enterprises, but it’s clear that our villains aim to betray the CEO. Elsewhere, we explore Hana’s origins. Afterwards, Daichi’s past suddenly catches up to him when his uncle shows up to the island to oppose Daichi’s involvement with Globe. When Reito tries to kidnap Hana, however, Daichi’s strong conviction to save his friend convinces the uncle to accept Daichi’s decision in life.

Notes & Thoughts
• Akari isn’t happy that the Kivotos Plan is being carried out without the expressed consent of the rest of humanity. I can’t say I disagree with her. Who gets chosen and under what criteria? How can such a thing be fair?

• Alright, alright, I feel like a few things are starting to come together now. When the Kiltgang drains you of your libido, they instantly kill you. Not only that, this will be Earth’s fate if the Kiltgang is ever allowed to get close to our planet:

As a result, there are two different proposed solutions to the problem. Naturally, the Intercept Faction hopes to intercept the Kiltgang and prevent those robots from ever reaching Earth. Somehow, Daichi’s ability to fire the Livlaster is key to their success. Westvillage, however, still feels as though their situation is “near-hopeless.” I assume it’s because all they’ve been doing is play defense. And if they’re just going to sit there and hold out, perhaps the enemy will eventually overwhelm them since they are apparently immortal unless you destroy their Ego Blocks.

On the other hand, you’ve got the Ark Faction. They seem to believe that the destruction of humanity is imminent. As such, they’ve come up with the Kivotos Plan, which is really just an anime version of Noah’s Ark. A select few chosen individuals will be allowed to survive, but there’s still one thing that puzzles me. How can they guarantee safety of these individuals from the Kiltgang? Kube seems to think that once the robots drain the human race of their libido, they’ll just leave the Solar System. Then afterwards, Kube and his chosen individuals can inherit Earth, and thus, he will be able to establish his utopia. How can he be so confident that this will happen? It seems as though he’s far too reliant on Puck’s predictions.

• Puck refers to the Kiltgang as “a kind of space vampire.” He even adds that they require Orgone energy on a planetary scale. Therefore, the Kiltgang wouldn’t bother with the scant amount of humanity left behind by the Kivotos Plan. In fact, maybe they already are aware of it. Of course, this is if we believe Puck’s words. I don’t know that we can. As such, the Kivotos Plan seems incredibly risky to me.

• From this episode, it seems as though Kube thinks Amara and Moco are happy to assist him in carrying out his plans when they clearly have designs to betray him. In fact, he seems unaware of the fact that these two are really the humanoid forms of the Kiltgang. Perhaps this is why he’s overconfident, but I still don’t know. Something feels off about this. Puck states that Kube is self-centered, so as a result, the guy is easy to manipulate. Even so, can Kube really be, well, that dumb? It’s so early in the story that I can’t imagine that the CEO of Macbeth Enterprises is simply being played for a rube, but I guess we’ll see.

• On a less serious note, that pulsating crystalline structure on the dark side of the moon has to be outputting some serious amounts of radiation, no? Any goddamn research facility worth its salt should be able to detect this anomaly then, no? So how is it that Globe has been capable of keeping everything under wraps?

• I have to wonder if the Kiltgang’s aims are really this simplistic, or that the good guys have simply done their foes a disservice. I mean, if the Kiltgang desires libido, then why would they want to wipe out humanity in one blow? Wouldn’t this just instantly cut off their supply of libido? Yes, they are apparently immortal unless you destroy their Ego Blocks, but it still doesn’t change the fact that it would far more beneficial to the Kiltgang if they simply allow humanity to existing as, well, livestock. In doing so, they would have an infinite supply of libido. Puck refers to them as Space Vampires, and this seems to imply that the Kiltgang would just roam around universe, draining planets and living lifeforms of their libido, but doesn’t this preuppose that aliens do exist? And even if aliens do exist, doesn’t this also presuppose that those aliens would have libido for our villains to drain? I just think it’s a safer bet to farm humanity, and maybe that’s what the Kiltgang ultimately wants. I just don’t know why the good guys are so sure the Kiltgang just wants to destroy them.

• Y’know, Puck says his only goal in life is to assist the Planetary Gears, but I don’t know how much anyone can trust that robot. So as far as I’m concerned, it’s still up in the airs whether or not Puck is in cahoots with the Kiltgang or not.

• Puck nevertheless says something that stuck out to me: “My sole joy in life is being a useful tool…” The emphasis is mine. In hearing this, Moco replies, “Useful tools will be treated well.” It has already been established that Puck is a mischievous character, so you have to wonder if he’s just saying what Amara and Moco want to hear. But anyway, let’s move on. The story immediately cuts to Kube telling Reito, “I want you to prove that you’re useful.” There seems to be this ongoing dichotomy between the children and the adults (if one can consider Puck an adult). It’s apparent that the children just want to be accepted for who they are; they don’t simply want to be a tool. On the other hand, you get the feeling that the adults are just as lost as the children, but they have different aims. They keep trying to find their place in the world, ergo the need to prove themselves useful to someone seemingly more important to them.

• From what Hana tells us, she was imprisoned on the moon until the Kiltgang attacked. The girl then somehow heard a voice from Earth and decided to escape to the planet. Unless there’s anything more to her story, it seems pretty simple. Whoever imprisoned her never saw her as nothing more than a tool, so she felt as though she was trapped in darkness because she lacked personhood. Since our hero is idealistic type who believes in everyone’s personhood regardless of who they are or what they’ve been created to do, his presence brings life to Hana’s world.

• Teppei refers to Ego Blocks as “crystallized, digitized souls.” I don’t know what this means yet, so I’ll just lave it be for now. Anyway, he goes on to describe how immortality is more like a prison to him than a boon. On the other hand, the rest of the Kiltgang seem to think their immortality puts them above humanity in terms of the evolutionary ladder: “We believe that we are the only true people in this galaxy.” And because of this, they regard “everyone else [as] nothing but a tool for [their] use.” Still, what’s the point of libido then? If they can’t die from natural means, why are they after humanity’s libido? What does it do for them? Obviously, it’s not for sustenance. If it simply gives them pleasure, then again, why destroy all of humanity to get pleasure? Therefore, I have to think the Kiltgang must be up to something more than just the imminent destruction of humanity.

• On related note, however, I really do not like this sort of storytelling. The kids are literally just sitting around and vomiting exposition at the audience. The only reason it is remotely tolerable is because most of the story has been shrouded in so much mystery that we hunger for any scraps of details. Of course, I like knowing that the Planetary Gears are made of Ego Blocks, and because of this, they are immortal unless the Ego Blocks are destroyed. At the same time, however, I’d also like this same information to be conveyed in a manner that isn’t just the children sitting around and talking.