Description:
Shinra and Rekka battle it out, fist versus foot. New players are revealed and the thick plottens.
Appearance:
Character of the Episode: Rekka Hoshimiya
What is really striking to me about Rekka in this episode is just how much of a zealot he is. We don’t know a whole lot about him, but what we do know is that his mission and his leader are two things that he will never betray and things that he will defend to the bitter end. He was even willing to burn himself along with Tamaki and Shinra just to complete the task set before him. I think this was a brief, but well executed look into the mentality of this character, so I think this episode was truly defined by him.
Execution:
What I liked:
Rekka’s eyes are a thing that I find really interesting. As I’m very much the kind of person who looks for signs and symbols, especially in anime, I couldn’t help but notice his eyes and how they work for his character.
As I said before, Rekka is a zealot. Because I characterize him this way, when I look at the star shape in his eyes, what I see are symbols that represent his looking towards something greater than himself. Stars are balls of gas that burn billions of miles away, so to look towards them instead of your immediate surroundings is to see something beautiful that is far outside of yourself and those around you.
However, this is also how I knew that Rekka was destined to fail. Stars are unattainable things. You can look at them and admire them, but attaining one is an impossibility.
What I didn’t like:
This Lucky Lecher Lure or whatever has already overstayed its welcome in my opinion. The fact that it makes itself known in the middle of what I assumed was an intense fight scene is both unnecessary and unwanted. The only reason I can think of for it being present here is because the writers didn’t want the scene itself to be to heavy, or too serious, and that irritates me.
Taste:
I have a theory about what comes next.
Looking at the way the sniper and her partner were dressed, I immediately make a connection to the Templars from the Assassin’s Creed franchise. I think that these Templars are either a denomination of the church we’ve already seen, or a cult that is not associated with the church at all. The Evangelist (the unknown person that Rekka was talking about) is the head of this sect and recruits people as well as oversees the various missions he sends them on.
With that theory in mind, the question is why? And how does all of this connect to Shinra’s past?
Well, this is a stretch, but I think that Shinra’s younger brother is a part of this cult. I have no evidence to support this theory, but an evangelist is a person who seeks out others to convert them to the faith and who is easier to manipulate than a child who has just lost their mother? We’ll see though.
