Approaching the end of the show, I can feel the climax brewing. There were some interesting revelations this week, but none of them really came as a surprise. I can say they did a good job with the foreshadowing in the previous episodes. If I remember correctly, this show was pretty much an unfinished movie script. As of this episode, it really feels that way. It watches like a movie, albeit very unpolished.
Hey, more of stupid Sam doing stupid things, what else is new? This week's checklist: get himself caught and become a hostage in a rash attempt to save Maya. Does the guy even use his brain? It's not like Maya needs saving anyway, she's their queen after all. It's really unfortunate that so many anime is marred by very bad main characters. It's so bad to the extent that even a mediocre main character deserves praise.
As suspected, Gido's mind was transplanted into Dick's body. It's funny how these "Ideal Children" get a more degenerate body after each successive cloning. That's not very ideal, now is it? Quite ironic really. In contrast, the Natura, perhaps making reference to the word "natural," evolved through actual reproduction, which resulted in them having stronger bodies more suited for this harsh sand environment. I'm thinking this show might actually be subtly making social commentary on the field of genetic engineering, particularly on humans. The message: just let things run its course, and don't get any gigantic sand whales mad at you.
Maya finally decides to divulge the secrets about herself. It turns out that she's one of the original humans, but how she was able clone herself, I have no idea. Her revelations really spring up more questions than they gave answers. Why is she the only one of the originals to have survived? Did the Ideal Children copy her method of cloning to clone themselves? She seems to suffer from the same degeneration after cloning. That or she's suffering from Frail Heroine Syndrome.
Looks like things are going to end with a bang in the finale next week. Just how big the bang will be is the question. I'm expecting a crazy mad Ozma to completely wreck the Theseus army with their bodies all strewn in the sand. It turns out Gido fell to his death, and Maya ends up dying after a tearful goodbye to Sam. And everyone else lives sandily ever after, the end. Yes, I just made up that word. In all seriousness, I don't really have many expectations for this show, let's just see how they decide to end it next week.
-Bern
