-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Concrete Revolutio S1 &S2 |OT| More interesting than anything Marvel is putting out
- Thread starter Jarmel
- Start date
- Status
Episode 1
First episode was pretty fun, and actually fairly tight as far as juggling multiple plot points goes, while still being self-contained as a singular story. The seeds are clearly being planted for the over-arcing narrative, while also presenting a format where they can tell episodic stories which build on that. I wonder if every story is going to have a "present" and "future" element to them, showing the consequences of Jiro's actions and how they eventually lead to whatever happens that causes the split.
I have to say though, for all the bad things I have to say about Aikawa's writing in various shows, one thing which I can't not respect him for is how passionate he is about cultural history. Here, the entire vibe of the world and cultural setting is very much an alternate reality Showa era. I would guess the calendar format is intended to match too, so "Shinka 41" would be an equivalent to 1966 in this reality.
The colors and art direction is right out of Un-Go, which is.... an interesting thing or a very bad thing depending on your taste. Lol.
First episode was pretty fun, and actually fairly tight as far as juggling multiple plot points goes, while still being self-contained as a singular story. The seeds are clearly being planted for the over-arcing narrative, while also presenting a format where they can tell episodic stories which build on that. I wonder if every story is going to have a "present" and "future" element to them, showing the consequences of Jiro's actions and how they eventually lead to whatever happens that causes the split.
I have to say though, for all the bad things I have to say about Aikawa's writing in various shows, one thing which I can't not respect him for is how passionate he is about cultural history. Here, the entire vibe of the world and cultural setting is very much an alternate reality Showa era. I would guess the calendar format is intended to match too, so "Shinka 41" would be an equivalent to 1966 in this reality.
The colors and art direction is right out of Un-Go, which is.... an interesting thing or a very bad thing depending on your taste. Lol.
TangerineCloud
Banned
Episode 1
There was a lot going on in this episode, and I couldn't really connect to the characters or anything that was going on due to how quickly it cycled through the various plot points. On top of that, the frequent shifts between past/present (or present/future, depending on how you look at it) with no apparent transitions or visual differentiation made some scenes difficult to comprehend on the first watch.
From a visual standpoint, this first episode is definitely attractive and well-animated, but the lack of a consistent art direction for the characters is pretty distracting. Roughly five different heroes/villains appear in this episode, and there doesn't seem to be any common thread unifying their designs. Individually, the character designs are... solid for the most part, but there's something "off" about watching them interact together on-screen.
Even though this wasn't a great introduction to the series, I still think Concrete Revolutio has the potential to be a fun watch. That said, if it doesn't narrow its scope in the next few episodes, I could easily see myself dropping it.
There was a lot going on in this episode, and I couldn't really connect to the characters or anything that was going on due to how quickly it cycled through the various plot points. On top of that, the frequent shifts between past/present (or present/future, depending on how you look at it) with no apparent transitions or visual differentiation made some scenes difficult to comprehend on the first watch.
From a visual standpoint, this first episode is definitely attractive and well-animated, but the lack of a consistent art direction for the characters is pretty distracting. Roughly five different heroes/villains appear in this episode, and there doesn't seem to be any common thread unifying their designs. Individually, the character designs are... solid for the most part, but there's something "off" about watching them interact together on-screen.
Even though this wasn't a great introduction to the series, I still think Concrete Revolutio has the potential to be a fun watch. That said, if it doesn't narrow its scope in the next few episodes, I could easily see myself dropping it.
The colors and art direction is right out of Un-Go, which is.... an interesting thing or a very bad thing depending on your taste. Lol.
This pleases me greatly.
*taps fingers* Dammit Daisuki, where is the stream already >_<
KenjiGlove
Banned
KenjiGlove
Banned
Guess I'll just double post.
Daisuki has uploaded some "making of" videos on their youtube channel and their site.
The Making of Concrete Revolutio #01
The Making of Concrete Revolutio #02
Haven't had the chance to look at all of them myself, some random idol group is presenting it.
The others can be found on Daisuki's Concrete Revolutio page.
Figured this might be of interest to someone
Daisuki has uploaded some "making of" videos on their youtube channel and their site.
The Making of Concrete Revolutio #01
The Making of Concrete Revolutio #02
Haven't had the chance to look at all of them myself, some random idol group is presenting it.
The others can be found on Daisuki's Concrete Revolutio page.
Figured this might be of interest to someone
Episode 2
The sort of story format they're going for would really benefit from longer episodes. As it is, there are interesting ideas but it feels like there isn't enough time to really fully develop them. In this episode the idea of the ghost kid being an innocent child's perspective forever is interesting, and his naive interaction with the bug race is a fairly typical sort of story which would have more emotional impact if there was more development on the relationship he had with the bug girl. The creature designs for the show is pretty cool though.
The sort of story format they're going for would really benefit from longer episodes. As it is, there are interesting ideas but it feels like there isn't enough time to really fully develop them. In this episode the idea of the ghost kid being an innocent child's perspective forever is interesting, and his naive interaction with the bug race is a fairly typical sort of story which would have more emotional impact if there was more development on the relationship he had with the bug girl. The creature designs for the show is pretty cool though.
The emotional beats totally fell flat for me because of that compression. Bug Girl and Fuurouta had like three scenes together, in which they exchanged maybe a dozen words, so the later stuff was completely unbelievable. And the format's insistence on showing the "consequences" of each episode's story as a flash-forward years later is super awkward.
KenjiGlove
Banned
Still don't really know how I feel about this show, now that I'm more used to the format I at least understand what they're trying to do. I guess I just have to wait for some episodes that have a better premise, the kid ghost character never looked appealing to me.
Wonder if the format with the two timelines will pay off, I liked how it was used in the end with Jiro's conversation with the ghost kid though, I hope that there are going to be more moments like that.
At least Jiro's costume in the future timeline looks badass.
Wonder if the format with the two timelines will pay off, I liked how it was used in the end with Jiro's conversation with the ghost kid though, I hope that there are going to be more moments like that.
At least Jiro's costume in the future timeline looks badass.
a what does what?
I am following it too, I think is really interesting. Some people get annoyed by the jumps between times but I like it, it forces you to put attention. I also rewatch some episodes and noticed lot of things I missed at first.
And while I enjoy other shows more like OPM and Gundam, this is the only one that makes me think about it during the rest of the week.
And while I enjoy other shows more like OPM and Gundam, this is the only one that makes me think about it during the rest of the week.
KenjiGlove
Banned
That fight at the end of episode 3 (I think) was super badass.
For the rest this show has been dissapointing at best.
For the rest this show has been dissapointing at best.
I think the show has potential to get god awesome epic real fast, will keep watching.
KenjiGlove
Banned
Yeah you're right, it's actually the reason why I'm still watching it right now.
The question is whether or not it's actually going to do something with it's potential, in the end I wouldn't be suprised if it doesn't live up to it's hype.
I really hope to be proven wrong though.
Look at this dead thread.
Anyhow, just blew through the first 11 today and it really scratched an itch for me. Love how all the disparate elements are brought together to make the world as it is. Said it in the anime OT but this gives me early Planetary vibes as the bureau progressed through genre tropes like giant heroes, magical girls, boys and their robots, etc.
Anyhow, just blew through the first 11 today and it really scratched an itch for me. Love how all the disparate elements are brought together to make the world as it is. Said it in the anime OT but this gives me early Planetary vibes as the bureau progressed through genre tropes like giant heroes, magical girls, boys and their robots, etc.
Spyder_Monkey
Banned
Is this show any good? You'd think the staff behind FMA and animated by Bones would be received with a lot more fanfare?
Moral Panic
Member
I like it but I can see it's flaws very clearly. It is very much "out there" and hides it's quite deep (for anime at least) outlook behind a quite childish veneer. Another flaw is that it doesn't have very strong characters. Darker than Black was able to keep the episodic format strong because it spent a lot of time building up the characterisation of Hei and then the rest of the cast Probably due to the time skips which force the character growths to be displayed out of order, I don't think CR has done a good enough job in making Kikko or Jiro characters with a strong identity. Instead the show is more political and the battle seems to be between a pragmatic realpolitik and the idealism that comes hand in hand with the idea of superheroes. And for me that is what I like about it. I really love seeing the show work in the ideas of the "superhero" genre into a more realistic world where they can tackle the ideas of censorship, protest, nation rights etc. But it's still down to earth and exciting enough that you can enjoy it without having people walk around in circles explaining the political realities of superhero registry and containment.
I’ve been wanting to give this one another go since near everything is important in the show and I’m curious how my perception of it would change and what would seem apparent this time around as I’m sure I missed quite a bit. Show’s been over for a bit and this OT is dead so rather than shit up the anime thread with longer posts, figured I’d post them here as I think this would be a nice little writing & analysis exercise for me where I examine some elements of the show as well as construct a slightly more detailed timeline as the show progresses that might help illuminate some character motivations. I’m not expecting much nor should anyone else but hey, this sounds fun. I want to keep track of particular mentions and appearances too in their own section of each episode post so the first ep’s list is going to be a little bloated.
So yeah
Concrete Revolution 1
I won’t lie, the transaction between the alien and Professor Onda took me a while to fully grasp. On first viewing, I assumed Jiro had been fed wrong information that the Superhuman Bureau was operating under. Later, after the time travel ep, I found myself wondering if some sort of event had occurred to change the actual details of the transaction but history had to continue flowing due to being too important of an event. I even wondered if Hyouma was laying to Professor Onda at the end at one point so the Bureau could seize the tech for themselves. I finally figured out what was going on though as the idea of aliens on Earth protecting the location of their base/homeworld/etc made sense in the larger scheme of things, especially as Master Ultima’s later role in the show became much more overt. There’s an undercurrent in the show about space contact that looks to manifest itself in S2 so it’d make sense for this to have been seeded from the outset.
Here’s some other thoughts I had though that may or may not be worth consideration:
What’s the extent of Jiro’s powers?
Episode 3 and the last scene of the first cour hint at just how destructive he can really be but for the life of me, I could never really recall him using it in the 41 Shinka era outside the use of Equus or the two times he voluntarily broke his locks. In the 46 Shinka scene in this episode, we see him freely manipulating the train to stop it upon being discovered by Fuurouta and Kikko. We see a brief flash of it as he activates Equus but as far as I remember, manipulating Equus is about all he does. Despite claims othewrise, he’s not the only one that’s able to as Daitetsu does later on. Claude shares a similar powerset (I think) as he was effectively made to be a replacement for Jiro. I suppose it’s more observation than a question in the end as Jiro, who claims he’s just a regular human in episode 1, seems to no longer require the locks that sealed his power come 46 Shinka. Episode 3 is a good example of this when he faces Raito.
Is Kikko actually an alien?
There’s also the little issue of how Ullr addresses Kikko as Hoshinoko. This seems almost too readily apparent but it also seem like a great example of a pun hidden in plain sight if that name is translated as “child of the stars” or “girl of the stars.”
What the hell happened to Grosse Augen?
Key Notes
First appearance of Kikko Hoshino
First appearance of Jiro Hitoysohi
First appearance of Fuurouta
First appearance of Daishi Akita
First appearance of Hyouma Yoshimura
First appearance of Emi Kino
First appearance of “S” Planetarian
First appearance of Grosse Augen
Alien threat introduced
First mention of kaiju and “S” Planetarian fighting them.
Timeline (as of this episode)
July 41 Shinka
In Ginza, Jiro enlists Kikko’s aid to stop a transaction between one of Japan’s top astronomers and an industrial spy who is revealed to be an alien known as “S” Planetarian. Hyoushi, Daishi, and Emi observe from a planetarium in Shibuya. Grosse Augen soon appears to combat the “S” Planetarian but is apprehended by Jiro with the help of Kikko and Emi. Jiro violates his mandate by not eliminating Grosse Augen but allowing its host to use the body of the “S” Planetarian.thereby saving the host’s life. The device being sold to the astronomer is shown to be easily affected by radio waves rendering its data unreliable. Daishi suspects the Gemini accident in the US was also the work of an “S” Planetarian in an effort to conceal the location of their home base in the Scorpio constellation.
April 46 Shinka
Kikko and Fuuroouta encounter Jiro on a train. He escapes and Kikko pursues only to encounter Grosse Augen’s original host and learn how Jiro saved him five years prior.
So yeah
Concrete Revolution 1
I won’t lie, the transaction between the alien and Professor Onda took me a while to fully grasp. On first viewing, I assumed Jiro had been fed wrong information that the Superhuman Bureau was operating under. Later, after the time travel ep, I found myself wondering if some sort of event had occurred to change the actual details of the transaction but history had to continue flowing due to being too important of an event. I even wondered if Hyouma was laying to Professor Onda at the end at one point so the Bureau could seize the tech for themselves. I finally figured out what was going on though as the idea of aliens on Earth protecting the location of their base/homeworld/etc made sense in the larger scheme of things, especially as Master Ultima’s later role in the show became much more overt. There’s an undercurrent in the show about space contact that looks to manifest itself in S2 so it’d make sense for this to have been seeded from the outset.
Here’s some other thoughts I had though that may or may not be worth consideration:
What’s the extent of Jiro’s powers?
Episode 3 and the last scene of the first cour hint at just how destructive he can really be but for the life of me, I could never really recall him using it in the 41 Shinka era outside the use of Equus or the two times he voluntarily broke his locks. In the 46 Shinka scene in this episode, we see him freely manipulating the train to stop it upon being discovered by Fuurouta and Kikko. We see a brief flash of it as he activates Equus but as far as I remember, manipulating Equus is about all he does. Despite claims othewrise, he’s not the only one that’s able to as Daitetsu does later on. Claude shares a similar powerset (I think) as he was effectively made to be a replacement for Jiro. I suppose it’s more observation than a question in the end as Jiro, who claims he’s just a regular human in episode 1, seems to no longer require the locks that sealed his power come 46 Shinka. Episode 3 is a good example of this when he faces Raito.
Is Kikko actually an alien?
This one’s been bedeviling me all night as signs began to point to maybe this is the case. Of course, I have little understanding of Japanese so I’m reliant on the provided subtitles but as I’ve said before, everything about the show feels tightened down so if a peculiar word choice is used, there’s probably a reason for it. There’s a lot of misdirection if so between the constant claims of magic being used, onlookers identifying her as a witch girl, and the requisite magical girl transformation. However, I’ve never been comfortable with her role as a magical girl in this as she occupies the same sort of space Emi does despite her being a yokai. There’s very little in the way of power overlap in the show past Jiro/Claude/maybe Daitetsu so I’d spent a lot of time considering that aspect of it all.
First, there’s the instance of her interrupting the transaction between the alien and Professor Onda. Before deciding to help, she states it’s for the good of the planet when Jiro had only mentioned how it’d affect Japan in terms of technological setback. This might be mistranslated or creative subtitling which would make this part moot. However, the alien’s first reaction is to call her a spy from another planet as if he’d recognize another alien if he saw one. Additionally, after the alien transforms to its “S” Planetarian form and Grosse Augen fights it, Jiro brings up he can’t actually see the fight as he’s a normal human. Initially I assumed that meant him having no powers of his own and relying on Kikko’s to find them. Could she see them not because of “magic” but because she was an alien too?
The “S” Planetarian is quick to wonder what sort of technology could control the atmosphere itself, implying that it’s beyond the scope of his people and would be very advanced indeed. Kikko’s very quick to correct him, claiming its magic in an almost exasperated tone of voice as if he got a little too close in his suspicions. What also made me wonder about this one is there’s a near throwaway line from the lady in the occult investigations office as she repairs Raito with her magic.in episode 11. It’s the old Arthur C. Clarke quote of “"Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology." If Kikko were so inclined to push the magic angle, I’d think this, along with the theatricality of her powers, would cover for it.
There’s also the little issue of how Ullr addresses Kikko as Hoshinoko. This seems almost too readily apparent but it also seem like a great example of a pun hidden in plain sight if that name is translated as “child of the stars” or “girl of the stars.”
What the hell happened to Grosse Augen?
Again, this is less question and more observation but Grosse Augen is demonstrated to be immensely powerful. What could have caused it to crash on Earth? The more I think about it, the more I wonder if Master Ultima didn’t have a hand in matters. We see him shoot down another superhuman later in the series and “evil spacemen” are seen to be left to him to handle. It’d fit in nicely with the perception of his power throughout the series too. We never even really see him do anything with his own powe in the show yet he has this tremendous presence throughout such that other superhumans defer to him.
Key Notes
First appearance of Kikko Hoshino
First appearance of Jiro Hitoysohi
First appearance of Fuurouta
First appearance of Daishi Akita
First appearance of Hyouma Yoshimura
First appearance of Emi Kino
First appearance of “S” Planetarian
First appearance of Grosse Augen
Alien threat introduced
First mention of kaiju and “S” Planetarian fighting them.
Timeline (as of this episode)
July 41 Shinka
In Ginza, Jiro enlists Kikko’s aid to stop a transaction between one of Japan’s top astronomers and an industrial spy who is revealed to be an alien known as “S” Planetarian. Hyoushi, Daishi, and Emi observe from a planetarium in Shibuya. Grosse Augen soon appears to combat the “S” Planetarian but is apprehended by Jiro with the help of Kikko and Emi. Jiro violates his mandate by not eliminating Grosse Augen but allowing its host to use the body of the “S” Planetarian.thereby saving the host’s life. The device being sold to the astronomer is shown to be easily affected by radio waves rendering its data unreliable. Daishi suspects the Gemini accident in the US was also the work of an “S” Planetarian in an effort to conceal the location of their home base in the Scorpio constellation.
April 46 Shinka
Kikko and Fuuroouta encounter Jiro on a train. He escapes and Kikko pursues only to encounter Grosse Augen’s original host and learn how Jiro saved him five years prior.
Good points! Let me help out with it.
Some notes about your comments:
- If you want to see the full extent of Jiro's unsealed powers pre-Shinka 46, you need to look no further than the flashback at the start of episode 4. It suggests that not only is the monster hidden inside him capable of fully manifesting, but that it might also have Lovecraftian properties when fully manifested - like being invisible to normal people in plain sight (pay attention to the movement in the water during the helicopter shot).
- Kikko is not a space alien, but rather an extra-dimensional being. In that sense I guess she is an "alien" because she's not native to our dimension and she's not a human who was mutated/modified/gifted. The poster you highlighted is an example of using xenophobia to turn people against superhumans. The captions read "HAVE YOU SEEN A SUPERHUMAN?" and "ALIENS? MAGICIANS?" - indicating that to most people superheroes are who generally human are seen in better light, so to turn people against the idea in propaganda they use the examples people fear.
- "Whatever Happened to Grosse Augen" sounds like a great title for a pulp scifi story in the 60s, or a chapter of Watchmen or The Twelve. Lol.
Some notes about your comments:
- If you want to see the full extent of Jiro's unsealed powers pre-Shinka 46, you need to look no further than the flashback at the start of episode 4. It suggests that not only is the monster hidden inside him capable of fully manifesting, but that it might also have Lovecraftian properties when fully manifested - like being invisible to normal people in plain sight (pay attention to the movement in the water during the helicopter shot).
- Kikko is not a space alien, but rather an extra-dimensional being. In that sense I guess she is an "alien" because she's not native to our dimension and she's not a human who was mutated/modified/gifted. The poster you highlighted is an example of using xenophobia to turn people against superhumans. The captions read "HAVE YOU SEEN A SUPERHUMAN?" and "ALIENS? MAGICIANS?" - indicating that to most people superheroes are who generally human are seen in better light, so to turn people against the idea in propaganda they use the examples people fear.
- "Whatever Happened to Grosse Augen" sounds like a great title for a pulp scifi story in the 60s, or a chapter of Watchmen or The Twelve. Lol.
Concrete Revolutio 2
Found this to be one of the weaker episodes the first time I went through yet I feel like I get the thrust of it now given Fuurouta is more or less the point of view character throughout. The ghost who will forever remain a kid is the perfect way to paint the picture of a black & white world where heroes are good, monsters are bad, and there’s no in-between. Early on, characters are presented in a rather simple light with Jiro being the standout with his internal struggle of reconciling his duties with his desire to be an ally of justice. Fuurouta’s a strange case as he’s a developed character in the sense he’s quite different from who he used to be but we never see any of the why in this ep instead left to infer what changed him and how from his dialogue. He serves as something of beginning and endpoint for the first season as his simple beliefs in Shinka 41 are very naive and idealistic. In 48 Shinka, we see him breaking down as he recounts how the world has changed. This is actually the latest moment in Concrete Revolutio as shown the official timeline in terms of chronology.
Anyway other thoughts:
Jiro’s humanity
Revisiting the nature of Jiro's power
Is duality in the superhuman population a narrative rule in this?
Fuurouta’s something of a tragic character, eh?
Fuurouta’s mostly exempt from this as he’ embraces the “eternal kid” role wholeheartedly. Those no sense of consequence to his life to temper his impetuous nature. We see examples of this throughout the episode. We first see it in 41 Shinka where he frees Campe on a whim with little regard to anyone else around him. It’s entirely impulse he perceives to be a good idea at the time. After this, Fuurouta’s shown in 46 Shinka and scamming an old lady for free ice cream. After he leaves, he visits a development site where kids once played. There’s little in the way of wistfulness as he simply wonders where the kids are before deciding they’ve probably grown up by now. No big deal, right? Third example is how he played too many pranks at the house he was living at and was forced out as a result. Fourth example is the big one where he decides it’s no big deal to drop the virus in the Black Fog to eradicate the Tartaros Bugmen. They’re bad, he wants to be good, so he just it without understanding why their attack was specifically centered around a government building., no desire to understand the situation at all.
He has trouble processing the consequences of his actions when he’s confronted by Campe. There’s already some level of internal conflict going on in 46 Shinka when he and Kikko confront Jiro but it comes to a head here when his act of heroism is seen as an act of genocide from another’s perspective. What’s worse is he seems to have trouble processing this as it’s something really heavy to be dropped onto an adult let alone a child. His insistence upon giving up his life to Campe as penance followed by Jiro’s admonition that one life wasn’t worth the millions he took (hinting that the Black Fog was a swarm of sorts) is simply too much for him and he breaks down in tears at how complicated the world had become.
Jiro’s not entirely blameless in this matter as his use of Fuurouta’s worldview to reinforce his own resulted in admission to the Superhuman Bureau and constricting the world around him so that he can’t escape the results of his actions. It’s a much more effective cage than the one that held Campe. He’s going to outlive most people in the show as part of his nature as a ghost but he’s forced to live with the genocide on his conscience for all those years to come. It remains to be seen if this was Jiro seeking his own sort of absolution by consoling Fuurouta or if he’ll leverage it into recruitment assuming he’s still operating with a team this far into the story.
And just as a little aside:
Key Notes
July 41 Shinka
In Ginza, Jiro enlists Kikko’s aid to stop a transaction between one of Japan’s top astronomers and an industrial spy who is revealed to be an alien known as “S” Planetarian. Hyoushi, Daishi, and Emi observe from a planetarium in Shibuya. Grosse Augen soon appears to combat the “S” Planetarian but is apprehended by Jiro with the help of Kikko and Emi. Jiro violates his mandate by not eliminating Grosse Augen but allowing its host to use the body of the “S” Planetarian.thereby saving the host’s life. The device being sold to the astronomer is shown to be easily affected by radio waves rendering its data unreliable. Daishi suspects the Gemin accident[/urll] in the US was also the work of an “S” Planetarian in an effort to conceal the location of their home base in the Scorpio constellation.
August 41 Shinka
Fuurouta encounters the Black Fog after freeing Campe from a pet shop. He’s soon apprehended by the Superhuman Bureau who decide to keep a close watch on him. Realizing he can safely enter the Black Fog, he takes the virus the Superhuman Bureau had contemplated using and eradicates the Tartaros Bugmen aside from Campe who he inadvertently saves.
April 46 Shinka
Kikko and Fuuroouta encounter Jiro on a train. He escapes and Kikko pursues only to encounter Grosse Augen’s original host and learn how Jiro saved him five years prior.
August 48 Shinka
Fuurouta faces the now grown Campe who seeks revenge on him for killing the Tartaros Bugmen. Jiro intervenes to save Fuurouta.
Found this to be one of the weaker episodes the first time I went through yet I feel like I get the thrust of it now given Fuurouta is more or less the point of view character throughout. The ghost who will forever remain a kid is the perfect way to paint the picture of a black & white world where heroes are good, monsters are bad, and there’s no in-between. Early on, characters are presented in a rather simple light with Jiro being the standout with his internal struggle of reconciling his duties with his desire to be an ally of justice. Fuurouta’s a strange case as he’s a developed character in the sense he’s quite different from who he used to be but we never see any of the why in this ep instead left to infer what changed him and how from his dialogue. He serves as something of beginning and endpoint for the first season as his simple beliefs in Shinka 41 are very naive and idealistic. In 48 Shinka, we see him breaking down as he recounts how the world has changed. This is actually the latest moment in Concrete Revolutio as shown the official timeline in terms of chronology.
Anyway other thoughts:
Jiro’s humanity
This one's on me as I finally get this line which had thrown me off for the longest time as I assumed it had referred to Jiro being less powerful than the others. Instead it’s something I should have taken literally given Hyouma being a hybrid of sorts, Emi being half-human/half-yokai, Kikko being from another dimension, and Daichi being an alien.
Revisiting the nature of Jiro's power
He’s shown to be immensely powerful in the future yet again (which culminates in episode 3) but, more importantly, he has control over that power. The Tartaros Bugmen were strong enough to kill off the superhumans of the Public Security Force. It’s not a stretch to imagine the queen being very strong yet he repels her with ease as he rescues Fuurouta.
Is duality in the superhuman population a narrative rule in this?
This has bugged me for a while as it seems like something strange to drop in conversation. I’d have ignored it outright as an artifact of Jiro’s idealismif not for Emi acknowledging it as fact. (Was she simply being patronizing?) For a while I wondered if Emi/Kikko occupied this scenario together given how manipulative Emi was early on. That doesn’t necessarily make her evil though. We see it come up later though with Kikko’s dual nature, Hyouma facing down his evil past self, and the Jiro/Claude interaction. It’s more or less food for thought given how few examples of this there are but it’s not something I want to discard entirely going forward.
Fuurouta’s something of a tragic character, eh?
This conversation explicitly outlines the focus of the show. I mentioned above that everyone but Jiro feels like a simple character early on but I’ll add that Jiro has something of a steadfast idealism that he adheres to makes him feel rather static throughout. As the show progessess and the above alludes to, there’s no real black & white in this world. Near everyone is gray and near everyone has some sort of personal agenda
Fuurouta’s mostly exempt from this as he’ embraces the “eternal kid” role wholeheartedly. Those no sense of consequence to his life to temper his impetuous nature. We see examples of this throughout the episode. We first see it in 41 Shinka where he frees Campe on a whim with little regard to anyone else around him. It’s entirely impulse he perceives to be a good idea at the time. After this, Fuurouta’s shown in 46 Shinka and scamming an old lady for free ice cream. After he leaves, he visits a development site where kids once played. There’s little in the way of wistfulness as he simply wonders where the kids are before deciding they’ve probably grown up by now. No big deal, right? Third example is how he played too many pranks at the house he was living at and was forced out as a result. Fourth example is the big one where he decides it’s no big deal to drop the virus in the Black Fog to eradicate the Tartaros Bugmen. They’re bad, he wants to be good, so he just it without understanding why their attack was specifically centered around a government building., no desire to understand the situation at all.
He has trouble processing the consequences of his actions when he’s confronted by Campe. There’s already some level of internal conflict going on in 46 Shinka when he and Kikko confront Jiro but it comes to a head here when his act of heroism is seen as an act of genocide from another’s perspective. What’s worse is he seems to have trouble processing this as it’s something really heavy to be dropped onto an adult let alone a child. His insistence upon giving up his life to Campe as penance followed by Jiro’s admonition that one life wasn’t worth the millions he took (hinting that the Black Fog was a swarm of sorts) is simply too much for him and he breaks down in tears at how complicated the world had become.
Jiro’s not entirely blameless in this matter as his use of Fuurouta’s worldview to reinforce his own resulted in admission to the Superhuman Bureau and constricting the world around him so that he can’t escape the results of his actions. It’s a much more effective cage than the one that held Campe. He’s going to outlive most people in the show as part of his nature as a ghost but he’s forced to live with the genocide on his conscience for all those years to come. It remains to be seen if this was Jiro seeking his own sort of absolution by consoling Fuurouta or if he’ll leverage it into recruitment assuming he’s still operating with a team this far into the story.
And just as a little aside:
It’s amusing how differently superhumans are treated in 41 Shinka vs 46 Shinka. The 41 Shinka scenes typically have the superhumans being seen in some wondrous light with people in awe or in fear of their presence. Come 46 Shinka, they’re perceived as a nuisance that even the common man is willing to tell off as their presence is viewed as disruptive for the normal person.
Key Notes
- First appearance of Campe
- First (and last?) appearance of the Tartaros Bugmen
- First mention of Raito Shiba
- First appearance of the superhumans in the Public Security Force
- First appearance of Magotake Hitoyoshi
July 41 Shinka
In Ginza, Jiro enlists Kikko’s aid to stop a transaction between one of Japan’s top astronomers and an industrial spy who is revealed to be an alien known as “S” Planetarian. Hyoushi, Daishi, and Emi observe from a planetarium in Shibuya. Grosse Augen soon appears to combat the “S” Planetarian but is apprehended by Jiro with the help of Kikko and Emi. Jiro violates his mandate by not eliminating Grosse Augen but allowing its host to use the body of the “S” Planetarian.thereby saving the host’s life. The device being sold to the astronomer is shown to be easily affected by radio waves rendering its data unreliable. Daishi suspects the Gemin accident[/urll] in the US was also the work of an “S” Planetarian in an effort to conceal the location of their home base in the Scorpio constellation.
August 41 Shinka
Fuurouta encounters the Black Fog after freeing Campe from a pet shop. He’s soon apprehended by the Superhuman Bureau who decide to keep a close watch on him. Realizing he can safely enter the Black Fog, he takes the virus the Superhuman Bureau had contemplated using and eradicates the Tartaros Bugmen aside from Campe who he inadvertently saves.
April 46 Shinka
Kikko and Fuuroouta encounter Jiro on a train. He escapes and Kikko pursues only to encounter Grosse Augen’s original host and learn how Jiro saved him five years prior.
August 48 Shinka
Fuurouta faces the now grown Campe who seeks revenge on him for killing the Tartaros Bugmen. Jiro intervenes to save Fuurouta.
Concrete Revolutio 3
Again another episode that makes somewhat better sense with later context. It’s also the third in a row that focuses on someone other than Jiro as the point of view character (ep 1: Kikko, ep 2: Fuurouta) which feels rather unique as Jiro’s ostensibly the protagonist of the show but essentially been a background character so far. This might be a reflection of his role in the Superhuman Bureau in that he’s just one of the team versus later where it feels like he’ll have much more of a spotlight placed directly on him. Between this and the few other moments down the line for Raito, I wonder if we didn’t give his characterization a fair shake the first time around. I think I do a little bit of reaching this time around but hey, it’s just for fun.
Jiro’s Power
What’s up with Ikuta Labs?
This is one of those name drops early that that feels as if it should be superficially throwaway yet it’s a name that will keep popping up again and again as the show progresses. Magotake mentions his time there in the context of strategic superhuman use which is far more important later in the show but for now the robot stuff is what’s interesting. It’s mentioned that the robotic research of the Ikuta Labs during the war became the foundation for modern robotic engineering going forward.
Throughout the show we’re presented with five characters with ties to the labs. I’ve been trying to find a way to organize them internally and think I finally arrived at something that’ll be functional if rudimentary in terms of free will and a sense of purpose.
First is the as of yet to be introduced Earth-chan. It’s a really specious connection for now but she first appears in the early 30s Shinka as a robotic machine doll of justice which is well after the end of the war which gives ample time for the early Ikuta Labs robotics research to mature. She’s been granted both a sense of free will and a sense of purpose by whoever created her. Her overwhelming sense of good helps drive her but her sense of free will also lets her decide when and how she should intervene. However she possesses a rather black & white view of the world however and this leads her to approaching difficult problems with simplistic solutions. I doubt I would have even considered her to be connected if not for the ending of episode 7 where she’s effectively interred at the Ikuta Labs in 47 Shinka.
The androids function as an example of being given a sense of purpose but not so much free will. Yes, they’re meant to integrate into society without people realizing who they are but that’s effectively illusion due to the overriding prerogative of finding one another. This is what led Mieko to constantly seek out other robots in an effort to fulfill her primary function. She’s drawn to the suitcase security bot, Raito, and the whatever was being transported in the Yatsuka Heavy Industries truck due to all three being technological offshoots of the android she's seeking. She’s entirely unable to resist this urge and, in fact, it’s what drives her more than anything else. Type A was built the same way and there was little to dissuade one of the notion that Megasshin was all that different. Sure, he rebuffed Raito for violating his sense of justice but it’s unknown if that is conscious decision or simply how he was made.
Now what if you made a robot with a sense of free will but didn’t give it a purpose? Maybe left it to find one on its own?
Maybe Raito Shiba isn’t as underdeveloped as we think.
Come 47 Shinka though, Raito knows exactly who he is. He’s finally found a purpose albeit one that’s apparently very, very misguided, and he has little inhibition about using his power. His plan to bomb the equivalent of the 1972 Winter Olympics in order to make the government look terrible with the eyes of the world upon it is beyond strange. It’s hard to say what happened in the five year span and it’s hard to say if the deaths of the youths are what impelled him against the current government. It’s also hard to call him evil because maybe he has a really good reason to feel this way. In just the last episode, the “evil” Tartaros Bugmen appeared due to their home being destroyed after an old contract was broken. Megasshin indicates his method is flawed though, acting in a Mjolniresque role where only the worthy could use him. This makes Megasshin appearing with Jiro to reclaim Earth-chan in episode 7 all the more amusing especially given Jiro’s sentiment of
Key Notes
Timeline (as of this episode)
July 41 Shinka
In Ginza, Jiro enlists Kikko’s aid to stop a transaction between one of Japan’s top astronomers and an industrial spy who is revealed to be an alien known as “S” Planetarian. Hyoushi, Daishi, and Emi observe from a planetarium in Shibuya. Grosse Augen soon appears to combat the “S” Planetarian but is apprehended by Jiro with the help of Kikko and Emi. Jiro violates his mandate by not eliminating Grosse Augen but allowing its host to use the body of the “S” Planetarian.thereby saving the host’s life. The device being sold to the astronomer is shown to be easily affected by radio waves rendering its data unreliable. Daishi suspects the Gemin accident[/urll] in the US was also the work of an “S” Planetarian in an effort to conceal the location of their home base in the Scorpio constellation.
August 41 Shinka
Fuurouta encounters the Black Fog after freeing Campe from a pet shop. He’s soon apprehended by the Superhuman Bureau who decide to keep a close watch on him. Realizing he can safely enter the Black Fog, he takes the virus the Superhuman Bureau had contemplated using and eradicates the Tartaros Bugmen aside from Campe who he inadvertently saves.
Feb 42 Shinka
A bombing at the Haneda Airport catches Raito Shiba’s attention and he chooses to investigate as he feels it falls under the jurisdiction of the police force. The cause of the explosion is revealed to be the Type B Android Mieko Kohrogi. Raito learns of the existence of the Type A android and their function to combine to form the Ultimate Weapon which he assumes to be a bomb. He sets out to destroy her but offers her a place with him at the last minute, a life where she doesn’t have to become a weapon. She rejects him and apparently self-destructs in a nearby canal.
April 46 Shinka
Kikko and Fuuroouta encounter Jiro on a train. He escapes and Kikko pursues only to encounter Grosse Augen’s original host and learn how Jiro saved him five years prior.
Feb 47 Shinka
Type A android Kaoru Honda returns to Japan after 28 years but in military custody. Raito Shiba liberates him and takes him to the now inert form of Type B android Mieko Kohrogi. where he intends to have them form into what he believes to be a bomb that he would detonate at the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Winter_Olympics]Winter Sports Grand Prix in protest of the current government which he feels is corrupt. Jiro appears to reactivate the type B android, revealing the ultimate weapon to be a combination of the Type A and Type B androids now known as Megasshin. Raito and Jiro engage in combat directly after.
August 48 Shinka
Fuurouta faces the now grown Campe who seeks revenge on him for killing the Tartaros Bugmen. Jiro intervenes to save Fuurouta.
Again another episode that makes somewhat better sense with later context. It’s also the third in a row that focuses on someone other than Jiro as the point of view character (ep 1: Kikko, ep 2: Fuurouta) which feels rather unique as Jiro’s ostensibly the protagonist of the show but essentially been a background character so far. This might be a reflection of his role in the Superhuman Bureau in that he’s just one of the team versus later where it feels like he’ll have much more of a spotlight placed directly on him. Between this and the few other moments down the line for Raito, I wonder if we didn’t give his characterization a fair shake the first time around. I think I do a little bit of reaching this time around but hey, it’s just for fun.
Jiro’s Power
I know I keep coming back to this one but I’m so interested in its presentation given how murky it was early on. Once again he’s very reserved with in 41 Shinka and uses Equus to fight Raito only to be rebuffed without much effort. Come 47 Shinka, his power has matured to the point where not only is he faster than Raito but he’s able to subdue him with one hand. It’s possible Raito was familiar with Jiro’s power at this time and chose not to resist due to the close proximity but it’s a safe assumption Raito is at the peak of his own strength as well. After the creation of Megasshin, called an ultimate weapon in the lead up to its formation, Raito literally has his way with it before Jiro intervenes. Raito immediately faces him despite Megasshin not being out for the count which implies he sees Jiro to be the far greater threat.
What’s up with Ikuta Labs?
This is one of those name drops early that that feels as if it should be superficially throwaway yet it’s a name that will keep popping up again and again as the show progresses. Magotake mentions his time there in the context of strategic superhuman use which is far more important later in the show but for now the robot stuff is what’s interesting. It’s mentioned that the robotic research of the Ikuta Labs during the war became the foundation for modern robotic engineering going forward.
Throughout the show we’re presented with five characters with ties to the labs. I’ve been trying to find a way to organize them internally and think I finally arrived at something that’ll be functional if rudimentary in terms of free will and a sense of purpose.
First is the as of yet to be introduced Earth-chan. It’s a really specious connection for now but she first appears in the early 30s Shinka as a robotic machine doll of justice which is well after the end of the war which gives ample time for the early Ikuta Labs robotics research to mature. She’s been granted both a sense of free will and a sense of purpose by whoever created her. Her overwhelming sense of good helps drive her but her sense of free will also lets her decide when and how she should intervene. However she possesses a rather black & white view of the world however and this leads her to approaching difficult problems with simplistic solutions. I doubt I would have even considered her to be connected if not for the ending of episode 7 where she’s effectively interred at the Ikuta Labs in 47 Shinka.
The androids function as an example of being given a sense of purpose but not so much free will. Yes, they’re meant to integrate into society without people realizing who they are but that’s effectively illusion due to the overriding prerogative of finding one another. This is what led Mieko to constantly seek out other robots in an effort to fulfill her primary function. She’s drawn to the suitcase security bot, Raito, and the whatever was being transported in the Yatsuka Heavy Industries truck due to all three being technological offshoots of the android she's seeking. She’s entirely unable to resist this urge and, in fact, it’s what drives her more than anything else. Type A was built the same way and there was little to dissuade one of the notion that Megasshin was all that different. Sure, he rebuffed Raito for violating his sense of justice but it’s unknown if that is conscious decision or simply how he was made.
Now what if you made a robot with a sense of free will but didn’t give it a purpose? Maybe left it to find one on its own?
Maybe Raito Shiba isn’t as underdeveloped as we think.
An early and possibly still valid criticism of Raito’s character was he’s given too little screentime in the show and he’s never given much in the way of development. He’s obviously a prominent player in the grand scheme of things given his presence in both the OP and the ED as well as serving as someone to measure Jiro’s own sense of justice against yet he’s almost presented in this goofy Zenigata-flavored comic relief detective character in this episode and later episodes, always just one step behind the protagonists and toyed with by them. He has his own beliefs though that no superhumans are heroes and he carries a strong bias against the Superhuman Bureau for their coverups of superhuman related incidents. Maybe this is an artifact of his prior life or maybe his death was brought about by some superhuman incident. I will say it’s strange that his resurrection in the robotic body was described as something a scientist did for fun when no one outside of Fuurouta ever does something just for fun in this show.
A lot of Raito’s angst seems centered around his very being. He was a human that was granted extraordinary power when given his new lease on life. Attaching himself to the work of his former life hints at the desire to return to that state of a human being enforcing human laws. Similar to 41/42 Shinka era Jiro, he’s reluctant to use his own powers. Before attempting to destroy the Type B android, he’s reluctant to use his powers in any meaningful capacity, fixing a tv in one case and activating a translator in the other. He’s willing to use them again when Type B attempts to escape but the use of the Time Watch prevents him from taking his shot. Willingness to use them only in the line of duty is a great contrast between Fuurouta and Kikko's frivolous use of their own powers in the previous episode.
The lingering sense of resentment seems to manifest itself into this bias against superhumans, feeling they shouldn’t be allowed to use their powers as the power itself is seductive and would let them place themselves beyond the auspices of human law. There’s a great line that’s easily missed in episode 13 where Fuurouta removes Raito from the protests. Raito claims that Fuurouta’s part of the Superhuman Bureau so shouldn’t have done so but Fuurouta quickly counters that he’s also the friend of every kid and that’s part of his identity beyond his job. Raito could only sigh and say that he was supposed to be that way too. He has no real sense of purpose past his rather specious code of justice so it’s extremely easy for him to lose sight of who he was meant to be. It's ironic that the internal confusion over his sense of justice throughout might make him the most human character of all early on.
Come 47 Shinka though, Raito knows exactly who he is. He’s finally found a purpose albeit one that’s apparently very, very misguided, and he has little inhibition about using his power. His plan to bomb the equivalent of the 1972 Winter Olympics in order to make the government look terrible with the eyes of the world upon it is beyond strange. It’s hard to say what happened in the five year span and it’s hard to say if the deaths of the youths are what impelled him against the current government. It’s also hard to call him evil because maybe he has a really good reason to feel this way. In just the last episode, the “evil” Tartaros Bugmen appeared due to their home being destroyed after an old contract was broken. Megasshin indicates his method is flawed though, acting in a Mjolniresque role where only the worthy could use him. This makes Megasshin appearing with Jiro to reclaim Earth-chan in episode 7 all the more amusing especially given Jiro’s sentiment of
Key Notes
- First appearance of Raito Shiba
- First appearance of Type A android Kaoru Honda
- First appearance of Type B android Mieko Kohrogi
- First mention of the Time Police
- First mention of the Ikuta Laboratory
- First appearances of Rainbow Knight, The Eye of Lucifer, and Giganto Gon
- First appearance of Megasshin
Timeline (as of this episode)
July 41 Shinka
In Ginza, Jiro enlists Kikko’s aid to stop a transaction between one of Japan’s top astronomers and an industrial spy who is revealed to be an alien known as “S” Planetarian. Hyoushi, Daishi, and Emi observe from a planetarium in Shibuya. Grosse Augen soon appears to combat the “S” Planetarian but is apprehended by Jiro with the help of Kikko and Emi. Jiro violates his mandate by not eliminating Grosse Augen but allowing its host to use the body of the “S” Planetarian.thereby saving the host’s life. The device being sold to the astronomer is shown to be easily affected by radio waves rendering its data unreliable. Daishi suspects the Gemin accident[/urll] in the US was also the work of an “S” Planetarian in an effort to conceal the location of their home base in the Scorpio constellation.
August 41 Shinka
Fuurouta encounters the Black Fog after freeing Campe from a pet shop. He’s soon apprehended by the Superhuman Bureau who decide to keep a close watch on him. Realizing he can safely enter the Black Fog, he takes the virus the Superhuman Bureau had contemplated using and eradicates the Tartaros Bugmen aside from Campe who he inadvertently saves.
Feb 42 Shinka
A bombing at the Haneda Airport catches Raito Shiba’s attention and he chooses to investigate as he feels it falls under the jurisdiction of the police force. The cause of the explosion is revealed to be the Type B Android Mieko Kohrogi. Raito learns of the existence of the Type A android and their function to combine to form the Ultimate Weapon which he assumes to be a bomb. He sets out to destroy her but offers her a place with him at the last minute, a life where she doesn’t have to become a weapon. She rejects him and apparently self-destructs in a nearby canal.
April 46 Shinka
Kikko and Fuuroouta encounter Jiro on a train. He escapes and Kikko pursues only to encounter Grosse Augen’s original host and learn how Jiro saved him five years prior.
Feb 47 Shinka
Type A android Kaoru Honda returns to Japan after 28 years but in military custody. Raito Shiba liberates him and takes him to the now inert form of Type B android Mieko Kohrogi. where he intends to have them form into what he believes to be a bomb that he would detonate at the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Winter_Olympics]Winter Sports Grand Prix in protest of the current government which he feels is corrupt. Jiro appears to reactivate the type B android, revealing the ultimate weapon to be a combination of the Type A and Type B androids now known as Megasshin. Raito and Jiro engage in combat directly after.
August 48 Shinka
Fuurouta faces the now grown Campe who seeks revenge on him for killing the Tartaros Bugmen. Jiro intervenes to save Fuurouta.
Damn I love reading these write ups. I should rewatch season 1 too, but I think I'll save it for late March to lead into season 2.
Do you have screencaps of the Earth-chan references in ep3? I tried to look last week but couldn't find it in the ep.
She doesn't appear in episode 3 but is introduced in episode 4 where she appears to take on the tentacle beast. Chronologically that's one month after episode 1 and five months before episode 3.
Concrete Revolutio 4
Between having little time and the density of this episode, I haven’t had a chance to get to it before today and frankly I’m glad I gave myself the extra time because there’s a ridiculous amount of things going on in this episode. Whereas the first three episodes introduced a different element of the story (romantic interest, theme, antagonist respectively) with a different viewpoint character in each, it remained clear that Jiro’s our protagonist throughout and there’s this element of whiplash as the plot is shoveled at the viewer via scenes playing out across eight different years of the Shinka era. I’d had trouble with wondering why people found the show becoming unclear about now but I benefitted from the binge watch and while I think a binge watcher or a hardcore fan of the show can find value in how this is constructed, I can’t help but think it was simply too much for the week to week viewer to have so many threads lain at once then to be expected to keep up with where they lead into later episodes.
Anyhow, let’s go through the more important elements of the episode. There’s a good conversation to be had about how Jiro’s feelings towards beasts makes him a hypocrite given his stance on superhumans but that’s for some other time.
That cold open
I initially had problems with this ones as we’re given scenes over three different years but only two of which felt connected.
The first scene had Professor Hitoyoshi discovering GaGon mcuh to the chagrin of an apparent love interest named Maria. He was acting under Imperial orders at the time but she seemed set on preventing him from reaching GaGon to start. It appeared though and frightened her that she literally lost the form she had taken and assumed something easily describable as alien much to Professor Hitoyoshi’s dismay. GaGon’s design doesn’t look quite of this Earth either so there’s likely a connection there but that’s a discussion for another day.
We are then presented with the American troops watching film of a chained GaGon being used an a biological AA gun in order to repel American aerial attacks. This is their reason for introducing their own superhumans into the campaign in an act of escalation. This and the first scene are both connected via GaGon but the third troubled me for a while.
In the third scene, we’re witnessing Tokyo being destroyed with children reporting a rampaging beast to a police officer. I think I first interpreted this as a renegade GaGon attacking the city a la a loose King Kong despite never actually seeing it. This may have been intentional as to let the viewer fill in the blanks in their own head. On initial viewing, the viewer would be unaware of Jiro’s power or his inability to harness it. He’d look like a victim of an attack that left him prone on the bridge to be discovered by his father. However,the climax of this episode provides enough to interpret the beginning scene differently. That’s not the ultimate point of the intro though. As a whole it functions as foreshadowing of the final scene of episode 13, giving the shock value of it a firmer basis to emanate from. We have three scenes with only two connected and the third unrelated unless one made the GaGon stretch I did. Upon realizing the truth of the third scene, it disconnects from the other two once again. That is it disconnects until one realizes GaGon and the American heroes were misdirection. Approached a little more abstractly, the first scene is the discovery of a new weapon by one side. The second is its use against the other side and the other side’s feeling that it needed to escalate matters. How does the third connect to the first two then? While not the desired result of its use, we’re seeing the other side’s weapon in action against the first.
Jiro’s Power
After being teased in the first three episodes by a fully powered Jiro in the future era and the reserved Jiro using his power via Equus in the past scenes, we finally understand why. Jiro’s not just extremely powerful, he has such little control over it that it need to be physically locked away since it’s so ridiculously destructive. To compound things, not just anyone can lock it away but a mystical being has to and even then not just any mystical being (although I expect Kikko managing to do so later will become a relevant plot point) but Emi is the only one that can.
The exact nature of Jiro’s power remains ambiguous too. The animalistic quality to its use gives it a very kaiju feel but Claude’s meant to be a replacement Jiro later on . I assumed they shared a similar powerset given the vehicle combat they engaged in come episode 13 and his explicitly being told he was to replace Jiro. I may have taken that too literally though. I’d inferred that it was some sort of metal manipulation early on given his ability to stop the train in episode 1 and his use of Equus. Daitetsu had a similar power and was able to manipulate Equus and Claude had metal manipulation as well. I like to think it was more misdirection as the bestial quality of Equus in episode 13 seemed to hint that Jiro’s power was more than that and Equus was only to be operated by him as it was a cipher for his power.
I don’t think it’s nuclear either despite the idea it would be given the final scene of the first cour. I suspect he was just “weaponized” while a little boy due to the power he possessed and I think duckroll was probably onto something as it being something Lovecraftian or eldritch given how it manifests. It being invisible in episode 4 while destroying the city, the half-yokai Emi being the only one able to seal it, and the shadow it cast in episode 13 supports this.
Duality revisited
Earth-chan arrives!
Earth-chan might be my favorite character, more in part due to her role later on and the stellar episode 7 she’s featured in, but she makes a fantastic impression early on. To put her into perspective, all the superhumans in the 45/46 Shinka era so far have more or less been street-level characters so far. In comics parlance, that’s for the heroes taking care of the local problems or the lower class threats. They’re not heavy hitters (although come 47/48 Shinka everyone appears to be one) that can go toe to toe with the worst that’s thrown at them. They’re not off defending space or battling existential threats, they’re operating locally and more and more appear to repel the beasts after the disappearance of Grosse Augen. Earth-chan’s the exception here. Admittedly the beast she faced down was probably out in the wild too early but she handled it with such ease. There’s no conflict here as she arrives and just overwhelms it because it’s not even in her league. The other heroes fighting beasts have to exert at least some effort, even the “S” Class Planetarian. She’s a true heavy hitter as evidenced by how easily she handles this beast, how other street-level superhumans want little to do with fighting her when she shows up later, or how towards the end of the series, her decision to side with one side of a protest or the other would decide it then and there.
She’s also the country’s worst kept secret as she operates beyond the purview of the Superhuman Bureau. She’s been operating for over 10 years, everyone knows who she is, and all the Superhuman Bureau can do is keep her out of the news thanks to the law and spread misinformation about her via tabloids. It’s not like she needs the protection either, it’s just baffling that the law allows for beasts rampaging around the country yet nothing can be said about the superhumans that defeat them. It’s even more strange because….
Master Ultima
What really stands out about the law preventing any reports about superhumans is how we can through the whole issue with a known quantity like Earth-chan then we get the first mention of Master Ultima. At a time when superhumans are censored from the news, we get the news of an American superhuman returning from space and it’s in the paper. His return isn’t just news, it’s international news that’ll result n a press conference broadcast all over the world. The show goes out of its way to reuse the same headline animation for when the beasts made the paper to remove any doubt that it might be censored in Japan. Akita’s reading that paper as he makes his way to the meeting with the other Fumers.
Master Ultima’s this unknown quantity (and remains so throughout the first cour). What do we know? He’s an American superhuman, he’s half-human/half-alien, and he brings back beasts from space. Later on, other superhumans can be seen deferring to his role or protecting Earth from threats from space because 1) apparently no one else is in his league and 2) frankly, he doesn’t need the help. I make a lot of internal comparisons to comics with this show as it helps me sort out themes/characters/ideas. Earth-chan, her focus episode, and her ability to change the tide by simply being present remind me of a Superman or Captain Marvel type character. This show has had a lot of specious Watchmen comparisons made towards it and past the storytelling being spread over several eras, I don’t think they really hold up. Well, aside, from a mental comparison I make of Master Ultima being this show’s Dr. Manhattan in terms of presence and power. A god amongst superman? The superhuman’s superhuman? There’s little other way to describe it that among the superhuman population, there’s him and then there’s everyone else.
Key Notes
First appearance of Daitetsu and Gigander 7
First appearance of Psy-Kicker
First appearance of Earth-chan
First appearance of Beastly Radio Wave Japan
First appearance of Master Ultima
First appearance of the other Fumers
Timeline (as of this episode)
October 14 Shinka
Magotake Hitoyoshi discovers GaGon in the old ruins of an island in the Indian Ocean.
August 17 Shinka
American forces begin including superhumans in their war campaign in response to Japan’s use of GaGon.
November 29 Shinka
Jiro loses control of his power and rampages through Tokyo.
January 34 Shinka
Rainbow Knight kills Giganto Gon. Hiroyuki recovers a baby kaiju from its remains.
January 41 Shinka
Beasts begin to appear around Japan. Grosse Augen appears to combat them.
July 41 Shinka
In Ginza, Jiro enlists Kikko’s aid to stop a transaction between one of Japan’s top astronomers and an industrial spy who is revealed to be an alien known as “S” Planetarian. Hyoushi, Daishi, and Emi observe from a planetarium in Shibuya. Grosse Augen soon appears to combat the “S” Planetarian but is apprehended by Jiro with the help of Kikko and Emi. Jiro violates his mandate by not eliminating Grosse Augen but allowing its host to use the body of the “S” Planetarian.thereby saving the host’s life. The device being sold to the astronomer is shown to be easily affected by radio waves rendering its data unreliable. Daishi suspects the Gemin accident in the US was also the work of an “S” Planetarian in an effort to conceal the location of their home base in the Scorpio constellation.
August 41 Shinka
Earth-chan appears to defeat one of the first beasts made by Beastly Radio Wave Japan.
Fuurouta encounters the Black Fog after freeing Campe from a pet shop. He’s soon apprehended by the Superhuman Bureau who decide to keep a close watch on him. Realizing he can safely enter the Black Fog, he takes the virus the Superhuman Bureau had contemplated using and eradicates the Tartaros Bugmen aside from Campe who he inadvertently saves.
November 41 Shinka
Raito Shiba and the Superhuman Bureau independently investigate Beastly Radio Wave Japan.
February 42 Shinka
A bombing at the Haneda Airport catches Raito Shiba’s attention and he chooses to investigate as he feels it falls under the jurisdiction of the police force. The cause of the explosion is revealed to be the Type B Android Mieko Kohrogi. Raito learns of the existence of the Type A android and their function to combine to form the Ultimate Weapon which he assumes to be a bomb. He sets out to destroy her but offers her a place with him at the last minute, a life where she doesn’t have to become a weapon. She rejects him and apparently self-destructs in a nearby canal.
April 42 Shinka
Master Ultima returns from Mars. The Superhuman Bureau discovers the connection between the rising beast population and Beastly Radio Wave Japan. Jiro destroys their factory after being attacked by a beast.
April 46 Shinka
Kikko and Fuuroouta encounter Jiro on a train. He escapes and Kikko pursues only to encounter Grosse Augen’s original host and learn how Jiro saved him five years prior.
February 47 Shinka
Type A android Kaoru Honda returns to Japan after 28 years but in military custody. Raito Shiba liberates him and takes him to the now inert form of Type B android Mieko Kohrogi. where he intends to have them form into what he believes to be a bomb that he would detonate at the Winter Sports Grand Prix in protest of the current government which he feels is corrupt. Jiro appears to reactivate the type B android, revealing the ultimate weapon to be a combination of the Type A and Type B androids now known as Megasshin. Raito and Jiro engage in combat directly after.
August 48 Shinka
Fuurouta faces the now grown Campe who seeks revenge on him for killing the Tartaros Bugmen. Jiro intervenes to save Fuurouta.
Between having little time and the density of this episode, I haven’t had a chance to get to it before today and frankly I’m glad I gave myself the extra time because there’s a ridiculous amount of things going on in this episode. Whereas the first three episodes introduced a different element of the story (romantic interest, theme, antagonist respectively) with a different viewpoint character in each, it remained clear that Jiro’s our protagonist throughout and there’s this element of whiplash as the plot is shoveled at the viewer via scenes playing out across eight different years of the Shinka era. I’d had trouble with wondering why people found the show becoming unclear about now but I benefitted from the binge watch and while I think a binge watcher or a hardcore fan of the show can find value in how this is constructed, I can’t help but think it was simply too much for the week to week viewer to have so many threads lain at once then to be expected to keep up with where they lead into later episodes.
Anyhow, let’s go through the more important elements of the episode. There’s a good conversation to be had about how Jiro’s feelings towards beasts makes him a hypocrite given his stance on superhumans but that’s for some other time.
That cold open
I initially had problems with this ones as we’re given scenes over three different years but only two of which felt connected.
The first scene had Professor Hitoyoshi discovering GaGon mcuh to the chagrin of an apparent love interest named Maria. He was acting under Imperial orders at the time but she seemed set on preventing him from reaching GaGon to start. It appeared though and frightened her that she literally lost the form she had taken and assumed something easily describable as alien much to Professor Hitoyoshi’s dismay. GaGon’s design doesn’t look quite of this Earth either so there’s likely a connection there but that’s a discussion for another day.
We are then presented with the American troops watching film of a chained GaGon being used an a biological AA gun in order to repel American aerial attacks. This is their reason for introducing their own superhumans into the campaign in an act of escalation. This and the first scene are both connected via GaGon but the third troubled me for a while.
In the third scene, we’re witnessing Tokyo being destroyed with children reporting a rampaging beast to a police officer. I think I first interpreted this as a renegade GaGon attacking the city a la a loose King Kong despite never actually seeing it. This may have been intentional as to let the viewer fill in the blanks in their own head. On initial viewing, the viewer would be unaware of Jiro’s power or his inability to harness it. He’d look like a victim of an attack that left him prone on the bridge to be discovered by his father. However,the climax of this episode provides enough to interpret the beginning scene differently. That’s not the ultimate point of the intro though. As a whole it functions as foreshadowing of the final scene of episode 13, giving the shock value of it a firmer basis to emanate from. We have three scenes with only two connected and the third unrelated unless one made the GaGon stretch I did. Upon realizing the truth of the third scene, it disconnects from the other two once again. That is it disconnects until one realizes GaGon and the American heroes were misdirection. Approached a little more abstractly, the first scene is the discovery of a new weapon by one side. The second is its use against the other side and the other side’s feeling that it needed to escalate matters. How does the third connect to the first two then? While not the desired result of its use, we’re seeing the other side’s weapon in action against the first.
Jiro’s Power
After being teased in the first three episodes by a fully powered Jiro in the future era and the reserved Jiro using his power via Equus in the past scenes, we finally understand why. Jiro’s not just extremely powerful, he has such little control over it that it need to be physically locked away since it’s so ridiculously destructive. To compound things, not just anyone can lock it away but a mystical being has to and even then not just any mystical being (although I expect Kikko managing to do so later will become a relevant plot point) but Emi is the only one that can.
The exact nature of Jiro’s power remains ambiguous too. The animalistic quality to its use gives it a very kaiju feel but Claude’s meant to be a replacement Jiro later on . I assumed they shared a similar powerset given the vehicle combat they engaged in come episode 13 and his explicitly being told he was to replace Jiro. I may have taken that too literally though. I’d inferred that it was some sort of metal manipulation early on given his ability to stop the train in episode 1 and his use of Equus. Daitetsu had a similar power and was able to manipulate Equus and Claude had metal manipulation as well. I like to think it was more misdirection as the bestial quality of Equus in episode 13 seemed to hint that Jiro’s power was more than that and Equus was only to be operated by him as it was a cipher for his power.
I don’t think it’s nuclear either despite the idea it would be given the final scene of the first cour. I suspect he was just “weaponized” while a little boy due to the power he possessed and I think duckroll was probably onto something as it being something Lovecraftian or eldritch given how it manifests. It being invisible in episode 4 while destroying the city, the half-yokai Emi being the only one able to seal it, and the shadow it cast in episode 13 supports this.
It’s worth noting in a show where Emi uses her own power with the greatest of ease, she struggles when she has to seal Jiro’s power, unable to maintain her chosen form as she does so.
Duality revisited
Again, not too much to discuss here but this “rule” came up again and I’m unsure if it’s how the world works or if it’s just foreshadowing for Hyouma’s episode.
Earth-chan arrives!
Earth-chan might be my favorite character, more in part due to her role later on and the stellar episode 7 she’s featured in, but she makes a fantastic impression early on. To put her into perspective, all the superhumans in the 45/46 Shinka era so far have more or less been street-level characters so far. In comics parlance, that’s for the heroes taking care of the local problems or the lower class threats. They’re not heavy hitters (although come 47/48 Shinka everyone appears to be one) that can go toe to toe with the worst that’s thrown at them. They’re not off defending space or battling existential threats, they’re operating locally and more and more appear to repel the beasts after the disappearance of Grosse Augen. Earth-chan’s the exception here. Admittedly the beast she faced down was probably out in the wild too early but she handled it with such ease. There’s no conflict here as she arrives and just overwhelms it because it’s not even in her league. The other heroes fighting beasts have to exert at least some effort, even the “S” Class Planetarian. She’s a true heavy hitter as evidenced by how easily she handles this beast, how other street-level superhumans want little to do with fighting her when she shows up later, or how towards the end of the series, her decision to side with one side of a protest or the other would decide it then and there.
She’s also the country’s worst kept secret as she operates beyond the purview of the Superhuman Bureau. She’s been operating for over 10 years, everyone knows who she is, and all the Superhuman Bureau can do is keep her out of the news thanks to the law and spread misinformation about her via tabloids. It’s not like she needs the protection either, it’s just baffling that the law allows for beasts rampaging around the country yet nothing can be said about the superhumans that defeat them. It’s even more strange because….
Master Ultima
What really stands out about the law preventing any reports about superhumans is how we can through the whole issue with a known quantity like Earth-chan then we get the first mention of Master Ultima. At a time when superhumans are censored from the news, we get the news of an American superhuman returning from space and it’s in the paper. His return isn’t just news, it’s international news that’ll result n a press conference broadcast all over the world. The show goes out of its way to reuse the same headline animation for when the beasts made the paper to remove any doubt that it might be censored in Japan. Akita’s reading that paper as he makes his way to the meeting with the other Fumers.
Master Ultima’s this unknown quantity (and remains so throughout the first cour). What do we know? He’s an American superhuman, he’s half-human/half-alien, and he brings back beasts from space. Later on, other superhumans can be seen deferring to his role or protecting Earth from threats from space because 1) apparently no one else is in his league and 2) frankly, he doesn’t need the help. I make a lot of internal comparisons to comics with this show as it helps me sort out themes/characters/ideas. Earth-chan, her focus episode, and her ability to change the tide by simply being present remind me of a Superman or Captain Marvel type character. This show has had a lot of specious Watchmen comparisons made towards it and past the storytelling being spread over several eras, I don’t think they really hold up. Well, aside, from a mental comparison I make of Master Ultima being this show’s Dr. Manhattan in terms of presence and power. A god amongst superman? The superhuman’s superhuman? There’s little other way to describe it that among the superhuman population, there’s him and then there’s everyone else.
Key Notes
First appearance of Daitetsu and Gigander 7
First appearance of Psy-Kicker
First appearance of Earth-chan
First appearance of Beastly Radio Wave Japan
First appearance of Master Ultima
First appearance of the other Fumers
Timeline (as of this episode)
October 14 Shinka
Magotake Hitoyoshi discovers GaGon in the old ruins of an island in the Indian Ocean.
August 17 Shinka
American forces begin including superhumans in their war campaign in response to Japan’s use of GaGon.
November 29 Shinka
Jiro loses control of his power and rampages through Tokyo.
January 34 Shinka
Rainbow Knight kills Giganto Gon. Hiroyuki recovers a baby kaiju from its remains.
January 41 Shinka
Beasts begin to appear around Japan. Grosse Augen appears to combat them.
July 41 Shinka
In Ginza, Jiro enlists Kikko’s aid to stop a transaction between one of Japan’s top astronomers and an industrial spy who is revealed to be an alien known as “S” Planetarian. Hyoushi, Daishi, and Emi observe from a planetarium in Shibuya. Grosse Augen soon appears to combat the “S” Planetarian but is apprehended by Jiro with the help of Kikko and Emi. Jiro violates his mandate by not eliminating Grosse Augen but allowing its host to use the body of the “S” Planetarian.thereby saving the host’s life. The device being sold to the astronomer is shown to be easily affected by radio waves rendering its data unreliable. Daishi suspects the Gemin accident in the US was also the work of an “S” Planetarian in an effort to conceal the location of their home base in the Scorpio constellation.
August 41 Shinka
Earth-chan appears to defeat one of the first beasts made by Beastly Radio Wave Japan.
Fuurouta encounters the Black Fog after freeing Campe from a pet shop. He’s soon apprehended by the Superhuman Bureau who decide to keep a close watch on him. Realizing he can safely enter the Black Fog, he takes the virus the Superhuman Bureau had contemplated using and eradicates the Tartaros Bugmen aside from Campe who he inadvertently saves.
November 41 Shinka
Raito Shiba and the Superhuman Bureau independently investigate Beastly Radio Wave Japan.
February 42 Shinka
A bombing at the Haneda Airport catches Raito Shiba’s attention and he chooses to investigate as he feels it falls under the jurisdiction of the police force. The cause of the explosion is revealed to be the Type B Android Mieko Kohrogi. Raito learns of the existence of the Type A android and their function to combine to form the Ultimate Weapon which he assumes to be a bomb. He sets out to destroy her but offers her a place with him at the last minute, a life where she doesn’t have to become a weapon. She rejects him and apparently self-destructs in a nearby canal.
April 42 Shinka
Master Ultima returns from Mars. The Superhuman Bureau discovers the connection between the rising beast population and Beastly Radio Wave Japan. Jiro destroys their factory after being attacked by a beast.
April 46 Shinka
Kikko and Fuuroouta encounter Jiro on a train. He escapes and Kikko pursues only to encounter Grosse Augen’s original host and learn how Jiro saved him five years prior.
February 47 Shinka
Type A android Kaoru Honda returns to Japan after 28 years but in military custody. Raito Shiba liberates him and takes him to the now inert form of Type B android Mieko Kohrogi. where he intends to have them form into what he believes to be a bomb that he would detonate at the Winter Sports Grand Prix in protest of the current government which he feels is corrupt. Jiro appears to reactivate the type B android, revealing the ultimate weapon to be a combination of the Type A and Type B androids now known as Megasshin. Raito and Jiro engage in combat directly after.
August 48 Shinka
Fuurouta faces the now grown Campe who seeks revenge on him for killing the Tartaros Bugmen. Jiro intervenes to save Fuurouta.
Concrete Revolutio 5
Upon first viewing, I wasn’t examining the show all that closely and didn't find a lot wrong with the episode as I was just going through the flow and found all the ulterior motives by the characters to just be par for the course with this type of story.
There’s a lot to discuss about the latter but only in the context of later episodes. The Superhuman Bureau is given a lot of focus and a chance for each member to shine in their big operation at the end. We learn a little about each too. It’s neat in the sense that upon first viewing their power usage is foreshadowing to a degree that changes when facts are revealed later on.
Jiro's Power
I can better see how people perceive this episode to be a mess because it really is. There’s too much going on, everything feels like it just sort of happens as the notion of background machinations pushing both sides forward never really feels substantial enough to support a natural flow of events, and most importantly, all this nonsense obfuscates what’s actually something of a secret character episode for Jiro.
I think it was around here that I got it into my head that Jiro was sort of this superficially complex character that stayed simple throughout yet everyone else became more complex as their own machinations came to light. Everyone begins to come across as having relatively well-defined goals as the show goes on but I kept thinking of Jiro as static as he was the guy preaching about being an ally of justice and protecting superhumans throughout. The drama surrounding his past can feel really forced as opposed to tragic too. Later glimpses into his past coupled with rewatching early stuff has me believing they’re actually formative but it was nigh impossible to tell the first time through.
I think it starts with the phrasing Jiro used early on about being a normal human. This would make the second time I misinterpreted it as the first time I assumed it meant him not having an real sort of power which was wrong and the second time was my assumption he knew the secrets of the rest of the Superhuman Bureau which isn’t true either. HIs constant claims about being just a normal human was instead a manifestation of his own self-loathing, something uttered against an aspect of himself he didn’t want to recognize.
Again, I’m not sure this should be taken literally there’s obviously something inside of Jiro but we’re still not sure what. It might be something actually related to the beasts, it might not. We have seen the baby GaGon take quickly to Jiro though, how Jiro felt liberated by GigantoGon’s rampage, and MegaGon responded to his brief berserk phase so maybe there’s something there given the lineage there. At the same time his power has manifested invisibly and has been far more destructive than the beasts that have appeared which are more or less as dangerous as guys in robot suits given their roots. It feels like something eldritch or primeval since it doesn’t have a form of its own. Regardless, what matters is how Jiro perceives it and he perceives it as the beast within. It’s a source of shame, self-loathing, and the one thing that compromises the normalcy he longs for. Hopping around the timeline doesn’t really help sell just how much of a downward spiral he’s on. It’s this moment of weakness that feels glossed over as it’s surrounded by the Emi intrigue. I think it’s meant to feel like he’s given up after being exploited and shamed by the injection from Hiroyuki but that maybe Kikko reaches him somewhat with her own admission even though he smiles and brushes it off.
After the Superhuman Bureau’s clandestine plan to defeat MegaGon goes awry, things are looking grim. Even Fuurouta comments about how they need superhuman intervention which speaks to the power levels of those invovled. Enter Jiro and Equus who abandon any sort of design to make it look like an accident and put MegaGon down before he can do any further damage to the city.
In all the future scenes, Jiro’s this strong superhero type with visuals that support that interpretation yet we’re constantly left wondering why he became that when he’s effectively a field agent in 41/42 Shinka. I think Equus donning the scarf is a visual metaphor for Jiro’s decision to accept who he is and proceed down that path as the half-human/half-beast wearing the mantle of the hero is the highlight of that scene. I know he refers to this being due to his hatred against beasts and it’s also contingent upon whether or not he begins acting accordingly from this point on in the timeline but I think a really important personal decision was made that advances Jiro’s character and that it was lost in the shuffle of too much going on around it.
Key Notes
October 14 Shinka
Magotake Hitoyoshi discovers GaGon in the old ruins of an island in the Indian Ocean.
August 17 Shinka
American forces begin including superhumans in their war campaign in response to Japan’s use of GaGon.
November 29 Shinka
Jiro loses control of his power and rampages through Tokyo.
January 34 Shinka
Rainbow Knight kills Giganto Gon. Hiroyuki recovers a baby kaiju from its remains.
January 41 Shinka
Beasts begin to appear around Japan. Grosse Augen appears to combat them.
July 41 Shinka
In Ginza, Jiro enlists Kikko’s aid to stop a transaction between one of Japan’s top astronomers and an industrial spy who is revealed to be an alien known as “S” Planetarian. Hyoushi, Daishi, and Emi observe from a planetarium in Shibuya. Grosse Augen soon appears to combat the “S” Planetarian but is apprehended by Jiro with the help of Kikko and Emi. Jiro violates his mandate by not eliminating Grosse Augen but allowing its host to use the body of the “S” Planetarian.thereby saving the host’s life. The device being sold to the astronomer is shown to be easily affected by radio waves rendering its data unreliable. Daishi suspects the Gemini accident in the US was also the work of an “S” Planetarian in an effort to conceal the location of their home base in the Scorpio constellation.
August 41 Shinka
Earth-chan appears to defeat one of the first beasts made by Beastly Radio Wave Japan.
Fuurouta encounters the Black Fog after freeing Campe from a pet shop. He’s soon apprehended by the Superhuman Bureau who decide to keep a close watch on him. Realizing he can safely enter the Black Fog, he takes the virus the Superhuman Bureau had contemplated using and eradicates the Tartaros Bugmen aside from Campe who he inadvertently saves.
November 41 Shinka
Raito Shiba and the Superhuman Bureau independently investigate Beastly Radio Wave Japan.
February 42 Shinka
A bombing at the Haneda Airport catches Raito Shiba’s attention and he chooses to investigate as he feels it falls under the jurisdiction of the police force. The cause of the explosion is revealed to be the Type B Android Mieko Kohrogi. Raito learns of the existence of the Type A android and their function to combine to form the Ultimate Weapon which he assumes to be a bomb. He sets out to destroy her but offers her a place with him at the last minute, a life where she doesn’t have to become a weapon. She rejects him and apparently self-destructs in a nearby canal.
April 42 Shinka
Master Ultima returns from Mars. The Superhuman Bureau discovers the connection between the rising beast population and Beastly Radio Wave Japan. Jiro destroys their factory after being attacked by a beast.
July 42 Shinka
An ad agency sets out to popularize beasts in Japan at the behest of one of its senior advisors. The space beasts Master Ultima brought back from Mars have been repurposed as weapons of the U.S. military and stationed across the globe. Shoji Matsumoto recovers one of the dead American space beasts after it was allegedly disposed of near Kikaijima Island.
August 42 Shinka
MegaGon is created by injecting the space beast’s corpse with a blood derivative of Jiro’s and its subsequent absorption of the young GaGon. The Superhuman Bureau attempts to destroy MegaGon via subterfuge at 1:30 am August 8th. They fail but Jiro appears to defeat a rampaging MegaGon.
April 46 Shinka
Kikko and Fuuroouta encounter Jiro on a train. He escapes and Kikko pursues only to encounter Grosse Augen’s original host and learn how Jiro saved him five years prior.
February 47 Shinka
Type A android Kaoru Honda returns to Japan after 28 years but in military custody. Raito Shiba liberates him and takes him to the now inert form of Type B android Mieko Kohrogi. where he intends to have them form into what he believes to be a bomb that he would detonate at the Winter Sports Grand Prix in protest of the current government which he feels is corrupt. Jiro appears to reactivate the type B android, revealing the ultimate weapon to be a combination of the Type A and Type B androids now known as Megasshin. Raito and Jiro engage in combat directly after.
August 48 Shinka
Fuurouta faces the now grown Campe who seeks revenge on him for killing the Tartaros Bugmen. Jiro intervenes to save Fuurouta.
Upon first viewing, I wasn’t examining the show all that closely and didn't find a lot wrong with the episode as I was just going through the flow and found all the ulterior motives by the characters to just be par for the course with this type of story.
There’s a lot to discuss about the latter but only in the context of later episodes. The Superhuman Bureau is given a lot of focus and a chance for each member to shine in their big operation at the end. We learn a little about each too. It’s neat in the sense that upon first viewing their power usage is foreshadowing to a degree that changes when facts are revealed later on.
Hyouma’s intricate plan with the trains is described by Magotake as like seeing the future which catches Hyouma’s off-guard since he literally knows the future given what we learn about him in episode 10. It also gives his carefree attitude at the beginning of the episode some backing given he was acting like they wouldn’t find the beast’s corpse in the ocean. Of course he knew it wasn’t there but still had to go through the motions.
Similarly Daishi possessing the train has him commenting about how he hasn’t taken a non-human form in such a long time. At first glance, he’s a old human with an incredible power that’s exercising it for the first time in a long while. We don’t realize later when we learn about the existence of the Fumers that he’s not human at all which changes the implications of the line considerably.
The question of Emi’s loyalty arises too as she apparently loves Jiro but she has an overriding loyalty to Magotake in how she assists in an experiment that’s not only kept secret from Jiro but also something that’s immensely traumatic to him. We learn she’s regarded as a princess too (which makes like three now between her, Kikko, and Campe) but we don’t learn if/when this’ll matter past the casual mention of a yokai boom following the beast craze down the line.
Jiro's Power
I can better see how people perceive this episode to be a mess because it really is. There’s too much going on, everything feels like it just sort of happens as the notion of background machinations pushing both sides forward never really feels substantial enough to support a natural flow of events, and most importantly, all this nonsense obfuscates what’s actually something of a secret character episode for Jiro.
I think it was around here that I got it into my head that Jiro was sort of this superficially complex character that stayed simple throughout yet everyone else became more complex as their own machinations came to light. Everyone begins to come across as having relatively well-defined goals as the show goes on but I kept thinking of Jiro as static as he was the guy preaching about being an ally of justice and protecting superhumans throughout. The drama surrounding his past can feel really forced as opposed to tragic too. Later glimpses into his past coupled with rewatching early stuff has me believing they’re actually formative but it was nigh impossible to tell the first time through.
I think it starts with the phrasing Jiro used early on about being a normal human. This would make the second time I misinterpreted it as the first time I assumed it meant him not having an real sort of power which was wrong and the second time was my assumption he knew the secrets of the rest of the Superhuman Bureau which isn’t true either. HIs constant claims about being just a normal human was instead a manifestation of his own self-loathing, something uttered against an aspect of himself he didn’t want to recognize.
This comes a few months after the incident where he destroyed Beastly Radio Wave Japan’s beasts and he doesn’t look like he’s still recovering from the ordeal. Kikko asks him about what happened and he’s quick to fire off this quip as if he’s afraid she’d suspect that sort of thing when really she has zero context to operate off of. It’s something that clearly bothers him. Why? Maybe it’s true.
I think there’s an argument to be had about this being metaphorical. Heck, I still believe it to some degree yet it’s something that starts coming up over and over as the episode progresses. Jiro’s forced to endure the trauma of unlocking his latent power once again and it takes a tremendous toll on him, not only physically but apparently mentally too. I like to think that’s partly due to being unable to lie to himself about his nature when he reactivated the power, how much of a danger he became to others (like the beasts he hates), and how it’s not something he can really lie to Kikko about anymore. HIs eyes taking on the slit pupil is a very animal trait and lends credence to the idea that there’s something bestial inside of him too.
Again, I’m not sure this should be taken literally there’s obviously something inside of Jiro but we’re still not sure what. It might be something actually related to the beasts, it might not. We have seen the baby GaGon take quickly to Jiro though, how Jiro felt liberated by GigantoGon’s rampage, and MegaGon responded to his brief berserk phase so maybe there’s something there given the lineage there. At the same time his power has manifested invisibly and has been far more destructive than the beasts that have appeared which are more or less as dangerous as guys in robot suits given their roots. It feels like something eldritch or primeval since it doesn’t have a form of its own. Regardless, what matters is how Jiro perceives it and he perceives it as the beast within. It’s a source of shame, self-loathing, and the one thing that compromises the normalcy he longs for. Hopping around the timeline doesn’t really help sell just how much of a downward spiral he’s on. It’s this moment of weakness that feels glossed over as it’s surrounded by the Emi intrigue. I think it’s meant to feel like he’s given up after being exploited and shamed by the injection from Hiroyuki but that maybe Kikko reaches him somewhat with her own admission even though he smiles and brushes it off.
Why does all this matter? It’s for the sake of that final scene. There’s a couple elements at play here that need defined before anything else though. First is Equus. I’ve been puzzled for the longest while as to why it was more or less a centaur in design but I finally sorted that out tonight. SInce centaurs are half-human and half-animal, it makes perfect sense for use as Jiro’s avatar. HIs power is what powers Equus. When he loses control, both he and it become more bestial as if they were becoming fully animal. When he’s in control, there’s a balance struck between man and beast. The second is the scarf. It’s traditionally a part of heroic iconography and in-universe it’s tied directly to Rainbow Knight who comes across as this idealized hero, especially in Jiro’s mind. (This makes episode 8 and beyond concerning him so hard to swallow.)
After the Superhuman Bureau’s clandestine plan to defeat MegaGon goes awry, things are looking grim. Even Fuurouta comments about how they need superhuman intervention which speaks to the power levels of those invovled. Enter Jiro and Equus who abandon any sort of design to make it look like an accident and put MegaGon down before he can do any further damage to the city.
In all the future scenes, Jiro’s this strong superhero type with visuals that support that interpretation yet we’re constantly left wondering why he became that when he’s effectively a field agent in 41/42 Shinka. I think Equus donning the scarf is a visual metaphor for Jiro’s decision to accept who he is and proceed down that path as the half-human/half-beast wearing the mantle of the hero is the highlight of that scene. I know he refers to this being due to his hatred against beasts and it’s also contingent upon whether or not he begins acting accordingly from this point on in the timeline but I think a really important personal decision was made that advances Jiro’s character and that it was lost in the shuffle of too much going on around it.
Key Notes
- First appearance and death of MegaGon
- First appearance of the ad agency girl whose name escapes me
- First appearance of Satomi
- First mention of Kikko’s dark side
October 14 Shinka
Magotake Hitoyoshi discovers GaGon in the old ruins of an island in the Indian Ocean.
August 17 Shinka
American forces begin including superhumans in their war campaign in response to Japan’s use of GaGon.
November 29 Shinka
Jiro loses control of his power and rampages through Tokyo.
January 34 Shinka
Rainbow Knight kills Giganto Gon. Hiroyuki recovers a baby kaiju from its remains.
January 41 Shinka
Beasts begin to appear around Japan. Grosse Augen appears to combat them.
July 41 Shinka
In Ginza, Jiro enlists Kikko’s aid to stop a transaction between one of Japan’s top astronomers and an industrial spy who is revealed to be an alien known as “S” Planetarian. Hyoushi, Daishi, and Emi observe from a planetarium in Shibuya. Grosse Augen soon appears to combat the “S” Planetarian but is apprehended by Jiro with the help of Kikko and Emi. Jiro violates his mandate by not eliminating Grosse Augen but allowing its host to use the body of the “S” Planetarian.thereby saving the host’s life. The device being sold to the astronomer is shown to be easily affected by radio waves rendering its data unreliable. Daishi suspects the Gemini accident in the US was also the work of an “S” Planetarian in an effort to conceal the location of their home base in the Scorpio constellation.
August 41 Shinka
Earth-chan appears to defeat one of the first beasts made by Beastly Radio Wave Japan.
Fuurouta encounters the Black Fog after freeing Campe from a pet shop. He’s soon apprehended by the Superhuman Bureau who decide to keep a close watch on him. Realizing he can safely enter the Black Fog, he takes the virus the Superhuman Bureau had contemplated using and eradicates the Tartaros Bugmen aside from Campe who he inadvertently saves.
November 41 Shinka
Raito Shiba and the Superhuman Bureau independently investigate Beastly Radio Wave Japan.
February 42 Shinka
A bombing at the Haneda Airport catches Raito Shiba’s attention and he chooses to investigate as he feels it falls under the jurisdiction of the police force. The cause of the explosion is revealed to be the Type B Android Mieko Kohrogi. Raito learns of the existence of the Type A android and their function to combine to form the Ultimate Weapon which he assumes to be a bomb. He sets out to destroy her but offers her a place with him at the last minute, a life where she doesn’t have to become a weapon. She rejects him and apparently self-destructs in a nearby canal.
April 42 Shinka
Master Ultima returns from Mars. The Superhuman Bureau discovers the connection between the rising beast population and Beastly Radio Wave Japan. Jiro destroys their factory after being attacked by a beast.
July 42 Shinka
An ad agency sets out to popularize beasts in Japan at the behest of one of its senior advisors. The space beasts Master Ultima brought back from Mars have been repurposed as weapons of the U.S. military and stationed across the globe. Shoji Matsumoto recovers one of the dead American space beasts after it was allegedly disposed of near Kikaijima Island.
August 42 Shinka
MegaGon is created by injecting the space beast’s corpse with a blood derivative of Jiro’s and its subsequent absorption of the young GaGon. The Superhuman Bureau attempts to destroy MegaGon via subterfuge at 1:30 am August 8th. They fail but Jiro appears to defeat a rampaging MegaGon.
April 46 Shinka
Kikko and Fuuroouta encounter Jiro on a train. He escapes and Kikko pursues only to encounter Grosse Augen’s original host and learn how Jiro saved him five years prior.
February 47 Shinka
Type A android Kaoru Honda returns to Japan after 28 years but in military custody. Raito Shiba liberates him and takes him to the now inert form of Type B android Mieko Kohrogi. where he intends to have them form into what he believes to be a bomb that he would detonate at the Winter Sports Grand Prix in protest of the current government which he feels is corrupt. Jiro appears to reactivate the type B android, revealing the ultimate weapon to be a combination of the Type A and Type B androids now known as Megasshin. Raito and Jiro engage in combat directly after.
August 48 Shinka
Fuurouta faces the now grown Campe who seeks revenge on him for killing the Tartaros Bugmen. Jiro intervenes to save Fuurouta.
Concrete Revolutio 6
I’d said before most of the episodes deal with street level characters handling local threats and I still stand by that. Episode 6 & 7 are complementary in this regard because the spectrum of superhumans is expanded. While episode 7 deals with the most powerful end of things, episode 6 has some value I didn’t fully appreciate the first time around. It focuses on the less fortunate superhumans, the ones with weak or useless powers. They’re stuck in-between the more powerful superhumans and regular humans, having no real place among either If there’s anyone that would benefit from the Superhuman Bureau’s protection, it’d be this group of superhumans.
Beyond that, it functions very well to tell us the state of the world across the various eras, filling in the blanks of the show’s timeline. Prior to this one, we had an empty gap from August 42 Shinka to April 46 Shinka. After this one, that gap shrinks to November 42 Shinka to October 44 Shinka, serving to pull events together as we approach whatever climactic event that forced Jiro into his future role.
This conversation takes place a year prior to the one above but the concern demonstrated is so very little by comparison. Here Mountain Horse entertains the idea of coming out as superhuman but the impetus not to isn’t fear of being ostracized, it’s how it’d adversely affect their musical prospects. The laws explicitly prohibit airing anything about superhuman activity so Mountain Horse would never receive the TV exposure needed to boost their careers as that would be acknowledgment of the worst kept secret in the country: the existence of superhumans. Why this is still a law I’ve no idea but I’m sure there’s enough real world precedent regarding laws enacted during times of war then never repealed to not be too far fetched.
Come 44 Shinka, Mountain Horse is out and out flaunting their powers as part of their act but the exchange with the audience is telling. What the hell happened between November 42 Shinka and October 44 Shinka to cause this sort of crackdown on superhumans? I'd imagine something catastrophic but I couldn't begin to imagine what.
Key Items
Timeline (as of this episode)
October 14 Shinka
Magotake Hitoyoshi discovers GaGon in the old ruins of an island in the Indian Ocean.
August 17 Shinka
American forces begin including superhumans in their war campaign in response to Japan’s use of GaGon.
November 29 Shinka
Jiro loses control of his power and rampages through Tokyo.
January Shinka 34
Rainbow Knight kills Giganto Gon. Hiroyuki recovers a baby kaiju from its remains.
January Shinka 41
Beasts begin to appear around Japan. Grosse Augen appears to combat them.
June 41 Shinka
The comic band Mountain Horse develops powers after being exposed to the superhuman power of The Beatles performing at Budokan on June 30th.
July 41 Shinka
The members of Mountain Horse explore their new powers but opt to keep it secret as to not affect their careers.
In Ginza, Jiro enlists Kikko’s aid to stop a transaction between one of Japan’s top astronomers and an industrial spy who is revealed to be an alien known as “S” Planetarian. Hyoushi, Daishi, and Emi observe from a planetarium in Shibuya. Grosse Augen soon appears to combat the “S” Planetarian but is apprehended by Jiro with the help of Kikko and Emi. Jiro violates his mandate by not eliminating Grosse Augen but allowing its host to use the body of the “S” Planetarian.thereby saving the host’s life. The device being sold to the astronomer is shown to be easily affected by radio waves rendering its data unreliable. Daishi suspects the Gemini accident in the US was also the work of an “S” Planetarian in an effort to conceal the location of their home base in the Scorpio constellation.
August 41 Shinka
Earth-chan appears to defeat one of the first beasts made by Beastly Radio Wave Japan.
Fuurouta encounters the Black Fog after freeing Campe from a pet shop. He’s soon apprehended by the Superhuman Bureau who decide to keep a close watch on him. Realizing he can safely enter the Black Fog, he takes the virus the Superhuman Bureau had contemplated using and eradicates the Tartaros Bugmen aside from Campe who he inadvertently saves.
November 41 Shinka
Raito Shiba and the Superhuman Bureau independently investigate Beastly Radio Wave Japan.
February 42 Shinka
A bombing at the Haneda Airport catches Raito Shiba’s attention and he chooses to investigate as he feels it falls under the jurisdiction of the police force. The cause of the explosion is revealed to be the Type B Android Mieko Kohrogi. Raito learns of the existence of the Type A android and their function to combine to form the Ultimate Weapon which he assumes to be a bomb. He sets out to destroy her but offers her a place with him at the last minute, a life where she doesn’t have to become a weapon. She rejects him and apparently self-destructs in a nearby canal.
April 42 Shinka
Master Ultima returns from Mars. The Superhuman Bureau discovers the connection between the rising beast population and Beastly Radio Wave Japan. Jiro destroys their factory after being attacked by a beast.
July 42 Shinka
Imperial Ads sets out to popularize beasts in Japan at the behest of one of its senior advisors. The space beasts Master Ultima brought back from Mars have been repurposed as weapons of the U.S. military and stationed across the globe. Shoji Matsumoto recovers one of the dead American space beasts after it was allegedly disposed of near Kikaijima Island.
August 42 Shinka
MegaGon is created by injecting the space beast’s corpse with a blood derivative of Jiro’s.and its subsequent absorption of the young GaGon. The Superhuman Bureau attempts to destroy MegaGon via subterfuge at 1:30 am August 8th. They fail but Jiro appears to defeat a rampaging MegaGon.
October 42 Shinka
Fuurouta is assigned by the Superhuman Bureau to become Mountain Horse’s assistant in order to keep tabs on their boss.
November 42 Shinka
Angel Stars debut as officially sanctioned superhumans. Mountain Horse prevents chocolate laced with a drug that inhibits superhuman powers from being distributed but lose one of their members in doing so.
October 44 Shinka
Jiro attempts to recruit Mountain Horse who decline his offer. He encounters Fuurouta but rather than fight, the two leave on amicable terms.
April 46 Shinka
Kikko and Fuuroouta encounter Jiro on a train. He escapes and Kikko pursues only to encounter Grosse Augen’s original host and learn how Jiro saved him five years prior.
February 47 Shinka
Type A android Kaoru Honda returns to Japan after 28 years but in military custody. Raito Shiba liberates him and takes him to the now inert form of Type B android Mieko Kohrogi. where he intends to have them form into what he believes to be a bomb that he would detonate at the Winter Sports Grand Prix in protest of the current government which he feels is corrupt. Jiro appears to reactivate the type B android, revealing the ultimate weapon to be a combination of the Type A and Type B androids now known as Megasshin. Raito and Jiro engage in combat directly after.
August 48 Shinka
Fuurouta faces the now grown Campe who seeks revenge on him for killing the Tartaros Bugmen. Jiro intervenes to save Fuurouta.
I’d said before most of the episodes deal with street level characters handling local threats and I still stand by that. Episode 6 & 7 are complementary in this regard because the spectrum of superhumans is expanded. While episode 7 deals with the most powerful end of things, episode 6 has some value I didn’t fully appreciate the first time around. It focuses on the less fortunate superhumans, the ones with weak or useless powers. They’re stuck in-between the more powerful superhumans and regular humans, having no real place among either If there’s anyone that would benefit from the Superhuman Bureau’s protection, it’d be this group of superhumans.
Beyond that, it functions very well to tell us the state of the world across the various eras, filling in the blanks of the show’s timeline. Prior to this one, we had an empty gap from August 42 Shinka to April 46 Shinka. After this one, that gap shrinks to November 42 Shinka to October 44 Shinka, serving to pull events together as we approach whatever climactic event that forced Jiro into his future role.
This above is important as it finally gives us context about the secrecy laws Despite being alternate history, there’s a handful of events shared with real life that occur more or less on the same dates. We know 20 Shinka is 1945 as that’s when Hiroshima was attacked. I have zero fluency in Japanese but google translate of the timeline page on the jp ConRevo site translated 神化 as apotheosis which clued me in as to why we’re in this particular era. It’s not a stretch to think the appearance or rise of superhumans marked the beginning of the era which would put things around 1925 which is well before the second World War began. It can easily be inferred that there was this time of wonder and marvel at the superhumans before the government censored their existence. It’s surprisingly understandable too that if you were forced to weaponize superhumans for war, you’d want the opposition to know as little about them and their power if anything at all.
This conversation takes place a year prior to the one above but the concern demonstrated is so very little by comparison. Here Mountain Horse entertains the idea of coming out as superhuman but the impetus not to isn’t fear of being ostracized, it’s how it’d adversely affect their musical prospects. The laws explicitly prohibit airing anything about superhuman activity so Mountain Horse would never receive the TV exposure needed to boost their careers as that would be acknowledgment of the worst kept secret in the country: the existence of superhumans. Why this is still a law I’ve no idea but I’m sure there’s enough real world precedent regarding laws enacted during times of war then never repealed to not be too far fetched.
Come 44 Shinka, Mountain Horse is out and out flaunting their powers as part of their act but the exchange with the audience is telling. What the hell happened between November 42 Shinka and October 44 Shinka to cause this sort of crackdown on superhumans? I'd imagine something catastrophic but I couldn't begin to imagine what.
We know things have fallen apart to some degree at this point given that Jiro’s treated as a rogue agent of the Superhuman Bureau to the point Hyouma offers to send reinforcements in order to apprehend him.
We also know Jiro sees them as the enemy as well such that he's recruiting a team of superhumans to oppose them. It’s amusing how that recruitment line sets up the final scene of episode 7 too. Jiro’s wearing a coat throughout all of the October 44 Shinka scenes aside from the end when a member of Mountain Horse uses his power to take it from him. He’s in his normal suit as opposed to the more heroic costume he wears later which indicates whatever’s going to happen to push him into that role at last has yet to occur.
I’m curious if this is the catalyst for everything in the end. The Imperial Ad agency girl, Touzaki, states that they’re 100% in control of the media surrounding it and it’s already clear the agency has its own motivations. Three years from this point would be 45 Shinka and anything past that which we’ve seen so far has Jiro in his heroic costume. The real world counterpart to this event looks to be Expo '70 which was Japan's first world's fair. According to the wiki page, its theme was "Progress and Harmony for Mankind." which sounds like something ripe for subversion.
Key Items
- First appearance of Mountain Horse
- First appearance of the Angel Stars
- Superhuman inhibiting drug Nainorin is introduced. This may or may not be important due to the deal cut by Mountain Horse at the end.
Timeline (as of this episode)
October 14 Shinka
Magotake Hitoyoshi discovers GaGon in the old ruins of an island in the Indian Ocean.
August 17 Shinka
American forces begin including superhumans in their war campaign in response to Japan’s use of GaGon.
November 29 Shinka
Jiro loses control of his power and rampages through Tokyo.
January Shinka 34
Rainbow Knight kills Giganto Gon. Hiroyuki recovers a baby kaiju from its remains.
January Shinka 41
Beasts begin to appear around Japan. Grosse Augen appears to combat them.
June 41 Shinka
The comic band Mountain Horse develops powers after being exposed to the superhuman power of The Beatles performing at Budokan on June 30th.
July 41 Shinka
The members of Mountain Horse explore their new powers but opt to keep it secret as to not affect their careers.
In Ginza, Jiro enlists Kikko’s aid to stop a transaction between one of Japan’s top astronomers and an industrial spy who is revealed to be an alien known as “S” Planetarian. Hyoushi, Daishi, and Emi observe from a planetarium in Shibuya. Grosse Augen soon appears to combat the “S” Planetarian but is apprehended by Jiro with the help of Kikko and Emi. Jiro violates his mandate by not eliminating Grosse Augen but allowing its host to use the body of the “S” Planetarian.thereby saving the host’s life. The device being sold to the astronomer is shown to be easily affected by radio waves rendering its data unreliable. Daishi suspects the Gemini accident in the US was also the work of an “S” Planetarian in an effort to conceal the location of their home base in the Scorpio constellation.
August 41 Shinka
Earth-chan appears to defeat one of the first beasts made by Beastly Radio Wave Japan.
Fuurouta encounters the Black Fog after freeing Campe from a pet shop. He’s soon apprehended by the Superhuman Bureau who decide to keep a close watch on him. Realizing he can safely enter the Black Fog, he takes the virus the Superhuman Bureau had contemplated using and eradicates the Tartaros Bugmen aside from Campe who he inadvertently saves.
November 41 Shinka
Raito Shiba and the Superhuman Bureau independently investigate Beastly Radio Wave Japan.
February 42 Shinka
A bombing at the Haneda Airport catches Raito Shiba’s attention and he chooses to investigate as he feels it falls under the jurisdiction of the police force. The cause of the explosion is revealed to be the Type B Android Mieko Kohrogi. Raito learns of the existence of the Type A android and their function to combine to form the Ultimate Weapon which he assumes to be a bomb. He sets out to destroy her but offers her a place with him at the last minute, a life where she doesn’t have to become a weapon. She rejects him and apparently self-destructs in a nearby canal.
April 42 Shinka
Master Ultima returns from Mars. The Superhuman Bureau discovers the connection between the rising beast population and Beastly Radio Wave Japan. Jiro destroys their factory after being attacked by a beast.
July 42 Shinka
Imperial Ads sets out to popularize beasts in Japan at the behest of one of its senior advisors. The space beasts Master Ultima brought back from Mars have been repurposed as weapons of the U.S. military and stationed across the globe. Shoji Matsumoto recovers one of the dead American space beasts after it was allegedly disposed of near Kikaijima Island.
August 42 Shinka
MegaGon is created by injecting the space beast’s corpse with a blood derivative of Jiro’s.and its subsequent absorption of the young GaGon. The Superhuman Bureau attempts to destroy MegaGon via subterfuge at 1:30 am August 8th. They fail but Jiro appears to defeat a rampaging MegaGon.
October 42 Shinka
Fuurouta is assigned by the Superhuman Bureau to become Mountain Horse’s assistant in order to keep tabs on their boss.
November 42 Shinka
Angel Stars debut as officially sanctioned superhumans. Mountain Horse prevents chocolate laced with a drug that inhibits superhuman powers from being distributed but lose one of their members in doing so.
October 44 Shinka
Jiro attempts to recruit Mountain Horse who decline his offer. He encounters Fuurouta but rather than fight, the two leave on amicable terms.
April 46 Shinka
Kikko and Fuuroouta encounter Jiro on a train. He escapes and Kikko pursues only to encounter Grosse Augen’s original host and learn how Jiro saved him five years prior.
February 47 Shinka
Type A android Kaoru Honda returns to Japan after 28 years but in military custody. Raito Shiba liberates him and takes him to the now inert form of Type B android Mieko Kohrogi. where he intends to have them form into what he believes to be a bomb that he would detonate at the Winter Sports Grand Prix in protest of the current government which he feels is corrupt. Jiro appears to reactivate the type B android, revealing the ultimate weapon to be a combination of the Type A and Type B androids now known as Megasshin. Raito and Jiro engage in combat directly after.
August 48 Shinka
Fuurouta faces the now grown Campe who seeks revenge on him for killing the Tartaros Bugmen. Jiro intervenes to save Fuurouta.
Some context on Shinka: it is merely a standin for the Showa era. In Japan the traditional calendar is named after emperors. In this case Shinka invokes a sense of a golden age of heroes in the naming, which is a bit like how the current generations see the Showa era in Japan as a golden age for Japan which has now past.
You know, I knew that but it never occurred to me that I should check the relative dates. It really stood out in episode 5 when the Beastly Radio Wave Japan guy said he was striking back against Shinka-era prosperity.
KenjiGlove
Banned
Some of the events actually have a real world counterpart, I'm pretty sure the train crash in ConRevo lines up with a smiliar crash in real life.
Neat. I think that sort of historical context helps episode 5 since the chain of events feels far less random.
Concrete Revoultio 7
I’d initially wanted to write about this episode in some detail but figured I lacked the necessary context to do so without having finished the series initially and gone back through it as I have in this thread..
Episode 7 is easily the best episode of the first cour and arguably might be the most important. It’s also the most coherent. Rather than following the traditional ConRevo format of jumping around timelines and showing us end points of a character and leaving development to be inferred by the viewer, this one’s a much more normal episode of anime as everything pre-credits is really linear. Rather than have the usual jumping about punctuated with the current year overlay that’s a staple for this show, we get something so very straightforward. There’s two flashbacks but both are clear in context with one being discussion of a news story and the other presented as postcards in passing conversation. It’s fitting that this simple format was brought back for a simple character.
Earth-chan as a character
Earth-chan’s Powers
Still, she’s this Astro Boy expy that has a lot in common with how Superman had been viewed in the West as a hero that doesn’t have as much of a place in a more complicated world. If you’re so powerful, why not just fix everything was a common complaint over the years. Her black & white sensibilities become increasingly out of place as the world grows up around her while she’s still stuck as a child. It seems readily apparent that no one’s really questioned her actions before Judas, Kikko, and Jiro challenge her worldview and point out how naturally flawed humans are.. Sure, she’s powerful and could probably fix some of the world’s problems but her existence is a reactive one where she answers the pleas of those who truly need help.
Earth-chan as Japan’s moral compass
Earth-chan’s greatest power is how she can sway public opinion. In what’s dangerously close to a “might makes right” situation, she has the reputation of having clear knowledge of what's good and what’s evil. Her very presence is pending judgment, the side she selects must be “good” and the public is quick to follow. Her siding with the government during the protest at the Haneda airport would have been enough to defuse the situation as Japan joining the DFE would have been perceived as good.
The above where she prevents Master Ultima of all people from entering Japan with his beasts is really impactful. Not only that, it swayed public opinion about the danger of beasts far more effectively than Tokyo being saved from a rampaging beast. It’s even more astounding if one considers this wouldn’t have been reported due to the secrecy laws yet enough knew to sway the populace itself. One of the main antagnists in the show so far is the Imperial Ads Agency that’s attempting to bring public opinion in line with what they want the people to believe. They have all the use of the proper channels, should have massive reach, but what does it matter if one decision by Earth-chan is all that it takes? This makes her extremely dangerous to anyone attempting to control the public via media.
It begs the question of just how strong she is. Master Ultima’s the man in Concrete Revolutio. He’s the face of the U.S. superhumans, can apparently handle threats from space on his own, rides around the solar system on a rocket, and is a genius in his own right. His return to Earth was enough to concern the Fumers as he would be disruptive to their own plans were they found out. Yet Earth-chan prevents him from bringing beasts into the country. It makes me wonder if she could go up against him if push came to shove although there’s also the concern that any action taken against Earth-chan by a foreign superhuman would be perceived as evil and result in a public backlash against that country.
I also think she was responding to the beast’s call for help in that scene hence that “tear” but that’s a discussion for another day.
Earth-chan’s secret
Earth-chan’s Dreams
Who killed Earth-chan?
Key Notes
Timeline (as of this episode)
October 14 Shinka
Magotake Hitoyoshi discovers GaGon in the old ruins of an island in the Indian Ocean.
August 17 Shinka
American forces begin including superhumans in their war campaign in response to Japan’s use of GaGon.
November 29 Shinka
Jiro loses control of his power and rampages through Tokyo.
January 34 Shinka
Rainbow Knight kills Giganto Gon. Hiroyuki recovers a baby kaiju from its remains.
July 40 Shinka
Judas and the Diamond Eaters are stopped by Earth-chan during a robbery.
January 41 Shinka
Beasts begin to appear around Japan. Grosse Augen appears to combat them.
June 41 Shinka
The comic band Mountain Horse develops powers after being exposed to the superhuman power of The Beatles performing at Budokan on June 30th.
July 41 Shinka
The members of Mountain Horse explore their new powers but opt to keep it secret as to not affect their careers.
In Ginza, Jiro enlists Kikko’s aid to stop a transaction between one of Japan’s top astronomers and an industrial spy who is revealed to be an alien known as “S” Planetarian. Hyoushi, Daishi, and Emi observe from a planetarium in Shibuya. Grosse Augen soon appears to combat the “S” Planetarian but is apprehended by Jiro with the help of Kikko and Emi. Jiro violates his mandate by not eliminating Grosse Augen but allowing its host to use the body of the “S” Planetarian.thereby saving the host’s life. The device being sold to the astronomer is shown to be easily affected by radio waves rendering its data unreliable. Daishi suspects the Gemini accident in the US was also the work of an “S” Planetarian in an effort to conceal the location of their home base in the Scorpio constellation.
August 41 Shinka
Earth-chan appears to defeat one of the first beasts made by Beastly Radio Wave Japan.
Fuurouta encounters the Black Fog after freeing Campe from a pet shop. He’s soon apprehended by the Superhuman Bureau who decide to keep a close watch on him. Realizing he can safely enter the Black Fog, he takes the virus the Superhuman Bureau had contemplated using and eradicates the Tartaros Bugmen aside from Campe who he inadvertently saves.
November 41 Shinka
Raito Shiba and the Superhuman Bureau independently investigate Beastly Radio Wave Japan.
February 42 Shinka
A bombing at the Haneda Airport catches Raito Shiba’s attention and he chooses to investigate as he feels it falls under the jurisdiction of the police force. The cause of the explosion is revealed to be the Type B Android Mieko Kohrogi. Raito learns of the existence of the Type A android and their function to combine to form the Ultimate Weapon which he assumes to be a bomb. He sets out to destroy her but offers her a place with him at the last minute, a life where she doesn’t have to become a weapon. She rejects him and apparently self-destructs in a nearby canal.
April 42 Shinka
Master Ultima returns from Mars. The Superhuman Bureau discovers the connection between the rising beast population and Beastly Radio Wave Japan. Jiro destroys their factory after being attacked by a beast.
July 42 Shinka
Imperial Ads sets out to popularize beasts in Japan at the behest of one of its senior advisors. The space beasts Master Ultima brought back from Mars have been repurposed as weapons of the U.S. military and stationed across the globe. Shoji Matsumoto recovers one of the dead American space beasts after it was allegedly disposed of near Kikaijima Island.
August 42 Shinka
MegaGon is created by injecting the space beast’s corpse with a blood derivative of Jiro’s.and its subsequent absorption of the young GaGon. The Superhuman Bureau attempts to destroy MegaGon via subterfuge at 1:30 am August 8th. They fail but Jiro appears to defeat a rampaging MegaGon.
September 42 Shinka
Earth-chan repels Master Ultima’s attempt to bring the U.S. military’s beasts into Japan.
October 42 Shinka
Fuurouta is assigned by the Superhuman Bureau to become Mountain Horse’s assistant in order to keep tabs on their boss.
Judas, a formerly evil superhuman, registers with the Superhuman Bureau despite Earth-chan’s attempt to stop him, believing he’d become evil once again. Protestors fight against Japan joining the global initiative Defense Force of Earth. Japan joins the DFE regardless.
November 42 Shinka
Angel Stars debut as officially sanctioned superhumans. Mountain Horse prevents chocolate laced with a drug that inhibits superhuman powers from being distributed but lose one of their members in doing so.
October 44 Shinka
Jiro attempts to recruit Mountain Horse who decline. He encounters Fuurouta but rather than fight, the two leave on amicable terms.
April 46 Shinka
Kikko and Fuuroouta encounter Jiro on a train. He escapes and Kikko pursues only to encounter Grosse Augen’s original host and learn how Jiro saved him five years prior.
February 47 Shinka
Type A android Kaoru Honda returns to Japan after 28 years but in military custody. Raito Shiba liberates him and takes him to the now inert form of Type B android Mieko Kohrogi. where he intends to have them form into what he believes to be a bomb that he would detonate at the Winter Sports Grand Prix in protest of the current government which he feels is corrupt. Jiro appears to reactivate the type B android, revealing the ultimate weapon to be a combination of the Type A and Type B androids now known as Megasshin. Raito and Jiro engage in combat directly after.
April 47 Shinka
Megasshin, Judas, and Jiro retrieve Earth-chan’s inert form from the Ikuta Laboratory.
August 48 Shinka
Fuurouta faces the now grown Campe who seeks revenge on him for killing the Tartaros Bugmen. Jiro intervenes to save Fuurouta.
I’d initially wanted to write about this episode in some detail but figured I lacked the necessary context to do so without having finished the series initially and gone back through it as I have in this thread..
Episode 7 is easily the best episode of the first cour and arguably might be the most important. It’s also the most coherent. Rather than following the traditional ConRevo format of jumping around timelines and showing us end points of a character and leaving development to be inferred by the viewer, this one’s a much more normal episode of anime as everything pre-credits is really linear. Rather than have the usual jumping about punctuated with the current year overlay that’s a staple for this show, we get something so very straightforward. There’s two flashbacks but both are clear in context with one being discussion of a news story and the other presented as postcards in passing conversation. It’s fitting that this simple format was brought back for a simple character.
Earth-chan as a character
Actually, to sell Earth-chan as simple might be a little disingenuous as there some layers to the character that are fairly subtle. She’s presented as a child with a rigid sense of morality that functions as this counterpoint to Fuurouta’s childish amoral approach to life. Neither should be faulted for being this way as both are a consequence of their being what with Earth-chan’s creator presumably instilling values into her and Fuurouta’s existence of ghost not bound by the transient ethical code of humanity. It’s actually clever to have set this during October 42 Shinka when Fuurouta was assisting Mountain Horse, not just to force Kikko into matters as the only one around that could reach Earth-chan, but to keep the possibility of a distracting friction from forming between Earth-chan and Fuurouta.
The friction she does develop with characters such as Kikko or Judas is a result of her greatest flaw: her adherence to her moral code. Earth-chan’s decidedly not human so has no compunction about viewing the world as black and white as a child might which is befitting of her visual presentation in the show. Her warm expressive appearance belies this cold logical decision making that I’d guess was typically correct given her role of beloved national hero. It results in immediate action with little concern for motivation as, while she’s not wrong about the final choice to do something bad is left to the individual, mitigating factors might lead to the poor decision making. The securities company scene was fantastic in illustrating this as the company took advantage of the guy who now held people hostage with the weapon which had been given to him by a scientist while he was at a low point. Both seem like immoral actions but she reacted to the immediate threat then moved on with little regard to how the monster was created. This is in-line with her appearance in episode 4 where there’s no questioning of where the kaiju came from but that its presence necessitated her action.
One shouldn’t define her entirely as cold & calculating either as she does possess emotion. There’s a palpable loneliness and weariness that’s never too overt until her dream sequences. She’s on this tireless vigil to protect people with the power she has yet that same power has left her isolated. She strikes me as having the same sort of identity issues Jiro has earlier in the show what with the sad longing for a normal life she’s not entitled to yet feeling the need to protect that opportunity for others.
Earth-chan’s Powers
I’ve talked a lot about Jiro’s due to its mysterious nature and the payoff of the final scene of the first cour but I think Earth-chan’s powers are worth a glance too. I still maintain she’s this heavy hitter sort of character that’s out of the league of most superhumans. Sure, Judas briefly disables her but his electrical powers seem like a natural counter to a robot. Kikko briefly repels her too but her magical power has been presented as nothing but disruptive in-universe so far so I can let that slide too. Flight, super strength, bulletproof, etc. That’s a good start for a list no one really wants to mess with.
Still, she’s this Astro Boy expy that has a lot in common with how Superman had been viewed in the West as a hero that doesn’t have as much of a place in a more complicated world. If you’re so powerful, why not just fix everything was a common complaint over the years. Her black & white sensibilities become increasingly out of place as the world grows up around her while she’s still stuck as a child. It seems readily apparent that no one’s really questioned her actions before Judas, Kikko, and Jiro challenge her worldview and point out how naturally flawed humans are.. Sure, she’s powerful and could probably fix some of the world’s problems but her existence is a reactive one where she answers the pleas of those who truly need help.
Earth-chan as Japan’s moral compass
Earth-chan’s greatest power is how she can sway public opinion. In what’s dangerously close to a “might makes right” situation, she has the reputation of having clear knowledge of what's good and what’s evil. Her very presence is pending judgment, the side she selects must be “good” and the public is quick to follow. Her siding with the government during the protest at the Haneda airport would have been enough to defuse the situation as Japan joining the DFE would have been perceived as good.
The above where she prevents Master Ultima of all people from entering Japan with his beasts is really impactful. Not only that, it swayed public opinion about the danger of beasts far more effectively than Tokyo being saved from a rampaging beast. It’s even more astounding if one considers this wouldn’t have been reported due to the secrecy laws yet enough knew to sway the populace itself. One of the main antagnists in the show so far is the Imperial Ads Agency that’s attempting to bring public opinion in line with what they want the people to believe. They have all the use of the proper channels, should have massive reach, but what does it matter if one decision by Earth-chan is all that it takes? This makes her extremely dangerous to anyone attempting to control the public via media.
It begs the question of just how strong she is. Master Ultima’s the man in Concrete Revolutio. He’s the face of the U.S. superhumans, can apparently handle threats from space on his own, rides around the solar system on a rocket, and is a genius in his own right. His return to Earth was enough to concern the Fumers as he would be disruptive to their own plans were they found out. Yet Earth-chan prevents him from bringing beasts into the country. It makes me wonder if she could go up against him if push came to shove although there’s also the concern that any action taken against Earth-chan by a foreign superhuman would be perceived as evil and result in a public backlash against that country.
I also think she was responding to the beast’s call for help in that scene hence that “tear” but that’s a discussion for another day.
Earth-chan’s secret
This is kind of a big deal and something that I think can easily be overlooked despite Kikko being overt about it. All signs point to Earth-chan not being designed as some sort of hero of justice but as a weapon of war who was meant to grow intoxicated off the panic of those she was attacking. (This is reinforced by her location in the post-credits scene.) Somewhere along the line, whether it be someone giving her a new purpose, enough free will to decide her own path, or simply overriding imperatives herself, she begins perceiving the pleasant sensations of those in dire need of help as the cries they actually are. There’s a degree of self-sacrifice involved in that in acting the role of the hero, she’s actually depriving herself of pleasure. This gives a little gray to what’s been the purest hero of them all so far in how she lives in direct opposiition of what she was born to do. Again, I see parallels to Jiro here in that it’s almost a source of secret shame that’s overcompensated for.
I think that’s also why she reacted so strongly to Judas and why she appeared to stop the Diamond Eaters. If, in fact, she was used as a weapon at one time but regretted her role, I like to think that Judas’ own cries for help would have resonated so very strongly with her.
Earth-chan’s Dreams
I think all of the above come together for the ending of the episode as Earth-chan grows up some, begins to understand how flawed humanity is, learns to be a little more human herself, and ,most importantly, embraces the much maligned yet much needed lie that finally gives her a place to belong, a place entirely her own. All this comes together to wipe away the tarnish left by her secret and leaves her as pure of a character as ever. She’s a better hero now on the path to being better equipped to face the changing world and to not be left behind. The episode would have been memorable enough as is but then we have that stinger that upsets me as much each time I watch it as the first time I did.
Who killed Earth-chan?
Much like Fuurouta being busy early on to force Kikko into action was a necessary evil, so was this. Getting back to typical ConRevo fashion, all sorts of questions are raised in the post-credits when Judas, Megasshin, and Jiro retrieved Earth-chan’s body from the Ikuta Laboratory. She may not actually be dead but she’s certainly not functioning at this point. Megasshin’s assisting Jiro in this so it’s apparently been judged the right thing to do but man, this kills me. This episode makes it clear that some of the strange future events of previous episodes probably aren’t happening if Earth-chan is around but it’s so disheartening to see the aftermath. Initially I was hoping she had just deactivated herself due to a world no longer needing help but the wounds on her right hand and the missing part of her costume (as confirmed in episode 13) makes it clear she was taken out for some reason or another. I’ve no idea who would have done this though. Judas’ name, power, traitorous past, and continual search for redemption feels like it should but then again so does her opposition against Master Ultima resulting in retribution. In episode 13, she reacts very, very strongly to something offscreen though and when we see her next, she’s down for the count.
Key Notes
- First appearance of Judas
- First appearance of the Strange Power Management Risk Office
- First mention of the Defense Force of Earth (DFE)
Timeline (as of this episode)
October 14 Shinka
Magotake Hitoyoshi discovers GaGon in the old ruins of an island in the Indian Ocean.
August 17 Shinka
American forces begin including superhumans in their war campaign in response to Japan’s use of GaGon.
November 29 Shinka
Jiro loses control of his power and rampages through Tokyo.
January 34 Shinka
Rainbow Knight kills Giganto Gon. Hiroyuki recovers a baby kaiju from its remains.
July 40 Shinka
Judas and the Diamond Eaters are stopped by Earth-chan during a robbery.
January 41 Shinka
Beasts begin to appear around Japan. Grosse Augen appears to combat them.
June 41 Shinka
The comic band Mountain Horse develops powers after being exposed to the superhuman power of The Beatles performing at Budokan on June 30th.
July 41 Shinka
The members of Mountain Horse explore their new powers but opt to keep it secret as to not affect their careers.
In Ginza, Jiro enlists Kikko’s aid to stop a transaction between one of Japan’s top astronomers and an industrial spy who is revealed to be an alien known as “S” Planetarian. Hyoushi, Daishi, and Emi observe from a planetarium in Shibuya. Grosse Augen soon appears to combat the “S” Planetarian but is apprehended by Jiro with the help of Kikko and Emi. Jiro violates his mandate by not eliminating Grosse Augen but allowing its host to use the body of the “S” Planetarian.thereby saving the host’s life. The device being sold to the astronomer is shown to be easily affected by radio waves rendering its data unreliable. Daishi suspects the Gemini accident in the US was also the work of an “S” Planetarian in an effort to conceal the location of their home base in the Scorpio constellation.
August 41 Shinka
Earth-chan appears to defeat one of the first beasts made by Beastly Radio Wave Japan.
Fuurouta encounters the Black Fog after freeing Campe from a pet shop. He’s soon apprehended by the Superhuman Bureau who decide to keep a close watch on him. Realizing he can safely enter the Black Fog, he takes the virus the Superhuman Bureau had contemplated using and eradicates the Tartaros Bugmen aside from Campe who he inadvertently saves.
November 41 Shinka
Raito Shiba and the Superhuman Bureau independently investigate Beastly Radio Wave Japan.
February 42 Shinka
A bombing at the Haneda Airport catches Raito Shiba’s attention and he chooses to investigate as he feels it falls under the jurisdiction of the police force. The cause of the explosion is revealed to be the Type B Android Mieko Kohrogi. Raito learns of the existence of the Type A android and their function to combine to form the Ultimate Weapon which he assumes to be a bomb. He sets out to destroy her but offers her a place with him at the last minute, a life where she doesn’t have to become a weapon. She rejects him and apparently self-destructs in a nearby canal.
April 42 Shinka
Master Ultima returns from Mars. The Superhuman Bureau discovers the connection between the rising beast population and Beastly Radio Wave Japan. Jiro destroys their factory after being attacked by a beast.
July 42 Shinka
Imperial Ads sets out to popularize beasts in Japan at the behest of one of its senior advisors. The space beasts Master Ultima brought back from Mars have been repurposed as weapons of the U.S. military and stationed across the globe. Shoji Matsumoto recovers one of the dead American space beasts after it was allegedly disposed of near Kikaijima Island.
August 42 Shinka
MegaGon is created by injecting the space beast’s corpse with a blood derivative of Jiro’s.and its subsequent absorption of the young GaGon. The Superhuman Bureau attempts to destroy MegaGon via subterfuge at 1:30 am August 8th. They fail but Jiro appears to defeat a rampaging MegaGon.
September 42 Shinka
Earth-chan repels Master Ultima’s attempt to bring the U.S. military’s beasts into Japan.
October 42 Shinka
Fuurouta is assigned by the Superhuman Bureau to become Mountain Horse’s assistant in order to keep tabs on their boss.
Judas, a formerly evil superhuman, registers with the Superhuman Bureau despite Earth-chan’s attempt to stop him, believing he’d become evil once again. Protestors fight against Japan joining the global initiative Defense Force of Earth. Japan joins the DFE regardless.
November 42 Shinka
Angel Stars debut as officially sanctioned superhumans. Mountain Horse prevents chocolate laced with a drug that inhibits superhuman powers from being distributed but lose one of their members in doing so.
October 44 Shinka
Jiro attempts to recruit Mountain Horse who decline. He encounters Fuurouta but rather than fight, the two leave on amicable terms.
April 46 Shinka
Kikko and Fuuroouta encounter Jiro on a train. He escapes and Kikko pursues only to encounter Grosse Augen’s original host and learn how Jiro saved him five years prior.
February 47 Shinka
Type A android Kaoru Honda returns to Japan after 28 years but in military custody. Raito Shiba liberates him and takes him to the now inert form of Type B android Mieko Kohrogi. where he intends to have them form into what he believes to be a bomb that he would detonate at the Winter Sports Grand Prix in protest of the current government which he feels is corrupt. Jiro appears to reactivate the type B android, revealing the ultimate weapon to be a combination of the Type A and Type B androids now known as Megasshin. Raito and Jiro engage in combat directly after.
April 47 Shinka
Megasshin, Judas, and Jiro retrieve Earth-chan’s inert form from the Ikuta Laboratory.
August 48 Shinka
Fuurouta faces the now grown Campe who seeks revenge on him for killing the Tartaros Bugmen. Jiro intervenes to save Fuurouta.
KenjiGlove
Banned
Really cool stuff once again.
For some extra context, Mountain Horse seems to be heavily inspired by the Japanese band "The Drifters"
Here's the wikipedia article if you want to read up on them.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Drifters_(Japanese_band)
For some extra context, Mountain Horse seems to be heavily inspired by the Japanese band "The Drifters"
Here's the wikipedia article if you want to read up on them.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Drifters_(Japanese_band)
KenjiGlove
Banned
Yeah, doing a bit of research and digging around for those references has definitely been a lot of fun. Even though it's kind of hard since I can't read Japanese.
There are some more events worth researching. A gut feeling in me tells that all the different student protests in the show line up with real ones.
I did dig this up earlier.
http://www.jag.ucla.edu/marotti_ahr.114.1.pdf
That lines up with the Haneda protest in the show.
KenjiGlove
Banned
Yeah it fits perfectly. I think the protest around the freaky submarine that gets destroyed by Claude is also something but I haven't found a decisive article yet. It has probably something to do with nuclear submarines.
I'll try to dig up more of them tomorrow
Yeah it fits perfectly. I think the protest around the freaky submarine that gets destroyed by Claude is also something but I haven't found a decisive article yet. It has probably something to do with nuclear submarines.
I'll try to dig up more of them tomorrow
I'll be interested to see what you find as I'll be busy over the next few days. It's difficult digging stuff up with only secondary sources coupled with national news 50 years ago eroding into local history as time goes on.
Yeah it fits perfectly. I think the protest around the freaky submarine that gets destroyed by Claude is also something but I haven't found a decisive article yet. It has probably something to do with nuclear submarines.
I'll try to dig up more of them tomorrow
Possibly drawing from these incidents:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Swordfish_(SSN-579)
http://www.takaishiigallery.com/en/archives/14892/
KenjiGlove
Banned
Yeah those are probably both correct.
The second article even covers Claude's arc after that submarine event, with the school stuff.
The second article even covers Claude's arc after that submarine event, with the school stuff.
KenjiGlove
Banned
Concrete Revolutio and Real World events Part One
Btw these things will have spoilers
The capture of Minoru Hatakeyama / Kazuo Sakamaki
December, the 16th of the Shinka Era, Hawaii / 7 December 1941, Pearl harbor
Episode #09: Beyond the Endless Family
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazuo_Sakamaki
Fun Fact: The immortal family featured in episode 9 is a neat homage to long running anime Sazae-san
-----------------------------------------------
US Forces and Superhumans attack GaGon / Guadalcanal Campaign
August, the 17th of the Shinka Era / August 7, 1942
Episode #04 Japan Beast History Part 1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guadalcanal_Campaign
I hope this one isn't too much of a stretch
-----------------------------------------------
The Enola Gay drops the “Little Boy” atomic bomb on Hiroshima / Baby Jiro is found in a crater alongside a crashed Enola Gay
August, the 20th of the Shinka Era, Hiroshima / August 6, 1942
Episode #13 Shinjuku Riot
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki
ED Foreshadowing
-----------------------------------------------
Mountain Horse plays the opening act for The Quartet / The Drifters open for the Beatles at the Budokan
June ,The 41st of the Shinka Era, Nipon Budokan / June 30, 1966
Episode #06 They are Always Laughing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Drifters_(Japanese_band)
Drifters Opening Act
Thanks to Narag for a bunch of these links!
-----------------------------------------------
A bomb explodes in a restroom at Hanada airport / A time bomb injures two people at Hanada airport
February, the 42nd of the Shinka Era, Haneda Airport / 17 February 1967
Episode #03 An Iron Couple
Had to translate the words "Bomb Hanada" with Google translate, then searched it and found this page
http://shouwashi.com/1967.html
I machine-translated that and got this:
-----------------------------------------------
The Superhuman Bureau tries do destroy MegaGon by crashing a train into him / A Freight train carrying US jet fuel derails
August, the 42 of the Shinka Era / August, 1967
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinjuku_Station
---------
These things take some time so I'll cut it off for today, I still have my eye on about ten other events. Join me next time when we'll cover assasinations, a bunch of Protests and a whole lot of explosions!
Special thanks to Narag and Duckroll for their handy articles/info of some events. Also a shoutout to my never ending patience while going through Daisuki's bad video player.
Any extra additions are appreciated!
Btw these things will have spoilers
The capture of Minoru Hatakeyama / Kazuo Sakamaki
December, the 16th of the Shinka Era, Hawaii / 7 December 1941, Pearl harbor
Episode #09: Beyond the Endless Family
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazuo_Sakamaki
Fun Fact: The immortal family featured in episode 9 is a neat homage to long running anime Sazae-san
-----------------------------------------------
US Forces and Superhumans attack GaGon / Guadalcanal Campaign
August, the 17th of the Shinka Era / August 7, 1942
Episode #04 Japan Beast History Part 1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guadalcanal_Campaign
I hope this one isn't too much of a stretch
-----------------------------------------------
The Enola Gay drops the “Little Boy” atomic bomb on Hiroshima / Baby Jiro is found in a crater alongside a crashed Enola Gay
August, the 20th of the Shinka Era, Hiroshima / August 6, 1942
Episode #13 Shinjuku Riot
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki
ED Foreshadowing
-----------------------------------------------
Mountain Horse plays the opening act for The Quartet / The Drifters open for the Beatles at the Budokan
June ,The 41st of the Shinka Era, Nipon Budokan / June 30, 1966
Episode #06 They are Always Laughing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Drifters_(Japanese_band)
The Beatles - Concert at Budokan
Drifters Opening Act
Thanks to Narag for a bunch of these links!
-----------------------------------------------
A bomb explodes in a restroom at Hanada airport / A time bomb injures two people at Hanada airport
February, the 42nd of the Shinka Era, Haneda Airport / 17 February 1967
Episode #03 An Iron Couple
Had to translate the words "Bomb Hanada" with Google translate, then searched it and found this page
http://shouwashi.com/1967.html
I machine-translated that and got this:
-----------------------------------------------
The Superhuman Bureau tries do destroy MegaGon by crashing a train into him / A Freight train carrying US jet fuel derails
August, the 42 of the Shinka Era / August, 1967
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinjuku_Station
---------
These things take some time so I'll cut it off for today, I still have my eye on about ten other events. Join me next time when we'll cover assasinations, a bunch of Protests and a whole lot of explosions!
Special thanks to Narag and Duckroll for their handy articles/info of some events. Also a shoutout to my never ending patience while going through Daisuki's bad video player.
Any extra additions are appreciated!
- Status
Similar threads
- Locked