Summary:
This time we meet Souta and Minamo’s workaholic dad, Mamoru. Mamoru is the EISF’s Chief of Research, and just got done with a huge set of updates to the Metal. However, suddenly things go wrong and an odd virus seems to spread from the depths of the Metal to the surface. Before the problem can reach the island, however, Mamoru is able to use the high tech emergency tool (an ax…) to shut down the servers.
Mamoru saved the island, Masamichi, and Eiichiro’s reputation. Masamichi was diving at the time, and describes the attack as a starfish eating some coral. Unfortunately the Metal is such a huge part of life that someone has to take the blame. Mamoru is demoted, but at least he can spend more time with Souta now. We get a series of flashbacks of Mamoru being so busy that he never was around for Souta. When his wife Mizuho went to give birth at Grandma’s place, things were lonely for Souta but he helped out as best he could.
Reaction:
When I first watched this episode, I was very confused, but after some thinking I began to see how well this episode was put together. I liked the parallel of Mamoru as the secret hero of the island, just as Souta was secretly always behind Mamoru backing Mamoru up. Souta even tried to save Mamoru’s job by sexxoring the Secretary General during her meeting (this time in real life), but I guess he wasn’t quite good enough.
It’s interesting how because the Metal was modeled after the sea, problems are arising that mimic what happened to Masamichi 50 years ago. Is this the Earth Balance trying to consume the stray/merged thoughts of humanity? In less serious business, I giggled at the backup plan being an ax in a fancy case. I also noted that the sponsors didn’t care about the 36 billion asians in damages (whatever, China can always make more), but were more worried about the reputation of the Metal as a stable service.
