If we're really going to get nerdy, there's an idea I've had for a long time now: Akane is truly a magical girl.

Vividred Operation is an exercise in Clarke's Law, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Grampa has gone way beyond normal science and technology in designing the keys, but it is nonetheless technology.

More, and loads of spoilers, below the fold.

I think that the director is trying to imply that Akane has gone beyond Kenjirou's technology.

I contend that there are hints in the show all along that there's something supernatural about Akane.

1. Her uncanny ability to throw objects with extreme accuracy, especially objects that aren't in any way streamlined. Throwing an empty can 30 feet and hitting a small hole with it is the least of this. The newpapers are even stranger. Have you ever thrown a folded-up newspaper? Air catches the paper and it spreads out instantly and goes all over. Except that for Akane it doesn't, and she can throw a newspaper 20 feet and hit a slot with it. When she finally gets the boomerang, she is able to throw it considerable distances and hit exactly what she wants to hit. And there's the home run she hits in softball, while holding the bat wrong. (Which suggests she isn't familiar with the sport.)

2. The duel on the beach with Wakaba. Wakaba has been studying kendo her entire life, and she's sufficiently good that there's no one at the school who can beat her, not even the boys. There's no evidence that Akane has ever studied it, and yet she was able to go head-to-head with Wakaba for quite some time. She has amazingly fast reaction time and astounding coordination, and was using that instead of experience. Wakaba kept being surprised by what Akane did during that fight, and that's because Akane was making it up as she went along. Let's also consider the 2-handed sword catch. Something like that requires inhumanly fast reaction time.

3. There's evidence that Akane is stronger than a girl that age really ought to be. For one thing, she ran to school carrying Momo on her back, and wasn't winded afterwards.

4. Helping out Aoi: When Akane was in the hospital, unconscious, the other three girls fought an Alone without her. It was a very tough battle and they nearly lost it, but at the very last moment Aoi saved the day, With Akane's help. Was Aoi just imagining it? I say no: Akane's boomerang was on Aoi's back, and it spread out and added rocket power to Aoi to get her to the bomb in time.

5. And there's Vividred. In the last episode, when the Crow takes all of Rei's remaining arrows and powers up, Kenjirou gives up. He's without hope; he has no answers. "Nothing on this Earth can oppose her now." And when Vividred appears, he's taken by surprise.

It's apparent that Akane is taking advantage of some of Kenjirou's technology in forming Vividred, but it's equally apparent that it's not anything that Kenjirou designed.

The Crow identifies the energy that Vividred is using as "the light of the dawn of a universe" (according to Coalgirls's translation) or "the light of creation" (Commie). Which appears to be different than that which the Incarnation Engine has been tapping, and also different from whatever the Crow is using, and evidently superior to them both.

Afterwards, Kenjirou confesses his ignorance about it with his statement that he's going to have to start his research from scratch.

Was it actually Rei rather than Akane which managed to access the godhead? I would say it was both, and both were required. Rei's arrows are gone and there was never any indication in the show that she had any special powers beyond those given to her by the Crow.

Which brings us to the test: the aliens (the floating infinity sign) were testing the human race to see is someone like Akane would develop. That's my opinion. And she did, and the aliens therefore decided that the human race was entitled to keep using the Incarnation Engine without further interference.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Engineer's Disease at 10:01 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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