1 I briefly considered that there might be something unusual about the father and son... during the early part of the series theres a reference to a "prophecy" but it's never explained.  I should go back and hunt for that episode sometime...

2

Regarding the prophecy:

I think it's another fake-out by the writers. It makes it seem as if Hajime is some sort of chosen one. But I think what the actual prophecy said was that eventually the natives of Earth would be ready for those revelations and would take them in stride. Hajime was first, but he isn't particularly special otherwise.

Toshio probably could have handled it without freaking out IMHO. There's a scene later in the series where Toshio talks to Hajime about his suspicions regarding the things that have been happening. That scene is remarkable because I finally realized that Toshio suspected that Hajime was in on the secret. That was what he was actually trying to confirm. So he blindsided Hajime with a question about that, watched Hajime's face for a second or so, and then said, "I'm joking." and moved on to other things.

Hajime's reaction made clear that Hajime did know what was going on. And Toshio knew Hajime well enough to know that Hajime would keep the faith, and that there was no point in pushing it any further and trying to get him to open up. Doing so could damage their friendship but would accomplish nothing else. So he didn't push it.

I think that Toshio had pretty much figured it all out by the time of the teacherless day at school, and that's why he went in. I suspect he'd have gone in even if Hikaru hadn't been networking among the non-natives. Notice that he seemed rather less than overwhelmed by the things that happened; it's because he already had figured out most of it.

And in fact I don't even think he was unusual. Remember how freaked Jirou and the other natives in Hajme's class were when Toshio and the other non-natives showed up? And how the non-natives were not freaked?

The point of prophecy was that a time would come when the people of Earth would be ready to learn about what had been going on in Tenmo -- and Hajime, and Toshio, and Hajime's father, and many others as well, showed that the prophecy had come true.

By the way, careful about open spoilers.

3

On the previous spoilers:

I think Hajime actually is supposed to be somewhat unusual; the series repeatedly points out that it's odd how little he was disturbed by the "incantation" that reveals the secret history of Tenmo.  Nayuta and Shun were bedridden for days afterward; the first Zaigle agent fell into a gibbering panic and killed himself.  Hajime had one sleepless night, and then went on with his life, almost as if nothing had happened.

It's not that Hajime is meant to be unique -- there are probably many Earthlings who would react as he did, if they'd been where he was -- but he isn't meant to be typical, either.

And a new question:

Who or what sent the Sanadons to Earth?

4

Michael, as regards your question:

All five Sanadons belonged to Jiltosh. When the later four showed up the gym teacher accused Jiltosh of being behind them, and he didn't deny it.

The robots who landed during the first Sanadon incident also belonged to Jiltosh. It was a test, which is why those robots weren't as dangerous as the ones the Cosmos Alliance sent later.

5 Why, yes, and the best way to disarm a nuclear missile is to set it off ...  The arrival of four Sanadons was the only reason Nayuta called on the Shingu's full power, and only that could have led to the uncontrolled release of energy the Federation and Alliance were so worried about.  So if Jiltosh sent all the Sanadons, he deliberately risked unsealing the Shingu and frying an indeterminate number of stars, just to establish a slightly better seal than the one which had held up over 10,000 years ... which is crazy.  Jiltosh could be careless about his responsibilities -- see the situation on Zaigle -- but he wasn't insane.

6

I think the idea was that Nayuta was gradually calling on more and more of the Shingu's power anyway, and might have been consumed by it at any time, without warning.

A controlled detonation, under best possible circumstances, is better than an uncontrolled detonation at an unexpected time. No detonation at all is even better yet, but the only way to find out if that was possible was to stress the situation, which is what the four Sanadon's were supposed to do.

The emergence of Mugen wasn't inevitable. If Nayuta had been able to fight off the four Sanadons without losing herself, that would have been a successful result. Unfortunately, all the heros were able to sense that she was losing control, which is why they all knew she was going to become Mugen before it happened.

I made my semi-joke about Earth being a toxic waste dump, but that's actually the case. The problem was that the people of Tenmo were gradually breaking through the containment and there was increasing risk as the centuries went by that Mugen would reappear. Rather than just sit back and wait for it to happen, Jiltosh decided that it was better to force the situation and bring about a crisis at a time and place of his own choosing, when he was best prepared to cope with it if things went badly.

Part of why Myouken was invited was as backup. Mugen's reappearance was just as much of a threat to the Cosmos Alliance as it was to the Galactic Federation. If Jiltosh had been killed, Myouken and Asougi would have taken over and done their best.

7

By the way, this wasn't a capricious urge on the part of Jiltosh, something he did on a moment's notice. It involved a lot of planning and preparation, and it was something he got moving on after Nayuta became the latest person able to use the power of the Shingu, because she was better at it than anyone in a thousand years.

Asougi knew what was going on, and that a big test was coming, and that's why he brought Muryou down to Tenmo, and why Setsuna started hanging around all the time.

And when the time was right, Jiltosh contacted Myouken and invited him to come witness the test, and explained to him what was happening and why.

A lot of the reason for that was to make sure that the events on earth didn't reignite the war between the Cosmos Alliance and the Galactic Federation. Neither side wanted that, but it was still a distinct possibility. Formally inviting Myouken to witness the test was a way of minimizing the chance of restarting the war. But it also meant that Myouken was there as a backup if the worst happened, which is to say that Mugen reappeared and Jiltosh couldn't handle him.

8

And I just thought of one more thing:

If Jiltosh had been killed by Mugen, Myouken and Asougi would have temporarily allied and gone out to take over the fight. Given that Myouken was a survivor of the war, it's obvious he must be incredibly strong and able, and he had a distinct advantage over Jiltosh and Asougi: he wasn't going to be sentimental about Earth or about Nayuta. He didn't know her, and for him Earth is just one rock among many, so he'd be willing to do what was necessary to abate the threat Mugen represented to the Cosmos Alliance, and of course also to the Galactic Federation.

We were told that when the war began that the Galactic Federation had three heros: Jiltosh, Mugen, and Asougi. We also know that the Cosmos Alliance had five, one of which was Myouken. Jiltosh said that the war came down to the heros killing one another, but we know that none of the Galactic Federation heros were killed. Presumably it was mostly Cosmos Alliance heros who died, probably because Mugen was too strong for them. But if Myouken survived many fights, he is presumably the very best the Cosmos Alliance has. It's entirely possible he's stronger than Jiltosh. That would mean that if Jiltosh hadn't been able to defeat the reawakened Mugen, that Myouken would have an excellent chance of doing it.

9 So, what happens if I cheat and manually insert an extra closing DIV tag here...