SPOILER ALERT & CONTENT WARNING: Rated 14+ for Profanity, Violence
The Last Town is in ruins. Void beasts slaughter its people. All hope for peace is gone and despair grips our heroes like a vice. The ending of the original plot quickly approaches, but from the darkness, a single light persists.
We Were Not Prepared
The first half of this episode spared no expense when it came to brutality. The townsfolk are flung like dolls, crushed like bugs, and slaughtered like pigs. Something about the setting, the sound design, the colors, the situation makes it feel so much more impactful. It was genuinely hard to watch.
Luke wanders the streets in the wake of Natsuko and Unio’s absorption into a Void beast. It’s heartbreaking to see him struggling to cope with all of the death and destruction. The final straw was when Natsuko’s peg bar disappeared. You can see every stage of grief flash across Luke’s face and understand how much she meant to him. What he decides to do next comes as no surprise.
Meanwhile…
Amidst the chaos on Luke’s side, Natsuko is trapped within her own existential purgatory. Events and people from her past awaken deep-rooted insecurities. Their faces are obscured with hair, reflecting her own habit of closing herself off to people.
I think this sequence speaks to the artists in the audience. Natsuko has always represented the artistic side of storytelling. As a genius animator, there wasn’t anything she couldn’t do. Failure, though, has a way of projecting all of our negativity and can trap us into a state of resignation. In order to break out of it, sometimes all it takes is a single word of encouragement.
For Natsuko, this comes from an annoying cartoon unicorn. Unio adds some much-needed levity, but also reminds Natsuko that she’s not alone. In a touching sequence of flashbacks, Natsuko remembers how much Luke meant to her and how he was a constant source of encouragement.
After navigating through the nightmare, Natsuko and Unio prepare to return to the Last Town. It may be too late, however. Luke, overcome with despair, has destroyed the last Soul Future.
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