Episode 2 Summary - Kagenuki

The creatures that appeared before Shin had now disappeared. The person before him seemed to be surprised. Looking up into the sky, tears streamed down his face. Suddenly, a car is heard screeching into the area. Two people that Shin had never met before stepped out, a girl with long curly hair and a guy with a ski hat. The guy orders the girl to strip Shin of his creature.

Shin rushes off, jumping over the barriers but to his surprise, his female pursuer was flying after him also with a creature on her back. What on earth was going on? The girl's creature attacks barely missing Shin as he slips onto the snow. Just then, Shin's own creature appears and once again tries to protect him. The enemy creature fires red beams of light towards them but they are deflected right back. For a moment, the girl is distracted by some blue windows lighting up. Before Shin knew it, his own creature was carrying him away into the air. The girl gives up the chase and returns to the others.

Back at the warehouse area, the leader was reporting their status while the other was swallowing away pills. They had recovered Yuuji but unfortunately, they couldn't retrieve the girl Yumi Tasaka's Persona because of Ryo. Arriving back, the girl reports that she lost the boy and that he appeared to be a natural Persona user, a Special Class A type too. Hearing that the leader plans to capture Shin now that they've been seen and he will deal with Ryo himself. Yuuji should remember what the policeman looks like.

The next bright sunny morning, Ryo is sitting at the table reading his newspaper while Jun was eating his toast. There was an uneasy silence between the two brothers. Soon, Jun realises it was time to go to school and decides to go upstairs to check up on this brother. He is surprised to find him lying asleep on the floor still in his coat.

Did he have that dream again last night? Shin really thought he did. Laughing, Jun tells his brother to go wash his face and wake up. Downstairs, Ryo was just about to leave too and wasn't happy his brother was going to be late on his first day. Before he leaves, Shin suggests they should take turns doing the housework from now on since they'll be living together again such as doing the shopping, making dinner etc. However, he will want the afternoon free because he wants to watch something. Ryo replies coldly he doesn't know because he doesn't watch drama.

Ryo goes onto tell the two of them that they should move out as soon as possible. He wants them to leave Ayanagi City. Surprised, Shin doesn't demands to know why. Did his brother have a girlfriend? If that was so, maybe they can leave the house when she's over. Without answering, Ryo drives off.

Later, Shin makes it to Naginomori High but he didn't manage to stay up at all. In fact, he slept through the entire morning. It was second year high student Megumi Kayano, who ends up waking him up. She tells him that even the teacher gave up trying to wake him up. His classmates couldn't help but laugh. Megumi continues letting him know lunchtime was almost over. He better hurry over to the cafeteria or he's not going to get any lunch. Or maybe just the shops would be quicker.

Unfortunately being new, Shin didn't know where it was. Megumi kindly offers to guide him there but suddenly she finds him staring at her face. Without thinking, Shin blurts out, "Haven't we met somewhere before?" The girls laugh thinking he was trying to chat up Megumi. Megumi laughs too, giving him a slap on the back. Obviously Shin was serious that he "met" her before. Taking out her mobile, Megumi offers to exchange e-mail addresses since Shin did "try" but before anything could happen, a tall boy with an afro interrupts angrily.

The boy was Takuro Sakakiba and he didn't like how the new transfer student was trying to pick up girls at school. Or was it just Megumi he didn't want Shin going after? Megumi didn't really mind since they're classmates but Takuro did. She doesn't usually give their e-mails to guys so easily. At least not to him.

Just as Takuro's temper continues to rise, they get interrupted by Kanaru Morimoto. It appears some third years were looking for Takuro. Megumi tries to stop him, saying he shouldn't be joining in something known as "Kagenuki" because it was very dangerous. There were people who took part that disappeared afterwards. However, Takuro didn't seem to care. He walks on out with the guys. Shin was curious about what this was all about.

Meanwhile at the police station, it was time Ryo dealt with what happened to Katayama earlier. One of his subordinates Kunio was waiting for him. Kunio didn't like the fact that Ryo was hiding information from them. He already knows Katayama was going to stay the way he was. Continue to weaken and die. There was something out there to get those students and Kunio knows it. Four of their staff were now down with "Apathy Syndrome" or should he say, "out of action" and reasons were not given.

Kunio demands to know what is really going on. There has to be something they can do. Ryo calmly replies that there wasn't and tries to explain about their sacrifices so far but Kunio doesn't listen. He storms off saying he'll find out his own way.

In another room at the hospital, Yumi the high school girl Ryo saved earlier has regained consciousness. Ryo was talking with that mystery person on the phone again. It looks as if they won't be able to learn more about the special A ability from her any more due to her PTSD and the fact that her Persona was separated from her by force. They'll just have to abandon her case but do what they can to leave her in good care.

Ryo goes outside to wait for someone to pick him up. He seems to be unaware that the enemy he fought the day before was watching him from a blue car. The leader is surprised Ryo was a police chief but finds it odd that members of the police force were dispatched to try and protect the students regardless if they could do it or not. He feels they don't need to kill him and might be able to arrive at some form of negotiation. They drive off to discuss their plans first with Kyujo.

Soon Eiko arrives and Kunio decides to trail them. Ryo was keen to inspect the latest Reverse victim despite Eiko telling him it was no different from the others. Driving along a bridge, she goes onto ask about how the investigation into the missing nine member submarine crew was going. Eiko appeared to be interested in it too because it could be considered a very strange case of death. However, Ryo refuses to tell what he knows.

As they drove on, they come across what appears to be a bridge. Eiko remarks that structure looked the same way it did ten years ago. Ryo gazes out the window as he thinks back to something but he notices something. A girl in a red cloak was staring at him from afar but disappears.

Eiko glances to her side at Ryo and suggests maybe it's time he lived together with his brothers again. It appears she doesn't know they're back in Ayanagi City yet. Ryo replies he doesn't need any family. Particularly any brothers. Eiko doesn't seemed to be surprised at his reaction and asks if he didn't want want them in the city. That was what he originally intended.

It was now afternoon. Shin was making his way back to class when he sees two boys falling over onto the ground. They were the third year students he saw earlier and Takuro was with them. After carrying them to the nurse's office, Shin asks why he didn't run away. Takuro answers it was obvious he done it. He explains they passed out during their Kagenuki match, the dangerous activity Megumi was warning him about. He was easy on them too.

"Kagenuki" was an activity that suddenly became popular with people because it was supposed to relief them of all their stress. At first, Takuro never had any interest in the game but after he tried it, he found it was actually very effective. Since then many people have been inviting him for a match. However a while ago, two or three students that gathered together to try it disappeared and Takuro claims that was why Megumi was angry earlier that morning. He's sure Megumi would end up missing him.

Just then, an idea came to Takuro's mind. He should have a game with Shin too. At first, Shin refuses since he doesn't even know how it works but, Takuro manages to convince him by saying he'll explain what to do. The two stands up, lined up one behind the other with Takuro in front. As Takuro begins to concentrate, the worried Shin slowly puts both his hands on Takuro's shoulders.

There is a sudden gust of wind. Takuro flashes open his eyes and a faint image of a creature projects from his body. Shin falls back onto the floor, scared of the familiar creature that appeared before him but his creature too appears. The two creatures clash and a loud blast of energy is heard. It was so loud that even Jun heard it from the rooftop.

Moments later, both Shin and Takuro were lying on the ground. Takuro couldn't believe how powerful Shin's creature was. Excited, he tries to get Shin to have another game of Kagenuki. Shin refuses saying it was dangerous.

Soon, it was evening. Takuro was leaving the school alone still annoyed at how he couldn't get another game. The only person in danger was him back there anyway. Walking on, he finds Kanaru waiting for him. Hesitantly with cheeks blushing, she asks Takuro to have a game of Kagenuki with her. She had always been curious about it since the end of first year. Takuro agrees just as Megumi comes out carrying a bundle of sports clothes. Worried she would misunderstand them, he quickly makes up an excuse saying they should all go out to dine together once in a while. As Takuro feared, Megumi thought he was going out with Kanaru and slaps him on the back. She suggests they invite Shin too.

Shin was already on the way home but he was standing near the area where he was pursued the other night. Jun just happened to be on his way home too and wonders what his brother was doing out there. Seems Jun wanted to take a little walk first to see what the new city was like. They have a little chat about how their first day of their new school was before Shin's phone rings.

After their meal together, Shin, Megumi, Kanaru and Takuro decides to drop by the local karaoke club. With Megumi leading the way, she catches eye of someone she didn't want to see. It was the blonde hair guy she tried to slap at the restaurant and this time, he was with two other guys that looked bad news. As they walk up the stairs, Shin reveals that he saw what happened and apologises for almost bringing up the matter back at school. Megumi replies that it's all right, explaining that she only did that because the guy hurt her friend.

Finding an empty room, Megumi is the first to sing. She appears to be a good singer before the others. With her throat dried up, she drains the glass of juice before her and excuses herself to the toilet. Megumi goes with her just as Takuro was picking up the mic. After the girls leave, Takuro tries to get Shin to play a game of Kagenuki with him again. Shin isn't so keen. Sitting down, Takuro wonders what it is they're summoning.

Meanwhile in the toilet, Megumi says she heard Kanaru too has been taking part in Kagenuki quite a bit and warns her to be careful. Megumi agrees but for some reason there's something about the game that attracts her to it. She doesn't finish her sentence. For some reason, Megumi suddenly felt very tired.

Kanaru helps her out into the darkly lit corridors of the karaoke club only to be stopped by the blonde hair guy from earlier. He wanted to play Kagenuki with them. Kanaru tries to scream but her cries are muffled out by the blonde hair. Megumi is left defenceless on the floor as the guy's two friends start to unclothe her.

Back in the room, Shin remembers the last word the fortune teller said before everything went blank. It was, "Persona". That is what they've been summoning.

Next episode, "Marebito".

Thoughts

Well this episode certainly made an impression on me. I still have the chills from the scene where that mystery girl suddenly appeared on top of a pillar with that eery sound effect!

2ch posters are speculating Ryo's Persona awakened when the brothers' parents died. As a result of that his Persona was out of control and it killed their little sister. Sounds like that would work...

Naginomori High seems like a nice clean place to hang about and the light atmosphere was pretty much what I was expecting. I was half right about this "Kagenuki" game. The Persona being summoned part anyway. We don't exactly hear Takuro explaining how Personas are summoned but after watching how it was done with Shin and hearing what Kanaru said, I think two or more people has to help each other draw out the Persona from within.

I'm kind of surprised Persona summoning seems to be so common all of a sudden but, I guess the difference is not everyone can take the strain besides the "chosen" ones such as Shin. I'm sure this is why Yuuji is taking pills. The windows that lit up blue during the beginning of the episode were probably people taking part in Kagenuki.

For this episode, I think they overdid it a bit with the P3 soundtracks, "Want to be Close" and "When the Moon's Reaching out the Stars" from the Reincarnation CD at the karaoke. They were set too close together.

And of all scenes why did they have to use the middle of a rape scene with Megumi for a cliff hangar?! Most likely they don't succeed but still, I'm not sure what to think from the preview. It appears Megumi ends up in a coma and is being transported somewhere while Takuro, Kanaru and Shin are questioned.

In any case, I hope Takuro manages to give those three guys a good beating and teach them some decency. Argh! Another week until we find out if they get stopped in time or not!

On another note, the opening "Breakin' Through" Shuuei Kita's debut single is due out next month February 27th. Ending Nana Kitade's "Suicides Love Story" is due March 5th. Both songs are starting to grow on me now!