Episode 3 Summary - Marebito

"Persona". For some reason, the word sounded very familiar to Shin. It was as if he knew it from long ago. To his surprise, Takuro felt the same. Takuro had heard the word before in his dreams from a man with a long nose.

In another room, Kanaru and a group of guys were preparing to have a game of Kagenuki but it was not the kind she had in mind.

Pausing briefly to think about it, Takuro suddenly realises the girls have been gone for some time now. What could be taking them so long? Shin answers girls usually take a long time when they're off to the toilet but before Takuro could ask any further, a loud explosive noise is heard.

Everyone peers out of their rooms into the dusty corridors of the karaoke club. Takuro realises the sound came from the direction of the toilet. He rushes over trying to find Megumi and Kanaru, shortly followed by Shin. Seeing a room blown open, Takuro forces his way in only to trip over an unrecognisable body. Shin makes his way inside too and was also stunned at what he saw. Before them was a body turned inside out. The others that were originally in the room also appeared to be in a shocked state, including Kanaru who was lying over Megumi.

Back at the Kanzato residence, Jun was rummaging around the fridge to find something to eat. He finds a frilled apron nearby and for a moment, stands gazing at it. Suddenly, the door bell rings. Jun walks over to the intercom and finds a familiar face. It was their "big sister" Eiko. Opening the door, Jun is greeted with a big hug. She was really happy to see him. The last time they saw each other was ten years ago after all. Jun was bigger than she last remembered and for a moment, she thought it was their little sister Yuki.

Entering the house, Eiko puts on the apron Jun was holding earlier and begins to cook up something for them both to eat. Jun stands by watching until she was finished, saying how their aunt wasn't really good at cooking. At the table, Jun takes a few spoonfuls and has a nostalgic feeling from the dish. It was something that his mother used to cook. Eiko had learned all her cooking from her. As they started to catch up on old times, Jun's phone rings. It was Shin calling saying he'll be late but for some reason, Jun knew he was at the police station. He couldn't hide it. Eiko looks up from the table, concerned about what's happened.

Inside the station, Takuro and Kanaru were already there being questioned by Kunio about what happened. He begins by talking about this "Kagenuki" game that he's heard so much about. It seems to be growing in popularity with the young people and more of them are using sleeping pills. It appears the guys had teamed up with one of the karaoke staff to put something into the girl's drinks. Kanaru was unaffected because drugs didn't work with her too well. However, she did pass out when things got out of hand and didn't wake up until Shin and Takuro got there apparently.

Shin walks in and it was his turn for questioning. Kunio asks if he saw anyone leaving the area when the incident happened. He answers he didn't see anyone. Kunio takes a slow, steady look over the three students before declaring the case classified. They had orders to keep all that's happened a secret.

As the three friends made their way out, Takuro couldn't help but wonder what happened to that body they saw. No human could have done that. Suddenly, Kanaru stops to apologise about what happened. Takuro smiles and tries to say it wasn't her fault. She couldn't possibly have done anything when she was outnumbered. Kanaru remains silent, remembering how she was the one who agreed to a game of Kagenuki with the guys. Seeing how his words had no effect, Takuro tries to get Shin to help. Shin smiles too and suggests they go visit Megumi at the hospital the next day. Just then, the two policemen from earlier tell them her treatment was over and that she was all right now.

Just as the group smiles with relief, heavy footsteps are heard down the corridor they were in. A hand clamps down heavily on Shin's shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. Ryo had arrived and demanded to know what his brother was doing at a crime scene. He grabs Shin away while Shin tries to tell his friends to go on home first. After Takuro and Kanaru gets escorted away, Ryo orders Shin to leave the city immediately. He'll find some place for him to move to. Ryo looked so angry that Shin was scared. Why was his brother so mad? He had done nothing wrong.

Ryo continues, ordering Kunio to report everything directly to him and to hand over all original copies of the clues that have been gathered from the crime scene without making any copies. He makes it explicitly clear that Kunio must deliver it all himself and not to give it to anyone else to pass onto him. Kunio pauses for a moment before acknowledging and walking off. Ryo gives Shin one final reminder about leaving the city before letting him off.

In the lift, Ryo was anxiously calling his contact again to report on what happened. He explains there was another Reverse incident only this time it wasn't one of the students on their list. It was some other young civilian. The contact could sense his anxiety and asked what was wrong. Ryo replied because it wasn't within his expectations. Moving on, the contact tells him that headquarters have received applications to know the full details behind Apathy Syndrome. It was probably Kunio's doing again. They should do nothing about the application for now so that he'll keep quiet for the time being. Their conversation is interrupted by the office phone. A stranger was on the phone asking to meet Ryo. He claims to have some very useful information for him.

Outside, the group of people who attacked Shin were sitting in a car discussing their plans. They were going to meet Ryo the next night and it felt as if he had been expecting their call. However, they were sure he's not suspecting them to be the ones responsible for what happened at the karaoke. The leader Touma was confident Shin was the only suspect with his special A power. As long as Ryo keeps the existence of Personas a secret from his staff, no one will find out what is really going on. Another boy with them appeared to be smirking at Yuuji's failure saying how "that person" happens to be more useful than him. The new guy looks forward to extracting Shin's Persona.

In another part of town, Shin was getting a lift from Eiko. She and Jun had been waiting outside the police station for him. It's been a long time since Shin last saw her too. Eiko smiles, remembering how Shin used to get teased a lot by Yuki and Jun even though he was the older brother. An uncomfortable silence falls over them. A lot of things seemed to have changed over the ten years.

The next day Shin, Takuro and Kanaru were at the Ayanagi City General Hospital to visit Megumi. It seems she had fully recovered and was in good health. She had already heard what happened while she was asleep from the inspector and tried to apologise for getting Kanaru into such a mess. Kanaru tries to apologise too but gets interrupted by Shin. He noticed the girl she was with and asks who she was. Megumi tells them she was her senior from the dance club she was in at school. She thought she recognised the wrong person but it was really her, Yumi Tasaka. Megumi can't believe the state she was in since she last danced with her. Something about Yumi seems to bother Kanaru.

After the visit, Shin heads out alone to meet with Inspector Kunio. At first, Shin thought they had become suspects but Kunio actually wanted to talk about his brother Ryo. There was something their brother was hiding.

By now, Ryo had met up with the mysterious caller. Wasting no time, the leader asks Ryo why he knows about their plans so quickly. Ryo replies he doesn't. In fact, he didn't even know of their existence. It just happened to be a coincidence they're attacking the same potential students that Ryo had on his surveillance list. It was also the reason why Ryo had to act alone when facing them. Touma suggests maybe he should join their side if he doesn't want to work alone. The police will never be able to touch them anyway.

Touma wants Ryo to meet with their boss and offers him a chance to join them. Of course, Ryo refuses to participate in their activities so Touma piles on the pressure. He reveals that they can still get what they're after from Yumi even in the state she's currently in. All they have to do is go kill her and her Persona will belong to them. Their goal as the "Marebito" was to absorb Personas to become another being just like Ryo desires. Ryo denies ever desiring such a thing before summoning his own Persona.

A fierce fight breaks out between the two but Touma never expected Ryo to be so strong. Having a hard time, he asks for Yuuji's assistance but for some reason Yuuji couldn't summon his Persona any more. Touma's Persona is shot straight through and he himself is badly injured, falling unconscious onto the snow. A red haired girl appears briefly behind the victorious Ryo before disappearing again.

Meanwhile, Shin was walking his way back home but he stops as a familiar face appears from the dark. It was that girl who attacked him from last time and someone else was with her too. Without any delay, the two attackers summons her Persona into action. While Shin's Persona was distracted by one of them, the other Marebito member tried to steal Shin's Persona.

Their plan seemed to be going well until Shin's Persona manages to defeat the girl before dashing back to Shin's aid, cutting away the wires that extended into Shin. Panicking, the young man rushes to his companion's aid, taking in her injured Persona into himself much to his own pain. Fortunately for them, Shin's Persona backs off before Shin started to make his get away.

Eager to know what was going on, Shin rushes his way back home unaware that the mysterious red haired girl was also watching him. Finally arriving back home, Inspector Kunio's words were still ringing clearly in his mind as he tried to hack Ryo's computer. Their brother was hiding all the information regarding a number of cases that was similar to the one Shin was just involved in. The victims who were from their school had all disappeared for unknown reasons and their family were never notified. Kunio wants to know the details.

Next episode, "The Feathers of a Whale".

Thoughts

A new episode with a lot more questions to ponder about.

Glad to see Megumi turned out all right. Those guys deserved a lesson but not something this extreme! I'm a bit surprised that Kanaru had actually agreed to join them in a game of Kagenuki before the unexpected happened. I wonder why she's so eager to take part?

When Megumi wakes up from the scene, we see she has one of those glazed looks that people have when they have just summoned their Persona so it's implied that she was the one responsible for the Reverse incident this time. But is she really one of the Marebito? If so, is she the one spreading the Kagenuki game so that they can find out who all the potential A users are and help collect them? Or is she just being blackmailed by them somehow?

In any case, she seems to be linked to them judging by the way she looked at Yumi at the hospital and how Touma later mentioned her to Ryo. And who is this Kyujou the Marebito are working for? No relation to "Kirijo" right?

On the other hand, good to hear Takuro's met Igor too. I wonder if any of the others have met him yet and when he'll appear again to give a bit of guidance?

According to the Newtype site, next episode we'll be seeing Jun returning to their parents home where he finds the last piece of work they completed together. A picture book called, "The Wings of a Whale". I think it will give us some insight into the mystery girl that appeared twice in this episode somehow. The first episode did show her underwater and wherever she appears, she leaves behind white feathers after all.