Episode 5 Summary - A Forced Union

Somewhere in a darkly lit room, Marebito member Saki was held inside a capsule with tubes attached to her. A voice in the background reports the density of her Persona was at 70% and that a heartbeat was still present before the machine begins extraction. A man begins to talk in the shadows saying how Personas were originally part of the human mind and were inseparable but now that they've found a way, there was also a price to pay. By collecting more special class 'A' Personas, they should achieve a greater density.

It was another day at Naginomori High and class just ended. Shin was deep in thought until he overhears Megumi talking to Takuro. He was looking at what appears to be a ticket showing the address of a place that closed down sometime ago. He never went along to the last live event there because his friend Takashi Okazaki never turned up. He used to be in the same class as Kanaru and was good at the guitar and singing. Takashi was one of the students that's disappeared. This caught Shin's interest. It was one of the name's on his brother's list.

Shin walks over to see if he could learn more but almost gives Takuro the impression he knew Takashi. Shin quickly makes up an excuse saying it probably mistakened the name with a classmate from his old school. Takuro laughs saying he had wanted to listen to his friend's performance back then. He walks off while Megumi tries to cheer him up.

Meanwhile at the police station, Kunio and Tomohiro were looking over the security camera footage from the karaoke club Reverse incident. Kunio was still keen on unwrapping the mystery and didn't care whether Ryo permitted to them to make copies of any evidence or not. Looking through the footage, Kunio spots something swooping across the screen during the brief flash of light. He knows something big is going on and Shin lying that he didn't find anything on his brother's computer confirms it. Shin was a bad liar unlike the criminals Kunio is used to dealing with. He orders Tomohiro to get someone to follow Megumi, Kanaru and Shin.

After school, Shin and Takuro were hanging out together, having a smash up the snowman competition. Whoever won was going to buy the other some juice. Takuro tells Shin that Takashi was a bad singer but there something professional about him. After Takashi had a nasal polyp removal operation, he and his friends took part in an audition and were trained to become a professional band.

One day, Takashi's band was selected to play at certain place they had always dreamed of but Takashi was told that he shouldn't sing for the next month so his band decided to try and keep it a secret from him. Even though Takuro tried to keep quiet about it, Takashi soon found out and was really mad. He almost missed out on the opportunity of his life and regretted it. Now that Takuro thinks back, they may have done it for Takashi's sake but in the end, it was Takashi who had to make the decision for himself.

That evening, Shin goes into his brother's computer again to confirm Takuro's friend's name was indeed on the list. Before he could delve any further, he hears the outside door closing and realising Jun may have left the house again, he rushes out. He was right. Walking along down the road was Jun. When Shin calls out to him, he didn't seem to be surprised to see his brother and had also switched to Yuki's personality. She says she hears a voice. A voice in pain. Shin tries to listen but doesn't hear anything. However, having the feeling his brother was onto something, he calls a taxi to go find the source of this sound.

Shin took a glance at the taxi meter which had passed the thirteen hundred yen mark by now before looking at his brother. Jun was silent as he gazed out the window. A light flickers ominously. Suddenly, Jun stops the taxi and get off at the shore near what appears to be a dark deserted hut. Worried but also curious to see what was there, he firmly tells Jun to stay put while he went to investigate. By now, Jun was back to himself.

Shin himself wasn't quite sure what he was doing really. As he approached the walls, he could see from the plastered posters that it was a live house (i.e. a small place where bands performed). Warily, he stepped through the narrow dark passageway. Making his way further inside, he could hear a voice crying out in pain and eventually, a familiar face was at the stage a few metres away from him. It was Soutarou. He appeared to be struggling to suppress the Persona that was trying to escape from his own. Shin watches from behind a box where he couldn't be seen.

Unfortunately, Soutarou had already sensed his presence by the time he finally got his Persona under control again. He was kind of surprised it was Shin that found him this time. Cautiously, Shin grabs a bar to defend himself before walking out into the open. He learns that Soutarou was the one who had Reversed Takuro's friend Takashi and he was having a hard time keeping the Persona under control as if he still wanted to sing. Soutarou had to kill Takashi to retrieve his Persona unlike Shin. Shin was different. Shin demands to know who they were and he replies they are the "Marebito" (The Kanji can be written as 稀人 or 客人 which is why Soutarou says "Kyakujin".)

Soutarou's boss is interested in Shin's special characteristics but, Soutarou didn't care. He was going to rip the Persona from Shin and have it as his own. Soutarou breaks out his Persona commanding it to grab Shin by the neck. Shin's Persona appears to help him but this time, it was no match for Soutarou's Persona. With one swift strike, Shin's Persona is sent flying to the wall.

Just then, Jun enters the room and Soutarou's Persona goes out of control again. Jun's Persona briefly flashes before him while Shin's Persona takes the chance to strike out at Soutarou's Persona to the roof. As the debris rains down, the brothers make their escape outside and sits down out of breathe. Jun reveals that even though his brothers didn't tell him, he knows he possesses a Persona.

At another point in time, Ryo was speaking to his contact again. They talk about how the name "Marebito" refers to those who knew the truth behind legends and myths. It can also mean "God" (or in Orikuchiism is used to refer to God-like or spiritual existences that come from another world at a certain destined point in time.) This Marebito organisation may most likely be a group who is trying to continue on with "that research" secretly. However, Ryo thinks they haven't completed their research yet because all he's come across so far are fused Personas. Until they are complete, they will have nothing to report on them.

Arriving home, Ryo was surprised to find his brother Shin sitting near the stairs waiting for him. Shin begins that he had something to discuss with him but Ryo cuts him short, saying they should be able to move to a new place in Tokyo soon. Shin continues trying to tell his brother how he's been attacked by strange people and how they had creatures appearing from them just like Jun but, doesn't catch Ryo's attention until he shouts out his friends may have been murdered. Without turning round, Ryo replies that was the reason he wanted them leave Ayanagi City quick.

Soon, the police arrives back at the live house which was in shambles now. Tomohiro remarks how it looked very similar to the previous Reverse crime scenes they've been at except there was no body to be found.

The next day Shin felt it was time he told Takuro the truth about what happened to his friend after learning what he did from Soutarou. When Megumi hears from Kanaru that they were seen leaving the building together, she thought they were going to have another dangerous of Kagenuki again. Just before she rushes out to stop them, Kanaru can't help but wonder why Megumi hated the game so much. Has she tried it before? It was fun for Kanaru. Megumi hesitates to answer before rushing out to avoid the question.

Outside, Takuro was having a hard time accepting the fact his friend was dead. Thinking Shin was just messing around with him, he grabs Shin by the collar as if he was going to hit him. Megumi and Kanari arrives just in time to separate them. Shin goes on to explain he saw Takashi's Persona which makes Takuro thinks he could still be alive since it's just something that appears from the head. Much to Shin's surprise, Soutarou suddenly appears before them to say Takuro is wrong.

Soutarou provokes Takuro saying how his friend was really cocky and repeats Takashi's favourite phrase to ridicule it. Takuro rushes in to punch Soutarou only to get repelled backwards by his Persona. Shin summons his own to help and tries to bide some time while the others escaped. Being the man Takuro was, he gets back up and tries to get at Soutarou again. As the rage welled up inside him with Soutarou continuing to throw insults about Takashi, Takuro's Persona is awakened and attacks Soutarou's Persona.

However, Takuro isn't quite strong enough to control his Persona yet. As it goes out of control, Soutarou tries to take the chance to kill Takuro's Persona but once again, Soutarou's own Persona goes out of control again. He throws up a large bundle of snow as a smoke screen before escaping from the scene.

Nearby, Jun had been watching. There was no use denying the existence of Personas now. Jun tells his brother that he heard the voice from last night again. It appears to be less sorrowful now.

Later that night, Shin goes to speak with his brother Ryo again while Jun asleep. He couldn't leave town yet. Not with all the things that he's gone through and doesn't understand yet. Ryo replies there are some things they do not need to know. In answer, Shin says it's not their brother that decides.

Next episode, "The Day the Chief Inspector Disappeared".

Thoughts

Hmmm, they actually slipped in a bit of fan service in this episode. We get a camera shot of Megumi wagging her tushy in front of the camera... Here I was thinking this would be a fan service free show i.e. the old sexual type aimed at the male audience nearly all Anime shows have and not the kind aimed at P3 fans like in earlier episodes. I guess it's mild enough here, though.

Right, moving swiftly on. We finally get a glance of who this mastermind Kyujo maybe during the opening but unfortunately, we only see his silhouette. He sounds really old. Besides that, we can also see the Marebito were definitely part of some experiment with the pods in the dark room.

I think Personas were being extracted from the younger members that appeared earlier during the show are really just disposable tools for Kyujo to gather enough Personas to materialise a powerful being or something along those lines. "Marebito" means in Orikuchiism beings from another world so this could be what they are aiming for. Maybe it's the red haired girl? She might not be in the real world yet since she keeps disappearing and it's hinted from the last episode that she could be similar to Cetus.

Things are really starting to heat up now that Takuro managed to summon his Persona without going through Kagenuki although he seems pretty unstable with it. Kind of the same with Jun's Persona too. At this rate we may well soon see an entire "SEES" team forming to battle the Marebito. Also, interesting to see Shin is finally talking to his brother about what's been happening to him so far.

Next episode looks kind of fun despite the title.