Episode 12 Summary, Saviour

Eiko is at Ryo's office with a report of the drugs she found within the young student corpses from the incident at the park. They were all new unapproved drugs and thus it won't be possible to find out what they're composed of. Besides, that a young man who used someone else's ID card had dropped by at the morgue to verify the body they had looked at from last time.

With the reports out of the way, Eiko lets Ryo know that she told Shin about Jun's brain surgery and how he wasn't surprised at all. She continues about how Ryo maybe treating Shin too much like a child when he's actually aware of many matters. She walks out thinking she had said too much.

Ryo walks over to his computer thinking Eiko maybe right. Suddenly, a surge of pain runs through him as he struggles for his pills.

Meanwhile Shin was at the hospital with Jun for his check up. The doctor smiles saying he had pretty much fully recovered from his brain surgery over the ten years. Jun was fortunate to have come across such a highly skilled doctor. Out of curiosity, Shin asks if that doctor was still around now but surprisingly, that doctor didn't belong to Ayanagi Hospital. Looking at the classified file, he tells them the doctor just happened to drop by while on the search for his missing child. Unfortunately, the doctor seemed to have passed away now in a traffic accident in Tokyo.

Leaving the room, Jun asked his brother why he didn't tell the doctor about all the strange things he's been saying lately. Shin looks away and hesitates for a moment before telling his brother that he has always been strange. Jun smiles knowingly.

The brothers walk on and joins the others who had been visiting Yumi. Megumi didn't sound too happy because there didn't seem to be any improvements to Yumi's condition. However, both Kanaru and Takuro were sure that Yumi smiled when she asked them to visit her again. Megumi immediately brightens up when she hears this.

As they were about to leave, they come across Ryo who pauses by the entrance and turns their way. The friends greet them and Ryo gives a nod of acknowledgement before reminding them that they shouldn't come to the hospital in such large numbers and walking away. Shin asks where his brother was going and he replies he was here to visit a friend.

Ryo walks into Yumi's room and remembers the conversation he had with his contact earlier. Yumi would be dead by now if Shin and the others hadn't been there. Something was keeping Yumi's damaged Persona and mind together but they didn't know what it was. What they are certain of was, was the footage that Inui had managed to capture for them. They thought they had to give up on their search for more potential Special A candidates but, now they've found some again and were astonished by their rate of development even though something odd had appeared amongst them. One of them was Ryo's younger brother, Shin Kanzato.

As Ryo stood by Yumi's side lost in thought, Shin walks in. It really was his brother who had saved Yumi during that incident. However, when Shin tries to ask Ryo more about it, Ryo denies knowing anything about the incident beforehand. Shin gives up and makes his way out the door. On the way he pauses and thanks his brother for that letter of recommendation from the doctor in Tokyo.

Later that night, Ryo had his car parked as he talked on the phone while waiting for someone to arrive. Kunio and Tomohiro were trying their luck at finding out more about the Reverse cases once again. Ryo's contact had looked into the DSI's background and found they were clean. Currently that is.

DSI were now just a psychiatrical researsch organisation but digging deeper in their past, Ryo's contact found the organisation had been lead by different people. The problem was the man that they had suspected died five years ago and ever since then, research into Personas had ceased to continue. Ryo reminds his contact that the Marebito had definitely been trying to fuse multiple Personas and he replies that someone must be continuing Komatsubara's work.

Just then, a dark car drives by and stops next to Ryo's car. The middle aged man sitting in the back passenger seat hands over a small bag containing Ryo's medicine. He had already given Ryo's a year's worth but because they were becoming less effective, Ryo had to request for more. In other words, the drugs were reaching their limits.

The man reminds Ryo that prolonged use could endanger his life and remarked that it was a miracle he could still summon a Persona at his age. Ryo takes the bag and asks if the pills are really just the ones manufactured from long ago and not part of something they are continuing at present. The man leans back into his car and tells Ryo not to ask any more if he wishes to keep his supply of the drug.

Seeing a lead before them, Kunio and Tomohiro tries to trail the dark car only to be stopped by Eiko. The three people stop by the Bamboo Restaurant to dine as Eiko apologises for getting in their way. She claimed to have been buying some daily necessities and that it wasn't on purpose. Eiko continues trying to clear up any misunderstanding about what she knows saying that Ryo never tells her anything about the Reverse cases. She doesn't know what Ryo was thinking but was sure something big was going on and asks Kunio for a favour.

Afterwards, she heads over to the Kanzato residence to find Ryo. He wasn't home and Shin was having a hard time doing the cooking. After finding out Ryo wasn't home, Eiko decides to leave. Shin tries to ask what she wanted Ryo for but she doesn't answer. He asks no further but wonders where the apron they had came from. Eiko reveals that she had given it to Ryo because she didn't want him to cook in the kitchen with his uniform still on. It wouldn't look good if the police chief went to work with a dirty uniform.

However, what Shin really wanted to know was if they had gone out together. Eiko wasn't too sure but when asked if she loved Ryo, she gives a confident yes much to a disappointed Shin. Later, Yuki and Jun doesn't quite understand why Shin was jealous over their older brother's relationship.

Ryo was now driving along the coast, still suffering from the side effects of the drugs. He was resuming his call with his contact again and had concluded that the only way to find out who was leading the Marebito was through the drug manufacturers themselves. He had hoped his contact would be able to find out something sooner but now, he'll just have to sacrifice himself too in the process of their investigation. Ryo had been taking their drugs for a long time now because he could no longer summon his Persona without them.

Ryo drives on and tries to move onto the next subject but a sudden burst of static noise on his phone prevents him from doing so. The lights ahead turn off one by one and a man on a wheelchair suddenly appears before Ryo forcing him to swerve aside. He looks back to find a spot of red light illuminating where the man was sitting.

Ryo gets out of his car and recognises him as Komatsubara but the old man denies the name. He tells Ryo that Keisuke Komatsubara died five years ago and now he went by the name of Mareya Kyujou.

Kyujou starts to talk saying that it was a pity their project had to cease for the both of them. Personas resembled both God and the Devil, possessing unlimited power yet were limited by the human mind. However, now he had found a way to bring such power into the real world. he was very happy that the Personas had awakened with the Kanzato brothers and sister as if they too had been waiting for this moment. All the miracles that had occurred over the past ten years has gone according to his will and now the first thing Kyujou wanted was Ryo. He will be waiting for him the next day at the crossroad plains.

With that, Kyujou disappears and Ryo finds himself back on the road again as a car speeds by. His contact phones again asking what all the noise on the phone was all about. Ryo answers that Komatsubara is alive.

Back at the Marebito's base, Saki had brought back Yuuji who she had found lying in the middle of the streets. Soutarou wasn't all too happy to see him because he never helped Touma during the fight with Ryo. Another group of teenagers on the other hand didn't really care at all since he was useless without his Persona. Instead, they wondered how he could still be alive after being cut off from his Persona.

Soutarou guesses Yuuji had a unique biological composition that allows him to survive whereas Saki didn't. He glances over at Saki as he reminded her of the time they fought Shin and she thanks him for saving her. One of the twins continue talking about how Yuuji probably didn't want to return because he couldn't face the fact his Persona was cut off because of Ryo and it was his fault Touma died.

At this point, Saki cuts in saying that she believed Touma was still alive because she had seen him. Soutarou continues to insist he was dead, killed by Ryo and probably being cremated. However, after what Saki had seen she was unmoved about her belief. Kyujou wheels in and suggests they should continue to look for him if they want. After all, he was their leader and was an important subordinate of his. When the time comes, Kyujou will re-summon him. For the time being Saki was to stay close to the Kanzato brothers and keep an eye on them.

After Saki walks off, Kyujou announces that he now has a new list of targets and although few in number, they were concentrated in Ayanagi City. Now was the time they gathered the remaining Personas so that they can merge all minds into one and offer "salvation" to all.

Next episode, "The Snow Fields Dyed in Scarlet"

Those who use Personas places a great strain upon their lives. However, Ryo did not care about this and was getting close towards his limits as he tries to resolve his case. At the same time, the Marebito had obtained a new list of potential candidates and were about to throw Ayanagi City into chaos once again as Mareya Kyujou desired. With a great disturbance threatening the city, there is still some peace left but those days are about to end.

Thoughts

So, from the dialogue between Ryo and the mystery man in the car, it looks like Personas can only be summoned at a certain age. Once the "users" have passed that age, they will have to rely on those drugs to continue summoning. This suddenly reminds me of Evangelion pilots who all had to be fourteen years old... I presume the Marebito needs them because they are going pass their limit by absorbing multiple Personas.

Does this mean it's a different drug from P3's? Players having been treating them as the same and I think it's still possible they are. The manufacturer was around at the end of P3 and the drugs probably increase the capacity for Personas.

Now how does the red haired girl and the "Feathers of a Whale" fit into all this?

Ryo's contact (who is possibly Akihiko) sounds like he's just a private detective or something. It's kind of stupid to just have his voice for half the series. I hope they at least show his face once at the end of the series because even "SEELE" from Evangelion showed what the members of their organisation looked like after all the "Voice Only" scenes.

As for Kyujou, his finger motions remind me of Fudou from GetBackers. I'm not really surprised he's the doctor that operated on Jun. From the sound of things, the Kanzato siblings appear to be part of his plan or their Personas are so powerful they are crucial to it. I think it'll be the latter. Good job on the black out, red light appearance scene.

Next episode looks like a nasty showdown. Looks like Ryo finally has a better opponent. Who comes to his rescue though? Doubt he'll die of course. Maybe the red haired girl will appear and help him saying, "He's my prey!"

In any case, lets hope these new Marebito members that have appeared are stronger.

I don't know why but it feels like the series just kicked into gear. Maybe because we finally have an idea to what's going on instead of pretty much leaving us guessing for the last eleven episodes. In my opinion they've been spreading the mystery too thin thus far leaving the story running amuck. P3 on the other hand (which this show is supposed to be based off) actually fed you bits of information as you went along.

Aside from that, the Bamboo Restaurant looks like a cosy place to dine at after seeing so much of it. Would be interesting I'm sure.