Episode 14 Summary, Wandering in Between

Shin wakes up from his nightmare where he dreamt of his and his brother Ryo's Personas battling together. There was some clay remaining in his hands. He gets up from the floor unsure how he had got there.

A few minutes later, Jun enters the room asking if his brother wanted to go the dorm with him. Inui was going to make some chipped ice deserts for them to cool down for the hot summer. However, Shin had already left the house. Jun looks around the room and finds a clay model of Ryo's Persona standing on his desk.

Shin had left for the police station and was looking for Kunio to find out more about what's happened to his brother. When he inquires at the reception, he finds that Kunio wasn't in. Suspicious that Kunio was just avoiding him, Shin looks back up into the windows just as he as leaving. Kunio almost gets spotted.

Determined to reach Kunio, Shin spots a delivery man nearby and somehow manages to disguise himself to get inside. Kunio was surprised to see him but decides to talk. After Shin gets the bowl back from the girls that is.

Meanwhile at the dorm, Jun, Inui and Takuro were enjoying their chipped ice deserts. It was unusually quiet but that was because most of the students had returned to their parent's home. Megumi walks in having just finished her dancing practice and sits down at the table. She was going to invite Kanaru out for dinner later in the evening to give her a breather from her speech contest preparation and invites the others to come along. Takuro reluctantly agrees saying that he'll bring Mayuri along too after they finished work.

Jun looks at them and wonders why they didn't go home too. Megumi and Takuro both look away avoiding his question. Jun pursues no further as Inui casually asks Megumi how the dance club activities were going. Megumi had a performance coming up with the team but it wasn't until autumn. She was working hard to go up the list of dancer rankings. Takuro teases her saying her skills must have dropped or something.

Everything appeared to be normal with the group of friends but, eventually Megumi couldn't hide her concern for Shin. Recently the newspaper had reported about how Ryo had gone missing and how he is suspected of withholding information about the serial murders. News reports had also mentioned Eiko's unexplained death.

Megumi had wanted to ask Shin himself but, because he was acting as if everything was all right, she decides to ask Jun instead. She was sure Shin must be worried about his missing brother and that there were many things he wanted to know but, there appeared to be something else bothering him.

Jun reveals that Shin loved Eiko much to Megumi and Takuro's surprise. It then occurred to Takuro what problems would arise if Ryo really was Eiko's murderer. He cuts himself off after seeing Jun's worried expression and Megumi too apologises for raising the subject. Jun smiles, telling them it's all right because everyone else were reaching the same conclusion. Slowly, he trails off mentioning how they feel about their brother Ryo.

Back at the police station, Kunio was letting Shin know that nothing new had been found out about Ryo's whereabouts or what had happened to him. Feeling very helpless, he also tells him the investigation team responsible for the Reverse cases and Ryo's disappearance had been dispersed.

Shin gets up, disappointed he couldn't find out anything. It was only now that he can truly feel the distance the ten year gap had left between he and his brother Ryo. All this time he had been racking his brains to think about where his brother could have gone but he never could come up with an answer. Kunio was his last lead. Just as he excused himself and was about to leave, Kunio tells Shin one more thing. He himself has been excluded from the new investigation team that's been formed.

Taking the elevator down, Shin was lost in thought thinking back to the time when his brother had told him to take care of Jun and how he wanted to leave at least one thing undone. Shin didn't realise the elevator had stopped until the man in a dark suit and red shirt behind him called out to him.

It was now late afternoon. Jun was returning home after some shopping and is surprised to find Kanaru outside their house. She was here to visit Shin but denies it was anything important. She had dropped by the dorm earlier but no one was there. Jun smiles saying Megumi was at preparation school, Takuro was off to work and Shin was probably at the police station. Kanaru asks why Jun was in the house and he replies he was staying in everyday, hopeful that Ryo would return one day. She looks down and a silence falls between them.

If Kanaru wanted to see how Shin was doing, maybe it would have been quicker if Kanaru phoned Shin instead, suggested Jun. Kanaru hesitates before answering, stirring her drink uneasily as if embarrassed and once again claims it wasn't really anything really important. Knowing how she really felt, Jun smiles and tells her to wait a moment while he went to get some photo albums with lots of Shin's pictures. As he stops outside their small studio's door, Jun suddenly senses something and spots a white feather nearby.

At another place, Shin had a bouquet of flowers set before him as he thought of Eiko's death. He imagined his brother Ryo standing over Eiko's dead body with no remorse, only a face full of malice. It was evening by the time he went to catch the train but is surprised when Soutaro appears behind him.

Takuro and Mayuri were still busy working into the evening at a clothings shop named "Sexual Bomber". While helping a customer choose his clothes and helpfully giving suggestions, Mayuri notice Takuro's gaze. After the customer leaves, she asks him why he was looking at her. He remarks that he never expected her to be working at such a place or how she had such a good sense of fashion yet, she dressed so plainly.

Mayuri looks at herself then over at Takuro and explains that the staff shouldn't be too badly or over dressed so that they don't make the customers uncomfortable. Takuro looks at himself and scratches his head as he digests what she just said. He then tries to invite her out to join them for dinner.

Soutarou and Shin were sitting at the Bamboo Restaurant now. Soutarou was the first to start talking and asked Shin if he knew the idol Chikorin had decided to quit her career. Surprised about how casually friendly Soutarou was being, Shin stops him because there were more important things he wanted to know. Soutarou puts on a serious face claiming what he was saying is very important.

He goes onto ask if Shin watched the student athletics and talked about how many of them would go about their sports but give up half way through their efforts. He also asks if Shin knew what the governor on the politics programme had replied to the opposition's suggestions. He had said, "Whatever, it's no big deal." Shin doesn't believe him. Soutaro looks over at the staff area in the restaurant and Shin follows his gaze. One of the waiters were getting into trouble. After the boss leaves him alone, the waiter yawns and walks by them saying, "Whatever."

Soutarou places some pills onto the table and asks if Shin had seen them before. Shin replies he hasn't. A little disappointed, Soutarou puts the pills away saying how he thought his brother Ryo might have used them or something. He was hoping to find out how Ryo had managed to get a hold of them but now understood Shin and Ryo weren't fighting for the same reasons.

Ignoring the pills, Shin demanded to know if the organisation Soutarou belonged to was the one responsible for all the Reverse cases that started happening again half a year ago. Soutarou answers yes and as Shin continues to question if that was the same day when their brother disappeared. Again Soutarou answers yes. Hearing this, Shin tries to get more information about his brother but Soutarou sits back and smiles. He answers that they would have gone to find him if they knew more about him and his whereabouts.

Back at the Kanzato residence, Kanaru and Jun were enjoying looking over old photos. Kanaru was looking at one where Ryo carried Shin on his shoulders and Jun explained that Shin had lost his balloon that time and had almost cried. Kanaru smiles and takes a closer look at the young Ryo commenting how he must be a nice person. Jun agrees. Flipping over the page, Kanaru spots pictures of Eiko too and recognises her.

Kunio and Tomohiro were just leaving a building they were investigating. Kunio was mad about how the president of the Hiragi company didn't show up. They had made an appointment with him to meet up but he never showed. Tomohiro says it can't be helped since Akihiko Sanada had already investigated them supposedly.

However, Kunio wasn't convinced because he wasn't with them when it happened. He's skeptical that the investigation team managed to make progress with only the analysis records that Eiko had made and the drugs found in Ryo's car. It was also suspicious why the company would let them go about their investigation freely and how there was no report of Ryo meeting up with someone in one of the company's car.

As they drive along, Kunio continues to piece everything together concluding that Akihiko Sanada was sent by the main headquarters to help cover up everything. Both Kunio and Tomohiro don't who they can trust anymore. Just then, they receive a call from Shin saying that he was on the trail of one of the Reverse criminals.

Takuro and the others were now meeting up. He greets Kanaru and the others and ask how her preparation for the "No Make Up On Contest" was going. Megumi corrects him that it was a speech contest and asks where Mayuri was. She was busy and couldn't come. It's been a while since the friends had got together so Takuro suggested they get Shin to come out too.

Nearby, Akihiko had met up with Inui on a bridge saying that now was the time that anything could happen. There was nothing the police can do to help that was for certain because it's been half a year since Akihiko had taken Ryo's place so he knew how competent they were. The headquarters was probably mostly taken over by "Them" now who were misusing the power of Persona. All they can do now is prepare for when the time comes, even though it might be bad for Kanzato and Inui. Inui smiles saying it's all right because it's been fun so far.

Up on a dark roof, members of the Marebito were also meeting up. Mayuri wasn't very happy to find out that Soutarou had gone out trying to gather information. That was her job. Yuudou explains time was running short so it can't be helped.

Suddenly, screams are heard on the street as one of the Marebito members appear with his Persona out of control. The drugs seemed to have lost their effectiveness and now the Personas that he had absorbed were trying to escape. Long tentacles shoot out attacking everyone nearby.

All the lights go out. Jun clasps his hands to his head as his Persona responds to the danger ahead. As the Marebito's Persona turns its attention to Jun, Shin arrives just in time to fend off the attack. The rest of the friends team up ready for battle while the rest of the Marebito members stand and watch helplessly. There was nothing they could do to help their companion.

Just then, a large familiar beam of light kills the out of control Marebito member. Shin looks up and can't believe what he saw. It was Ryo but there was a large amount of feathers floating around him. The lights began flickering back on and during that split second of distraction Ryo had disappeared again, leaving behind only a trail of white feathers.

Next episode, "The One who Seals Tomorrow".

The councillor Akihiko Sanada who was now stationed at Ayanagi, visits Shin at his home with what he knows about Ryo's disappearance and the Reverse incidents. He wanted Shin, Takuro and Megumi to fight together as Persona users. Even though Akihiko and Ryo belonged to the secret service that were solely responsible for the research into the paranormal spiritual entities, they were given orders by their superiors to conceal the truth. However, with their minds determined to destroy all research that was going into Personas, the two had once secretly fought together.

Thoughts

Nice opening. Shin and Ryo's Personas fighting against one another in the nightmare shows that Shin really does suspect his brother murdered Eiko. And just as I thought last time, Soutarou is trying to make use of that suspicion to make Shin join their side. Well, he actually just reveals how their group wanted him to join a while back but, you could say it's an invitation. Pretty "professional" of them to sit down and chat like that.

Shin looks like he's about ready to fight his brother. He seems kind of half and half on what to believe but after Ryo's merciless kill towards the end, he just might be edging towards believing his brother did kill Eiko on purpose.

As for that clay model, Shin drew a picture of it because of his dreams all the way back in episode one. Perhaps it's a reference to the Persona RPG series where all the characters who end up in the Velvet Room, always have premonitions?

And we finally see the grown-up Akihiko Sanada! He hasn't changed much over the ten years has he? Still like to wear gloves and a suit vest. I would like to know how he ended up with the police force, though.

I guess now that Ryo's not around, it's up to him to take charge for the time being. From the conversation at the restaurant, it sounds like half a year's gone by since Ryo disappeared and the Reverse incidents had resumed. Sounds a bit fast but, that shows they never knew about what Ryo was up to back in the last episode and how it took a while for them to find out afterwards. He did say he was heading back to the main headquarters for a while after all.

I'm presuming Ryo must be dead with all those feathers floating around him. I think his spirit maybe under Ayane's control just like what happened to Touma.

I'd like to see how they try to cover up the Marebito twin going berserk like that.

Music wise, the new OP "Word of the Voice" by Flow isn't bad. More rockier than their Code Geass OP "Colors". I think the artwork looks better than the first and I liked the falling mask at the beginning representing Personas.

Also good to see Yumi Kawamura sing the ED "Found Me" who also sung P3's OP "Burn My Dread". Again, not a bad song but at the moment I prefer her P3 songs. "Burn My Dread" was playing in background in the scene where Saki and Takuro were working.

I'm not quite sure what the illustration portrays but, maybe it's to show how the three brothers are like a cactus plant, together yet the needles keep them apart.

I really liked that tune when the guys were having ice deserts at the dorm. Good relaxed, summer feeling to it.

I'm interested to see if they get armbands when the team gets formed soon like the SEES.