Episode 16 Summary - The Child of Liberation and the Spirit of Healing

The Marebito's leader Kyujo is resting as Saki shares what little of the pills she had left amongst her team members. Udou was hesitant but she insists saying that she will manage because she hadn't absorbed that many Personas.

Satorou chips in to accept the pills grinning that he didn't want to end up like Shiiba's twin brother, Wakasa. They had plans to get a hold of more but it won't be until later at night when their contact lets them know where to meet. Saki says she'll go too and hands over her pills to Sotarou. He looks at Shiiba again commenting how he had looked at his own brother the same way that time. Looking up he says to himself that everything will be complete.

At the student dorm, Shin and his friends were still considering what they wanted to do. Takuro was beginning to think he will join because it had been his original intention to fight. Despite Megumi's warnings, he has been training all this time secretly, trying to have better control over his Persona.

Looking over at Shin who was sitting at his desk staring silently out of the window, Takuro asks what he planned to do but there was no answer. After a loud shout, he finally snaps out of his thoughts but he didn't actually hear the question. Just then, Jun walks in to let them know Inui wanted everyone to gather together.

Walking into the main room, they found Akihiko sitting at the table. He originally wanted to give them some time to consider what they wanted to do but there was a change of situation. Turning his laptop towards them, Akihiko shows them two pictures. One was Kazuhiko Hiragi, president of the Hiragi Pharmaceutical Company who Megumi recognised from the kidnapping incident and the other man was the Senior Managing Director, Kiyofumi Nagai. Both of them had once provided financial support for Persona research and had also been part of the special ops project Akihiko and Ryo had.

Half a year ago, Akihiko had found out they were still illegally developing Persona Suppressant drugs thanks to the analytical evidence that Eiko and Ryo had left behind together with some investigation of his own. In exchange for not revealing their illegal activity, Akihiko wanted them to help lure out the Marebito.

However, due to Ryo's activities, the Marebito eventually ceased dealing with the company which led to Wakasa going berserk in public. Shin thinks back to the time he had met with Sotaro and tells Akihiko that they didn't know how to get a hold of the drugs. Akihiko replies that it was someone named Kyujo who was responsible for getting a hold of the suppressants but they haven't managed to contact him. The drug's effects on the Marebito were reaching the limits.

Kunio was now standing in the doorway and hearing what Akihiko said, he suggests they should just let the Marebito perish themselves. However, Akihiko replies that there could be more Reverse cases during that time and as long as they can't find out where this Kyujo really was, they won't be able to put an end to it all.

Earlier in the morning, Inui had discovered Kyoufumi was transporting some goods from the company which had now been shut down. It was very likely it was boxes of the Persona Suppressants that was in the vehicle. They don't know why he's acting alone or what he has to do with the Marebito but, it was very likely he was meeting directly with them. They already had Tomohiro tailing him and it seems he was headed to Takayama, Yatsuo. This seemed to catch Megumi's attention.

Akihiko wants to use this opportunity to root out the Marebito so he wants Shin and his friends to make up their minds soon. Before that, he wants to let them know that he won't force them to do this but they are the only ones who can do it. The Marebito will be prepared to throw their lives away so Shin's team should be prepared too.

However, Megumi wasn't prepared to go. She didn't like how Akihiko has pushed on with his plans. They were just high school students who had normal lives and it just wasn't possible for them to face the bad guys like this. She storms off. Takuro was also thinking the same thing. Things were just too sudden and he just couldn't accept them all.

Akihiko agrees Megumi is right but fighting wasn't their only plans. Furthermore, they can't just wait for this chance to pass by. He tells Inui to make the necessary preparations to go to Yatsuo. Shin watches as Akihiko leaves. He then leaves for his own room and lets Kunio know he will be on standby there. He had already decided to go with the plan because he wanted understand how his brother Ryo had felt by doing this.

In his room, Shin thinks back to everything he has experienced so far. Jun walks in and says that everything Akihiko was was true but it will mean that Shin and his friends will all be treated as if they're weapons. Shin agrees but reminds himself that this was something their brother Ryo had wanted to do so that he could to try and stop the Persona abusers. Their brother had joined the police force, got promoted to chief and even went as far as joining the special ops team. What Shin really couldn't understand was why their brother didn't at least share his thoughts with his only family that was left, himself and Jun.

Later that evening, it was dinner time for Takuro at work. Saki had finished her serving by the time their break was over but Takuro had been too deep in thought to eat. After removing some rice of an embarrassed Saki, Takuro decides that he has to do what he must. He tells her to let the manager know he's leaving work for the night and makes his way to the exit. Saki tries to stop him because she too had something to do but Takuro says he had something urgent to do at Yatsuo and leaves before she could finish. As he passes by a shop window, Takuro talks to his Persona hoping it will cooperate with him this time.

Heading under the shadows of a bridge, Saki gets a call from Sotaro saying they were to meet an old primary school at Yatsuo. Saki tries to change the meeting place but part of the conditions for the supply was to go to the appointed place so there was nothing Sotaro could do. A sad look crosses Saki's face.

At the same time, Tomohiro had successfully kept track of Kiyofumi and reports that he had rented a truck to store the cargo he had in his car. He had stopped at various places so his actions were really raising their suspicions. However, Tomohiro is caught off guard just as he hangs up from his call.

By now, Takuro had contacted Kunio and had taken a taxi to where he and Shin were waiting. He gets an disgruntled Kunio to pay the fare and explains that he didn't want Shin to go alone. As they made their way to the school, Kunio explained their goal was just to trail the Marebito back to their lair. Akihiko will be arriving by air. Even if they don't manage to follow the Marebito, it will be enough to just minimise the possible area their base can be in. They had decided they don't want a group of high school students to face a group of killers.

Shin and Takuro tries to argue saying they had to fight the Marebito and round them up once and for all. Otherwise there was no point in joining the team. Kunio explains that if the Marebito managed to extract the high class Personas from them, the situation could get worst so it was best if they just left the capturing to the professionals. Suddenly, one of the Marebito members Shiiba appear before them causing Kunio's car to skid to a halt.

Exiting the car, Takuro summons his Persona and tries to make the first move. Unfortunately, he ends up flying off in a random direction again. Shin was now the real target. As he summons his own Persona to fight, he notices something wrong with Shiiba and accidentally lets his guard down. While the Marebito was occupied, Kunio takes out his gun but hesitates to shoot. As the Personas clash again, his gun is rendered useless. It was then that Shiiba's Persona also goes out of control. Kunio uses the chance to knock Shiiba out. They leave the Marebito behind because there was nothing they could do to help him now.

Rushing to the Marebito's meeting place, they are just in time to see Kiyofumi speed away. The Marebito had already got a hold of the van with the suppressants they needed. Sotaro jokingly asks for Shin and Kunio to let them go. They needed the drugs to live. Shin says he can't and urges them to go to the hospital but Sotaro replies they don't have medical insurance. Sotaro goes threatens to kill them if they try to stop them. With that, Saki jumps into the van and speeds off, almost running over Shin and Kunio.

With only two Marebito members remaining, Kunio demands to be taken to their hideout. Of course the two refuse, both summoning their Personas ready to do battle with Shin.

Meanwhile, the knocked out Tomohiro was being woken up by Kanaru who had once again got herself lost.

Both Akihiko and Inui were also heading to the scene as Kunio contacted them to let them know what happened. Kunio had lost contact with Tomohiro and one of the Marebito Saki had sped away with half the suppressants. They look out of their helicopter, straining their eyes but fail to spot Saki's van. She had already spotted them and put the headlights out.

On another part of the road, Shiiba was struggling to reach his pills. However, someone appears and manages to heal the restless Personas he had absorbed.

The outnumbered Shin was losing the fight now and ends up being head locked by Udou. Sotaro proceeds to extracting his Persona and tells him it was his own fault for getting in their way. No matter how much Shin struggled, he couldn't free himself. Thoughts of his brother Ryo flash by as he remembers the time he told them to leave Ayanagi City.

Just then, Takuro's Persona comes crashing through the wall and manages to save Shin just in time. The numbers were now even but Jun appears at the door. Angered at what had happened, Yuki's conscious had awakened inside him, summoning his Persona and using it to neutralise the Marebito members. However, Sotarou manages to resist and fires a shot, hitting Jun directly.

With the Marebito weakened, Shin rushes towards his wounded brother defeating Udou's Persona along the way. Akihiko and the others had now arrived, making their way to Jun too as Sotarou made his escape together with Udou. Akihiko quickly orders Inui to gather up the suppressants that Saki had dropped before having a look at Jun's wound and attending to it. Fortunately his vital organs hadn't been hit.

Tomohiro suggests they should get Jun to the hospital quickly but Kunio thinks it's best they won't make any careless moves while it was still night. Akihiko tells them the Marebito won't give up their only supply of Persona suppressants so easily. They'll have to come up with a plan to help Jun first.

Megumi had also made her way to the old school now. Seeing the wounded Jun before them, she guides them to a large traditional looking building. Both Shin and Takuro were surprised at how desperately she banged at the door until she explained it was her home.

Next episode, "About The Home of the Wind".

At Megumi's home in Yatsuo first aid was applied to Jun and, Shin and his friends waited for dawn. Sitting next to the wounded Jun and being so close to the dangerous place they had targeted made Shin understand how Ryo must have felt when he tried to keep them away from him. At the same time, Megumi was running through the events that happened to her 10 years ago. The reason why she continues to blame herself and why she is so distrustful of her Persona lies within the day the mass outbreak of Apathy Syndrome occurred.

Thoughts

So we finally have a name for those pills, "Persona Suppressants". But isn't the idea of "suppressants" to keep something under control? This would mean they shouldn't work for Ryo because he needs something to help him bring out his Persona at his age. Unless "suppressing" counts as "controlling"... I think there are multiple versions of the pills because in the preview, it looked as if Akihiko was comparing two containers of them.

I think Saki doesn't need those pills because Jun (or Yuki) had already helped her calm down the Personas she absorbed, not just because she didn't absorb that many. Also, she doesn't seem that bad a person I'm presuming she just joined the Marebito because of her affections towards Touma. Somehow though, I think she's starting to fall for Takuro. Why else did she try and change the meeting place?

It was a very close one for the Kanzato brothers (or should I say family?). Once again, Akihiko shows off more of his familiar character from P3 with his familiar first aid skills. A boxer like him would know how to tend to wounds no?

And judging from what he said at the dorm, Ryo is indeed dead. Or maybe they'll find some way to bring Ryo and the Reverse victims back...

Looks like Ayane's back after being missing for several episodes. What's the evil version up to now and are they going to shed any light on why she changes between grown up and young girl form? Probably not since it looks like the next episode maybe about Megumi again and why she doesn't want to return home.

Still so many mysteries about the other Persona users.