Episode 18 Summary - A Sinking Dream

Jun is leaving his house for school when he hears a young girl's voice reading out loud. He makes his way to the nearby woods and finds a girl in red.

"The young man ran through the paths laid with thick snow. As he escaped the forest filled with vicious beasts, he came across a crossroad. Panicking, the young man hurried along the path towards town. As he did so, he came across a girl sitting alone in the middle of the grassy plains that spread out before him. The girl was engulfed in light and white feathers, a sight that the young man had never seen before."

Seeing Jun, she looks up and says "We meet again." She gets up from the tree stump she was sitting on and thanks him for the "Feathers of a Whale" book. Without opening her mouth, she tells him her name was "Ayane". She had read Jun's mind of how he wanted to know her name. The two gaze into each other's eyes as a gentle breeze blows by.

In the afternoon, Shin was sitting together with Megumi and Kanaru at a table in the dorm. Megumi was surprised the "Feathers of a Whale" book was written by his parents. She had noticed it had the same surname as Shin but hadn't expected they were from the same family. It was a book she enjoyed when she was little. Shin's father had written the story while his mother illustrated it. Kanaru didn't know what the book was about so Megumi tells her about the boy that set off on a journey to find a way to make everyone happy. However, she remembers the boy never found what he was looking for. Shin was puzzled but agrees it was a strange ending.

Soon Jun arrives back at the dorm, making his way up the stairs without greeting anyone. Shin walks up to him and asks for the book so that he could lend Kanaru but coldly, he replies he doesn't have it and continues to his room. Inside his room, Jun lies down huddled up on his bed with the book in his arms.

At the Marebito's base, Sotaro and the others were a little troubled. The supply of Persona Suppressants they had got were mostly fake but at least it was enough to last them a little longer. All their contacts has been cut off now. At this rate, they'll have to wake up Kyujo or they're going to have problems. Shiiba opens up the capsule and offers a pill to the sleeping Kyujo as Sotaro sighs.

Sotaro thinks about how Kyujo had died once before and has let his Persona to take over him to live on. It's like having a pact with the Devil himself. However, they will need him to create the perfect Persona for themselves. They will just have to speed things up while they still had enough Suppressants. He tells Saki to bring Jun to them.

Back at school, Takuro and the others were getting all excited about Kanaru representing their school in the speech contest as they begin to make the preparations. They tease her, wanting to give her names such as "The Star of Naginomori High" or maybe even "The Star of Toyama". Meanwhile, Jun looked down from a window and sighed as he watched them walk by. He asked himself where Yuki could be.

Sometime after school and after work, Takuro finds Mayuri standing by the road spacing out. She was unaware of him until he waves his hand before her face. Takuro tells her he was just going to get back to making some cheer banners for Kanaru so that they can use them tomorrow to cheer her on. He invites Saki to join them since they were friends even if she didn't understand English. Saki replies that she can just hear it from Takuro himself the next time and laughs when he says he can't understand English. She walks off as Takuro shouts out the time and place anyway.

Later that evening, Shin had returned home to collect some paint from his room. As he looks out the window, he catches Jun walking off somewhere just as it was beginning to rain. He doesn't think anything of it and continues to search for the paint he wanted until the rain started to become heavier. He decides to take an umbrella out for Jun but finds him together with Ayane. They were under the same umbrella together, happily chatting away. Shin hides as they turn his way and walk by. He had seen this girl somewhere before.

Moments later, Jun and Ayane were at the station. Shin had stopped following them now. A train passes by but they don't get on. Ayane asks why but Jun doesn't answer. She pauses for a moment and smiles, saying they'll just walk. As they walked, Jun asks her where she stayed and she replies somewhere close by. Ayane had wanted him to notice for a very long time and Jun himself feels as if he had already known she was there.

Ayane goes on to describing herself as a doll that was loved the wrong way. It was because of this she started to sink away, eventually becoming part of something forbidden that existed high up and then becoming part of everything that existed. However, she has been feeling very lonely, something that was opposite of Jun's feelings. Jun actually wanted to be alone even though he loved his brother and sister. They pause amongst the crowd. Ayane believes she won't be lonely anymore with Jun and Jun believes he can be alone if he is with Ayane.

Back at the dorm, Shin couldn't concentrate on painting the banners because Jun hadn't returned yet. Megumi tells him not to worry since Jun has his mobile with him but is surprised when she hears Shin was more worried that Jun had a girlfriend. Takuro thought it was no big deal since Jun was already thirteen years old now but Shin just can't get rid of the feeling that it was a dangerous girl he was with.

Just then, Jun is back and greets them. He walks into the room and wonders what the "The Star of Toyama" was about. Shin tells him it was for Kanaru's contest and invites him along but Jun replies he'll be busy. He tells them to let Kanaru know to do her best and walks off.

That night, Shin dreams of his encounters with Ayane and jumps up from his as he hurried to Jun's room. He knocks desperately at the door but there was no reply. Inui tells him he had gone out not long ago and should be able to catch up.

Moments later, Shin manages to track them down at a theme park. He hides by a tree as he watches them sit down by a bench, chatting happily together. Shin hears his own stomach rumble and begins to wonder what he was doing. He looks back at his brother and finds him walking off.

He is spotted by Ayane and they exchange looks. She smiles as Shin puts on a frown. Suddenly, he hears a man's voice telling him he could get on the next ride and finds himself thrown into one of the cable cars. Getting up, he finds Ayane sitting calmly before him. Shin demands to know who she was and what she had done to his brother but she remains silent.

The cable car rocks violently and Shin suddenly finds himself on a boat with Eiko again. Eiko asks if he knew that the sea is calm with the waves subsiding just before a tsunami arrived. She offers to let Shin know what he wanted and again, Shin finds himself violently thrown away into the sea and back inside the cable car.

He bangs his head and opens his eyes. Ayane was nowhere to be found this time. Breathing a sigh of relief, he leans back on the door and finds himself falling again pass some high towering buildings until he lands in a snow filled field. He hears Eiko calling out Ryo's voice in the distance and finds her struggling through the snow. He tries to rush out towards her but finds another Eiko stopping him by the hand. She says to him, "It is a sin to oppose fate".

Shin ignores her and runs towards the other Eiko but ends up being caught and strangled by neck this time as Eiko says out, "The fate of opposing sin." As Shin watches the other Eiko being violently thrown about by Ryo's Persona, the Eiko holding Shin says, "Decisions. Abandonment." Shin cries out in pain.

Moments later, Shin finds himself back in the cable car down on his knees, holding Ayane to the ground. She speaks in Ryo's voice saying, "That day, I committed a sin". Next, Shin finds himself sinking into the sea and then appears in an empty warehouse. Before him stood Ryo. Shin is confused when his Persona suddenly appears to battle with Ryo's Persona. He tries to stop his brother but fails. Eventually, Shin's Persona wins creating a burst of white feathers as it lands the finishing slash.

Back at the theme park, Jun had returned to the bench with some drinks. He looks around for Ayane and then senses his brother Shin nearby. He looks up to find one of the cable cars filled with white feathers. Returning his attention to Ayane, he begins walking away as he continued to look for her. She suddenly appears and walks up behind Jun surprising him. Saying she will grant his wish, she kisses him and absorbs something. Jun collapses to the ground.

Back at school, Takuro and the girls were trying to contact Shin but his phone appeared to be off. Megumi suggests they go in since Shin may already be inside. Just then, Saki appears too and greets them saying she might not be able to make it the next time. Takuro was happy to see her and laughs, saying there wouldn't be a next time because he was sure Kanaru would win top prize. Megumi glances at Takuro and appears to be bothered about something.

Soon, the speech contest was under way and it was Kanaru's turn. She grasps onto Shin's charm and hopes it will be enough to support her before walking onto the stage.

Shin was now lying on the grass in the theme park. He wakes up to find Jun by his side. Smiling, he said Shin will catch a cold sleeping in outside. Shin could feel something different about his brother. It was as if he was Yuki. Shin stares at his brother as a white feather floats by.

Next episode, "The Returnees"

Thoughts

The low quality of the animation and artwork is sometimes pretty painful to look at. The cast's faces looked pretty out of shape for many scenes this episode, especially Ayane from a side angle. Then often you have to wonder where the character's eyes are actually looking at unlike in Code Geass.

So Ayane managed to "take" the Feathers of a Whale book from Jun in the last episode. We don't learn much more about her other than she appears to be lonely and wants people to stay with her. For some reason, Jun appears to have been her target for a very long time. She also seems to confirm Kyujo had performed experiments on his own daughter once and what Ryo said about her becoming part of something.

It will be interesting to see how they get Jun's "spirit" back from her (if that's what she absorbed when she kissed him).

Other than that, I'm not quite sure what all those scenes with Shin experiencing the past were about. Is she trying to tell him that she controls all fate and that anyone trying to oppose her will die?

Taking another look at the Marebito's base, it reminds me of the Large Hadron Collider which is currently under construction somewhere between Switzerland and France.

I think there were quite a number of love scenes in this episode besides the focus on Jun and Ayane. I think Megumi looked a little jealous when Takuro was so happy to see Mayuri. I wonder if that's her in the next episode but with a new hair cut with Takuro on the roof? Kanaru was also thinking about Shin just before her talk.