What’s In This Post
Quick Episode Summary
What Happened in this Episode
What I Liked in this Episode
What I Liked Not so Much in this Episode
Thoughts about the Episode
Related Posts
Quick Summary
In the 21st episode of BUBUKI/BURANKI: The Gentle Giants of the Galaxy, named Swan Song, Migiwa Kazuki meets with Guy Barville Abeille to learn his plans. Epizo Evans takes on Azuma Kazuki and Oubu in a misguided attempt to help Laetitia Nilgiri Swanson, who learns the full extent of Guy’s duplicity. Azuma decides to take action against the fallen Treasure Island while Migiwa decides she has to take her own action.
Note: This post may contain spoilers, so please be cautious!
What Happened?
Shūsaku Matobai’s flying ship, the Argo Gaura, is almost back in Japan. Sōya Arabashiri is checking on Reoko Banryū when he answers a call to her cell phone — from a completely unexpected source.
The Buranki Mega-lala with Epizo as its heart intercepts them, and Azuma and his team leap into action. Epizo’s dedicated to fighting on behalf of Laetitia. But Azuma has a cause, too: to defeat Guy. Their lengthy fight’s interrupted when Epimew, Laetitia’s Buranki, arrives after Guy let her leave. Because of their fight, Epizo’s mind is clear, and he realizes that Guy must have a reason for letting Laetitia leave in Epimew. He urges her to evacuate the Buranki. But it’s too late. Guy had brainwashed her Bubuki users, and they forced her into Epimew’s cranial cavity. There, she sees a vision of thousands of Buranki sacrificing themselves to build one huge Buranki; she also sees countless versions of herself. All of what she sees is apparently part of the process to become Epimew’s mind. Laetitia does not survive the strain.
Guy meets with Migiwa and discloses his disgust that rinzu has tainted “noble humans.” Guy’s goal is to rid humanity of all traces of the Buranki and Bubuki influence, even to the point of killing all bubuki users. Migiwa objects to his plan to use Deus Magna, the Buranki progenitor, and Guy points out he has no intention of letting her leave if she intends to interfere with his plans. When Laetitia dies, he reacts with mild disappointment, prompting Migiwa to ask if he were even human. After Guy proclaims thatLaetitia’s death was a step towards making a god visible to humans, the Buranki Zampaza arrives to rescue Migiwa.
What I Liked
Epizo finally figured out the extent of Guy’s treachery, even to the point where he tried to get Laetitia’s to bail out of Epimew. It’s very unfortunate that he was too late.
Perhaps the funniest moment in the series so far was Epizo waking up from trying to save Laetitia just in time to see Farrah Umlauf swinging a Bubuki (axe form) at him. Apparently, she was trying to wake him. His expression and his exclaiming “Oh my God” made me laugh. It felt slightly out of place against the backdrop of what just happened to Laetitia, though…
In response to Guy’s reaction to Laetitia’s death, Migiwa asked if Guy were even human. That was a great exercise in contrast: Migiwa, the “witch spellbound by Buranki” who Guy had rejected as tainted and therefore inhuman, showed far more human compassion than Guy, the self-proclaimed pure and noble human.
I wonder what Banryū needs to tell Karoruko Kazuki? Is this one of Guy’s gifts? Did he plant some kind of post-hypnotic suggestion into Banryū? I am really looking forward to his defeat…
It appears that Guy’s plan was to allow our heroes to try to destroy Treasure Island in an attempt to stop him, all the while knowing that the attempt would hasten the comet’s “awakening,” whatever that means. The comet apparently has two eyes. Does that mean it’s the progenitor? Just its head? A really big Buranki head? Something entirely different? It has to be something unexpected if Migiwa doesn’t know about it. Which begs the question of how Guy knows.
What I Liked Less
I don’t really get why Migiwa went back to visit Guy. Was it to trick him into revealing his plans? To try to convince him to change his ways? She seems much smarter and wiser than that. I had high hopes when she showed up, but I found her scene with Guy to be a let-down.
So Laetitia’s dead now, too? This season has a very high body count. I’m still ticked-off at the death of the Russian team, so Laetitia’s death isn’t coming at a good time.
So all of a sudden, Azuma and crew knew exactly where Treasure Island fell? That seems awfully convenient. I was under the impression that they weren’t completey sure where it was.
Thoughts
Laetitia’s death felt flat. The show played up her backstory along with that of Moses, one of her Bubuki. I know that the backstory’s goal could have been to build sympathy for her to make her death more affective, but having her just up and die as Epizo was trying to save her felt like wasted drama. The only plot point her death served was to give Guy a chance to say that her death was a step towards creating a god visible to humans. That’s the first time I remember him saying anything like that.
And where does building a visible deity fit into his plans? I thought Guy was all about humans first, about humans as the noble rulers of the Earth. How does building a false god support that world view? Is he trying to manufacture some kind of justification for his reign? There may be a good explanation for it, but I don’t see it.
I’ll give the show credit for creating a villain who I really want to see defeated. Guy has been strategically one or two steps of our heroes since the very beginning, and based on the ending, it looks like he maintains that lead. Again, I’m disappointed in Migiwa’s visit, because I thought she at least could slow him down. But maybe her strength’s not in human politics. Seems that Guy’s the undisputed victor in that arena.
What do you think Migiwa’s plan was when she visited Guy? Leave your thoughts in the comments!
Other Posts of Interest
- Preview of Fall 2016, which includes BUBUKI/BURANKI
- Review of episode 13, Black Oubu, and episode 14, The False Heart
- Review of episode 15, The Right Hand’s Scar
- Review of episode 16: The Hunter’s Bullet
- Review of episode 17: The Island Fortress
- Review of episode 18: The Butterfly and the Gallows
- Review of episode 19: Older Brother and Younger Sister
- Review of episode 20: The Rebellious Limb
- Review of episode 22: The Comet Opens Its Eyes
- Review of episode 23: The Gentle Giants of the Galaxy
