Anime

Re:CREATORS Episode 13: A Retrospective and Meteora’s Very Positive Self Image

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Quick Summary of Re:CREATORS Episode 13

In Re:Creators episode 13, “An unpredictable story that no one knows where it’s leading to,” we get a retrospective of the series so far. Meteora Österreich provides the commentary, but there’s something subtly amiss in how she describes her role… And what’d she say about Altair’s hair?

Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious!

What’s In This Post

Quick Episode Summary
What I Liked in this Episode
Thoughts about the Episode
Related Posts

What I Liked about Re:CREATORS Episode 13

A New Look for Meteora

I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s something subtly different about Meteora… Capture from the Amazon Prime stream.

There’s really no point to having a “What Happened” section this time around since, if you’ve watched episodes 1-12, you already know. So I’ll jump right to “What I Liked.”

The show starts out as a routine, run of the mill recap episode. Meteora’s doing the voice over (around 1:28 into the show), and she dramatically says, “The fuse has been lit in the explosive story of us and Altair.” The music beings to swell, then stops as she says, “That description may be a little inaccurate.” It was at this point I began to suspect — actually, to hope! — that the writers might give us more than “just” a recap episode.

For the next few minutes, Meteora tells the story with a degree of impartiality. That changes at 5:15, when we see the first shot of Meteora as she’s firing the volley of optically-guided missiles from the first episode. I counted only four ways the character on screen was like the Meteora I know:

  1. She’s a she
  2. She has blonde hair
  3. She has blue eyes
  4. She’s holding her spell book
As appealing as this ending was for Meteora, she knew it ruined the foreshadowing that had been established so far. I have to admire her sense of integrity! Capture from the Amazon Prime stream.

Did Meteora Grow… Taller?

She’s quite a bit, ummm, taller than the Meteora we know. This new (and Excellent, Sexy, Glamorous, and Cute, according to introductory graphics) Meteora proceeds to destroy Altair in two shots. She even describes herself as “the treasure of the entire universe.” I’ve always known she had a dry sense of humor, but dang…

As fun as that was to watch, I think her statement that the scene was no good because “All the foreshadowing’s unresolved” represented the core of what I like about Re:Creators: it’s dedication to its premise. It’s not just a throw-away idea to get things started; it’s the core reality of the series. And the fact that the Glamorous Meteora on screen looks dejected because her version doesn’t work made the joke all the more enjoyable.

I think Meteora’s a little harsh when she called Kanoya a ‘lolicon.’ He’s only 16! Capture from the Amazon Prime stream.

At 8:05, Meteora describes Rui Kanoya by saying “…he likes little girls.” That’s according to the subtitles, at least. I clearly heard Meteora say “lolicon…” I’m going to grant Kanoya some slack because he’s only 16, and Meteora’s judgement is based on him rejecting Selesia Upitiria’s advances (she being a much older 19…).

Mirokuji, Very Impolite

I literally laughed out loud* when, around 8:52, Meteora describes Yuuya Mirokuji as “one of those guys who hangs out in front of convenience stores in the spring. And he’s very impolite.” It’s like Meteora’s gossiping with me as we’re watching the show together!

There’s a song called HERE I AM on Re:CREATORS Original Soundtrack** that sounded way, way too happy to be from Re:Creators. I couldn’t place it until I found the answer at 11:05 in this episode: It’s  Mamika Kirameki’s magical transformation song! And then I got sad because I miss her. I can forgive Altair for wanting to nuke our world. After all, she’s just acting out of despair and anger for how Setsuna Shimazaki had been treated. But killing Kirameki the way she did? That’s just cruel.

Meet Random Classmate — she’s the one with brown hair. At least she got a mention! Capture from the Amazon Prime stream.

At 11:49, we meet “Random Classmate,” a girl who’s apparently friends with Kirameki and her two classmates Melt and Karin. Who includes a detail like that in a retrospective? This show’s a love letter from writers to writers!

I think Meteora has a soft spot for Kirameki because around 12:01, Meteora gives a half-hearted (or maybe even quarter-hearted) defense of Selesia’s terrible showing against Kirameki in the second episode. Though Meteora tries to say that Selesia was trying to protect bystanders, she undermines herself by saying we shouldn’t judge Selesia “for struggling in a fight against a kid who knows a bit of attack magic.” Apparently, Meteora can be a little snippy when she feels like it.

Alicetelia’s Brain to Muscle Ratio

Meteora’s disdain for Alicetelia February is a bit more overt. At 14:57, Meteora says, “…she’s all muscle and no brains.” She has good cause, of course: Alicetelia had taken Makagami Chikujouin’s word about who had killed Kirameki. If that doesn’t confirm “no brains,” I don’t know what does. Okay, that’s harsh; I think Alicetelia’s given to moments of despair, and I can’t blame her for making bad decisions in those moments. But using her powerful lance to pulverize the petite and innocent Meteora? Not cool. That thought’s born out when, at 16:09, Meteora brushes aside the fourth wall and says, as Alicetelia’s about to deliver the final blow, “Muscle brains can’t hold a conversation.”

Disregarding the fourth wall entirely, Meteora stops the action and tells us that Alicetelia “Muscle Brains” just can’t hold a conversation. Capture from the Amazon Prime stream.

If you like Chikujouin’s expressions (and, yeah, I admit that I do), then you should like the montage of her reactions starting around 16:44.

This is probably sexist for me to say, but speaking just as a guy, I have to say that I would really liked to have been playing pool against Meteora 2.0 (the Glamorous one) starting at 17:59. In my defense… okay, I don’t have a defense. I’m just a big fan of Meteora’s Very Positive Self Image.

Meteora lulled me into a false sense of immersion (suspension of disbelief) as she describes Altair. It was almost like this was a normal recap episode again! Then, at 20:01, she mentioned that Altair’s skirt was too puffy and got in the way. Then she said, “Her hair is too long. It’s a pain to animate it.” And once again, the fourth wall just vanishes. It was really like Meteora was sitting beside me and talking. My cat look askance at me again when I laughed at Meteora’s goal to help the animation staff with Altair’s look: their goal is to “make her change into a track suit and sandals.”

Meteora Reassures Us, The Recap Had Been Planned All Along!

While I agree that Altair’s hair is likely hard to animate, I think Meteora gets a little carried away when she calls it “…a mutated mop.” Capture from the Amazon Prime stream.

And just to prove that this whole fourth wall thing means something completely different to Re:Creators than it does to other shows, Meteora begins talking right to us — the audience — around 20:40. She invokes the concern some viewers feel when a show resorts to a recap episode (like many of us felt when Saga of Tanya the Evil did the same thing). She reassures us that this episode had been part of the plan from the beginning and that we can relax and trust the production staff.

At 21:29, Meteora takes the frozen Mizushino’s hand in hers. I missed that moment the first time I watched the show; I’m glad I saw it when I was re-watching to write this review. That was a beautiful little gesture!

Little gestures like this resonate with me; they deepen my emotional connection to the series. Capture from the Amazon Prime stream.

After watching this episode, I’m more confident than ever that the writers and everyone else involved with Re:Creators has the series well in hand!

* I’m using the literal definition of literally. My cat looked at me strangely during this scene. I wonder why she finds my laugh so concerning?

** I absolutely love it, by the way, and if you like Re:Creator’s musical vibe, I strongly recommend the soundtrack. I’m listening to it more than I listened to Nightwish’s Dark Passion Play, and that’s saying a lot!

Thoughts about Re:CREATORS Episode 13

She might see Selesia as a rival, but Meteora seems to also feel affection for her Created friend. Capture from the Amazon Prime stream.

If you’re going to do a retrospective, you might as well do it with style. I can’t remember a retrospective that I found more entertaining than this one, and Re:Creators nailed it by staying true to their premise. As I’ve watched this show, I can’t count the number of times I’ve caught myself  thinking of Souta Mizushino’s world being our world while the sub-created worlds are the fictional ones. Meteora picked up that idea and ran with it. She actually spoke to us, the audience, for most of the episode. It was like having her over for a watch party, and she seemed to really enjoy herself.

I’ll have to invite her over again!

What do you think of this recap? Did you enjoy it? Or did it annoy you? Let me know in the comments!

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