Anime

Re:CREATORS Episode 2: Selesia’s Creator and Magical Slayers

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Quick Summary of Re:CREATORS Episode 2

In Re:CREATORS episode 2, “……. that wasn’t funny,” Meteora Österreich reminds Souta Mizushino where they first met. Along with Selesia Upitiria, they build theories to explain their predicament — in the hopes of finding a way forward. They track down Selesia’s creator and decide to meet in a public place. That’s where Mamika Kouki, a Magical Slayer under Gunpuku no Himegimi’s influence, confronts Selesia. The city may never be the same.

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

What’s In This Post

What Happened in Re:CREATORS Episode 2

A Glimpse of Meteora’s World

Re:CREATORS Episode 2: Meteora remembers the hero from her game
Meteora reminds Mizushino that he was the hero of the game that had been her home. Capture from the Amazon Prime stream.

As Meteora describes her home world, Mizushino remembers that it was from a game he played years ago. Mizushino doesn’t know how to react when she says she remembers, too, and calls him the hero. The conversation turns uncomfortable when they declare they’re going to use his home and their base. Meteora insists on pulling her own weight, so he asks her to tidy up the room. She tries Restoration Magic, which takes time to work. It’s as much an experiment in the effectiveness of her magic as it is a fulfillment of her commitment.

Mizushino takes Selesia and Meteora to YcDonald’s, where she can’t stop eating because the food’s so delicious (compared to her world). She comes up with several theories to describe what’s happening to them. She even turns the food’s deliciousness into an explanation of this world’s information density and its relationship to bringing the other worlds like hers into being. Meteora also shared what Himegimi had told her: that the characters should demand the writers remake their worlds to remove cruelty and pain. That idea even resonated with Selesia. None of their theories can explain how Himegimi was able to break into the “land of the gods.” Meteora announces that even if they find a way to get back to their own worlds, there’s something she wants to achieve in this world.

Re:CREATORS Episode 2: Meteora really, really likes Earth's food
Meteora really enjoys the food in this world. I mean, she enjoys it a lot! Capture from the Amazon Prime stream.

Meteora’s Restoration Magic Fizzles

They return to Mizushino’s room, where they discover that Meteora’s restoration magic didn’t work. She cleans the room by hand instead. Mizushino finds the name of the company who made Meteora’s game, but they can’t think of a reason to introduce themselves to the company to fulfill Japanese etiquette rules. However, they’re able to find the individual who created Selesia’s series. Before they can decide whether or not to go, Meteora discovers Mizushino’s sketch book, which he’s loathe to share. She worries that the his world, if not published, may become problematic. They decide to approach Selesia’s writer about a meeting. Since he’s in the middle of writer’s block, he agrees — in no small part because the e-mail asking for the meeting included a photo of Selesia.

Selesia Meets Her Maker

Re:CREATORS Episode 2: Selesia looks a lot like her character!
Selesia’s e-mail convinced her creator to meet with her. Capture from the Amazon Prime stream.

They decide to meet at a public place. Selesia, Meteora, and Mizushino are underwhelmed at the man’s demeanor, but Selesia introduces herself to him anyway. Of course, he thinks she’s cosplaying, and the way he looks at her puts her on the defensive. She has to draw her sword to convince him that she’s real. Before she can press the issue, a red-haired girl arrives. The kids all around her recognize her: she’s Magical Slayer Mamika. She immediately walks up to Selesia and Meteora and can’t remember their names. However, she begins trying to lecture the two of them about joining forces with the Military Uniform Princess — who our heroes recognize immediately as Himegimi.

Selesia tries to tell her it’s not as simple as it sounds, and Mamika immediately gets upset that Selesia’s not jumping onboard to stop mistreatment in their respective worlds. Frustrated that Selesia won’t understand her, Mamika transforms into her Magical Slayer mode and attacks. Meteora has to cast spells to keep Mamika’s attacks from killing humans. Without her mech Vogelchevalier, Selesia’s combat abilities are limited, and Mamika eventually hits her with a speciality attack that knocks her to the ground. Mamika’s horrified as she looks at the physical destruction she’s wrought; she mortified at the blood flowing from Selesia’s wounds. She’s never seen anything like this before in her world.

Re:CREATORS Episode 2: Selesia knows the meaning of "surrender." She just chooses to ignore it.
Despite the pain and blood, Selesia’s not about to surrender. Capture from the Amazon Prime stream.

Selesia’s Idea of a Fight is Different from Mamika’s

Mamika expects Selesia to give up now that she’s hurt. Pointing out that she’s from a different world, Selesia refuses to give up. She even offers a counter argument: if Mamika’s just going to use force to compel people to go along with her sense of justice, she’s not going to make any headway. Mamika’s completely out of her element. She looses her composure and casts her most powerful spell: Magical Splash Flare. The concussion would have killed Selesia, except another character intervenes. Yuuya Mirokuji, a villain from “Exclusive Underground,” along with his gigantic avatar, warns Mamika to stand down. He says in his world, he was apparently the final boss, so he’s powerful. Mizushino and Selesia’s creator recognize him and are afraid.

What I Liked about Re:CREATORS Episode 2

Mamika Slams Selesia’s Creator

Selesia shows once again just how reasonable she is. When he seems to hesitate at letting her and Meteora stay with him, she points out how much he already knows about her. Meteora, too, points out that information should flow both ways. He could only agree, though I really think he was secretly pleased.

Re:CREATORS Episode 2: Selesia's web exposure makes her feel uneasy
It’s understandable why Selesia would feel so uncomfortable at the idea of her picture being on a website for all to see. Capture from the Amazon Prime stream.

Still smarting from the idea that her very existence was as a prop for entertainment, Selesia points out that her decision not to join with Himegimi might have been less her decision and more her creator’s — or some other influence entirely.

When he brings up the home page for Selesia’s series, she cringes, and Mizushino asks why. She asks if he’d be comfortable knowing that someone was watching him all the time. This show’s doing a great job exploring the implications of its core concept, and I’m loving it!

“Even old men like you know who I am?” Magical Slayer Mamika says as Selesia’s creator recognizes her. I guess even in Japan, there’s some aspersion cast at older men who watch the Magical Girl genre. That’s too bad; sometimes an innocent and pure motif is just what the doctor ordered.

Re:CREATORS Episode 2: Mamika is good-hearted, but she's not fast on the uptake
Mamika’s heart is in the right place, but she lacks the mental sophistication to understand what Selesia is trying to say. Capture from the Amazon Prime stream.

Selesia Wants to See for Herself

We finally get to the heart of why Selesia hasn’t joined Himegimi (or, closer to the heart): instead of just taking Himegimi’s word that the “gods” in our world are evil, she wants to judge for herself. Good for her! Relying on her own judgment is a stand-up thing to do.

Seeing Magical Slayer hurl deadly heart-shaped bolts as Selesia while Meteora casts spells to keep humans from dying was a delightful discordance. What would have been more or less harmless attacks in Mamika’s world is lethal in ours; seeing her later come to grips with that concept was another way this show’s tracing the implications of its core concept.

What I Liked Less about about Re:CREATORS Episode 2

This episode held together really well. I have no complaints.

Thoughts about about Re:CREATORS Episode 2

Now that I’ve seen the full OP, I have to wonder: who is the girl in the white dress who threw herself in front of the train in the first episode? We see her again in the OP as she sinks deeper into the water and her glasses fall off. The last shot in the OP is Mizushino, standing in a parched lake bed, putting on his glasses. What’s going on there? What’s the connection between the two

Re:CREATORS Episode 2: Mamika is prone to panic
Not only does she lack mental sophistication, she’s also prone to panic. She nearly kills Selesia with this shot. Capture from the Amazon Prime stream.

I can’t be the only one who thinks of Gate’s Lelei La Lalena when I look at Meteora! Thought Lelei’s hair was a little more blue…

The Dry observation of the Week Award goes to Meteora. When Selesia called Meteora’s idea that the fictional worlds’ existence comes into being based on the sheer volume of information in our world, Selesia calls the idea stupid. Trying to be understanding, Meteora can’t help but observe, “…but it’s nothing more than your displeasure at discovering your reason for existence.” Dry humor and crushing philosophical despair in a single sentence!

The episode started slow with a lot of exposition. I usually find that stuff dull, but even after just 2 episodes, I was perfectly happy listening to Meteora, Selesia, and Mizushino theorize about their predicament. It got a lot of the foundation material out of the way, and it set us up for an interesting twist at the end. A magical girl (here called Magical Slayer) who fought in our world was beside herself at the sight of destruction and blood. In her world, battles had been antiseptic and painless. In our world? Not so much. I think the writers are doing a great job exploring the possibilities implicit in the central concept.

What do you think about the magical girl battle? Let me know in the comments!

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One thought on “Re:CREATORS Episode 2: Selesia’s Creator and Magical Slayers”

  1. Man… I love Meteora. And it’s impossible to talk rationally about Mamika without spoilers, because we all know what’s coming down the pike. (Even if we didn’t back when this article was originally written.)

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