Re:CREATORS

Episode 9

Whether talking about anime or storytelling in general, it's not unheard-of for villains to outshine protagonists and become more popular in their own right. I can easily see that happening with Magane. Even setting aside her sharp (both literally and figuratively!) character design, she has a verve and twisted passion that steps well beyond even screwball-evil standards. She doesn't so much delight in being cartoonishly evil; she delights in the absolute freedom to do whatever she wants without the protagonist of her source title to limit her. Stirring up trouble with her wicked little games is just her idea of fun. Yes, her dialogue can get tediously wordy, but the way her power works practically requires her to be constantly talking in order to set up her peculiar brand of magic, so there's a certain unique flow to it.

Even more importantly, knowing that her magic is linked to what she says means that she always has a convincingly dangerous aura about her; we don't need the ominous musical score or a sudden dip in her voice to know that she represents a constant threat, and the realization that her power is damn hard to counter once it gets rolling only makes things deadlier. There's something weirdly charming about her body language and how she cheerfully dances around even in dire situations. Whether or not she intends to taunt Sota sexually when she wraps her legs around him is very ambiguous, but I'm inclined to believe that she isn't above multilayered teasing. The more interesting question is whether or not she's just using Sota as a plaything or has actually taken a liking to him in her own twisted way.

Magane is the star of the episode, and the whole plot revolves around the not-so-little games that she's playing, so much so that it completely outshines what should be the episode's big moment: Mamika's death scene. The end of last episode made it pretty obvious that she wasn't flying away from that unscathed, so her ensuing death shouldn't be a surprise, nor should its function as a tool to motivate Alicetaria in the wrong way. What happens to Creations when they die is a more significant revelation: they just dissolve into pixels, as if they were always a virtual existence to begin with. Perhaps that's exactly what they are in the “world of the gods,” instead of becoming a flesh-and-blood person, which would also explain a lot about why they retain their powers in this world. The scene did slip up with the bloodstain continuity though, which can't be dismissed with the virtual existences reveal. Mamika's hand and skirt clearly had bloodstains from holding her hand against her pierced gut as she flew, but somehow those were the only bloodstains on her even after rolling over face-down in a pool of her own blood? It's a bit jarring to suspension of disbelief.

After siccing Alicetaria on Meteora based on some carefully worded half-truths, Magane decides to use Sota for some more entertainment. She might have made a mistake here though, and it will be interesting to see if she ever realizes it. In setting up a multi-level guilt trip for Sota by tying the death of his friend to the circumstances behind Mamika's death, Magane has pushed too hard, to the point that it looks like Sota is going to spill the beans about Altair to Meteora and crew next episode. His reactions in this episode confirm popular suspicion that Sota was jealous of Setsuna's ability, so he didn't step in to protect or comfort her when he should have. Potentially getting the details on that gives us a lot to look forward to next episode, even without the looming rematch against Alicetaria.

Two other questions linger at the end of this episode. What were the other consequences of that explosion last episode beyond Mamika flying away mortally wounded? They aren't brought up this week at all. And why were Meteora and Yuya conveniently on the scene during Sota's encounter with Magane? Did he call them as back-up, or were they tracking him or Magane? The former seems unlikely, since Sota would have still been desperate to conceal his connection to Setsuna at that point. Hopefully, we'll find out about both of those next episode too.

Rating: B+

Re:CREATORS is currently streaming on Amazon's Anime Strike.