Scrapped Princess ep.19-21

July 3, 2004 | 4 Comments

My slow crawl to finish this series is almost close to the end. With three more episodes to go after this, I am well-prepared for the ending. Upon seeing these three episodes, I have to say that so far the series has done a good job of maintaining the tension and the tight plotting. There are also some drool-worthy battle scenes presented in these episodes, presumably to entice the viewers to anticipate the finale. These episodes also show some interesting character development, although strangely, these development are not of the main characters. Come to think of it, so far the most developed characters in this series are actually the side characters. I simply assume that this is because the main characters started the series with little to no flaw and therefore there isn't much development that can be given to them. Anyway, as I promised, this is one of the series where I'll maintain the essay-like summary so I hope you enjoy it.

Episode 19 begins with Pacifica being sent to jail by Chris and the Obstinate Arrow members. During the captivity, she finds out that another woman has also been imprisoned next to her cell. However, unknown to Pacifica, this woman is actually her own mother, Queen Elmeyer. Meanwhile, Major Sturm reports to General Stahl that the Scrapped Princess has been captured and yet she doesn't seem to remember anything. Stahl, however, doesn't care about this. He thinks what's important is that they get a hold of her. Outside the city, the two peacemakers, Steyr and Socom are seen discussing the situation where the humans have captured Pacifica and yet they have not decided to do anything to her. The two clearly loathe the humans but Steyr asks Socom to simply observe for now since there are still 200 hours until the Scrapped Princess turns 16 years old. She understands that Socom is impatient but she reminds them how their personality model came from the humans themselves. I assume by this she means that his impatience is a sign of human personality and therefore is undesirable.

Elsewhere, Chris and Uinia have been set free by the Obstinate Arrow members since they have no use for the two. Leo can't do anything but feeling depressed because he has failed to fulfill his promise to Fullee. At the same time, Chris and Jill observe Chris and Uinia depart from the capital. Jill wonders if this is what Chris wanted and Chris simply tells her that the important thing is that the Obstinate Arrow won't be broken up. Paparu then arrives to inform them that Forciss is going to be sent by the King to the Holy Capital. Apparently Forciss has been asking his father to stop the war and to treat the Scrapped Princess kindly. In response, his father decides to get rid of his bothersome son by sending him elsewhere. Upon hearing this, Jill tells Chris that even if the unit is broken up, they will still follow him. Therefore, she wants to know what Chris really want to do now. Meanwhile, the news of Pacifica's capture finally reaches Shannon's ears and he's unhappy about the fact and starts causing ruckus at a local bar. Before he can put himself in trouble, however, Major Luke Sturm arrives and asks if he and Cz are willing to come with him to the castle.

At the same time, Leo and Uinia finally manage to tell Raquel and Kidaf about the recent development. Raquel is as upset as Shannon and intends to find Bergens so that they can ask him about Pacifica. Speaking of the guy himself, Bergens and the other heretical procurators have the thankless task of taking Forciss to the Holy Capital. Forciss asks them if he can see his sister before he left but eventually realises the impossibility of his request. Back to Pacifica and her mother, Pacifica's mother eventually realises that the young woman speaking to her is actually her own daughter. She tells Pacifica that she's been tortured in order to divulge the whereabouts of someone important to her. However, since that person is now in captivity, they no longer has any use for her and decided to throw her to jail. Because Pacifica still hasn't regained her memory back, she can only sympathise with the woman's plight without realising that the woman is actually her own mother. Never the less, Pacifica's mother seems quite happy when Pacifica reaches out with her hands to hold her mother's hand.

At the same time, Shannon quickly finds out that the reason he's been invited to the castle is because General Stahl wants to ask for his help to conquer the Giat empire. He thinks that if Shannon works together with him, they both can defeat the Giat empire and the Peacemakers. Shannon is obviously angry that the man simply wants to use Pacifica for his own benefit but before he can do anything foolish, Major Sturm manages to calm him down and tells him that he can think it over. When the two gets out of General Stahl's office, they immediately realise that Zephiriss has been following them. Major Sturm doesn't seem to be very surprised upon seeing Zephiriss and immediately guesses that she is either a Peacemaker or a Dragoon. Sturm then left to allow Shannon and Zephiriss to have their talk together. Zephiriss basically tells Shannon that she has decided to help him so if he needs her help, he should call her up. Meanwhile at the Giat empire, Seness and Eirote almost completed the constructions of the monstrous creature called the Gigas.

Eirote thinks that they still need 30 hours to complete the job. Seness, however, asks that they give it their best and finish it in 3 hours after she hears the news of Pacifica's capture. Back at the their theatre hideout, Raquel and Kidaf realise that Raquel can't sense Shannon's whereabouts and wonders if a Peacemaker is nearby. Raquel, however, is defiant and refuses to simply pray and do nothing. In contrast, Leo and Uinia are at their deep end and feel that they can't do anything to make the situation any better. Back to Pacifica, she asks the woman what happened to the woman's daughter. Her mother tells her that she had to let her go but she grew up to be a cheerful girl who has no worry in her life. Unfortunately for Pacifica, her mother's health starts to deterioriate. Realising that she may not have a lot of time before she passed away, Pacifica's mother asks her daughter if she can called her 'mother' before she die. Pacifica at first refuses because she knows that if she calls the woman 'mother', the woman will die. But in the end, Pacifica has no choice but to cry out 'mother' when the woman passed away quietly in her cell.

In episode 20, the Obstinate Arrow quickly find out that Queen Elmeyer has died inside her cell and that there is a cover up in regards to her death. Back to Pacifica, she's been taken by General Stahl and Major Sturm to see her father. But the psychotic coward becomes afraid upon seeing his own daughter and tells the two to cut her head off. Seeing the situation, Major Sturm decides to take Pacifica away from her father while General Stahl tries to persuade the king on the benefit of keeping Pacifica alive, namely the ability to defeat the Peacemaker. Meanwhile, Raquel has decided to infiltrate the castle by using an invinsibility magic. Kidaf tells her that it seems Pacifica is still alive but there are hundreds of guards guarding the castle. Meanwhile, Forcis and Bergens are seen travelling to the Holy city but in the middle of the road they stop to help a frail old man. Upon hearing how the man almost got killed in the tsunami incident not too long ago, Forciss is grieved for not being able to help small people like the old man and his grandchildren.

Back in the castle, General Stahl confronts both Shannon and Cz to see if they are willing to co-operate with him. When they both refuses, he produces Pacifica on the spot to entice the two to co-operate with him. Cz immediately takes control of one of the soldiers guarding Pacifica and tries to have the soldier to kill Pacifica. Shocked from the sudden turn of events, Shannon is almost late to save his foster sister. Thankfully for him, the soldier who's about to execute Pacifica suddenly explodes and in his place, Steyr materialises out of nowhere. Cz is annoyed with Steyr and wonders why she intervened. Steyr simply tells her that they don't want to aggravate the Princess to the point that she unleashes her power. Steyr also wants to hear what General Stahl has to say. Because of this, Stahl then goes on and on how he wants to conquer the Giat empire and other countries and he promises that he'll keep the Scrapped Princess out of the Peacemakers' way if they agree to help him in this matter. Upon hearing the stupid speech, Steyr and Cz can't help but shake their head at humans' greed and foolishness.

Steyr then laughs and tells everyone that just as she expected, humans are foolish enough to initiate the process of reset. She explains that in the occasion that humans are stupid enough to think of borrowing the power of Peacemakers for their own use, the Peacemakers are given the rights by 'the system' to return human civilisation to its roots. This means destroying 90% of mankind so that hopefully most, if not the majority of humans' greediness will die down in the process. Steyr then mentions a rather clever albeit cunning analogy about how people normally trimmed down a flower garden in order to prevent everything from dying. She also adds that it looks like a permission from the system has arrived and motions her gaze upon the arrival of Socom in his divine punishment form on top of the capital. Pandemonium immediately seizes the castle and everywhere in the capital. In his divine punishment form, Socom proceeds to destroys the capital with his laser beam. Afraid of the 'deity', the King immediately orders his soldiers to kill Pacifica.

Upon hearing the mad King's order, Shannon races towards Pacifica and manages to knock out all of the soldiers who try to harm his foster sister. Steyr wonders why Shannon still want to protect Pacifica even though the world is going to end because of her. She wonders if Shannon thinks that Pacifica is more important than this world. In reply, Shannon tells her that he has no use of a world which does not allow his sister to live in it. He admits that he can't protect the world because he's neither God or Peacemaker but given the choice of killing or protecting his sister, he'll choose protecting her to the end. Upon hearing Shannon's heartfelt words, Pacifica is immediately reminded of her past with her foster brother and regains her memory. Well, after things are said and done, I guess things do start and end with Shannon for Pacifica. At the same time, Socom's laser beam eventually hits the castle and causes Pacifica to fall backwards. Seeing Pacifica unguarded by Shannon, the head soldier 'Slay' (Fulle's ex-comrade), tells a soldier to kill Pacifica.

However, before the soldier can do anything, Major Sturm orders the soldier to not harm Pacifica and proceeds to use his bullwhip to pull the soldier away from her. Sturm then decides to go against the King's order and to take Pacifica back to prison until they can regain order in the castle. Pacifica is then dragged away from Shannon, forcing him to chase after her and the soldiers. Meanwhile, Cz decides to confront Steyr and asks her why she had divulged some informations that humans did not need to know. She wants to know why Steyr purposedly brought on this destruction. Steyr tells Cz that she may not know it because her real form has been 'compressed' until very recently. But the truth is, Steyr has had to endure the foolishness of this species called humans for 5000 years. And yet, nothing has changed after all of those years. Humans still attempt to kill each other. Steyr tells Cz that she can either go with her plan or join the humans and fight against her. Meanwhile, at the Giat empire, Seness receives news from Natalie that the capital is being destroyed by the Peacemakers.

Upon hearing the news, Seness asks Eirote if the Gigas are operational and when she finally receives the confirmation, she orders two of her people, Ruth and Drake to prepare themselves. Back to the capital, Steyr has finally joins Socom in her divine punishment form. At the same time, Steyr has released hundreds of 'relay point' all around the world and this means that the black blob from the first couple of episodes are back to terrorise the citizens. The Obstinate Arrow members try their best to help the citizens but it seems even they are overpowered by the sheer numbers of the blobs. Realising the situation, Shannon is forced to choose between confronting the Peacemaker or saving Pacifica. Upon hearing Zephiriss' opinion on how Major Sturm seems to be a rather rational person, Shannon decides to transform into a Dragoon to destroy the Peacemakers. Sensing the Dragoon transformation, Cz decides to help her comrades and transform into her divine punishment form. Thankfully, just when it looks like Shannon is about to be overpowered by three Peacemakers, Seness and her charges appear inside the Gigas to help Shannon.

Continuing from the previous episode, episode 21 begins with Zephiriss explaining to Shannon that the Gigas are basically Dragoon emulations. Unfortunately, before Shannon can talk more about it, the Peacemakers start to launch their attack. Meanwhile inside the capital, Chris and the rest of Obstinate Arrow members continue their best to help the citizens escaping from the black blob. Raquel also tries to stop them with her magic and achieves a lot of breakthrough. The surprise, however, comes from Kidaf who launches attack on the blob using his bug formation. The formation comes as a surprise even for Kidaf himself because he never used it before. It seems to me the Guardian factor inside Kidaf has been activated now that the war is in motion. At the same time, inside the Holy city, Forciss witness the thunderous lights that appears in the sky thanks to the giant laser war between the Peacemakers vs the Dragoon and its emulators. When Forciss wonders what those lights are, the Mauser Cardinal tells him that it is a punishment from the apostle of God because they failed to killed the Scrapped Princess.

Speaking of the Dragoons themselves, Shannon and Seness seem to be overwhelmed by the power of the three Peacemakers. Because of this, Shannon suggests that they fly a bit higher so that the attack of the Peacemakers do not accidentally destroy the city. Upon escaping from the attack of the Peacemakers, Shannon manages to find out from Zephiriss that the Gigas are the ARFII series. The model was developed long after the Dragoons and the Peacemakers but it lacks the individual personality that the two previous creations possess. Meanwhile, Chris and the Obstinate Arrow are now seen inside the underground river tunnel riding a boat while avoiding the black blobs that have now penetrated the tunnel. Jill wonders what is Chris' intention in wanting to see the Scrapped Princess. Instead of answering the question, however, Chris decides to tell his group that in the case that his action is not agreeable to any of them, they are free to choose their own path. Back to the fight in the sky, Seness starts to demonstrate the ability of the Gigas to achieve a synchronised teleportation and to do a sudden/guerilla attacks.

At the same time, General Peter Stahl is now severely shaken upon seeing the destruction of the city and orders his henchmen to kill the Scrapped Princess and offer her head to the God. Thankfully before he manages to do this, Chris and the Obstinate Arrow crew have managed to penetrate Pacifica's jail and set her free. The rest of the Obstinate Arrow crew, of course, wonders why Chris decided to set Pacifica free. Chris simply tells them to use their own judgement and decide if the monster up in the sky are really the Apostle of God and if Pacifica really is the poison that will destroy the world. As for himself, Chris decides that he will take the side of Pacifica. Upon hearing this, the group decides to follow Chris' decision and help him to take Pacifica away from the capital. Unfortunately, before they can reach their boat they end up encountering Major Luke Sturm. However, much to their surprise, Major Sturm lets them go because he thinks that while there is an order to kill the Scrapped Princess, there is no order to stop her from escaping. He thinks that as long as the group is aware of the consequences of their action, he is okay with it.

Pacifica, however, wonders where Chris and the others are taking her. Seeing her worry, Chris tells her that they are going to take her back to her foster brother and sister. Pacifica is obviously confused of the sudden change in Chris' attitude and wonders why he changed his mind. Chris simply tells her that it's because for the first time in his life, he has the desire to help someone not because he is ordered to but because it comes from his own initiative. Back to the fight in the sky, Socom manages to hit the three Gigas with his laser attack and the three beasts immediately fall down to three different places on the ground. After this happen, the three Peacemakers surround Shannon's Dragoon form and asks him to surrender because they may allow him and his friends (minus Pacifica) to live after the 'reset'. Shannon, however, refuses to listen to the Peacemakers. In his frustation, Socom decides to show a projections of his human form so he can talk to Shannon. He asks Shannon why he is so sure that protecting his sister is the right thing to do in comparison to protecting the world. After all, the idea may have been put to his head.

In reply, Shannon tells him that on the contrary, he chooses to not pick between saving Pacifica or saving the world. He chooses to save both and he doesn't care if it sounds impossible or if it makes him sound like an idealist. Upon hearing this, the Peacemakers decide to trap Shannon and Zephiriss with their beams so that Steyr can wrap her divine punishment body around the Dragoon. Steyr then slowly crush the Dragoon's body, making it impossible for Shannon to escape. However, just when it looks like Shannon is about to die, the three Gigas appear behind Steyr and proceed to stab her head with their lances. Steyr immediately destroyed and both Shannon and Zephiriss are saved. Seeing the unfavourable situation, Socom and Cz decide to retreat for the time being. Pacifica is eventually reunited with her foster brother and sister inside a forest. Shannon then asks Pacifica what she wants to do. He tells her that if she wants to die, he will kill her right now but if she wants to live, he will protect her no matter what. After some hesitation, Pacifica answers that she simply wants to be with him and Raquel.

Impression:

These three episodes turn out to be quite impressive. Episode 19 is quite harrowing in the sense that at the end of the day, Pacifica never gets to see her real mother. At the same time, after the number of traumatic experiences that she had endured, I think it's probably for the best that she never found out about it. At any rate, it's unfortunate that this tragedy happened simply because people choose to blindly trust an ancient prophecy. A prophecy which so far has brought more suffering than happiness to the people that it supposed to protect. It is good to see the characters starting to realise that prophecy and religion should not in any way replace common sense and compassion for others. Chris and Major Sturm, for example, have definitely come a long way ever since their first appearance. Instead of succumbing to panic and blind trust, both characters decide to trust their own judgement and compassion. Interestingly enough, there are distinction in the attitude of the two characters. Chris decides to completely follow his own conviction while Sturm, it seems, straddles the line between trusting his own opinion and following other people's orders.

The highlights of these three episodes for me, however, are definitely the last half of episode 20 and the majority of episode 21. This is mostly because I really like the battle scenes that transpire in both episodes. I am not usually one for Dragoon-type battle scenes but the combination of the visuals and the urgency of the fights won me over. It also helps that the series scatter some ancient Egyptian imageries and soundtrack behind the scenes to make the battles more interesting. One can clearly see ancient Egyptian Ankh symbol show up on more than one occasions as Cz launches her laser beam attack. The symbol actually represents an eternal life and is normally seen in the hand of ancient Egyptian Gods. According to this site, when a God brings the symbol to his/her mouth, it means that the God is offering a 'Breath of Life'. The breath that a person needs when he/she reaches an after life. Admitedly, the meaning of the symbol is quite different from its use in this episode. But I supposed one can say that Cz was trying to send Shannon and the Gigas to the afterlife. :)

© memento 2003