Scrapped Princess ep.22-24

July 7, 2004 | 13 Comments

Well, I watched these last three episodes with the expectation that I'll be disappointed by it. That turns out to not be the case. There are some holes in the storylines but in general this is a well-crafted series with a good ending. In fact, the resolution to the series almost made me want to shed a tear or two and I don't get sad that easily. I am also impressed with the character design for the show. I haven't done my research just yet but I intend to keep a close eye on the character designer's work after this. The final episode also shows remarkable animation where it seems as if the animators went for broke. The final fight between the Peacemakers and the Dragoon/Gigas is especially memorable mostly because of the action and the stirring soundtrack titled Dragoon no Tatakai. It's unfortunate that the overall soundtrack is a mixed bag. But I did manage to find some favourites that remind me of some of the best RPG soundtrack I've ever had the pleasure to listen.

Episode 22 begins by showing Socom appearing in some kind of a dark vacuum space talking to a mysterious woman. Socom asks the woman for a permission to use the first class divine punishment form attack to execute their task. The woman, however, denied his request and tells him that she will only allow the second class divine punishment attack to be used. Once Socom leaves the space, the camera shows a part of the woman's face and strangely, she, in some ways, resembles Pacifica down to the curly hair. The only difference is that she has a white instead of a blonde hair. Meanwhile, inside a forest in the Holy City, the 'rebel' which includes the Casulls themselves, are recuperating while building some defense mechanism in the case that they got attacked in the future. Back at the capital, Major Sturm tries his best to convince General Stahl that they should prioritise helping the citizens and building the city before doing anything else. Unfortunately for Sturm, the only thing that General Stahl wants to see is the handover of Pacifica to the Peacemakers.

At the same time, the tool...I mean Prince Forciss, is informed by Bergens that restoration works are underway in the capital but they have not been able to find out the whereabouts of the kings. Forciss then wonders what happened to his sister and Bergens simply reply that the soldiers are searching for her. Speaking of Pacifica, she seems to be having the time of her life in the forest. She even cooks what looks like some Yakisoba (fried noodle with cabbage) for her poor friends. What looks like and poor are the keywords here because not long after the group starts to gobble up Pacifica's cooking, they have to violently vomit it out. Yeah, I like Yakisoba but I believe these characters when they say that Pacifica's version of Yakisoba is probably quite revolting. :P Thankfully for them, Uinia comes with a good dish not long afterwards, much to Pacifica's annoyance. However, despite trying her best to cook for everyone, Uinia seems to still receive the cold shoulder from Chris for some reason.

In the middle of dinner, Zephiriss wonders why the Obstinate Arrow members choose to help Pacifica and the others even though they don't possess 'the factor' like Raquel, Shannon, Uinia, and Leo. Chris tells Zephiriss that it's because they chose to do so. No one forced them to help Pacifica and the others. Later on that night, Pacifica thanks Uinia for coming to see her in the forest. Uinia tells Pacifica not to worry about it and besides, there is another reason for Uinia to come to the place. Uinia suddenly realises that she almost reveals her feelings for Chris and immediately blushes. Seeing the situation, Raquel decides to distract Pacifica's attention from the question by telling her that she should change her clothes. However, when Pacifica about to do this, she finds the wooden plague that Fulle gave to her. Pacifica immediately burst into tears but can't remember the reason. Seeing her crying, Leo tells her that he is sorry but he decides not to tell Pacifica why he asks for her forgiveness since it seems Pacifica has forgot about her memory with Fulle.

Meanwhile up in the sky, Cz looks a bit confused and therefore Socom decides to ask what has been bothering her. Cz answers that although she understands that they have the order to eliminate the Scrapped Princess, so far she has not attack them in an offensive kind of manner and therefore she wonders if killing her is necessary. Sensing that Suin's memory may have tampred Cz's emotion a little bit, Socom tells her that if she has this kind of hesitation before going into battle then he'll advise a memory wipe. Cz, however, refuses and thinks that she can handle it quite well. The next day, Seness and Eirote come to visit Pacifica's camp to inform Shannon that it will take 2 days to fix the Gigas. Because of this, Eirote believes that they should formulate a plan should they get attacked prior to the restoration of the Gigas. Since neither Raquel, Shannon nor Pacifica are tacticians, they end up doing the menial job of washing everyone else's clothes. But Pacifica being Pacifica, she ends up wanting to take a bath instead of washing the clothes.

While near the river, however, Pacifica sees the woman who spoke to Socom at the start of this episode. The woman asks Pacifica if a caged bird yearns to fly. Well, if the bird is already feel comfortable with the cage, it maybe a bit reluctant to do so. But given a chance, sooner or later, it will want to taste the freedom. But that was not what Pacifica said. In fact, she seems to have lost the ability to talk. At the same time, Shannon tells Raquel that in 3 days, Pacifica will be 16 years old and as much as he wants to protect her, he doesn't know what will happen afterwards. He's afraid that future generations will remember them as traitors who choose their sister instead of mankind. In reply, Raquel tells her brother that he's thinking too much. She thinks they have a nice day now and she wants to believe that the world will be destroyed that easily. Seeing the optimism of his sister, Shannon decides not to worry too much about the future. Back to Pacifica and the mysterious woman, Pacifica still looks startled and wonders what the woman meant by her question.

The woman in exchange asks Pacifica to listen to her story. Apparently a long time ago, humans created 'wings' that enabled them to fly higher than any bird. Because of this ability, they are able to approach the stars. God, however, frowns upon this and believes that if mankind is allowed to continue, they will devour the stars like there is no tomorrow. To God, humans are similar to vicious birds who prey upon one another and therefore decided to capture these birds and put them inside a cage. Unfortunately, people rebelled against God and a lot of casualties happened. The woman thinks that mankind will become extinct if this is allowed to continue and therefore she ended up helping God to put mankind inside the cage. Having said that, the woman ensured that the people inside the cage will not feel as if they are being imprisoned. She believes that as long as humans are not aware that there are something 'out there', then they'll continue to believe in the illusion. Having said that, the woman wants to know if what Pacifica thinks about this. Does she want to leave the cage?

Pacifica is obviously surprised with the question but she is in for more shock when the woman calls Pacifica 'Providence Breaker'. Upon hearing this, Pacifica yells for Shannon and Raquel. But by the time they arrived to find Pacifica, the woman has already gone. Shannon wonders if Zephiriss detects anyone but Zephiriss tells them that there was some kind of mists surrounding Pacifica and the woman so she couldn't see them. However, not too far from their location, the woman softly whispers that soon people will come to kill Pacifica and when that happens something will happen to this world. Meanwhile at the Mauser temple, Socom appears in front of the Cardinal to ask for his help by giving a hint that fear and uneasiness often drive people. Meanwhile in the capital, Major Sturm and Stray are looking down as a bunch of tanks slowly gets out of the capital. The news thankfully is intercepted by the Obstinate Arrow crew. The episode ends with Pacifica wondering if this world is the 'cage' that the mysterious woman mentioned to her.

Episode 23 begins with a flashback to chibi-Pacifica's birthday. Unfortunately, Pacifica's foster mother was sick at this point so Pacifica and her foster family had to celebrate blow the candle near the bed-ridden foster mother. Never the less, everyone in the family looks happy especially Pacifica. However, when chibi-Pacifica tries to blow up the candle, instead of extinguishing the flames, she ended up causing blood to splatter. Well, it turns out this flashback is actually Pacifica's nightmare. Cut to a real blood splatter action performed by the Obstinate Arrow members. It turns out they had to fend themself against some Kingdom soldiers who have found out the location of their hideout. Meanwhile, Chris decides to bid goodbye to Prince Forciss in the Mauser temple. Much to his surprise, Forciss tells Chris that he knows the Obstinate Arrow was the one who set Pacifica free. Unable to deny the accusation, Chris simply tells Forciss that he doesn't think Pacifica is a world-destroyer material and proceeds to leave the temple.

Pacifica eventually decides to wake up and come to sit next to Shannon who is already awake and on the lookout for the sunrise. The two then talks about what will happen tomorrow when Pacifica turns 16 years old. Pacifica thinks that even though she doesn't know what will happen tomorrow, she knows that she doesn't want to die and wonders if that is selfish. Shannon obviously think that is not the case and Pacifica then happily rests her head on his shoulder. The two then gleefully walk together to the group when Raquel informs them that breakfast is ready. Back at the Mauser Temple, the Cardinal greets Forciss and asks if he slept well. The Cardinal pretends that he's afraid the sound of the injured people awakened the Prince and proceeds to lead Forciss to see those injured people. He then tries to tell Forciss that as long as the Scrapped Princess exists, God's wrath will continue to hurt people. I supposed Forciss has a good heart but he's quite thick if one thinks about it. The Cardinal then asks Forciss to become an envoy of God to save the people.

Meanwhile, Pacifica finally finds out about Uinia's feeling for Chris and sets out to tease her friend. But before she can manages to do so, they are interrupted by the arrival of Seness who wonders why Pacifica leisurely washes the clothes when danger is closing in. Pacifica sadly tells Seness that unfortunately, she can't do anything but washing clothes. Strangely, instead of making fun of her, Seness decides to tell Pacifica that she supposed that is Pacifica's way of fighting. She tells Pacifica that Eirote tells her that and because of this, she starts to believe that while she wants to change the world, the world in itself is not that bad. She then asks Pacifica to take her to Pacifica's village when all of this is over. Pacifica happily agrees and tells her that she'll welcome all of them, much to Seness' happiness. This is probably the first time I see Seness smiles throughout the series. Not long after this, Bergens arrived in the village to inform Pacifica that her older brother, Prince Forciss wants to see her. Pacifica is surprised by this sudden announcement and is not sure what to do.

Chris tries to convince Pacifica that Forciss is a decent man. Pacifica, however, is in doubt because even though Forciss is her real brother, she doesn't feel any connection to him whatsoever. Seeing her hesitation, Bergens tells Pacifica that she has until the evening to decide if she wants to see her brother. If she doesn't want to do so, Bergens will simply return to let Forciss know about her decision. Because of this, Pacifica ends up spending some time wondering what she should do. She ends up asking Leo's opinion about what she should do but Leo has no answer for her except to tell her that life is full of difficult decisions. He, for example, still hasn't been able to find out the true meaning of 'Justice'. This is because for 'Justice' means different thing for different people. The 'Justice' of Mauser Church, for example, is not 'Justice' for Pacifica. Leo admits that he got confused because of it but then he remembers that all he wants is to protect Pacifica and he ended up making his decision based on this fact.

Upon hearing Leo's words, Pacifica decides that maybe her brother is a nice person after all. Leo then tries to encourage Pacifica to meet him by telling her that maybe he'll like her when he meets her. Meanwhile, the Obstinate Arrow members are in the middle of observing the upcoming troops. They suspect that the troops will attack at dawn and therefore, they decide to make the move first once the sun goes down. Elsewhere in the forest, Chris and Uinia end up having a talk about Pacifica and her inability to remember Fulle. Chris thinks that people tend to forget memory that hurt them the most but he believes that is how people are able to move on. He then goes on to apologise for his coldness back then. He tells Uinia that he simply does not want her to get involved in the Scrapped Princess business. Meanwhile, Shannon has his own worry that Pacifica may prefer her own 'real' brother once she gets to meet him. Raquel, however, tries to assure him that 'real' is very objective and asks him if he thinks things are really going to change if Pacifica meets her real brother.

Upon hearing his sister's words, Shannon seems to be a bit relieved and happily agrees to let Pacifica to see Forciss. Because of this, Bergens go back to pick up the tool...oops, I can't help myself again but you know who I meant. Bergens seems to recognise that Forciss have been acting a bit strange but decides to shrug it off. Anyway, Pacifica eventually ends up meeting Forcis inside a temple in the Holy City. After exchanging few pleasantries, Forciss walks closer to Pacifica, says that he's sorry and then proceeds to stab his own sister and himself. What an idiot! Everyone is shocked by the sudden turn of event but before they can digest their thoughts, General Stahl's army starts to launch projectile attack on the temple, forcing Raquel to protect everyone with her magic power. Zephiriss then appears and tries to help Pacifica but her attempt is halted by an arrival of the Peacemakers, forcing her and Shannon to transform into the Dragoon. The episode ends with the dying tool that is Forciss saying that the reason he did this idiocy is because he can't sit around and see his people suffer.

Episode 24 starts by showing Sister Collette thinking that the Peacemakers are the 'devil' that destroyed the capital. The Cardinal, however, tries to convince her that on the contrary, those are actually the apostle of God, much to Sister Collette's surprise. Meanwhile Seness and the Gigas pilots have finally join Shannon and Zephiriss in their battle against the Peacemakers. Upon seeing Seness, Shannon immediately let her know that Pacifica has been stabbed and he wants retribution for it. In the forest itself, Eirote finds herself trapped by the arriving soldiers but thankfully, Kidaf and his bug arrives to help her escape. At the same time, the Obstinate Arrow do their best to defend themselves from the attack of the other soldiers. Meanwhile, Pacifica herself seems to be bleeding profusely even after all kinds of attempt from Raquel to stop the bleeding. In the end, Raquel has no choice but to ask the Mauser God to forgive Pacifica. Back to the fight, Shannon seems to be too preoccupied with Pacifica and his anger to get revenge that he becomes careless.

In the end, Pacifica can't seem to hold her pain any longer and she passed away after enquiring the whereabouts of her brother, Shannon. When everyone grieved over her death, however, a drop of her blood falls onto the ground and end up forming a symbol on the floor of the temple. Pacifica's body all of a sudden turns into light sparks, much to Raquel's shock and anguish. But when Raquel tries in vain to capture the sparks, the temple all of a sudden are frozen in time. Soon, the area surrounding the temple and the entire world are affected in similar manner and also become suspended in time. This also has the effect of expelling the Dragoons, the Gigas, and the Peacemakers out of Earth's atmosphere and into the outer space. According to Cz, the sealed world has gone into the pretext mode. Never the less, because the Peacemakers can't contact the system, they decide to maximise all of their ability. Realising that the Peacemakers have decided for a deathmatch, Shannon and the Gigas also prepare themselves for counter-attack.

Shannon and Cz then starts to attack each other while Socom takes on the 3 Gigas. At one point, Socom manages to hit one of the Gigas that is piloted by Ruth. Unfortunately for Socom, he forgets that these little weapons are far more resilient than they appear. True enough, Ruth is okay and manages to do a synchronised teleport together with the other two Gigas and land right behind Socom's back. Socom, who's in the middle of expanding his ability in a hurry is vulnerable to attack and can't do anything when the three Gigas use their lances to slice him into four seperate pieces, immediately obliterating him into dusts. Meanwhile, Cz tries to do a surprise attack on Shannon's back. But thankfully, Shannon is quick and manages to fry Cz in time. Meanwhile, Pacifica's body is seen floating in an unknown space which then turns into a beautiful landscape similar to the one that she uses to frequent with Shannon as a child. Pacifica thinks that she is in heaven but a voice tells her that the place is simply a virtual reality space created by the Sealed world system.

Upon looking to her right side, Pacifica realises that the voice comes from the mysterious woman whom she met in the previous episodes. The woman continues to explain that Pacifica has gone from a container that was her body and into this system. When Pacifica enquires about her identity, the woman reveals to her that her name is Celia Mauzel. Not surprisingly this is also the name of the seer that the humans used to help them fighting the 'invaders'. Pacifica, however, recognises her name as the name of the God worshipped by the Mauzel church. Celia, however, denies that she is a God. She feels that she is actually mankind betrayer. She was the one who puts the humans into the sealed system and then became the administrator of the system. Celia then drops the bombshell by revealing that Pacifica's death serves as a catalyst that is supposed to initiate Celia's destruction. Having said that, apparently there is still 10 more hours before this can happen. At the moment, Celia's power and Pacifica's power is at equilibrium and a small tip can upset the balance.

Celia then tells Pacifica that long before Pacifica was born, there was a great war. The war continued for a long period of time and many people were killed. During this time, the enemy sent a message to Celia asking her help to end the war and save humans. The enemy regards humans as an important species and want to preserve them since the enemy themselves are on their way to extinction. Apparently Celia agreed with the enemy that if the war continued, more and more people, even her family could have died. Because of this, it was decided then that humanity will be locked in the sealed world and Celia will become the administrator. This role of hers eventually lasted for 5000 years. Celia then shows Pacifica a virtual image of her little brother and sister, who remarkably bear physical similarity to Shannon and Raquel. However, despite her attempt, Celia can't stop her brother and sister from being killed in the war. Celia then shows a projection of Pacifica's body and tells Pacifica that she should be the one to decide, whether the world should stay as it is or not.

Pacifica admits that she doesn't know anything about this world or humanity so she can't possibly be making such choice. In response, Celia tells Pacifica to choose whatever she feels is right in her heart especially since Celia feels that she may have made the wrong decision in the past. Pacifica, however, tells Celia that she can understand Celia's decision perfectly well since she has her own brother and sister and there is nothing that will make her happier than the ability to protect them. Having said that, Pacifica feels that there is something wrong about a world where one does not have the ability to make a choice by themselves. Even if she made a mistake because of her own decision, at least for Pacifica, she made that decision on her own accord. She feels that there is something wrong about a world that doesn't allow her to make her own decision. Upon hearing Pacifica's answer, Celia thanks her and tells her that she will finally be able to be with her siblings at last and proceeds to dissolves into light sparks, much to Pacifica's anxiousness.

Celia, however, assures Pacifica not to be afraid and bids goodbye to her. Upon saying the word, a bright light engulfs Pacifica and suddenly the world starts functioning again. Raquel, however, can't seem to find Pacifica anywhere and the Earth then starts to shake badly. From the outer space, it is obvious now that the sealed world has now slowly re-aligned itself to the rest of the Earth. Once the process is complete, the sky is broken into pieces and from it, emerges the true bright sky. Celia's voice is then heard over the entire sealed world telling everyone that she is Mauzel. She then asks everyone to sheathe their swords and pull back their force since the seed of disaster is no longer exists. From now on, the true sky and land will be returned to them. Celia asks everyone to work together and informs them that Mauzel does not exists in a heaven but within each individual. From now on, the future must be shaped with their own hands. Upon hearing this, all of a sudden sparks of lights forms in front of Shannon's hand and from it, Pacifica materialises naked. Now, what did I say about brother/sister complex again? :P

The two then stares at each other for a couple of seconds until Pacifica punches Shannon in the face and screams 'hentai' at the top of her lungs. In reply, Shannon tells her that he's not going to get excited just by looking at her naked. The two then ends in a verbal fight that confirms their brother/sister complex. Meanwhile, Raquel, who is still in shock over the entire thing, suddenly sees some sparks of lights materialises inside the temple. The lights eventually turn into Shannon who caries Pacifica in his hands. Upon seeing the two, Raquel immediately runs to both of them in tears and happily greets Pacifica and Shannon as the three finally have a bittersweet reunion. Fast forward to either a couple of days/weeks/months later, Chris and Uinia are seen inside a carriage which take them to Forciss' coronation as a king. Pacifica, however, seems to prefer helping her horse giving birth. I supposed it can't be helped that at the end of the day, Pacifica realises that her real family is the Casulls and not her birth brother/father. Having said that, she tells Leo that although not everyday is perfect, she's happy to be able to enjoy a simple life.

Impressions:

I have said a lot about the technical aspect of the series in the introduction paragraph above so I'll use the rest of the space to talk about the plot. In general, I think the series end quite well. It provided enough answers and a rather nice twist in regards to Pacifica's role as 'the poison that will destroy the world'. It's ironic that all of these times the Peacemakers and the Mauser church have been trying to kill Pacifica. In the end, her death actually becomes the catalyst that ends the sealed world. Having said that, while this is quite a nice twist, it also creates a new mystery: who devised Pacifica's ability to begin with? Was it Celia Mauzel? Was it her sister (the Raquel look-alike)? Or was it the people outside the sealed world? I find this interesting because the idea is quite flawed in certain ways. If Pacifica never got killed, then the world will continue to be sealed. If the people who planted 'the factor' intended Pacifica to destroy the sealed world, then wouldn't such scenario actually go against their plan? Although judging from the humans' eagerness to hunt down and kill a person just because of a prophecy that was written long ago, maybe the plan wasn't so far off after all.

Anyway, it's also unfortunate that the series never resolves the romantic entanglement of the characters. I swear that sometimes I feel both Pacifica and Shannon have at least 2 or 3 possible suitors throughout the entire series. At the same time, the series seems to keep putting the two back together again time and time again and yet never seems to have the courage to actually go through with the pairing. As a result, the series end up with a rather confusing brother/sister dynamic that is borderline romantic, and yet never cross the "Yay, Incest!" line. Not that it will be incest to begin with since they are not related whatsoever. It does not help that Pacifica and Shannon's bickering often remind me of a married couple bickering. And I also don't see how either of them will go for other people. I think hell will freezes over before Pacifica chooses Leo over Shannon. And while I have seen some hints of Cz or Zephiriss with Shannon, I doubt they are possible pairings as well. Cz is dead and Zephiriss is a weapon, which is now forced to spend the rest of her live doing household chores like Mahoro of Mahoromatic. As I said, in the end it feels as if the series decide for an ambiguous Shannon/Pacifica pairing.

I am, however, strangely satisfied by the series' decision to leave the relationship between Pacifica and Forciss in a big question mark. It looks to me that even though she may have forgiven what he did to her, I think they'll never be as close as real brother and sister. Her decision to help her horse giving birth to its child instead of attending Forciss' coronation as a king is funny one. At the same time, it also shows that despite being siblings, the two are not very close to one another. And I'm fine with this conclusion. Sometimes your real family is not the one that you're born into but people that cares for you and are important to you. Although it's easy to blame Forciss or Pacifica or their real father for this circumstances, I think that in the end, it was just an unfortunate case of a broken family. One where the trusts between each members of the family no longer exists. At the end of the day, Pacifica is much happier to be with her foster brother and sister and they in turn were equally happy to get their sister back. Overall, this is one impressive series that I'd love to add to my DVD collection.

© memento 2003