Xam'd Lost Memories ep.04

August 7, 2008 | 11 Comments

The animation quality of the series remains good which bodes well for the rest of the series. I'm especially impressed with how the character design works so well with the color scheme of the series. If there's one thing that I hope the series will improve is the ship designs. I think it's been said before that this series has some of the most ridiculous ship design ever. I don't actually mind the design of the human-form weapons and its associated Xam'd-like creatures because I get the impression that they are meant to have the animal-like quality, or rather, they look like the animal Gods from Egypt. What I want to know, however, is if these creatures come from the same source or if they come from different origin. It's kind of hard to tell who's fighting who and on whose side a particular human-form weapon is at this point in the story. On that note, do we actually know the name of the postal ship? Because I've been having difficulty distinguishing one ship from another.

Inside a town, a human-form weapon has created massive damages using spores. In order to counter the creature, ASP Squads are launched from the sky to deal with it. Due to their agility, it doesn't take long before teh ASP Squads manage to subdue the human-form weapon. Once the creature is down, one of the squads takes out the large ring around the creature's nose. Upon doing this, the entire body of the creature turns into red rocks, turning it stationary. The commander then orders the squads to find the pod and capture the human-form user. Elsewhere, a bunch of white-haired children departs from their home while a man reads a letter which is addressed to Lady Sannova. The letter mentions about servants returning to the land of lost souls. At the same time, the old leader tells the white-haired children to return the Hiruko to the great Ruikon for the sake of mankind. Inside the ship, Akiyuki is busy doing his daily jobs including unloading package and stamping letters.

Outside those jobs, he gets to see some kind of spiritual guide for his Xam'd training. The old woman tells Akiyuki that the Hiruko within him prevents him from living as a human and wonders if the guy still wants to live. Akiyuki wonders if there's a way to take the Hiruko out but the woman claims that only Sannova, the founder of Ruikonism can do this. According to Nakiami, she's been missing since she was exiled by the Northern government. Akiyuki tells the old woman that he'd like to go back to Sentan Island but she wonders if that's what Xam'd seeks. She suggests that he listens to the Hiruko and figures out what it wants. Later on, Akiyuki tries to replace stamps for letters that go to Sentan Island for maximum delivery. Although the others discourage it, Akiyuki continues to do the job so in the end everyone ends up helping him out. A few days later, a ship comes close to the postal ship and spread a thick green camouflage gas. Nakiami who sees the ship decides to get out of the postal ship and goes to the ship in question even though Ishu doesn't want her to do so.

As it turns out, Nakiami knows the people on the ship but the postal ship crews don't like those people because they are Northern Government pawns. Cast out of their homeland and scattered all around the world. Akiyuki wonders how that is any different from any refugee but the old mechanic claims that it all depends if they have a homeland to return to or not. Later on, Nakiami tells Ishu that Zeygend's ship is dropping anchor at Salantan so she wants Ishu to let her talk to the guy. When Ishu denies the request, Nakiami wonders if this is because they came from Tessik. Ishu becomes angry and tells her that if that's the reason, she wouldn't let Nakiami stays here. She then explains that the reason is because they betrayed the anti-government army. Now they make money in the south and even carry human traffic. Ishu thinks they are just trash with no home. Nakiami claims that she's the same like them but Ishu responds by slapping her in the face. Ishu tells her that if she feels that way she can go whenever she wants. In the end, however, Nakiami just cries in her room.

When Akiyuki wonders if something wrong happened to her, Nakiami curtly tells him not to worry about her but he tells her that's not fair since she always worries about him. In response, Nakiami tells him that's because he's a Xam'd. When they meet the old woman again, she asks him what is it that Xam'd wants but Akiyuki tells her that he really doesn't know. Akiyuki believes that the alternative is that maybe it just wants to live alongside other people. The old woman thinks that the Hiruko now is a lost soul and can't figure out what they seek so she suggests that Akiyuki mediates further. Back on Sentan Island, Akiyuki's father, Takehara Ryuzou, is visited by Kikasu's secretary, Prois Sukakki. She explains that they're installing an anti-humanoid research lab on the island and hope to use his expertise. Although Ryuzou is not interested at first, he seems to change his mind when he finds out that she's come on the behalf of Kakisu Toujirou, the man that Ryuzou saved at Barador. The episode ends with a group of masked people called Jibashiri taking out Hiruko from deceased people.

Impression

There is one Evangelion reference in this episode that is too obvious to ignore. The way the ASP Squads dropping from the sky and into the ground is similar to the way the Mass-Produced Evangelions freefall from the sky before they face-off against Asuka's Evangelion Unit 02. As for the plot, I feel that this one is the weakest one so far since it doesn't show much of plot movement. There are some nice character development for Nakiami though. It seems she's some kind of refugee just like those people in Zeygend's ship. What I want to know, however, is if there is any relation between her and the white-haired children. It's also interesting to know that once the restraint on Akiyuki's hand is released, his hand looks normal again. I thought Xam'd was the reason that his hand was inflated but it seems the restraint was the one that did this. The most interesting development come during the last 5 or so minutes when Prois asked Ryuzou to join the lab that they build. I don't know why but I don't think Kakisu's intention is that good. Last but not least, I wonder if the Jibashiri are the white-haired children or an entirely different group. I suppose we'll find out more about them next week.

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