Zetsuen no Tempest - 19

"The Object of Desire"

Ah, bromance. Saving guys' asses from their slightly crazy friends for generations.

I'll admit I expected quite the bloody mess when Yoshino and Mahiro met again, especially now that Mahiro has considered the idea that Aika and Yoshino may have been dating. Admirably, however, this wasn't the case. The secret is out and confirmed easily, and while Mahiro isn't necessarily thrilled to know the truth, he nevertheless is less upset about it now than he may have been had he found out at an earlier time. What's somewhat amusing about all this is that this reconciliation is really all thanks to Hanemura, who pointed out the obvious to Mahiro more than once and forced him to come to terms with his real feelings toward Aika. He's now openly aware about the fact that he loved Aika as a woman rather than as his sister, and he admits that he has no right to hurt or rage at Yoshino for his relationship with her. It's quite mature of Mahiro, really, and even Yoshino is a bit taken aback by his reaction, which leads to a bit of an awkward conversation (during which Yoshino can't help but tease his friend) between them about the issue.

While that confrontation was the dramatic (with references to more Hamlet and the Tempest) focus of the series, there was plenty else going on plot-wise. We get a better look at Evangeline's slightly insane theory about the Trees, complete with alien technology and invasion. As far-fetched as it sounds, even Hakaze has to agree that there's something to that idea; the inclusion of aliens is dubious, but there very much is a possibility that the Trees aren't gods at all, but rather some form of means to a greater end. Even Evangeline's remark about science and magic can't be taken too lightly; after all, to people in times before our own, our technology must seem like sorcery rather than the science it's based on. Perhaps in that sense, the Trees really are some sort of futuristic technology we can't understand. Of course there's also the fact that Evangeline uses the term "civilization blaster" to describe her theory, and considering that's the subtitle of the series, I'd say it's safe to take at least a bit of her theory as reflective of the greater truth.

Now that the inter-character drama is more or less out of the way, Samon and Hakaze's sides have come together to plan for the future. It's pretty safe to say that at this point the group is more or less a resistance movement to the Tree of Genesis and its domination of the world, but there are other problems that still need attention. Mahiro may not be ready to kill Yoshino, but he still hungers for his revenge, and everyone else considers it instrumental to finding out the truth, if only because they need to do something about the Mage that may still be at large. It's a dangerous game our protagonists are playing, because they're effectively waging a war against an enemy they're not even sure exists. Hakaze is fairly assured that Yoshino isn't it, and not necessarily because she's infatuated (and openly admitting it as well); he's just not a very logical candidate after all. Instead, she proposes a new plan, which includes time travel to go back and witness Aika's murder first-hand. That sounds like a bad idea on several levels, but at this point it might just be the only course left to discover the truth (and the only way for Bones to get the time-travel bug out of its system).