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Now this is why I watch anime. If I could write a love letter to Bones, I would, but I'm afraid my Japanese isn't good enough for them to take it seriously.
This year has got its work cut out for it if it hopes to even touch the hem of Zetsuen and Shinsekai in terms of sheer greatness. Bones is always dramatic and insane, but with Zetsuen, they've outdone themselves in a way which I haven't seen since the likes of Fullmetal Alchemist and the original Eureka Seven. It doesn't matter how outright flamboyant this episode was; it trumped last week and cemented this as one of the best series of the year, before even letting the year properly get started. What's really amazing about all of this is that the events are hardly completely unpredictable. For example, way back in episode 11, I offered this theory as a passing comment:
"There is a possibility that Aika herself was the mage and committed suicide staged as murder..."
And again in episode 16, I postulated the following thought:
"Whether or not she had a hand in her own death to bring about certain events is still unknown..."
The possibility was always there, but it seemed so obvious and simple that it seemed very unlikely to be the correct course of events, just as her identity as the mage was too convenient though ultimately true. Regardless, now we finally know the truth; Aika Fuwa is her own killer, and she set everything in motion through that one action of taking her life and making it look like murder. While the logic of her choice seems shaky, it actually isn't (and it wouldn't really matter if it was). Her death acts as the catalyst to lead Yoshino and Mahiro to meet Hakaze, and thus it allows them to challenge the Tree of Genesis, which must be defeated in order to prevent the resetting of civilization. So why not just live on and get them to help her defeat the Tree? Because this is time travel, and time travel isn't that convenient. Once Hakaze went back to tell Aika that she would die, Aika had to kill herself or none of it would have happened in the future. If none of it had happened, Hakaze couldn't have gone back to warn Aika in the first place, thus creating a paradox. That being the case, Aika has to tread on very thin ice, else things could go very wrong. In retrospect, this is the only way that makes sense, and in typical Bones fashion, it's pulled off stylishly and with remarkable flair.
The best part of it all for me is Aika herself. Somehow she always seemed a bit unpredictable, but here she proves herself intelligent, catty, and just a tiny bit unhinged, like someone "too aware of the world," as she says. Her resolve to kill herself has nothing to do with humanity or civilization, for which she claims not to care for in the slightest, but with the love and fondness she has for the two boys who treasure her for who she is. In truth, this series isn't really about Yoshino and Mahiro at all, but about Hakaze and Aika and the way in which they deal with their duties to the world and their own desires. Hakaze too chooses her own needs over that of the world when she does her utmost to stop Aika, but ultimately the power of the Exodus mage, which stems from the Tree of Genesis itself, is too much for her and Aika's fate is sealed by her own hand. In this perverse game where civilization is continuously tested by the mysterious originators of the Trees, the Mages are but pawns to a greater end, and it's individual choices like Aika's that give her sacrifice much greater meaning than it would have had otherwise. However, whether or not she's truly gone is a separate matter entirely; somehow, I just don't think we've seen the last of Aika Fuwa.
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