Blue Reflection Ray – Episode 9 - Ai Animes 🤖

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re returning to the battlefield of Blue Reflection Ray, after a slew of revelations left our heroes scattered and nearly without hope. In the wake of learning about her sister’s Red Reflector identity, Hiori chose to respond like she always has: by suppressing her feelings of hurt and abandonment, and acting like nothing is wrong.

Fortunately, Ruka is not the same girl she was eight episodes ago, when she lamented that she couldn’t reach out to those in pain like Hiori managed so easily. Ruka challenged Hiori to embrace her sorrow, to “realize how important your feelings are too,” and with that the dam finally broke. Just as Hiori was once able to express her pain regarding her mother’s departure to Mio, now can she express her true feelings regarding Mio to Ruka, a confidant who would never pity her.

With our lead reflectors now resonating like never before, I imagine it’s time for a counteroffensive against the increasingly audacious agents of Mio. They’ve accelerated from individual soul-stealing to app-based crowdsourcing to mass emotion-sapping weather phenomenon, and it’s up to our brave heroes to put a stop to it. Plus, with Hiori and Ruka making such positive strides, I’m hoping it’s time for Miyako to gain her own reflector credentials, and perhaps a sweet reflector weapon in the bargain. Regardless, the hour of conflict draws near as we return to Blue Reflection Ray!

Episode 9

We open back at the red reflector chapel, with Nina now mired in anxieties regarding Mio’s relationship with her versus Hiori. Nina is truly the most unfortunate of all this story’s lonely heroines, with no happy memories of a home to look back on, and no support structure save the dubious, conditional allegiance of the red reflectors. You can see in her story how easy it could be for anyone without a compelling alternative to be swept up in a cult like this

While Hiori or Miyako can take some solace in the idea that “even my negative feelings are a key part of who I am,” what solace are words like those to Nina? She has nothing but negative memories, and all they’ve sculpted her into is a person desperate for either love or oblivion. Finding peace with unhappy times is only possible if such times are balanced with positive memories

And here’s our emo poser Uta, eager to rub salt in Nina’s wounds. The problem with joining the depressed kids club is you’re gonna run into a whole lot of folks who are just there for the aesthetics

Uta can only think of three reasons for Nina to be feeling down: she’s hungry, she forgot her homework, or she’s somehow weaker now. Uta’s character analysis is as superficial as everything else about her

Uta tells her she can’t release her full power if her feelings waver, to which Nina responds “my feelings are stronger than anyone else!” That’s likely true, but that doesn’t necessarily mean her feelings are equally committed to this particular cause. Nina might actually have experienced too much of life to embrace the simplistic solution provided by the red reflectors – and beyond that, she might be wondering if, given the continuous hardship of her life so far, removing her negative feelings would simply erase her entirely

Meanwhile, Mio’s reading poetry in the rose garden, and is interrupted by a ticked-off Momo. Love the image of Momo doing that delinquent “leg up with a bat over your shoulders” pose with a giant goddamn sword

Momo swiftly follows her “you need to tell me what’s going on” with an admission that she’s also not sure what’s going on, or where to start, or what she’s even really doing here. Bless this girl

“You’re my enemy… aren’t you?” All of this is extremely Momo, and demonstrative of why she’s been such a funny choice for the party’s “seasoned veteran” role. “I’ll confront Mio and get to the bottom of this” was where her thought process both began and ended regarding this meeting

The more thoughtful Mio offers a very reasonable question – what exactly are the Reflectors? What is either side working for, and who is empowering them?

Momo is content with the simple “we’re the good guys, who protect people’s feelings from the bad guys.” Mio swiftly counters with “well, we’re reflectors too. There’s no good or bad among reflectors.” Was it just hubris that made our heroes assume their side is a righteous cause?

Mio offers a broader, less morally charged definition: reflectors are simply those who can interact with Fragments, the crystallized form of emotions that are the source of power in this world. Good and evil don’t come into it

Mio mentions “Yuzu and Lime,” who apparently offered that definition and made her a reflector

It seems Mio remembers far more of the past than Momo, which informs her view that reflectors aren’t necessarily good or bad

“You’re strong. But not everyone is like that.” Mio’s response to Momo resonates with Nina’s situation. Some people can find meaning in embracing their unhappy memories, but not everyone can handle their trauma the same way

Hiori and Ruka check in on Kana, now crying in a hospital bed. What solace can they actually offer her? What is the blue reflector path beyond “pulling yourself together and getting over it?”

“Kana, we’re leaving for today.” Even Hiori is uncertain what she can offer Kana

“Just because you’re strong doesn’t mean you won’t get hurt.” Mio actually appears to be offering more sympathy to those suffering from traumatic emotions than Momo, emphasizing that not everyone can be as strong as her, and that even she should take caution, and know strength is not infinite

“So you’re worried about me?” Momo can’t really parse Mio’s ‘philosophy of reflectors’ discourse, but she can tell when someone cares about her

“There are no feelings you don’t need.” Momo at last offers a genuinely convincing counterpoint: that even our negative feelings are valuable, because all of our feelings, good and bad, facilitate our ability to connect and resonate with the feelings of others. It is because we have suffered that we can offer meaningful solace to others who have suffered

It seems Mio suffered a crisis of faith leading into the battle that opened the series, losing her certainty of purpose

“We’ve both died once.”

“Because I lost against the Sephirot, everyone died”

“The Sephira don’t appear here, and the Common remains closed off. But so many Reflectors are appearing.” Apparently our girls don’t have the slightest clue about their actual responsibilities as reflectors – they’re pawns in a system that’s largely been closed off, with only Mio seemingly having much recollection of their actual duties

“We lost against the Sephirot three days in the future.” So they only have three days to avoid their repeat deaths

“Reset? Don’t be ridiculous! It’s not like the world is some videogame!” I do wonder what context playing the game would have provided for this scenario – not really sure if we’re in a sequel series, a prequel, or actually just following the game narrative

And then Nina shows up, still deeply insecure about her position, determined to defend her “sister” from Momo

“Blood relations mean nothing! Sister and I are partners! We are connected by a special bond!” Given Nina’s relationship with her mother, it’s little surprise she puts no weight in the power of blood ties

Momo reveals she tracked them by recognizing Nina’s uniform, thus it was actually Nina who led the blue reflectors to their sanctuary

Meanwhile, the rest of the blue reflector team is enjoying tea, as Miyako frets about where Momo could be. She continues to be the most quietly sensitive member of the team, though I’m sure she’d protest that herself

“She has no idea how we’re feeling.” A line with unique significance in this show. Momo and Miyako’s feelings are out of sync

She at least understands Momo well enough to acknowledge that if Momo found out about the enemy headquarters, she might well head there alone

Both Nina and Momo’s weapons crackle uncomfortably with lightning in their hands. Neither of them possess a clean sync with their alleged partner

“Partners fight alongside each other, and share their feelings. I have this sword so I can fight alongside Mio. And if Mio did something wrong, I’d even smack her with this to stop her.” Words that speak to Momo’s more earnest bond with Mio. In contrast, Nina is still desperate for the approval of others, and thus cannot maintain an equal partnership – she would never challenge Mio like this, given her terrible fear of being abandoned

And thus Nina is defeated

Momo proves the weight of her words by subsequently challenging Mio, asking first why she couldn’t fight during their final battle, and then why she abandoned Hiori. True partners aren’t afraid to ask difficult questions or acknowledge their pair’s hidden feelings, as Hiori and Ruka just proved. This is the strength of the blue reflector philosophy in action – and the answer to that question of “what if I have nothing but negative emotions” is that you must find a partner, someone with whom to share and validate your feelings

“In three days, everything disappeared because of the mistake I made. I won’t make that mistake again.” So Mio’s blamed herself for the defeat, and is thus now determined to presumably sacrifice herself rather than allow a repeat of the last apocalypse

“This time, I’m going to protect them.” Yep

And Done

Thus secrets are revealed as Momo confronts her one-time partner! This episode’s revelations were a mixture of genuine answers and information that only prompts more questions, but we’ve nonetheless got a much clearer picture of what exactly happened between Momo and Mio, as well as why Mio has set herself on this path that divides her from Momo and Hiori. As is so often the case, Mio believes the best way to protect her loved ones is to separate herself from them, and presumably used the cultivated “flowers” of her reflectors’ targets to defeat their final opponent. Of course, given how reflector powers seem to work, it feels just as likely that it was the disjoint between Mio and Momo’s feelings that led to their prior defeat, rather than any fundamental flaw in their plan or philosophy. But reflector mechanics aside, I quite enjoyed this extended debate on the nature and value of reflectors, as Mio and Nina both offered some compelling counters to the idea that everyone should be forced to either acknowledge all their feelings or simply give up. Neither of these philosophies are complete, and neither can stand alone – like the reflector pairs themselves, they are only as strong as their unity of purpose.

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