Occultic;Nine Episode 11 Review: We Want The Airwaves

Episode 11 of Occultic;Nine totally felt like the calm before the storm, in some sense. Or, to put it literally, it felt like a proper second-to-the-last-episode episode! They made it a point to pave the way for the conclusion next week, answering the things we need to know before the big finale!

Japanese Title: 大いなる目的のためよ

Plot

Aveline finally revealed herself to the remaining members of the investigation team and disclosed the true nature of the Astral and Physical worlds, as well as her intentions on getting in the MMG’s way. Then two special guests appeared, Asuna and Izumin, who both revealed some pretty shocking things! Kusakabe and Moritsuka exchanged some information as well: about how the devil was able to rewind time, and just why he could see memories of Ria. And, the most important of all, we got to know how Gamon is centered in all of this! Basically it was just one revelation after another, which felt pretty great! Those loose ends are being tied up at last!

Episode Highlights

We guessed it in the previous review, and now it’s confirmed to be correct: those pink pants gave Izumin away as the one making the experimental ghosts disappear! He was also revealed to be the leader of the Society of the Eight Gods of Fortune, which is actually under the MMG. Izumin was also the one behind the deaths of Gamon Koresuke and Professor Hashigami – the former he killed for his personal agenda, and the latter for the purposes of their organization’s conspiracy! Like Gamon, I felt sad learning all these things about the manager. He seemed like a pretty fun and quirky character who could’ve been a huge support to our main cast. But alas, he was deceiving everyone, even us viewers, ever since the beginning!

I was glad Gamon gave Izumin that punch, which seemed to carry his disappointment in him. Plus, Izumin scared the heck out of everyone (including me), so he definitely deserved that and getting arrested by the police. It was also pretty cool to see Gamon powering up like a game character with the help of Ryo-tas’ Poya-gun. From there it became clear why he was considered a special element: he can supercharge as an electromagnetic wave because he has an Orphan Receptor, as they called it. Aveline said this was coincidental with Gamon Koresuke making the Sky Sensor the way it is. Though, I personally don’t think it’s completely a coincidence. After all, his dad was still connected to the Society in some sense, so it’s quite possible he knew something about it, right?

I also guessed in the previous review that Kusakabe was probably being possessed by Minase Takaharu, just like with Ryo-tas and Aveline. Now we found out that he was actually able to see Takaharu’s memories through the cornea transplanted to him! It suddenly made me remember a Korean drama where the female protagonist was the recipient of another woman’s heart. She ended up falling with the same guy her heart donor loved. In this case, Kusakabe saw Aria like her brother did, that’s why he felt concern for her, whether he liked it or not. I’m certainly happy with this development because there’s finally some closure for them both!

Meanwhile, Moritsuka learned from Kusakabe that he wasn’t able to see the future or rewind time, just that the speed of time is different for astral and physical forms! So, if by some way they’re all able to get back to their physical bodies and ‘back to the past’, only seven minutes should have passed, since it’s been seven days since they died. The question now is: at which point in time do they go back? While they’re drowning in the lake? If so, maybe that’s why Moritsuka said he’s running out of time…

Everyone is trying to finish their goals as soon as possible, though: MMG has one day to ready everything before their emperor dies, while Aveline, Gamon and the others have to destroy Odd Eye then! But, they all need the boot key for the Wardenclyffe Gun. Who could’ve possibly taken it, I wonder?

Themes & Trivia

Father’s Love – Izumin mentioned that both Gamon Koresuke and Professor Hashigami asked him to not harm their sons. It was actually pretty touching to hear that they were more concerned about their children than their own lives! Both sons were shown to be particularly close to their fathers, even though in Sarai’s case, they often did not see eye to eye. Another father-child tandem was Aveline and Nikola Tesla. I know the episode kept their relationship a bit vague on the outside, but if you think about Aveline’s attitude towards her father’s work, she’s quite devoted to it. Even her main reason of destroying the Odd Eye was because the MMG was disrespecting her father’s discoveries by using it for greed. I guess we can safely say that Nikola Tesla was a good father to her.

Comments

I actually thought this episode to be a bit lackluster at first, not because everything was boring, but because the peak moments were not really that high. But then I remembered that it’s already the finale next week, so they’re most likely just preparing us for all the things that will explode in our faces! That’s why I ended up saying earlier that this is a good preparation for the conclusion. We can be sure that whatever happens next week will be intense, since they didn’t let this episode become too hyped.

To be honest though, I’m actually kinda nervous about how this amazing show will end. I’ve watched and read many incredible series that wound up falling flat at the last minute. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one, right? So, here’s to believing the writers who gave us such an amazing ride won’t let us down! They’ve definitely got the ending all planned out properly!

The Truth Seeking Ghosts vs. The Greedy Living Beings

With all these revelations, these facts and these hopes in mind, we can finally move towards the conclusion of this exciting mystery! I’m super thrilled to know just what will happen to our protagonists! It also makes me realize that all nine of them haven’t joined forces yet! Will Aria, Kusakabe and Moritsuka team up with the others? And what ever happened to Nishizono? Guess we’ll just have to find out next week!