Infinite Ryvius: 21 – 23

Okay so here we go, the penultimate post on Infinite Ryvius.  It’s once more a tumultuous time aboard the Ryvius as there is yet another shift in the balance of power – all is not well for the teens.

At the top of the new power structure on the Ryvius is Ikumi, Heiger and Yuki, and these three waste no time making their authority known to all.  The shift in authority is instigated by Ikumi’s use of the Vital Guarder as a threat in his desperation to restore order on the ship, and Yuki, together with Cullen, back up this very real threat with their combined skills.  Heiger takes advantage of Ikumi’s fragile emotional state to exert his influence over the whole situation, resulting in Ikumi actually attacking the Ryvius and a totalitarian system of order being forced upon the teens on board.

Ikumi is the face of the new power structure with Yuki as the brawn, but it is from Heiger that most of the extreme ideas originate from.  It has been rather disturbing to see how much Ikumi and Heiger have changed in the last few episodes – Ikumi still wants to protect everyone, but his behaviour and use of force seem excessive; the Ikumi prior to Kozue’s attack would never have considered such methods.  Heiger’s progression has been somewhat more gradual, but now he seems to have just completely given into his more fascist tendencies, suggesting more and more radical restrictions as the number of people with more moderate thoughts to oppose him dwindle.

Heiger’s ultimate move in these episodes was to rank the entire population of Ryvius by how useful they are and then segregate people according to rank.  This resulted in the E-class, the undesirable faction, being effectively abandoned and isolated from the rest of the ship.  Members of the E-class that Heiger deemed likely to upset the perfect order he wanted included Juli, Kouji, Aoi and Lucson – all of whom Heiger downgraded without telling Ikumi or Yuki.

Everyone’s actions and personalities have gradually gotten more and more exaggerated as time has gone on in this show – perhaps it’s the influence of Neya, the core of the Ryvius.  We’re told that the reason why the adult authorities are so keen to retrieve the Ryvius, even if it means sacrificing all the kids, is because it is a very important next generation ship, one of only 6 and the most powerful of the lot.  The core of these ships is an entity called a Vaia – an organism that was found living in the Geduld with unknown origins, and contact with these Vaia seems to cause mental instability.  The Ryvius apparently only ever moved once before it was activated by the teens, which only makes the adults even more keen to get their hands on it now that it is fully functional.

It can be assumed that the steady degradation of order on the Ryvius can be attributed to prolonged contact with its core – Neya.  We finally got a little bit on insight into Neya herself as well in these episodes.  She was awakened by the ever-changing emotional state of the teens on board and learned of human emotions by watching them.  It seems she is indeed fueled by emotional upheaval, which makes it particularly interesting that she constantly appears before Kouji.  I wonder if Kouji is particularly in-tune with his emotions or something?  It does seem a bit strange given his tendency to hide his true thoughts and run from confrontation.  Or maybe it’s exactly this internal conflict Kouji seems to inflict on himself daily that draws Neya’s attention?

Kouji does a bit of soul-searching this week and decided to stand up to Ikumi & Yuki, once again attempting to be the voice of sanity and moderation of the Ryvius – however when negotiations fail he pulls Blue’s gun…….which is utterly ineffectual as there is no way he’d ever shoot anyone and Yuki quickly overpowers him.  I was shocked that Ikumi actually shot Kouji though – I knew he was far gone, to actually shoot a defenseless former friend; I didn’t expect that.  What was equally shocking was that Ikumi and even Yuki, just walk away and leave Kouji to bleed on the floor.  I know the Aiba siblings don’t get on, but to allow your brother to  be shot and then abandon him to his fate, that’s just too cruel – what on earth is Yuki thinking?

On the shipping front there was lots of movement.  As Kouji and Aoi have been ostracised by most of their former friends, the two finally crack under the pressure and turn to each other for consolation.  This has a cathartic effect on Kouji as he finally realises that Aoi is the one he truly has feelings for, and completely turns his back on Faina.  It’s just a pity that Faina decided that murdering the hypotenuse is the best way to resolve this particular love triangle, first sending one of her little cult minions after Aoi, and then attempting to strangle Kouji when she finds him bleeding in the corridor, and is only stopped by Neya once again popping up.  Looks like I was right about Faina having a touch of the Yanderes – it appears that this isn’t the first time she’s killed either!

So there are only three episodes left of Infinite Ryvius.  I’m both looking forward to the finale and dreading what new torture it’s going to put me through – watching this show is a real experience!  Last post will be up during the week.