With the demon of her past in front of her, Hermit confronts her terror and awakens a realisation within herself that she has things important to her already. People she considers friends. Hermit has liberated herself from the shadow of Müller and expressed her severance from his darkness through that punch carrying the weight of her trauma. Whatever fear Müller cast over Hermit has been cleared and rewritten over with positive emotions. The dream of humans and robots coexisting has been reclaimed. And with it, so too has the safety of Foresta which has had its Doomsday System shutdown.
Müller’s fall from insanity into desperation was a pitiful sight to see. Just moments ago, Müller was fueling his own ego with comments of superiority but once his tools of destruction are nullified and his base form is left vulnerable, Müller resorts to begging for his life. His current form reflects his personality aptly. The lack of empathy, understanding and heart is on full display by Müller. How did Müller survive so long? And is there any hope of Müller ever growing from his current state? At this point I don’t believe so. Müller is completely enraptured by his own madness. No remorse was shown by Müller. And if he does end up surviving this incident, he will not change how he conducts himself. He will continue to harm others if it means advancing his own insanity. It is a shame Müller wasn’t fully dealt with during this arc but once Müller does return to confront Jinn and Kleene in the future, I expect that moment to be his final opportunity at saving himself.
Kleene had been emotionally broken from the trauma caused by witnessing Müller break down her brother’s body limb by limb. Kleene was too young and too alone to filter through such sights without breaking her psyche and spirit. Among having no understanding at why such actions were being done to Jinn and her, Kleene had to experience such dark emotions for the first time and all in a sudden burst at once. Kleene was not eased into the darkness. She was cast into it alone and unprepared. There was no other way a child as young as Kleene could have dealt with such an experience aside from having the trauma, pain, suffering and darkness twist their mind and soul. This is why the emotion nullifier was needed in Kleene. All to stop her mind from fully crumbling from the pain Kleene couldn’t comprehend. In order to give Kleene a chance, Sister erased the memories tied to Kleene’s trauma from her mind. Freed from such a memory, Kleene would in turn be freed from the suffering associated with it. While I feel such a trauma will never disappear and may eventually reawaken the painful memories in Kleene again in the future, at this point what Kleene needs is time and space to build up her mental defenses so that when the trauma overwhelms her again, she is prepared to confront the darkness and move passed it. Kleene and Müller will likely encounter each other again in the future. Kleene didn’t need to see Müller to be reminded of the terror he inflicted on Jinn and her. If Müller does approach Kleene again in the future, her mind will naturally react and once she see him, the memories of their past will be reawakened. This moment will both challenge and liberate Kleene.
Rebecca is totally right, even with Foresta saved, after all the loss and destruction suffered by the humans and robots, can they truly be friends again? Can coexistence still be achieved? At this point it does not seem likely but with the Aoi Cosmos story still ongoing, events may transpire that end up inspiring the denizens of the Aoi Cosmos to yearn after change and peace. Xenolith may play a significant part in laying the path for this future. Once he trains Shiki in the Magimech Gravity Marital Arts, I can see Xenolith remaining in the Aoi Cosmos to help bridge the gap between humans, robots and the other existences present in the Aoi Cosmos. Both Mortals and Robots who have been hurt by other side first need to see such an existence is possible before committing themselves to it. And along with Xenolith, the actions of the Edens Zero crew will also play a part in inspiring others to hope for coexistence.
Love the coverage given to Rebecca and Homura in this chapter. Even though, they were not the focus of the chapter or the current part of the story, they were still highlighted fantastically. Both of them are tenacious just like their captain. I especially love Rebecca’s bike skills and Homura’s swordplay. Really looking forward to the next chapter.
12Dimension 