STAR DRIVER Kagayaki no Takuto, ep 5

I do hope readers don’t mind the constant back-references to Utena and Sailor Moon S that are going to inevitably end up in these episode discussions- the very nature of the work makes it nearly impossible to avoid, given the ridiculously similar nature of the way these episodes are constructed.

Once I saw the sub of episode 4, where Wako states that her true dream (to become a singer in Tokyo) was destroyed by playing the ‘role’ of the South Maiden, it became clear to me that it would actually be better for everyone involved – Glittering Crux and Night Flight alike – if this whole glass bead game crashes and burns and falls straight into the ocean.

That represents a slight inversion from Utena; in that series, all characters involved were desperately trying to avoid change, to hold on to unhealthy, frozen memories and artificial ideals that actually blocked them from becoming actual people with genuine emotions; a game so old and so deep that it had survived previous generations and earlier turns of the wheel; Ohtori was a million years older than it looked. The role of the “prince” was to destroy those cherished, limiting illusions and bring people into the current, real, living world.

In Star Driver, I have a growing sense that most of the characters are united by truly, desperately yearningto be something different than they are, but being bound in an artificial manner to their position against their will. They want very much to change, they want to experience themselves more authentically, but they can’t, don’t know how, or are confined from doing so in some fashion. The fish maiden struggles with her chain, which has already been unhooked at the end, but she still wears it as a prop. Head slumps around in a fetal position like the shadow of Dios before him, exhausted and demoralized, demanding to be distracted from himself. Sugata complains that he’s only engaged because his parents decided it, not him.

This makes Takuto’s position within the story, like Utena’s, ultimately one of destruction; “My birth was the absolute birth of the Apocalypse.” The change we don’t want to embrace, the thing within ourselves we don’t want to see- only when that thing is dragged into the light and utterly unmasked and shown to us clearly can we ever make progress. Whether we choose to accept what we’ve seen or not is the ultimate test of our character. Usually, we have to be forced to see these things, which is the role of a character like Utena or Takuto. In both cases though, the ultimate end of their conflict with a character was the inner liberation of that character; the Revolution, the ‘stars shining in your inner galaxy’. Takuto is clearly the Pirate King of FLCL and the Boy King of Shounen Ou as well. If you have any doubts about that, watch the array of light at the final moment of the apprivoise with Tauburn; the very specific symbol formed by the light is nearly line-by-line identical to that which appears on Canti’s screen.

I’ve also noticed that two of the neck-collars worn in apprivoise are marked with what appear to be Viking runes, but I can’t confirm that entirely at this point. I’ll be keeping an eye out if I see them, since the rune would be another decode-point for the inner meaning of the processes we’re seeing at work.

“The Meaning of Mandrake” is an interesting title for this episode, as it represents a fairly complicated alchemical symbol. A mandrake is one of man’s oldest plant symbols; harvested for reasons of magic and to enhance fertility. But there’s an interesting crossreference to mention here that’s relevant to the series at large, from Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie by Arthur Edward Waite:

…we will add a few words about mandragores (mandrakes) and androids, which several writers on magic confound with the waxen image; serving the purposes of bewitchment…Some alchemists, impressed by this idea…experimented in the artificial reproduction of a soil sufficiently fruitful and a sun sufficiently active to humanise the said root, and thus create men without the concurrence of the female. (See: Homunculus) Others… crossed monstrous pairs and projected human seed into animal earth, only for the production of shameful crimes and barren deformities. The third method of making the android was by “galvanic machinery”. The real and serious android of the ancients was a secret which they kept hidden from all eyes, and Mesmer was the first who dared to divulge it; it was the extension of the will of the magus into another body, organised and served by an elementary spirit; in more modern and intelligible terms, it was a magnetic subject.

(emphasis mine).

This episode is particularly shameless with the sex-and-power metaphors, appropriate for an episode revolving around a fertility plant, depicting a school nurse that in any other situation would probably either be jailed for ogling minors like she does or at the very least removed from any position of physical contact with children. But let’s write that off in the name of cultural differences.

The school this week is haunted by a lovely ghost; a projection of pure lust, representing the idealized self of the nurse, who still yearns for the happier days of ten years ago. Her projections, tied to a coffin in the mechanisms of the Glittering Crux, form an irresistible bait to all the men of the school; luring them with a sweet scent. However, this charm doesn’t work on anyone who already has their heart filled with someone else…

The school nurse just happens to also be Professor Green of the Glittering Crux, so you can imagine how well THAT ends up. How we find this out is pretty interesting; you would assume all of the GC members know each other, but the exchange in the chemistry club’s supply room strongly implies that’s not the case; the masked are masked even to each other until they quickly connect their identities as Ivrogne and Professor Green.

Ivrogne is coming somewhat more into focus now, although it’s unfortunately a focus with a Witches 5 mold; we still don’t really know much about her except that she’s prim and precise , with a slight hint of sadism. Interestingly, however, she wears a Heart motif costume, and her performance here has subtle hints of ‘playing Cupid’- encouraging love, maybe? That was definitely the case with her playing with Tiger’s memory previously…

We learn that the physical seals of the Maidens also affect the physical world; the volcano protected by the North Maiden’s seal is now rumbling since its destruction. Tension builds under the surface. The earth rumbles. The body shakes with desire. “In the worst case, it might even erupt.” But might that not ultimately be a good thing? The characters fear the possibility of an eruption and move to stop the actions of the sweet-scented ghost, but I think they’re working against their own interests in doing so.

What I find unusual is that the nurse is actually -resolved- at the end of the episode; it appears her experience in Zero Time somehow altered her (or reality?) in order to fulfill her desire. She appears to get what she most wanted at the end…

Like the rebuild Evangelions, are the Cybodies machines that fulfill wishes?

“So what will you use your powers for?”

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