Buddy Complex Final Chapter 2: Poor Dio

Well, that wraps everything up. I definitely expected another singularity to show up randomly to take Aoba back to his world. I wasn’t expecting them to introduce so many Coupling mechanics, though. It seems so wasted. The revelation that Hina was actually from Aoba’s world is definitely interesting. It finally answers the question of what started her loop in the first place…glad that was cleared up.

I don’t even want to attempt to analyze the whole “moving one nanosecond into the past to compensate for not moving thoughts” thing that they pulled in the final part. The ending is definitely interesting, though. It leaves a bit up to interpretation by wiping Aoba and Hina’s memories of their time travel. It may very well suggest that the loop just starts all over again in the end, despite all that happens.

Buddy Complex Final Chapter 1: It’s back!

So it looks like this show is back to wrap up with two episodes. I’m pretty annoyed at having to wait a season for just two episodes, but I guess it’s better than dragging out the ending unnecessarily with an entire second season. It looks like the show goes full-on Gundam with the ending by having a giant space battle involving an overpowered laser aiming at the Earth.

There really isn’t all that much more to analyze in this show since they got through most of the time travel stuff in the first season. I guess these two episodes will just be sitting back and enjoying the battle. I can’t imagine what kind of huge twists they could throw in the final episode. There will probably be a big moment where Bizon reveals himself to Hina and then they’ll either destroy him or get him to change his mind about revenge.

Buddy Complex Episode 13 (Final): Not a bad ending

Oh wow. It was actually the same Hina who came to the future with Aoba? That was very surprising. So she’s actually been looping all of this time? That’s always a hard one to justify in the time travel sense, especially since the loop forward actually changes her age and because she goes into the same singularity as other people and comes out at different times. This show definitely gave me a lot to think about with regards to time travel. Hina’s just so hard to explain. Also, with regards to the breaking of the loop, I want to use a Madoka-esque explanation where constant time travel stabilizes Aoba’s waveform so that he can form the forced Coupling with the older Valiancers, which allow Dio to see the past. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work too well because Aoba isn’t the one looping.

I think it was a nice ending, looping everything to tie Aoba’s story back in to the show. It had felt like he had basically forgotten about his time travel up to this point. That being said, I would have accept this episode as a decent resolution of Aoba’s story, so why is there another season? I understand that it looks like the leader of Zogilia is a second Bizon, but presumably it’s just a completely separate story. Hopefully it doesn’t feel too much like it’s just dragging on.

Buddy Complex Episode 12: The final battle begins

It wouldn’t be a Sunrise mecha show if the enemies didn’t get some sort of giant laser to shoot in the final battle. Also, the brainwash might be more acceptable than anything else we’ve seen so far as a reason for Hina to turn traitor. I’m a bit skeptical about the results of the failed Coupling from last week, though. I guess Dio understands Aoba more now, but that brief conversation where Dio confirmed to the crew that Aoba was from the past was a bit awkward to me.

Next week is when it all ends. Based on the last moments of this episode, I would guess that Aoba and Dio will go out in the same defective Valiancers to fight due to impatience, but the preview doesn’t offer any confirmation. I’m curious whether Bizon and Hina will be able to initiate a successful Coupling before Hina regains her senses.

Buddy Complex Episode 11: This is why we can’t have nice things

Oh, so Zogilia actually manages to steal the Valiancers. Wasn’t totally expecting that. Hina’s father dies as expected, but that was quite an anticlimactic way to go. Also, Hina’s big secret is revealed. I almost thought the same thing as her when I first heard it. Maybe she’s actually the Hina that Aoba met somehow. But I find that highly unlikely after thinking about it. I also wondered whether she may be distantly related to Aoba as well, but it seems unlikely given the focus on their romance.

Next week, Aoba and Dio have to address what happened in the battle this week. Apparently they shared memories somehow. If that’s the case, then Dio will find out about Aoba’s alone time with Hina when they were stranded on that island. He’ll also confirm that Aoba’s from the past. Will they continue to use these old models to fight? I guess they don’t have much choice. I’m still not totally convinced about Hina’s eventual defection. We’ll see how it turns out.

Buddy Complex Episode 10: Taking a break

Everyone gets a break from the battles this week. Dio gets his chance to reconcile with his father. That was fairly easy. Mayuka also gets to spend some quality time with Aoba. Poor girl. Aoba only has eyes for Hina. Not too much to discuss this week. There was the brief question of whether Aoba would want to stay in this time period, but it seems like he will based on what the other Hina said before disappearing.

Next week, Zogilia begins their infiltration operation. Interesting that the episode is titled “The Truth”. Sounds very ominous. Is it because they will learn the truth about the Coupling System? Or is there some deeper secret to one of the two warring sides that they’ll uncover. Maybe this will be that moment of disgust that turns Hina that I mentioned last week.

Buddy Complex Episode 9: The power of friendship!

The power of friendship has broken the bounds of a the Coupling System! I’ve also been thinking about Hina’s eventual betrayal. I don’t expect Aoba’s simple sweet talking and devotion to be enough to turn someone away from their own country. I feel like the most powerful motivator for something like that is disgust. Either Hina is fully rejected by her country (which I think is a bit harsh because then she’s basically helpless) or something terrible will happen that will cause Hina to reject her country.

Looks like reinforcements have come for the Zogilia forces. Is this the fated scene where the main character kills the father of his love interest? That would fit with Sunrise’s patterns. But that aside, next week’s episode will focus back on Dio. Looks like he’ll be getting over his daddy issues.

Buddy Complex Episode 8: So they didn’t capture her…

And so the doubt has been placed. Maybe now Hina won’t be so obsessed with trying to take down Aoba’s Valiancer in combat. It’s a pretty straightforward episode. I could probably go on a bit more about the whole hairpin thing, I guess. There isn’t all that much to analyze, but it displays my problems with a deterministic past. If the only reason Hina got the hairpin was because Aoba came back to the past, where did the hairpin originate? How was it created? That sort of thing.

Not entirely sure what to make of the preview. The title of the next episode is pretty ambiguous. It looks like maybe another scientist who worked on the Coupling System or something? More stuff about how Aoba is the Chosen One sent to bring the Coupling System to the next level?

Buddy Complex Episode 7: So that’s how they’re going to do it

Ah, I see. So they aren’t going to capture Hina. Aoba and Hina are just going to be stranded together for a bit. That should give them plenty of time to bond. I’ve been wondering how she will turn. It looks like the battle this week wasn’t as hard as it appeared to be last week. It’s interesting that Aoba has the ability to couple with anyone, but ruins waveforms. I wonder if this is meant to be some sort of artifact of the past that has disappeared in the years that Aoba has been missing.

Well, now that Aoba and Hina finally have some time together, he has the time to explain to her why he treats her differently from the rest of Zogilia. And then the doubt will be placed in her mind. I’m wondering if there is some sort of future scenario where Hina couples with Aoba.

Buddy Complex Episode 6: Demoted to cameraman

So it wasn’t a totally new pair like I suspected last week, so we’re stuck with Dio and Aoba. It looks like Aoba has a natural talent for coupling with others, whatever that means. Looks like we have some new characters. A new enemy who believes he has found the secret to beating the Coupling System and a new ally, Fromm, to troll Dio and distract all female members of the crew. I wish they’d go more into what coupling really is…it looks like people actually have to train in order to pair with others, so it’s not just an innate thing.

Anyway, it looks like the new enemy (hereby dubbed midboss) will be returning next week to show off what he’s learned this week. His strategy this week seemed fairly effective, so we’ll see what kind of success he has. I dunno…for some reason, I suspected Fromm of being a traitor, but that doesn’t seem quite as likely if he’s joining the crew. No clues from the episode title next week, unfortunately. I’m kinda in the dark.