English Dub Review: Scarlet Nexus “A 2,000-Year Ambition”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Kagero and the other cadets are holed up in a space shuttle called an Ark, where the former moon dweller informs them of the history of Togetsu and the origin of the Extinction Belt. Suddenly, OSF agents break in and they have to make a hasty escape. They decide to head forward to the only destination they can reach without being caught: an off limits cavern that no one has been inside in centuries.

It turns out that’s because there’s a giant Other guarding the tunnel system. Even though the creature has never been conquered before, the cadets devise a plan to send it to an early grave so they can continue their escape. After succeeding in their plan, Kagero fills them in on Togetsu’s mission and they decide to work together to make sure it doesn’t come to fruition.

Our Take:

Scarlet Nexus is back with another dubbed episode this week. Picking up where we left off last time with Kagero and the cadets surrounded, it follows the group as they escape from various threats, all the while learning more about Togetsu, the Others, and why exactly Kagero is giving them help despite his moon-y origins. It’s an adequate, if unexciting, episode that fills in a few more puzzle pieces about the mysteries of Earth—and of the Moon.

I thought after last week’s cliffhanger ending, Kagero would be revealed as an enemy for sure. The sudden revelation that he’d led them all to a spaceship called an Ark had me thinking he’d blast them all off to revisit the moon, but it turns out that’s not the case. It was just an admittedly very effective cliffhanger to keep people watching. Kagero tells his fellow fugitives that he originally came from the moon as an immigrant and that he’s spent the last 2,000 years or so in a deep sleep pod. It’s a pretty unbelievable tale, but he insists it’s true and most everyone is inclined to believe him. He’s about to tell them more when they’re interrupted by OSF agents storming the Ark.

That’s kind of the theme of the episode: Kagero reveals a bit of info before the exposition is interrupted by a new threat. First it’s OSF agents, then it’s a giant Other who guards an underground system of caverns. That means the external conflict brought by the action scenes isn’t really super interesting, as it just distracts from the more curiosity-inducing questions about Kagero’s past. I was thinking the group would learn more about the Others from this gigantic, ancient Other, but it just turns out to be another simple side quest that they defeat in a couple minutes time.

Ignoring the broken up segments of battle, A 2,000-Year Ambition is mostly a long history lesson from Kagero. Like most other aspects of Scarlet Nexus’s backstory, it’s very crazy and more than a little confusing for those viewers who haven’t had experience with the video game the series is based upon. Basically, Kagero came from the moon on a project to re-settle the earth, but the project was canceled due to turmoil back on the moon. And that turmoil is the most interesting part because it gives somewhat of an explanation for the existence of the Others. Apparently, a comet passed by the moon’s surface and left strange residue that somehow transformed the moon’s inhabitants into Others. (Now my question is where did the comet come from?)

Those left on earth either started fresh, like those who founded New Himuka, or kept trying to find a way back to the moon, like Togetsu. Eventually, once the Extinction Belt came around, returning to the moon was deemed impossible and so—here’s where I’m still left a little puzzled—those in Togetsu decided that the best course of action was to invent a way to turn back time and make it so everyone and everything since that mission from moon to earth ceases to exist. The cadets aren’t sure why this is what Togetsu is after either, but they’re determined to put a stop to this erasure of history. The only problem is that, since they’re rebels, they can’t exactly run to their respective governments and tattletale on Togetsu.

Next episode we’ll see exactly how they decide to go about stopping Togetsu—and also what evil Nagi has up his evil sleeves. The last scene of the episode has him whispering Yuito’s name creepily to himself while in some kind of medical device. I’m all for a Yuito/Nagi reunion, but somehow I don’t think this next meeting between them is going to be very friendly…