Anime Pilgrimage RTT

Zegapain – episode 4

May 25, 2006 on 10:34 pm | In Zegapain | Comments Off

“Shanghai Server”

Keywords featured in this episode led to wild speculation on my part. Look within for such wild speculation!

Contains: Wild speculation for which the author will not be held accountable in the event of inaccuracy.
WARNING: Wild speculation may be both wild and speculative.

Kyo figures out how to use the Cerebrum Icon on his forehead to travel between Cerebrum Headquarters and his town.
Mei Yun and Mei Li investigate the Shanghai server and realise that it is in immediate danger of being swallowed by the Deftera Area. Kyo approaches the mission as if it were a game, with predictably disastrous results.

The Shanghai server and several other verbal cues in this episode has led me to believe that I may understand the nature of Zegapain, and it is thus:
These villains and their Deftera Areas having lain waste to the world at large, people have chosen to be transferred into data, to live in a virtual reality. We may call this virtual reality a “matrix” of sorts (SUNRISE are geniuses if this is their plan!). Kyo lives in the Tokyo server, and is called out into the real world to fight against whomever these faceless villain robots are. This “matrix” can be reprogrammed so that reality alters around its citizens in such a way that they don’t notice. A similar technique would have been employed so that people wouldn’t notice that they were in a matrix.

To be more specific to this episode, each location in the world has to have its own server, which can be accessed remotely from any point. The catch is that the server has to remain in the city that it represents; if it didn’t, Cerebrum could instantly save them from Deftera areas, which would involve no risk whatsoever.
Essentially, Mei Yun and Mei Li come from Shanghai. When the Deftera area hit the server, its dissolution represented the deaths of their family, friends, and city. That is what needs to have happened for this episode to have any sort of emotional resonance.
Granted, Cerebrum appears to have some variety of backup, as it becomes increasingly clear that Kyo is a reboot. If Cerebrum can reload Shanghai in a similar fashion, it won’t be the same, just as Kyo does not have his memories of his previous experience. It’s entirely possible that Cerebrum has kept some sort of data on their pilots, and the rest of the world is simply collateral. What’s a few hundred million people amongst several billion?

Beyond this speculation, the episode provides that common scenario of “pilot treats situation as a game, then realises that it is, in fact, not.”
Kyo only partially gets what he deserves when he says “Hey, sucks that [everyone you know and love is dead]. Better luck next time, eh?” It would have been much worse if the situation had been explained to him, but there is a remarkable arrogance in the attitude of the student council (and SUNRISE, for that matter) when they say “if you want to be briefed on the situation, play ‘Pain of Zega’.” Damn you!
Zegapain is making me think, though, and that is good.