Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom – Episode 20

It’s episode 20 of…wait, what show am I watching? Where are the assassins? SCHOOL!? Reiji going on dates?! We’re in the Twilight Zone!

Two years have passed since Reiji escaped from the US with Ellen following the explosion in his apartment, and they are now in Japan, living as brother and sister…and going to school. A girl named Sanae in Reiji’s class drags him to the roof, where, of all people, Mio, Daisuke Godoh’s little sister, is waiting for him to ask him out, but before she can say it, Ellen interrupts them.

Ellen tells Reiji to go give Mio his response (that he wasn’t able to give due to Ellen’s interference). Reiji eventually finds her, but tells her that her confession was too sudden and that they should start off by being friends. Despite that, they’re basically going on a date the next day.

The date seems to go well enough, though in the process we find out more about Reiji and Ellen’s cover story, which includes them saying that their parents were killed in an accident when they were younger, so they live by themselves now. However, while they’re chatting, a woman on a motorcycle stops near them, and (unaware to Mio) fires a shot in their direction then leaves. However, Reiji recognizes what happened immediately and goes back into Reiji-assassin mode.

After the date, Reiji finds Ellen praying in a church, and recalls their travels: from Mexico to Peru to Palau to the Philippines and finally to Japan. He alerts Ellen that Inferno has finally found them. Ellen says that they can use Mio as a trump card against the Godohs and Inferno, telling Reiji about her connections to the Godoh group that Mio herself were unaware of.

Ellen and Reiji decide to make an escape plan, but Ellen tells Reiji that once all this is over, they’ll be back so he can be happy again. Sanae and Mio end up running into Reiji on the street the next day, but Reiji rushes off to meet up with Ellen, and Mio remarks how something is different about Reiji now. On his way, however, Reiji runs into the woman on the motorcycle again, who reveals herself to be none other than a grown up Cal.

That was a pretty different, but still pretty good episode I thought. We got to see Reiji and Ellen living pretty normally, and being schoolmates with Mio of all people. Though, while I think the “acting normal” was more natural on Reiji’s part, it was still somewhat acting on Ellen, though even the scenes where Ellen and Reiji are alone, it’s clear that Ellen has opened up quite a bit herself in the past 2 years.

In a way, it’s pretty sad that Ellen would put her friend, Mio, at risk to protect herself from Inferno, but then again, living in their “dream,” as they put it, and living as assassins are pretty much two completely separate state of minds for Ellen and Reiji, and unfortunately they’ve had to switch back to assassin mode with the reappearance of a very grown up Cal.

Obviously Cal appears to be somewhat hostile towards Reiji (evidenced by her warning shot), but what her true feelings and motivations are we don’t know yet, though I figure we’ll find out soon enough.

I find it interesting how Ellen also appears to want to shoulder most of the burden of handling Inferno, since she seems to see Reiji as being more “normal” and still sees herself as being quite sin-tainted, thus, probably, her frequent praying in the church, and I think it’s clear that she’ll do whatever she can to try to ensure Reiji survives, even if it means dying herself.

In any case, it sure doesn’t feel like we only have 6 episodes left, but that’s where we are. I’m wondering where all this will end up: who will live, who will die? Will Inferno be taken down, and if so, by whom? We still have a lot of things to resolve, and I fully expect it to be done in an exciting, surprising, and explosive way, which is the way Phantom seems to like to do things.

P.S.: Screw Mio from K-ON.  I think this Mio is a hell of a lot cuter lol.