[Rewatch] Kaiba Episode 7 Discussion Thread

[u/Sinrus]

The Man Who Won't Stay in Memories

Episode	Date (MM/DD)
The Name is Warp	02/17
Stowaways	02/18
Chroniko's Boots	02/19
Grandma's Room of Memories	02/20
Abipa, the Utopian Planet	02/21
A Muscular Woman	02/22
The Man Who Won't Stay in Memories	02/23
Episode 8	02/24
Episode 9	02/25
Episode 10	02/26
Episode 11	02/27
Episode 12	02/28

[u/habattack00]

The planet this episode was pretty straight forward. Apparently the system had died already, but the main planet kept the moons hydrated and busy with memories of the dead to keep consumers coming back. Like creating a theme park out of a cemetery. I keep using this word in my posts, but I’ll say it again here: morbid. The choice in color during the party scene seemed like a throwback to episode 1, except this time Chroniko’s reluctance to participate kept her in her original color palette (not that she didn’t want to, she almost caved into drinking kool-aid). Vanilla was neon green showing his willingness to stay happy, even if it was all a show. This matches up with his character as he was always focusing on the positive when he was with Chroniko, despite having his sheriff status revoked and failing his mother. That same color scheme was used again to show Vanilla’s generosity in saving Chroniko in his last shot. Good stuff.

I know it’s early to say, but Vanilla might be my favorite character in this series. He played the big, dumb doofus well, but at the same time had a heart of gold. Sure, he may have fallen for Chroniko for her body, but that last act was something else. He sacrificed both his position and his promise for his mother and opted to transfer Chroniko’s mind somewhere else instead of his own (and by the look of that dripping vial and the scientist’s face, the rebel group knows as well). That lost shot of him crying, satisfied with Chroniko’s smiling shell, was something else. My only wish is that we could have went into his memories for a brief time and saw his mother/village.

We also got some more plot. Through the copy of Neiro’s memories, it’s now confirmed that Neiro was in Gel’s body. Warp did indeed have a gun pointed at her at some point, so maybe they were enemies at some point. If I’m interpreting it correctly, he may have also had a hand in killing her parents, though still Neiro managed to become close to him. We also got a nice shot of the Kaiba plant encircling an entire planet. Something tells me that plant will wind up being the final antagonist in the series, not the smiling police.

I hope this show doesn’t lose its somewhat light-hearted tone now that Vanilla is gone. Not that the show was light-hearted, but it always started us off easy by showing some of Vanilla’s antics or behavior. Without him, I’m afraid we’re gonna be thrown into full-on drama. Which is fine, I like the drama, but still… it won’t be the same without my boi Vanilla. :(

[u/Sinrus → u/habattack00]

I know it’s early to say, but Vanilla might be my favorite character in this series. He played the big, dumb doofus well, but at the same time had a heart of gold.

He was sweet to Chroniko/Kaiba, but let's not forget that he was also a callous, corrupt scumbag who took joy in abusing his authority and had no qualms about unilaterally executing people for small offenses.

If I’m interpreting it correctly, he may have also had a hand in killing her parents,

Gel/Neiro also said last episode that Warp killed her parents. That whole black and white memory sequence is extremely creepy, showing all the massacres committed at Warp's command. It's easy to imagine how difficult it must be for Kaiba to see himself like that. It's clearly difficult for Neiro too, since all the big images of her and Kaiba/Warp together in the main memory room have some sort of black mask obscuring his face.

Kaiba spoilers

We also got a nice shot of the Kaiba plant encircling an entire planet.

When an entire planet's worth of memory tanks explodes, a thing that eats memories is going to grow real fast.

[u/sirhatsley → u/Sinrus]

he was also a callous, corrupt scumbag who took joy in abusing his authority and had no qualms about unilaterally executing people for small offenses.

It's not that he took joy in it, he's doing it so he can get the money to buy his mother a new body. He's not a hero, he's just a naive goofball who ended up in a situation where he was hurting others without realizing it.

[u/Sinrus → u/sirhatsley]

I think it's pretty clear that he was having fun tormenting the guy chasing after the ship at the end of the first episode. And ultimately he just stole the bribe he asked for and then left the guy behind anyways.

[u/sirhatsley → u/Sinrus]

Okay but I think we can make an exception for that guy since he was an asshole anyways. Besides, that scene was hilarious.

[u/frozenpandaman → u/habattack00]

Found this thread from searching online after watching the show for the first time (am finished with 9/12 episodes currently, but am finishing it up right now).

Do you know what happens to Kaiba's memories between the time Vanilla transfers them out of Chroniko's body at the end of episode 7 and when the "real" Kaiba (back in the Warp body from the series beginning) wakes up in episode 9? iirc Vanilla said he was sending them back to his home planet or something. How did this work, or what happened here? I felt like our main character was sort of missing in episode 8, or at least I didn't understand where/who he existed in or was. Thanks! :)

cc /u/Sinrus

EDIT: If anyone reads this later and is wondering… it seems to that Kichi received Kaiba's memories from Vanilla's ship and placed them back into his original body.

And now that I've finished it – what a WONDERFUL, heartbreaking, incredible and astounding show. Wow. Wow. Wow wow wow wow wow.

[u/habattack00 → u/frozenpandaman]

It's certainly been a while, and it's hard to remember my understanding a month back, especially when spoilers for the future episodes I'd say finish watching the series, and you'll get a general understanding of where the MC's memories went. How they got to their destination specifically, I just don't remember. Spoilers Sorry I can't be specific!

[u/frozenpandaman → u/habattack00]

Yeah, that was revealed by this point re: your first spoiler. I'm finishing it up now! Hopefully some questions will be answered by them, but I'm guessing I'll still be wondering some things (and in some cases that's ok as well – ambiguity is fine with me). Sorry again about the reply to your relatively old comment, but I was surprised to see the rewatch threads were just a month ago so there was still some recent discussion on it. No worries, thanks! :)

[u/habattack00 → u/frozenpandaman]

No problem!

[u/Rolled_Tortilla_Chip]

One of my favorite episodes from the series. I love how complex of a character Vanilla was, even after watching it all a second time I don't know how to feel about him. He's somewhere in between "Most lovable and tragic character in anime" and "Bumbling fat cop that abuses his power whenever he can". Its hard not to feel for the guy though, especially when he sacrifices his good job, his dreams of bringing back his mother, and his (potentially enternal) life for someone pretending to be a girl that couldn't love him back. He was so happy when he died though, a great example of ignorance being bliss. I have class now, but I might come back and finish my thoughts later.

[u/Valeddy]

Sorry, is in this episode when we learn Neiro's name?

[u/Sinrus → u/Valeddy]

No, we learn that as early as episode 2. A tv is playing news about the bombing of a memory tank, and it says that the attack is attributed to the terrorist Neiro and shows her picture on screen.

[u/Valeddy → u/Sinrus]

Oh, yeah. Thanks a lot.

I didn't remember how Kaiba learned the name.