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DO NOT READ THIS POST IF YOU ARE NOT CAUGHT UP ON THE LP

I figured since this game can be charitably described as “tangled” I should probably include a refresher course for what we have and haven’t seen so far. I’ve sorted these by character, but all the information is still in the order we originally saw it. I realize that making people bounce back and forth through this document to read this stuff in that order is unnecessarily confusing and complicating matters, but when you really think about it, is there anything more appropriate for this game than that?

Anyway, meet our cast of intrepid teenagers. These are their stories:

Juro Kurabe

(1) (Chapter 1) As the kaiju invasion begins in 1985, Juro witnesses Iori Fuyusaka summon a Sentinel and follows suit. Renya Gouto, who is also there, calls him “Izumi,” which Juro rejects. Some days earlier, Juro discovers files with his photo and the name “Juro Izumi” in the office of Ms. Morimura, the school nurse. Later, Juro and his friend Kyuta Shiba walk home when they encounter Keitaro Miura looking pale. When Juro touches Miura, whose forehead is glowing mysteriously, Juro’s hand begins to glow and a giant robot called a “Sentinel” appears, destroying a local video store. Shiba suddenly grouses about “Okino’s damn code” and a “forced activation protocol” before saying Juro “needs to forget about this.” Juro then clutches his head.

(2) (Chapter 8) In the cafeteria looking for Shu Amiguchi (because Shiba wants to play video games at his place), Juro encounters Natsuno Minami. Natsuno has asked Juro to take in Miura for a while in return for not telling anyone that Megumi Yakushiji is also living at his house.

(3) (Chapter 21) Having missed Shu Amiguchi before, Juro finally discovers his location by eavesdropping on Tomi and Iori. Juro asks Shu if he can hang out at his place due to his own “troubles at home” and Shu agrees. Shiba then mooches off Shu’s game console for a few hours while Juro talks to Shu about a traumatic dream he had that’s been causing him to avoid Megumi. In the dream, an older man resembling Juro (going by “Izumi”) has already killed multiple people and has chased down Shu (as “Ida”), Megumi, and Iori. Izumi shoots all three of them and is about to finish off Ida before Morimura appears and incapacitates him with something that appears to be Fluffy’s magical gun.

(4) (Chapter 41) Juro ditches Shiba this time and talks to Megumi, remembering how they ended up living together: Megumi suddenly appeared with a rental agreement signed by his grandmother, who went away to visit relatives. After remembering this, he overhears Megumi and Gouto discussing her feelings for “Izumi,” Juro’s new personality not being stable, and the old Izumi personality being irretrievable even if “Juro Kurabe” were to be erased. Megumi rejects this, but Juro makes his presence known, startling the others. Megumi promises to make Juro dinner that night before running off, and Juro is left uncomfortable thinking about Megumi having feelings for a different Juro. Also, probably a little uncomfortable at the personality erasure thing, but whatever.

(5) (Chapter 52) Juro ditches Shiba again and talks to Megumi once more. She tells him that “you are just you” but that he doesn’t remember her. Afterwards, he heads to the nurse’s office to drop off the papers, speaking to Ryoko who is also there. Ryoko confirms that Juro Kurabe is really Juro Izumi, who switched identities due to his mental damage. Juro also realizes that this means his dreams likely actually happened. The next day, Juro ditches Shiba again, but this time talks to Iori, who has been staring at him. She asks Juro about the dreams he told her about, but Juro does not remember and believes she is talking about movie plots. She mentions the Sentinels, Kaiju, the UFO, and a scene where someone teleports onto a bridge, but he has no idea what she’s talking about. However, when pressed on the bridge scene, he does have a brief outburst where he corrects her on the details of the scene, to his own bafflement. Iori mentions a different scene in a harbor that he told her about while the two were cleaning the science room, but eventually gives up. Juro recalls the scene once she leaves. In the dream, Older Juro and Catsuit Morimura have just committed some kind of bombing and killed many civilian scientists to prevent the “interstellar development project,” though one escaped and Juro has been shot. A police boat spots them and opens fire, and Juro stays behind to allow Morimura to escape.

(6) (Chapter 63) Juro heads to the video store with Shiba, but it’s still destroyed by the “gas explosion” (Juro 1). Miura catches up with them, wanting to talk to Juro about that very incident. Juro has no memory of summoning his Sentinel, but it soon becomes apparent that Miura cannot perceive Shiba in any way. Juro suddenly remembers an earlier incident where he realized no one could see or hear Shiba and that he has no memories of him prior to high school, despite having grown up with him. Shiba then said that he “overdid it with the mind-hacking lately,” causing Juro to figure it out. He then gave Juro a video tape containing his “next set of memories.” Back in the present, Shiba reveals himself to be “Artificial personality, 48Q. Code name QTA_CBA,” also known as “Juro Izumi.” Shiba is filling Juro Kurabe’s head with his own transplanted memories in the form of the video tapes. Shiba gives Juro one more tape to overwrite this latest incident as Miura tries to snap Juro out of it.

(7) (Chapter 73) In the classroom, Shiba talks to Juro like everything is normal, but Juro still remembers. When Juro pushes the issue, Shiba just says that “you were never meant to be this way in the first place” and disappears to try erasing Juro’s memories again. On the way out of the classroom, Juro bumps into Nenji, who is searching in vain for Tomi. Juro then realizes he needs to talk to someone who might know something to help him and settles on Ryoko. He tells Ryoko about Shiba and the memories Shiba gave him, but she does not know anything about Shiba and the memories he describes of his time as Juro Izumi are both unfamiliar to her and incompatible with the person she knew Izumi to be. Juro describes one of Shiba’s memories, where Izumi, Iori (Younger Chihiro Morimura), and Tsukasa Okino were in the UFO after the kaiju invasion of 1985 had already begun. The three express confusion over the kaiju invasions not appearing in historical records, stating that it’s a time paradox. Izumi believes there to have been a split in the timestream or something, while Okino states they shouldn’t even necessarily assume what they’re working with is a time machine. Suddenly, the UFO shakes dramatically. The countdown (Chapter 37) has reached zero, and parts of the city have begun to sink below sea level. The three realize they will die if they stay, so Okino tries to shift them into the past. Juro suggests the coordinates be Sumire Bridge. Okino is unable to shift them into any of the normal sectors, so he finds a sector he does not recognize the year of, “Sector 0.” Unfortunately, he is unable to set a timer and shifts the other two manually, leaving himself behind. Immediately afterwards in 2089, Chihiro and Izumi talk, recognizing that Okino is dead but unwilling to leave him behind. Izumi says that because their present selves have only just been born recently, they will be unable to use their citizen IDs or make purchases, so it’s going to be hard from that point on, but they still need to try to prepare people for the coming invasion. Chihiro realizes that if they get back to the UFO, they can try to change the future and save Okino. Juro (Kurabe) then finishes recounting his story, but Ryoko immediately backs away. She says that those are not the memories of Juro Izumi, his previous self, but a different Juro Izumi, a dangerous time-traveling criminal (where have we heard that before?) from a lost world. That Juro Izumi transferred himself into an android and fled. Ryoko then clutches her head in pain just before Shiba appears and threatens Juro not to listen to her. Juro then also grasps his head in pain.

(8) (Chapter 85) Juro asks Miwako where Tomi is heading after school. She tells him that she’s heading to Tokisaka Shrine to meet a boy. Juro then confronts Shiba again, telling him that he knows the memories he’s being given are not of Juro Izumi, his former self, but instead of the criminal also named Juro Izumi. In the hallway, Juro runs into Nenji again and tells him that Tomi is likely at Tokisaka Shrine. Juro asks to accompany Nenji there because he remembers having gone there before but cannot remember anything else about it. At Tokisaka Shrine, Nenji and Juro run into Hijiyama, who is looking for Okino. Nenji and Hijiyama almost come to blows over an incident that is implied to be Nenji’s confinement by Okino in his own storyline, but Juro breaks it up. Juro then remembers carrying something over to a nearby dumpster when he was previously here, and opens the dumpster to find the destroyed chassis of the Tamao android. Hijiyama identifies it as his Tamao Kurabe, causing Juro to wonder if it is his grandmother, but quickly remembers the truth about the android. Juro had previously been taking a detour home and witnessed Ei confronting the heavily damaged Tamao android at the shrine. Ei said he never should have let the consciousness inside of the android out of the underground (Chapter 25), and the android tells Ei that Miura “deleted his memories at school” to “hide the log” from Ei. Ei fires upon the android, knocking it to the ground where it lays still. Ei flees, hearing sirens in the distance. Juro approaches the android, thinking it to be an inanimate doll, but it attacks him and the consciousness inside escapes into Juro’s nanomachines before the android’s body fails. When Juro opens his eyes, Shiba mysteriously appears before him. Juro initially does not know who Shiba is, but Shiba quickly messes with Juro’s memories and is “recognized.” Juro is about to call the police, but Shiba convinces Juro that the android is simply a doll and to load it into the nearby dumpster.

(9 FINAL) (Chapter 93) Juro sees Ms. Morimura and Megumi in the hallway and confronts Morimura, telling her he knows he used to be Juro Izumi and that the woman in his dreams is her, not Iori. However, Shiba appears before Juro and threatens him to make him stop questioning Morimura. Juro decides to find Tsukasa Okino, who he thinks might be able to help him. Juro finds Okino at the break area. Juro tries to tell Okino that he knows him from his dream, but Okino has no idea what Juro is talking about. Juro remembers another dream he had involving Okino. In the dream, 426 is imprisoned for terrorism. Okino is brought in by Onishi, the investigator, because 426 kept saying Okino’s name when a truth serum was used. He also said Morimura’s name, but she was apparently “out of the country” at the time. Okino does not recognize 426 and leaves. Juro Izumi is then brought in because his DNA is identical to 426’s. Izumi is told that one of them may be a clone, and that 426 claims to be Juro Izumi from the future, who committed his terrorism to prevent the emergence of kaiju. The questioning is then interrupted by, what else, the kaiju attack. Juro Kurabe then rouses from his flashback toi find that he has been captured by Hijiyama and Okino, tied up, taken to the warehouse, and had the headgear placed on his head, similar to Nenji’s situation. Okino has realized that 426 is inhabiting Juro’s nanomachines and is drawing him out with the headgear, forcing him to show himself not just to Juro, but to everyone in the room. Shiba appears, saying he never wanted to take over Juro. Morimura was the one who actually wanted to replace Juro’s memories with 426’s, but Tamao Kurabe didn’t like the idea and created a simulated personality–Juro Kurabe. The video tapes Juro thought were altering his memories were actually a way of stabilizing his memory backups with his simulated personality, as a means of preventing a breakdown. 426 states that Morimura has given up on the Sentinel project, and her interest in Juro Kurabe has waned. He says he has a plan for survival, however. He refers to a log from 2188 where 2188!Okino reused code from the kaiju simulator Mighty Kaiju Deimos, which contained the D-Code. 426’s proposal is to access another part of the code to allow the pilots to upgrade their Sentinels with “Meta-Chips” obtained from defeating Deimos. Okino does not believe this, but Hijiyama has actually seen the relevant log (Hijiyama 4) and quotes from it. Hijiyama wants to know more about that log, but 426 says they need to “go help that idol who’s stuck in orbit” if they want more information. Then, Megumi shows up, shoots Okino and Hijiyama with the nanomachine injector, and absconds with Juro. Simultaneously, Shiba turns into Fluffy, because they were the same “person” all along. Then, a log from 2188 plays. Nozomu Yakushiji is trying to get into the colony with his daughter Megumi, but he is “infected” and 2188!Hijiyama refuses to let him inside. He claims his daughter is not, but Hijiyama says that her infection is probably still incubating. Then, 2188!Izumi, Hijiyama’s superior, orders Hijiyama to let him outside. Izumi will stay outside with Megumi in a shuttle for 24 hours, and if she’s infected, neither will come back. Nozomu agrees to this, and entrusts Megumi to Izumi. The timeline then jumps to the day of the kaiju invasion in Sector 4. Shiba accepts that Kurabe is also Juro. Shiba entrusts the future to Juro, and Juro summons his Sentinel into battle to support Iori.

Iori Fuyusaka (Allegra Clark)

(1) (Chapter 2) Iori, who overslept and is late on the first day of school, is running with the customary toast-in-mouth to class. She bumps into Ei Sekigahara, who picks up the student ID she leaves behind as she absconds. Later that day, Iori and her friend Miwako meet Tomi “Usami” Kisaragi. They hear about a cat on campus from Natsuno, and Iori goes out to look for it. While outside, Iori encounters Juro and Shu talking about mysterious dreams they’ve been having. Back during the final battle, Gouto explains to Iori and Juro about defending the terminals and activating “Aegis.”

(2) (Chapter 12) While walking home from school with Miwako and Tomi, Iori recalls an incident with Juro and Shu. Juro remarks that it feels like they’ve met before, and Shu talks about his dreams.This causes Iori to bring up a dream she had that Shu was in. In Iori’s dream, she is in a futuristic city and mentions having been sent back 16 years to around the time she was born without Juro or Okino, who she was with before. Suddenly, a giant non-Sentinel robot appears and Shu pops out. Shu calls himself “Tetsuya Ida” and Iori “Chihiro Morimura,” and says he was sent there by the future Morimura to find her. The two then flee the scene.

(3) (Chapter 37) Iori walks home again with Miwako and Tomi and this time recalls talking with Juro about a dream she had. In that dream, “Juro Izumi” and “Chihiro Morimura,” both identical to Juro Kurabe and Iori Fuyusaka, investigate a 30 kilometer UFO buried 300 meters beneath the city. Oh, and Okino’s there, too. The kaiju have already begun to invade and everyone, including Chihiro’s parents, have disappeared. Okino theorizes that a strange device inside the UFO is actually a teleporter, potentially explaining the disappearances. The group speculates that the UFO must have been intentionally concealed to go undetected for so long. Okino then reveals a strange countdown that started when the kaiju reached the mainframe. Iori wonders if the UFO will take off when it reaches 0, but the group resolves to keep investigating as there is little time to speculate.

(4) (Chapter 53) This time while walking home with Tomi and Miwako, Iori recalls an incident where she collapsed in the science room and was carried to the nurse’s office by Gouto. While cleaning the room, she saw a mysterious holographic display and was transported to 2065, where she was confronted by Ei. Ei realizes she unlocked the gate and that she must be Chihiro Morimura. Iori sees the kaiju and recalls them and the burning city she finds herself in from her dreams. Suddenly, a scout drone appears and Ei shoots it down and tells Iori to come with him, before the two are attacked by a huge Sentinel. Iori passes out and Ei escapes before Gouto arrives at the scene. Gouto tells Morimura that the Sentinel was taken over by the kaiju and reclaims it before taking Iori back to her own time. Back in 1985, Iori wakes up, and Morimura and Gouto claim to have no idea what she is talking about when she recounts the events she “dreamed” about.

(5) (Chapter 68) In 2097, Older Chihiro Morimura confronts Older Juro Izumi on Sumire Bridge. Izumi calls Morimura “the you of 16 years ago” and tells her that the two of them were in love and struggled to save the world. He begs Morimura to let him go. Morimura pulls a gun on him, as he “killed the four that came with him.” Juro says he “backed up his data to Sector 0” and doesn’t know what happened to them. Morimura replies that Ida told her a different story. Juro makes another appeal to their “past” as lovers and begs her to let him go, but Morimura shoots Juro. Iori then wakes up from the dream, avoiding Juro due to the awkwardness. Iori returns to the science room, trying to prove that what happened in Chapter 53 was not a dream, and successfully reopens the gate, traveling to the UFO. She hears footsteps approaching and hides, witnessing Ei chasing Ryoko, with Iori interpreting this as Ei being in love with Ryoko. Ryoko escapes using the gate, and Iori sadly pops out, believing herself to have no chance with Ei now. Ei then returns her to her own time.

(6) (Chapter 81) Iori is still depressed about Ei’s “girlfriend.” Iori, Tomi, and Miwako head to Tsutsuji to pick up a new album Miwako wants to buy. They check three different stores, but all are sold out and it is getting dark. They decide to head home, but they see Wajima on the way to the station, Wajima having previously harassed Miwako and Iori by the school gate until Nenji rescued them. The group tries to avoid Wajima, but run into Detective Onishi, who sternly warns them to go home. They agree, but Wajima’s goons are also in front of the other path to the station. The group resolves to run past Wajima, but they get caught before Onishi arrives to intervene. However, Wajima and his goons retreat to the station, where they ambush the group and pull them into an alley. Miwako escapes to find Onishi again, but Wajima is getting really pushy and possessive about Iori… and then Ei shows up, implied to have been following Iori himself. He fights Wajima and his goons before running away at the sound of sirens. Onishi and Miwako arrive, and Iori chases Ei to confess her love to him. Ei’s activity alerts a man in black, however, who accosts him. Iori intervenes to “rescue” Ei but gets grabbed by a second man in black. Yuki then arrives as “backup,” but she ends up attacking the man in black for thinking “women and children are fair game.” Ei then calls the self-driving motorcycle and escapes, taking Iori with him. Also, neither Ei nor Iori saw Yuki’s face because it was too dark, sure, whatever. Iori successfully confesses her feelings to Ei on the motorcycle, and Ei tells Iori that Ryoko is more like his older sister than his girlfriend. Ei does not explicitly respond to Iori’s feelings and tells her to stop following him, but also mentions he’ll be in touch.

(7 FINAL) (Chapter 94) Iori, Tomi, and Miwako are walking home, with Tomi being strangely accommodating to Miwako. Miwako and Tomi demand that Iori tell them about her encounter with her crush, but when Iori mentions Ei’s name, Tomi tells her to stay away from him. Suddenly, Ei arrives on his motorcycle and asks Iori to come with him to Ayame Park. On the way over, Ei tells Iori that her dreams, as well as the dreams of Shu, Juro, and Tamao, are memories implanted by Chihiro Morimura, with Iori’s coming directly from Morimura, who is from the future. At the park, Iori witnesses Ei taking strange pills. Ei then tells Iori that Morimura no longer has the will to fight the kaiju, so it’s up to them, the “compatible,” to do so. However, he says that this world is beyond saving, and asks Iori to come with him back 16 years, to a world which might have a chance. Iori rejects this plan, seeking to fight to protect Miwako and her parents, even though Ei says that her parents are not blood related to her as she is actually from the future. Ei says that he and Ryoko do not have enough time left to fight, and says he does not deserve Iori’s love because he cannot stick around. The two then find Morimura. Morimura asks Ei why Iori is here, and Ei says that she has a right to know. Morimura was trying to overwrite Iori’s memories and personality with her own in an attempt to regain “compatibility”, but this plan was eventually abandoned, 426 having interfered with the process and made the memories nothing more than dreams. Morimura then claims that Operation Aegis is all that they have left. Morimura claims to be an “illusion” produced by Universal Control, as living through a reset is not actually possible. The original Morimura died when the world was destroyed, but she managed to scan herself in as data before that happened, causing Universal Control to produce a copy of herself in the next world. Ei nearly kills Morimura over this, as her plan to enact Operation Aegis will result in her continuing to live, and also because he and Ryoko have no chance of survival after all. As Iori chases a fleeing Ei, the younger Chihiro watches from afar. On the day of the final battle, Iori runs into the street as the kaiju attack, Ei having previously transferred his Sentinel authorization to her. Iori then summons the Sentinel to fight.

Takatoshi Hijiyama (Kaiji Tang)

(1) (Chapter 3) In 1944, Hijiyama chases after Kiriko Douji, a girl he has a crush on who has been accused of espionge. Kiriko is the daughter of Professor Douji, who supposedly designed the Sentinels. However, none of this is true: Kiriko says that Douji’s actual daughter lives in Tokyo, and she hasn’t stolen any intelligence on the Sentinels because she designed them. Kiriko then disappears in a flash of light shortly before Ei appears in pursuit. When Hijiyama confronts him, Ei mentions that “Kiriko” is actually a boy named Tsukasa Okino, and mentions that he’s going to time travel. Hijiyama refuses to leave and is brought along when Ei shifts to 1984. Six months later, Hijiyama encounters Okino again and follows him to an abandoned warehouse. Back during the final battle, Okino talks to Hijiyama, but it is unclear where Okino is or if he is in a Sentinel. Okino tells Hijiyama not to talk to the others about him.

(2) (Chapter 39) After encountering Okino at his hideout previously, Hijiyama follows him to school, where Okino is still disguising himself as a girl. Okino tells Hijiyama that he is trying to stop the apocalypse, and the answer to how is in the “D-Code,” which is being broadcast by several teenagers with “modifications.” Hijiyama wonders about the implants he and Miura received,, which he believed were added so they could pilot the Sentinels at all, but Okino states that he was not the one who performed those modifications and that he is suspicious of the “innerlocitor,” which seems to be another word for “nanomachines.” Okino leaves to return to class, and Hijiyama eventually stumbles upon Okino, still disguised as Kiriko, “confessing” to Nenji Ogata. In a fit of rage, Hijiyama punches Nenji out. Okino teases Hijiyama about this, but is otherwise fine with it because it doesn’t disrupt his plans. Inside the old school building, Okino analyzes Nenji and finds that he isn’t transmitting the command signal as he should be, complicating Okino’s plan to stop the signal. Hijiyama asks why they can’t use the Sentinels to stop the “destroyers,” but Okino says they already sent 19 out to fight and they are simply no match for such overwhelming numbers. Okino eventually discovers that Nenji himself may be able to access the necessary data, leading to Nenji’s story. Later, Hijiyama wakes up in Okino’s hideout tied to a chair with Okino analyzing something next to him. Okino states that Nenji didn’t have what they needed, but takes the opportunity to tease Hijiyama by analyzing his physical data or something to confirm that, yes, Hijiyama has it incredibly bad for Okino. Why yes, this is incredibly invasive!

(3) (Chapter 55) Some time after Okino fucked around in his head, Hijiyama leaves their hideout, still mildly pissed off, but decides to go back to Sakura to find Okino anyway. Hijiyama sneaks in the staff entrance and realizes no one goes into the old school building, so he can infiltrate safely. Hijiyama eventually finds Okino feeding a cat Okino has named “Shintaro”, and questions his own growing feelings. Okino leaves and tells Hijiyama to clean up the can of cat food, but has hidden 150 yen underneath it so Hijiyama can purchase some food. While walking around in front of the school, Hijiyama sees Megumi Yakushiji, recognizing her as his “Yakisoba Pan Angel,” who saved him by giving him a yakisoba pan months ago when he was broke, disheveled, and starving to death following his initial arrival in 1984. She does not recognize him, but Hijiyama realizes that if she goes to this school, then the yakisoba pan she gave him must come from this school, as she mentioned having purchased it there. Hijiyama buys the yakisoba pan, heads back to the old building, then meets back up with Okino and eats lunch. After he eats the yakisoba pan, he realizes he’s seen Megumi one other time before, very recently, when she came to Okino’s hideout, shot him with the magical gun, and headed inside.

(4) (Chapter 88) Hijiyama leaves the hideout again and returns to the school to look for Okino. After following a cat around looking for the change it’s attracted so so he can buy some yakisoba pan from the cafeteria, Hijiyama finds Ei and BJ in the old school building. BJ tries to roll away, but Hijiyama catches him, causing a log from 2188 to play. In that log, 2188!Hijiyama scolds 2188!Okino for reusing the environment management system from a Deimos video game, because 2188!Okino is lazy and would prefer to spend that time with his husband, 2188!Hijiyama. 2188!Hijiyama accepts this and explains it to 2188!Shinonome, who had been asking about it. The log ends, and Hijiyama tries to play it again, but BJ instead plays a different log in which a dying 2188!Hijiyama recounts that an armed conflict has transpired, killing several people, the only survivors being 2188!Ida and 2188!Shinonome. The conflict was over diverting energy from Project Ark to life support, which 2188!Okino argued in favor of, but 2188!Ogata and “his cronies,” including 2188!Izumi, came armed, with Izumi killing Okino, causing 2188!Hijiyama to kill him in retaliation. 2188!Hijiyama expresses sorrow for what has happened, and hopes that if Project Ark does go through, that when he’s reborn he’ll be able to protect his friends as well as Okino specifically. Back in the school building, Hijiyama runs off to find Okino, but is followed by Ei. Hijiyama finds Okino at the hideout, who teases him over his apparent concern. Ei then arrives and asks for Okino’s help, but the wording of the request causes Hijiyama to misunderstand and think that they’re in a relationship or something, it’s dumb, though it’s not helped by Okino kind of leaning into the misunderstanding.

(5) (Chapter 92) When Hijiyama looks for Okino at school, Okino press-gangs Hijiyama into distracting Morimura for a bit so that Okino can sneak into the nurse’s office and retrieve some information. Hijiyama attempts a distraction. It goes extremely poorly, but it seems to work out for Okino. Back in the wooden school building, Hijiyama reminisces about seeing the Sentinel with Miura back in the 1940s. The two are awed by the technology. Miura wonders why they have to be the pilots, but Hijiyama mentions that the Sentinels choose their own pilots and they were the only viable choices. At this point, “Kiriko Douji” arrives to deliver some documents and call the two over for their “synch connection adjustments,” whatever those are. Hijiyama wonders what happened to Miura after that, and then Miura miraculously walks in! The two argue over yakisoba pan and hamburger for a bit. Miura tells Hijiyama how he got there, while Hijiyama avoids mentioning “Kiriko.” Miura tells Hijiyama that the official story is that he escaped as an accomplice of Kiriko Douji, but that there’s no one left in their time to authorize a punishment due to the kaiju attack. Hijiyama confronts Okino about this, causing Okino to take Hijiyama back to 1945, where the town is destroyed and there is no sign of people anywhere, including corpses. Okino says that this is likely the state of the entire world. Hijiyama then sees the Deimos for the first time. Okino tells Hijiyama that the Deimos want to break through to the buried UFO, which triggers the UFO’s shifter, teleporting everyone away. Okino does not know why, however. However, Hijiyama realizes that these must be parallel worlds unaffected by causality, as there is no sign that this ever happened back in 1985. Hijiyama and Okino agree that this doesn’t feel real.

Natsuno Minami (Erica Mendez)

(1) (Chapter 4) At school, Natsuno breaks up a confrontation between Yuki Takamiya, her old childhood friend, and Nenji Ogata. Later, after track practice, she encounters mysterious men in black, and discovers a small robot that she believes to be an alien in the track room. She names it “BJ” after the first words it says to her, “Bee Jay Eleven Five.“ BJ leads Natsuno to Tokisaka Shrine, where he shifts them into 2065, which has been destroyed by the kaiju. BJ explains that he is looking for Sentinel #17 before they retreat back to 1985.

(2) (Chapter 9) Natsuno has been keeping BJ at school in the track room to avoid detection, but he keeps trashing the place. When Natsuno leaves with BJ for the gate, she is confronted by an MIB and told to show the contents of her bag, which BJ is hiding inside. Natsuno flees, encounters Nenji who works himself up into a horny frenzy, tries to help, and gets punched out, then hides in a classroom, where she witnesses Yuki working with the men in black.

(3) (Chapter 23) Natsuno comes back to the track room to find that the track captain has discovered BJ in box form after he trashed the place again. Natsuno tells an awful lie and claims he’s an alarm clock. This time, Natsuno evades the MIB and heads to the gate at Tokisaka Shrine, shifting to 1945. Natsuno overhears a conversation between Tamao and Gouto where Tamao says that the new pills Gouto has been giving her are suppressing the visions of the future the old pills gave her, as well as Tamao mentioning “the weapon at Ayame Pass.” Natsuno heads there to find Sentinel #19, which is unfortunately not the one BJ is able to pilot as it belonged to his dead friend instead of him. BJ detects a change in the systems of this Sentinel before the two are forced to hide from an arriving Miura. They overhear Miura mention that Professor Douji is suspending operations for an unknown reason. After Miura leaves, Okino shows up and the two overhear him say that his “test” of nanomachine reconstruction on Miura’s brain was successful. Okino removes the lock on the Sentinel and then adds something else, mentioning that “the data” will “spread from Miura to the others,” surely referring to the activation protocol Juro encounters. Natsuno and BJ then head back to Tokisaka Shrine only for Okino to show up again. Okino notices that the settings on the shifter have been changed and resets them before shifting away, stranding Natsuno and BJ in 1945 until BJ can reanalyze the password or whatever. Natsuno is then spotted by Miura, leading to the scene in Miura’s prologue.

(4) (Chapter 24) Natsuno hitches a ride back to 1985 by squirreling herself away in an access hatch of Sentinel #19 when Miura takes it to fight the kaiju. The Sentinel itself has buried itself halfway into a building, and Miura has already fled the scene. BJ and Natsuno do the same. Some time later after school, Natsuno has searched for Miura but believes he has been captured by the MIB. Natsuno realizes she has left her notebook with sensitive information about BJ and the kaiju in a classroom and goes to look for it. After she finds it, BJ tells Natsuno that a mysterious presence is approaching and she should run away, before “Tomi” approaches and fires at Natsuno with the magical gun. Natsuno runs and hides in a stall of the girls’ bathroom, but is cornered when suddenly Tamao Kurabe arrives. Tamao, who is identical to Erika Aiba, reveals that she is an android based on the real Tamao Kurabe, with “Tomi” being another that has been taken over by a being named “426”. The two androids fight while Natsuno cowers in the stall, only emerging once the noise stops. The bathroom has been destroyed and the Tomi android has been shredded, but Tamao begins acting oddly before temporarily incapacitating BJ and pointing the magical gun at Natsuno, 426 having switched bodies from the Tomi android to the Tamao android. 426 tells Natsuno that she is the new commander of the kaiju before shooting her in the cheek. When Natsuno comes to, both androids are gone and she has no memory of what transpired.

(5) (Chapter 57) Following the incident in the bathroom, Natsuno still has no memory of what happened, but has noticed a faint scar on her cheek. She goes to the track room and finds a girl she recognizes as Tamao examining BJ in box form. Suddenly, the track team manager enters and believes “Tamao” to be Erika Aiba, who signed up for track but never actually showed up due to illness. “Tamao/Aiba” does not deny this, and seems somehow drawn to the name “Erika Aiba” before leaving. Natsuno then takes BJ to the gate because he won’t stop bringing it up. On the way out of school, she is noticed by a track team member, who she tells about her mission to save the world to get out of staying at practice. At Tokisaka Shrine, Natsuno and BJ decide to go back to Sector 2, 2065, because they never fully searched it. When they arrive, BJ opts to search alone because it’s too dangerous on the surface, but after he leaves her behind, Natsuno decides to search a bit on her own, annoyed at being ditched. She soon sees a white flash and finds a Sentinel, but also a destroyed scout unit she mistakes for BJ. Still thinking the robotics are a “suit” housing BJ’s brain, she searches and finds a capsule labeled “Shikishima,” causing her to finally realize BJ is a robot, not an alien. The real BJ then shows up and finds her. He says that the Sentinel is No. 8, not 17. A disappointed Natsuno asks BJ if he’s really a robot, and realizes that the kaiju are made by Shikishima as well. BJ says they’re meant for terraforming Mars, and Natsuno asks why they’re invading Earth instead, causing BJ to reveal his own theory that they are not, in fact, on Earth. He shows her a log where 2188!Natsuno is talking to 2188!Nenji, talking about sending human DNA (and only DNA, the trip being too long and harsh for people) to faroff planetary systems. 2188!Natsuno says the plan is for a population of 6 million, but 2188!Nenji rejects the project proposal outright, having taken over ownership of Shikishima from his father, who initially approved it. After the log ends, BJ states that some time after that log, the project was actually put into action. Natsuno asks how that’s possible if 2188 is the future, and BJ states that they’re actually further into the future than the log. He theorizes that the alien life that was created… was actually Natsuno!

(6) (Chapter 78) Back at the track room, BJ tells Natsuno that he is an AI integrated into a Sentinel who transferred himself into the scout unit. He is looking for Sentinel No. 17 because it contains the logs from 2188. Despite her disappointment in BJ not being an alien, Natsuno continues to help BJ. As Natsuno is leaving, she has a conversation with the track team manager, who mentions that the lock to the track room was broken in the middle of the night. Natsuno takes BJ to Tokisaka Shrine, and the two head to Sector 1, 2105, where they have not extensively searched yet. All that remains of this sector is an underground lab as the surface is irradiated from nukes deployed in a futile attempt to destroy the kaiju. BJ searches a quantum computer for his missing memories, mentioning that his own databanks were tampered with. Before the two can find anything, they are forced to hide when Gouto and Chihiro shift to the nearby hangar and enter the same room. Chihiro and Gouto talk about the kaiju and the D-Code. Chihiro states that the only way to remove the D-Code involves a procedure that will kill whoever has it. The same code is what infected the Sentinels. Gouto and Chihiro imply that the Sentinels were created by adjusting the D-Code’s control over the automated factories spitting out kaiju and having those factories fabricate them. However, when Gouto brings up loops and the underground UFO, Chihiro seems to be missing certain information, despite the older Morimura having been aware of or responsible for discovering that information. Chihiro blames this on being inside the body of a child. The two leave, and BJ and Natsuno re-enter. BJ tries to locate his memories, but there is simply too much data in the computer to quickly find it without the data unit’s identification code, two letters and two numbers. Natsuno repeats the words BJ said to her when they first met, “Bee Jay Eleven Five”, and BJ immediately finds the data unit. Unfortunately, Sentinel No. 17 is currently in orbit 500 kilometers above the Earth in an artificial satellite. BJ says they need to go to the UFO Gouto mentioned.

(7) (Chapter 82) Natsuno arrives at the track room to find Ryoko rifling through her locker. When caught, Ryoko says nothing and leaves. Also worth pointing out: the scar on Natsuno’s cheek where she was shot has gotten worse to the point where it glows when she pokes it, forcing her to cover it up with a bandage. BJ pops out of the laundry basket, having gone undetected by Ryoko, who he suspects was searching for him and the logs he has. Natsuno returns to Tokisaka Shrine with BJ, and the two head to Sector 3, 2025, to make their way to the UFO. Upon landing in 2025, Natsuno immediately finds Ryoko’s student ID on the ground in a destroyed building. As Natsuno and BJ leave the building, Ryoko appears and points a phaser at them. Ryoko accuses Natsuno of working with 426. Her job is to take the logs back, not caring when BJ tells her she’s being used, at least until BJ tells her some of the logs involve her and Ida. Natsuno tries to prevent Ryoko from taking BJ, but Ryoko shoots her with the phaser. When Natsuno wakes up, she is completely alone and stranded in the ruins of 2025.

Megumi Yakushiji (Cristina Valenzuela)

(1) (Chapter 5) In 2024, Megumi and her friend Tomi Kisaragi are walking to school when a Sentinel suddenly appears next to them. The Sentinel contains Juro Izumi, who says that he has come from the future and the frontline has been broken. Six months later, Megumi is in 1985 (god). In between these scenes, Megumi and Juro Izumi became lovers, but Juro left to fight the kaiju again and had Morimura bring Megumi and Tomi to 1985. At school in 1985, Megumi sees Juro, but Morimura tells her that they had to give him a new identity as Juro Kurabe to save his mind from the damage it took operating the Sentinel. Morimura tells Megumi not to go near Juro again. Months afterward, Megumi encounters a talking cat that says he can help restore Juro Izumi if she helps seal the “Deimos Code,” a “curse” that destroyed the cat’s world. At the final battle, Megumi, Tomi, and Nenji fight together, and Tomi mentions being shot by Megumi.

(2) (Chapter 17/18) Megumi arrives home at the Kurabe residence to find that the cat, Fluffy, is already there. Fluffy goads her about having shot Renya Gouto with a “magical gun” as part of their contract, having done so after Gouto expressed a willingness to have Juro get back into a Sentinel to fight the kaiju. Gouto also mentions needing a password to “remove the infection” from the Sentinels or anyone who uses one will end up like Juro. After Megumi shoots Gouto, Fluffy explains that he will forget the incident. When Juro arrives home, he treats Megumi with brusque annoyance. The next day, Megumi witnesses Iori speaking with Juro and hopes she is a witch in a fit of jealousy. Fluffy also gives Megumi a new “witch” whose “powers” need to be “sealed,” Ei, but she is unable to successfully shoot him because she poses with her gun out like an imbecile and he gets the drop on her. Megumi flees, remembering the event in 2025 after Juro Izumi left to fight the kaiju when she discovered his battered Sentinel and she stayed with him as he faded, overuse of the Sentinel having damaged his mind permanently. Also Ei showed up again during that last scene.

(3) (Chapter 26) Megumi talks with Miura at the Kurabe household and remembers “sealing” him with the magical gun, finding out about his surgical scar from Fluffy. Fluffy also mentions that the “component” embedded in Miura’s forehead forces the “witches” to use their “magic,” but also makes them immune to the “curse,” preventing him from suffering Juro’s fate when using a Sentinel. Back in the present, Miura hears about a gas explosion destroying a video store on TV and suddenly leaves. Fluffy tells Megumi her next target is Shu Amiguchi. The next day, Megumi approaches Shu and asks to speak with him, which upsets Juro. They meet alone on the roof after school, but when Megumi shoots Shu with the magical gun a Sentinel suddenly appears, Shu having come into contact with Miura as well. Juro also witnessed the entire incident, but Fluffy tells Megumi he can alter Juro’s memories to remove this event.

(4) (Chapter 45/46) The evening after shooting Shu, Megumi returns home to find that Juro has lost all memory of the incident. Fluffy appears once Juro is gone, and Megumi is suspicious that Fluffy may just alter her mind as well instead of fulfilling his end of the contract. While this annoys Fluffy, he ultimately agrees to be *slightly* more transparent about what exactly he’s having Megumi do: the magical gun does not actually prevent the kaiju from coming but instead forces those shot onto the battlefield to fight them, fighting being the only option. Afterwards, Fluffy tells Megumi that the next witch is Tomi, upsetting Megumi. Megumi then flashes back to when Fluffy first appeared at the Kurabe household after she encountered him at school. Fluffy claims to be from a world destroyed by Deimos who were summoned by the Deimos Code, a relic of an ancient “magical civilization” from millions of years ago, but It is unclear how much of this is true. Megumi ultimately agrees to the contract. After Megumi remembers that incident, the next day she shoots Tomi in the back in the cafeteria inside a mass of students. Nenji, who was also there, realizes Megumi did something to Tomi and confronts her after school. He also claims that Megumi was the one who helped him before. Megumi then runs off, confirming Nenji’s suspicions.

(5) (Chapter 60) When Megumi arrives at the Kurabe household one night, she finds Juro sleeping on the floor. When he wakes, he drowsily mentions Iori, spurring jealousy in Megumi. Fluffy arrives after Juro leaves, and while Megumi is still upset about having shot Tomi, she nevertheless continues on. This resolve is strengthened when she finds out that the next witch is Iori. When Megumi arrives at school the next day, she sees Fluffy resting on the gate and briefly speaks with him. After school, she asks to speak with Iori in private and takes her to the girls’ bathroom, where she admits to herself that shooting Iori is for herself, not for Juro, and does it. Shortly afterwards, Miwako rushes in and sees Iori dazed on the ground. Miwako angrily asks what Megumi did to Iori, and mentions Megumi having acted strangely—including talking to the gate as if it could speak back to her earlier that morning. Megumi then realizes that only she can see Fluffy.

(6) (Chapter 95) Megumi arrives back at the Kurabe household to find a sleeping Juro. She prepares dinner, causing Juro to wake up. Juro asks her if he’s actually Juro Izumi, but Megumi refuses to answer, having promised Tamao that she wouldn’t tell him anything about that. Juro gets annoyed and walks off. There is a flashback to when Megumi obtained the rental agreement from Tamao (the Tamao android) after promising that she would not tell Juro about his being Juro Izumi and also promising to tell Tamao if he starts to remember being Juro Izumi.
The next day, Morimura asks Megumi if she’s noticed anything unusual about Juro from living with him. Juro then comes up to them and says he knows he used to be Juro Izumi and that the woman in his memories is not Iori but Ms. Morimura (Juro 9). Juro then looks scared and runs off for no reason. Megumi chases after him, but Fluffy appears to her and tells her Juro has been kidnapped. Fluffy then disappears after telling Megumi that Juro is at the abandoned factory. Megumi rescues Juro (Juro 9), but Juro tells Megumi that the Juro Izumi he remembers being is not the one she loved, as his only memory of her is killing her. Megumi is distraught, having betrayed Tomi for nothing, and runs away.

Shu Amiguchi (Mick Wingert)

(1) (Chapter 6) One day while riding his motorcycle, Shu runs into Yuki and local delinquent Wajima about to come to blows. Shu intervenes and “rescues” Yuki, then hits on her for a bit before dropping her off near the headquarters of Shikishima Industries. Yuki mentions she’s about to transfer to Shu’s school, Sakura High. Before leaving the area, Shu witnesses Morimura enter the Shikishima building. Later, Shu has a dream where a woman who looks exactly like Morimura calls him “Ida.” She sacrifices herself to send “Ida” back to Sumire Bridge 16 years prior, telling him to find her younger self there and tell her everything. When Shu wakes up, his TV mysteriously turns itself on, and the idol Miyuki Inaba starts talking to him through it.

(2) (Chapter 15) The day after his encounter with Miyuki Inaba, Shu finds Miura at school conversing with a robot that may or may not be BJ. After it flies off, Shu makes a bad joke about Miura being from the future, which distresses Miura. Shu then remembers a dream he had, where he (referred to again as “Tetsuya Ida”) and Tomi talk in a ruined 2025. After expressing confusion about where the populace disappeared to, they talk about Tomi’s online presence as a singer, where Tomi realizes that the fan who encouraged her that she had feelings for was Ida. Miura then arrives with Morimura to rescue them.

(3) (Chapter 38) While looking for Juro at school, Shu literally bumps into Tomi Kisaragi and inadvertently sexually harasses her while trying to check if she actually “has a belly” unlike in his recent dream. She gets pissed off and Shu leaves to talk with Iori. Shu and Iori discover they shared a dream. In the dream, “Tetsuya Ida,” who in this form is older than Shu but younger than the other Ida, has spent eight years trying to make Tomi a new android body along with an AI composed of Tamao Kurabe’s memories. Tomi successfully wakes up, but begins to panic as she realizes her situation, forcing Tamao to connect to her and calm her down. Catsuit Ms. Morimura then walks in, telling Ida that the Sentinels aren’t working because they need someone “compatible” to maintain direct access to disrupt the D-code control, as the Sentinels run off the same codebase as the “D-series.” Tomi then asks how she died, and Morimura responds that Juro killed her, after which Morimura had to put him down. Shu then wakes up, having had the same dream again. Miyuki Inaba then contacts Shu through his TV again, not really answering Shu’s questions about if she’s the “real” Miyuki Inaba (though she does say there is only one in the world). She says that “Universal Control” has blocked her from communicating with Shu in any other way, and that she chose Shu because his ID is the only one she could find. Afterwards, Miyuki suddenly has to disconnect due to being tracked.

(4) (Chapter 51) Shu notices Yuki heading to the cafeteria and harangues her into going on a motorcycle ride with him to her grandmother’s house a prefecture over. Shu is looking for an excuse to test something Miyuki Inaba said the previous night about the world being a 30 kilometer enclosure. As he and Yuki approach the edge of the city, they realize that some of their memories of their grandparents’ houses are totally identical, and once they enter the tunnel the landscape shifts to a bizarre series of grey towers, as if some nightmarish facsimile of a construction site stretching on into infinity. Shu realizes the truth and tells Yuki they’ve likely never actually been outside, and that their memories of leaving were implanted. This enclosure is the only home they’ve ever known.

(5) (Chapter 64) Following the latest revelation, Shu tries to convince Yuki to help him get the word out, but she declines because she has detention. Juro then asks Shu if he can spend time at Shu’s place (Juro 3), which Shu accepts. They have more-or-less the same conversation that they had in the previous chapter mentioned, but Shiba isn’t there. However, this time Juro hands Shu a videotape, “the sequel” to a previous tape Juro had lent him. Juro then ominously says the tape is meant for them both. Cut to 2100, when Ida (in his younger form that looks more like Shu) is torturing 426 (also known as Juro Izumi) in an android body. Ida has pulled 426’s data from “Sector 0”, and is trying to get 426 to tell him more about his research logs from working with the underground supercomputer (the UFO), trying to figure out downloading memories into a human bain. 426 realizes that this is not the first time Ida has revived him like this. Suddenly, Tomi Kisaragi arrives in her own android body, confronting Ida about his plan to revive her by replacing the human Tomi Kisaragi’s memories with her own. 426, still awake, angers and shocks the two by suggesting that Ida should not have revived Tomi as an android and simply replaced the human Tomi’s memories, leaving her unaware it ever happened. He also suggests that Ida has kept backups of Tomi’s memories so he can reset her to whenever he wants. Infuriated, Ida decides to delete 426 immediately. However, when he leaves the room, it is revealed that one of 426’s prior revivals switched the “delete” and “transmit data” buttons like in a fucking cartoon, swapping 426 and Tomi’s minds with their android shells. 426 then leaves the room, telling Tomi that it sucks that she might get deleted by her lover now, because 426… is an asshole. Back in 1985, Shu wakes up from a dream that seems to have been the previous scene in 2100, after having watched the video Juro gave him. Miyuki Inaba then shows herself on the television once more, telling Shu that it wasn’t a dream, the video showed him events from the past of Tetsuya Ida. She also says that Juro Kurabe has been coming over to communicate with her and witness the past but is unaware of this. Miyuki says that Ida is trying to reset the “plan,” Project Ark, which is meant to save humanity by moving everyone to another planet, and that he must be stopped.

(6) (Chapter 72) Shu has a lot on his mind, so he goes to the roof to clear his head. He encounters Nenji there, and the two tell each other about the wild shit that’s been happening to each of them (Nenji’s sojourn into the future, Shu’s interactions with Miyuki Inaba), neither believing the other. Megumi then arrives on the roof, Shu finally remembering they promised to meet today (Chapter 26). Shu thinks it’s a confession, Megumi shoots him, we’ve been over this. Shu’s Sentinel appears and flies into the sky. As it rises into the sky, Older Tetsuya Ida witnesses it with a man in black and wonders who is piloting it. The Sentinel flies beyond the dome of the enclosure itself and into outer space, where Miyuki Inaba talks to Shu. She tells Shu that the Sentinel was never meant to be transmitted and that because it has, intruders from another district have found them. She tells Shu that he needs to get back to his sector and hide the Sentinel. The Sentinel then crashes back into the city, where Yuki witnesses him shift out of it. Ida then appears with Ryoko and tells Shu that he needs to cooperate or he’ll be institutionalized. He also tells Shu that Yuki has been observing him under his orders the entire time. For some reason, Ryoko reacts to this oddly.

Ei Sekigahara (Kyle McCarley)

(1) (Chapter 7) Ei flees from a man in black pursuing him. He knocks the MIB out with a phaser and steals a communication device. His oldest memory is of a few days ago, waking up next to the corpse of Morimura, finding at the scene the phaser, some pills, a note with some numbers, a mysterious key, Iori’s student ID, and an envelope with a file giving instructions to kill Morimura. He flees from the scene as the MIB arrive, because he blatantly murdered her. Later, he encounters Yuki, who leaves him a robot identical to BJ with a message from his past self on it. Ei’s past self tells him he’s “from another dimension” and to find the information he left behind. Back at the final battle, all 13 of the Sentinels converge to defend the terminals.

(2) (Chapter 11) One night, the communication device Ei stole begins to emit sound. Ei answers it and is praised by a mysterious voice for handling “the Morimura assignment.” The voice knows that Ei has seen the recording from his other self and instructs him not to trust anyone. Ei examines the ID card he found in his pocket earlier and decides to find Iori at Sakura High the next day. When he meets up with Iori, she mentions having confessed her feelings to Ei, which he has not responded to. Ei decides to investigate the nurse’s office for clues about Morimura, which Iori offers to help with after class. After Iori mentions a “secret” of Morimura’s, Ei suddenly remembers an incident just before the kaiju invasion in 2064 where he overheard Morimura talking with Tetsuya Ida, who is also the SIU director, about “Operation Aegis,” which will stop the kaiju but apparently destroy the flow of time or something. They also talk about “closing the loop.” After Morimura leaves, Ei talks to Ida about a deal they made where Ei will give Ida control of certain Sentinels in exchange for Ida’s promise to stop “using” Ryoko Shinonome.

(3) (Chapter 25) Iori escorts Ei through campus to the nurse’s office. On the way, he sees Yuki and attempts to chase after her to ask about her delivery of the message from himself, but is unable. Upon entering the nurse’s office, Ei discovers some pills that Morimura was apparently administering to Ryoko, Shu, and Juro. When Iori leaves to try to obtain a key to Morimura’s desk, Megumi enters the office and points the magical gun at Ei, resulting in a Mexican standoff between them. Megumi expresses confusion about this, saying she’s just doing what Ei asked her to, but Tomi arrives suddenly and intervenes. Megumi runs away and is chased by Tomi, but not before Tomi’s choice of words awakens a dormant memory in Ei. In the memory, Ei is investigating a destroyed facility in 2104 he got shifted to after the battle in 2064. Ei complains about his headaches before being attacked by two awakening androids, but is saved by Tomi. Tomi says that the surface in this era is covered in lethal radiation and that Ei has been infected with “code DD-426,” a program in his nanomachines that is destroying his memory and damaging his brain, potentially causing him to become a husk. Tomi tells Ei that in exchange for his help shifting out of the era, she can stall the effects of DD-426. Ei agrees, but realizes that Tomi is an android taken over by an escaped AI. The AI tells him to find Tsukasa Okino, the pre-eminent expert in DD-426.

(4) (Chapter 48) At night, Ei reviews the medical documents he found in the nurse’s office, then is contacted by the voice over the radio again. The voice tells Ei that killing Morimura was a necessary step to prevent Operation Aegis, and then tells Ei to retrieve some sensitive information from a “certain data unit” accompanying Natsuno Minami. The next day, Ei heads over to Sakura High School to find Natsuno, but, not knowing what she looks like, passes her without knowing. He talks to Iori again, and confesses that he misled her and lost his memories. He also shows Iori the note with the numbers on it, which Iori cannot place but Miwako, helpfully, is able to identify as numbers for a message service. Ei then spots Megumi leaving school, followed by Juro, and follows them home. He confronts Megumi with the phaser and questions her about why she tried to shoot him, but Juro steps in front of Megumi to protect her. Juro recognizes Ei as the person who “shot that robot at Tokisaka Shrine,” and Ei recognizes Juro as Juro Izumi from Morimura’s files. Ei stuns Juro and asks Megumi again who ordered her to shoot him. She tells him to look on top of the TV, and suddenly Fluffy appears there. Fluffy tells a baffled Ei that he tried to escape the game, but begged to be let back in after learning an “unshakable truth.” He tells Ei that the magical gun is a nanomachine injector and agrees to let Ei back into the game before Miura suddenly sucker-punches Ei from behind. When Ei and Miura look each other in the eyes, they recognize each other. The story flashes back to 2064, where Tamao is talking with the Sentinel No. 17 AI. Ei arrives to update the Sentinel, but Tamao tells the AI that while she won’t report what it told her, it should stop poking its nose around. She agrees with its request to “keep [its] line open” if anything happens to it before leaving. Ei calls the AI Miura, confirming that BJ, who piloted Sentinel No. 17, was Miura. Miura-AI tells Ei that Tamao is No. 18’s pilot, which confuses Ei as only AIs can pilot that Sentinel. Miura tells Ei in private that the “mainframe” computer in the UFO was created in 2188, even farther in the future than Ida and the others came from, and where Miura believes “they” came from. Miura believes decoding this data will help them save the world, or at least figure out how this all started. Unfortunately, Morimura has quarantined the data and made it inaccessible for some ulterior motive. It’s impossible to access the data, but Miura has copied a second log to his brain in Sentinel No. 17. Knowing Morimura and possibly others will want the data erased, Miura asks Ei to recover the datalog in case anything happens to him. Miura then asks if he and Ei are friends, and Ei says yes.

(5) (Chapter 67) Another night, Ei returns to the city street and examines his phaser right next to a police officer like a complete chump. The cop, of course, chases him, but Ei escapes to the alley where Morimura died. Ei takes the opportunity to review some details of the case, and realizes that the men in black were already chasing him at this point, making it unlikely that he lured Morimura there to kill her. He then examines the key in his pocket, realizing that the emblem on it is actually a button that summons a self-driving motorcycle. He rides the motorcycle to one of its two most-visited locations (the other being Sakura High School). On the way there, he reviews two logs from his pre-memory-loss-self the motorcycle had. The first log tells Ei to retrieve the 2188 logs and kill Morimura to stop Operation Aegis from going through. The second log tells Ei that he’s realized that Iori Fuyusaka and Chihiro Morimura are the same person. The Ei from the logs asks himself if this changes his mission to kill Morimura, and says that the Ei viewing the logs “already knows the answer.” Present!Ei has no idea what the answer was and wonders if he actually went through with it. The motorcycle stops at the abandoned factory where Hijiyama and Okino have holed up. Hijiyama immediately realizes that Ei “finally” lost his memories. Ei asks why he would have come here, and Okino pushes Ei to remember their first meeting back in 1944 in the Sentinel hangar. During that meeting, Ei talked to Okino-as-Kiriko, who he was directed to by the android in 2104, to help him with DD-426. Okino tells Ei that he cannot trust anyone, including Ei, because of the mystery behind the spread of DD-426 in the Sentinel Infection Incident. Ei shows Okino his pills, which Okino recognizes will only buy time. Okino, it turns out, was unaffected during the Sentinel Infection Incident because he had already infected himself with DD-426 prior in an attempt to detach the D-Code. Okino seems to have had no change because he uploaded his memories to his nanomachines and created an artificial personality to perfectly simulate his original one. He’s technically a program simulating Okino… but there functionally isn’t a difference, especially now that the personality is affixed to the brain. Okino says this is not meaningfully different from the constant change and evolution that humans go through naturally along their lifespans. Okino then calls out to Hijiyama, who chases Ei away. Back in the present, Okino pushes Ei to remember another meeting they had, where Okino helped Ei to upload 32% of his memories. Ei, however, rejected the use of a simulated personality, because he hated himself.

(6) (Chapter 89) Now that Ei knows the numbers on the note are for a message from the phone message service, Ei uses a payphone to receive two messages from himself. The first tells Ei that the original Ei was wrong, and there are no outcomes where things end well. IT tells him to stop living in the past and to take responsibility for his future. The second message tells him to find “a good friend of ours,” one who’s likely with Natsuno Minami. The next day, Ei heads to the school, taking care to avoid Iori, who he does not want to involve. There are men in black on campus, however. Ei eventually notices Yuki, who he recognizes as the girl who gave him the package, spying on him, and he chases her to the old school building, where he finds her and Natsuno. After a brief misunderstanding, Natsuno pulls out a scout unit, which Yuki mentions is not the same one Yuki gave to Ei earlier. Yuki mentions she’s working for the SIU because they’re keeping tabs on Natsuno, and gave the earlier footage to Ei on their orders. Basically, they wanted him to see the earlier message. This second scout unit, which seems to be BJ, then plays the message BJ wanted to show Ei. In the recording, BJ and Ei are conversing. BJ temporarily erased his own memories to hide information from “them.” Ei asks if BJ–Miura–knew all along that Ei was lying to him and working for Ida, and BJ replies that Ei is a terrible liar. Ei asks why BJ didn’t show Ei “the data” after it was analyzed, and BJ says it was better left unknown. Ei disagrees, saying he’d prefer to know his past, no matter how terrible he was. BJ then shows Ei a log from 2188, involving 2188!Ei and 2188!Gouto. This Gouto is hiring this Sekigahara, an assassin, to kill Chihiro Morimura. There’s some confusing politicking revolving around a slush fund transfer and company acquisitions, but basically Gouto lies that Morimura’s working on a project will cause losses, when actually it’s to cover Gouto’s ass. Sekigahara doesn’t actually care, he’s just thorough. Gouto sends Sekigahara to Sector 4, a colony still under construction, to kill her within the next month. Back in 1985, Ei and Yuki are confused and angry about Ei being an assassin. In a flashback to 2025 following the Sentinel Infection Incident, Ei meets with Ida. Ida tells Ei that people are looking for him because DD-426 originated from his Sentinel, but he does not know the true culprit’s identity. Morimura enacted Operation Aegis in Sector 3 after they lost, however, successfully activating the self-defense system on one terminal. Ida wants to prevent Operation Aegis from going through, as it will prevent further “loops.” Ei asks what this means, and Ida tells him that this world was only created 15 years ago, and he came from a different world where the year is 2064. That world never existed prior to 2049. The sectors are in neither the past nor the future relative to one another. Ida mentions Miura’s logs as evidence, saying they told him that the real world is in 2188, the time they were meant to return to. However, the world is always destroyed before that point. The goal of the kaiju is to gain control over the mainframe in all five sectors, which causes a reset, recreating the world. Thus, when Ida and Morimura (not 2188!Morimura, a different Chihiro Morimura from a loop prior to this one) “went back in time” to the start of this loop, they didn’t, really. They just skipped the recreation of the world. Simple. Ei takes his pills to stave off DD-426, and Ida mentions Ei delivered those pills to Morimura for Izumi and Shinonome. Ida says they have no hope of recovering, and the only chance of survival is for Ida to extract their data from before they lost their memories and take it with him to the next recreation, bypassing DD-426. Ida needs Ei’s help stopping Operation Aegis to do this, however. Ida wants to know where Sentinel No. 17 is, as it holds the logs from 2188 that Miura/BJ made copies of. Ida has BJ with him, and tells Ei to activate him and lie that Ei rescued him from Ida. Before leaving, Ida tells Ei that his men will continue following Ei to avoid drawing suspicion that they’re working together. Ei then wakes up BJ and tells him the lie.

Yuki Takamiya (Laura Post)

(1) (Chapter 10) A few days before Yuki transfers to Sakura High, she is brought into the offices of the SIU (Special Investigations Unit) following an altercation at another school where she broke the bones of several gang members. The director of the SIU offers Yuki a job going undercover at Sakura High investigating the link between several students (including Natsuno) and Shikishima Industries in exchange for transferring her imprisoned father to a safer facility. Yuki bristles at the offer and the rudeness of Ryoko, who is also undercover and her direct superior, but the director believes she will accept. Two weeks after transferring, Yuki discovers that Natsuno has gone missing and that strange people have been witnessed around her house. Yuki confronts both Ryoko and the director, who tell her not to investigate.

(2) (Chapter 19) Yuki and fellow student slash mystery novel buff Erika Aiba decide to investigate Natsuno’s disappearance. Talking to the track team, the pair discovers that Natsuno stopped coming to practice after a mysterious fire in the north building. Yuki questions Nenji about this and finds out that the incident, which took place in the girls’ bathroom, was rumored to not actually be a fire. Sure enough, when Yuki and Aiba investigate the bathroom, they find no signs of *fire* damage, but plenty of literally every other kind. The place is fucking destroyed, is what I’m saying. Yuki finds a pair of distinctive red glasses on the floor and questions Tomi about them as she wears an identical pair. However, Tomi claims innocence until Miwako says that she did see Natsuno running away from Tomi that day. Miwako also mentions having seen a plain-looking girl covered in dust walking away from the direction of the bathroom afterwards. However, Iori arrives and claims that she and Tomi were waiting for Miwako in a separate location that day, putting Tomi in two places at once.

(3) (Chapter 43) Yuki finds Natsuno’s notebook, which contains notes saying she time-traveled from Tokisaka Shrine. Before Yuki can make it there to investigate, she encounters Ryoko again and questions her about Natsuno’s disappearance once more, having heard from Nenji that the MIB were after her. Ryoko says they didn’t kidnap Natsuno, but also asks Yuki what she meant in a previous encounter when she said she “hid” something. Yuki recalls the incident, soon after she transferred, of encountering Ryoko in the old building passageway, and witnessing a message from 2188 Ryoko. 2188 Ryoko, having lost hope for humanity after realizing Ida was using her, decided to end the species by utilizing the terraforming equipment to sabotage Project Ark, causing “resets” and “loops” and this is really hard to summarize, you should just reread that update if you forgot, it’s super important. Teenage Ryoko, our Ryoko, is distraught at hearing this, attempts to throw away her pills, and tells Yuki to dispose of the box that played the message (which may or may not be BJ). Yuki takes Ryoko to the nurse’s office, but when Ryoko wakes up she has lost all memory of the encounter.

(4) (Chapter 58) This time before she and Aiba can make it out of school to Tokisaka Shrine, Yuki is confronted by Wajima and his cronies. She fights them to defend Aiba, but is arrested. Yuki is questioned by Detective Onishi, who she knows previously. He suspects she’s been recruited by the SIU because Ida asked to see her after a previous arrest (Chapter 10). Yuki refuses to talk about it, but Onishi volunteers some information about Ryoko Shinonome, who he mentions was arrested in “an incident involving heavy machinery” (Chapter 50). He mentions her claiming that she came from the future to fight kaiju, which Yuki does not initially believe until thinking about Natsuno’s notebook, which also mentioned time travel. Yuki decides to trust Onishi, and tells him about Natsuno’s disappearance and her recruitment into the SIU, who claim to be investigating Shikishima’s development of nuclear weapons involving minors somehow. Onishi then tells her about a request to limit traffic for a transport of heavy machinery to Shikishima’s new shipbuilding dock. Yuki then resolves to go there and see Ryoko’s weapon for herself. While heading there on the train, Yuki runs into Nenji, who asks about “her minion.” When Yuki responds about “Aiba,” Nenji becomes confused, as “Aiba” is not the real Erika Aiba, who has been out sick. Yuki is understandably taken aback here, but continues on to the shipbuilding dock. At the dock, Yuki’s skin begins to light up. She discovers Ryoko’s Sentinel, but it turns out to be an ambush by Ryoko and Gouto. Ryoko states that her glowing skin is a reaction to the Sentinel as she is a pilot. Morimura then arrives, and she tells Gouto that Yuki has had code added to her several times by “him.” Morimura says she’d like to research Yuki a bit more, and then Ryoko stuns Yuki with a phaser, knocking her out.

(5) (Chapter 69) After Chapter 56, Yuki was released from the facility, but believes herself to be under observation still. After blowing off Shu trying to invite her on a ride of his motorcycle, Yuki goes looking for the box Ryoko told her to hide. She finds it in the old school building, but a man in black notices the box and commends her for finding it. The man in black was looking for Ei, who immediately knocks him unconscious with the phaser. Ei then activates the “box,” revealing it to be BJ, who tells Ei that Natsuno was left behind in Sector 3. Yuki freaks out at this, naturally, and demands that Ei and BJ take her to Natsuno. The three arrive in 2025 but BJ is unable to locate Natsuno, meaning that she’s either dead, deep inside a building, or far away.

(6) (Chapter 80) Despite knowing where Natsuno is, Yuki continues investigating the school with Aiba. She runs into Morimura, who gives her a note. Morimura also pulls Aiba aside and asks “Tamao-san” why she hasn’t checked in recently. The note Morimura gave Yuki tells her to bring Aiba to Sumire Bridge. Yuki does so and confronts Aiba, telling her that she visited the real Erika Aiba in the hospital. “Aiba” confesses to actually being “Tamao Kurabe,” but Yuki isn’t done. Yuki mentions finding the discarded “corpse” of the destroyed Tomi android in the old school building with Ei. Ei tells Yuki that the mass-murderer Juro Izumi was using it, but escaped in another body. The Tomi android, then, was responsible for the bathroom incident. Yuki then tells Aiba that she was told her nanomachines had been altered repeatedly by someone close to her, and directly accuses Aiba of doing so and being Juro Izumi. Izumi breaks kayfabe and threatens to alter Yuki’s memories, but Ryoko, Gouto, Morimura, and the police arrive to surround the android. Morimura confronts Izumi, but Izumi accuses Morimura of trying to “save her own ass” by derailing the interstellar project, as well as sacrificing “fifteen other lives” to save them both. Morimura fires on Izumi repeatedly, exposing the robotics underneath the android’s skin. Izumi gets back up, tells Yuki that he was getting her ready for the “game” that was about to begin, and jumps off the bridge to escape. As the assembled team goes to search for what’s left of Izumi, Yuki stares mournfully over the railing.

Keitaro Miura (Zach Aguilar)

(1) (Chapter 16) From “Satellite Orbit” in 2187, Keitaro Miura and Natsuno Minami discuss space exploration and progress on a “colony.” Natsuno mentions that the “machines’ self-replication” may lead to “the invasion of intelligent life.” Miura states that if he could be born in any era, he would choose imperial Japan in the era of World War II, because he’s a goddamn lunatic. In 1944, Miura and Hijiyama go to visit the “old” schoolhouse, just built in this era, and talk about how Miura has been chosen to pilot the top-secret weapon called a “Sentinel,” allowing Japan to potentially win the war. They encounter Tamao Kurabe (which is also the name of Juro’s grandmother), who is showing “Kiriko Douji” around. Months later, it is Miura’s free day. Kiriko has vanished and been branded a spy, and Japan has been plagued by air raids. While talking to himself, Miura discovers Natsuno Minami hiding in some bushes before hearing an air raid siren. They run to the neighborhood where his sister Chihiro is staying with Tamao to find it burning to the ground. Miura finds Chihiro’s stuffed doll and fears the worst until she arrives with Tamao. The group then discovers that the arriving kaiju are the source of the destruction. Miura leaves Natsuno with Tamao and Chihiro to go fight them in his Sentinel, but Natsuno chases after him.

(2) (Chapter 35) Miura is fighting the kaiju in his Sentinel in 1945, but is running out of operating time. Suddenly, his Sentinel acts up and takes him to 1985, where he believes he has been somehow transported to the United States due to the cityscape. He is forced to abandon the Sentinel in its current position lodged halfway inside a building while it recovers. On the city streets, Miura realizes he is not actually in the U.S. due to the printed and spoken language all around, but accidentally angers Nenji Ogata and is knocked out in one hit. He wakes up in Shu Amiguchi’s apartment, Shu also being present for the altercation, and learns from a history textbook and calendar that it is 1985 and Japan lost the war after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When Miura asks Shu what year it is, he confirms this.

(3) (Chapter 36) On a later day, Miura surveys the building where the Sentinel is lodged, the wreckage currently disguised. He resolves to return to 1945 and change history. He wanders over to the school while trying to find a way home and runs into Natsuno, who offers to find him a place to stay. Miura recalls an incident preceding an air raid where his younger sister Chihiro caused a large dent in a pillar at the Kurabe house while play-acting a scenario Tamao mentioned in one of her dreams. Tamao’s medication she received from Gouto for an unspecified illness has given her strange dreams about “giant ghosts destroying houses” that feel like premonitions. Back in 1985, Natsuno blackmails Juro into letting Miura stay at the Kurabe house using her familiarity with “Granny Tamao” and her newly acquired knowledge that Megumi is staying over as well. Miura is shocked that the Kurabe house is still standing, considering he saw it destroyed in the kaiju attack. He examines the pillar and finds no dent. Then, in 2188, Miura and Tamao, the latter an AI expert who has been alive for 120 years due to nanomachine therapy (and “Morimura’s mentor”), discuss an old property of Tamao’s family, a house that stood for 100 years from the 20th to 21st centuries. Miura offers to reconstruct it from a photograph. Tamao leaves the call and Natsuno enters it, and Miura mentions that he was talking with Tamao about the “layout of the residential zone.” It is also implied that Miura and Natsuno are fairly close.

(4) (Chapter 47) Miura continues to survey the building the Sentinel crashed into, with no change. He goes to Ayame Pass, the site of the old Sentinel hangar, but it is now Ayame Park. He encounters Renya Gouto and his younger sister there, who looks exactly like his own younger sister Chihiro. He then heads to the school to locate Natsuno. After exploring a bit and encountering Megumi, who promises to make him some more “hemborger,” he finds Natsuno, who takes him to the old school building to show him BJ, still believing him to be an alien (though even Miura is skeptical of this, recognizing it as one of Shikishima’s scout units). BJ tells Miura that he does not actually come from 1945, but 2188, having.seen his “log.” Miura asks to see this log, and it is revealed to be a conversation between 2188!Keitaro Miura and 2188!Yuki Takamiya. “Professor” Takamiya is getting on the last shuttle before the “front line” gets too close. It is revealed that not only are this Miura and Natsuno dating, but Yuki is also Natsuno’s mother.

(5) (Chapter 62) Miura realizes that Natsuno must also have some method of traveling through time and returns to school to find her. When he arrives at track practice, he is directed to Tokisaka Shrine by the track members, Natsuno having ditched to go search for Sentinel No. 17 with BJ. Miura arrives in time to witness Natsuno and BJ shift back to 1985, and asks them to take him back to 1945 so he can locate Chihiro. Also, after they shift to 1945, it is revealed that Ryoko has followed Miura to Tokisaka Shrine and has now tracked “the data unit” (BJ) to Natsuno’s possession. When Miura, Natsuno, and BJ arrive, they find the town destroyed and empty and the kaiju inert. Miura realizes the kaiju are not, in fact, alien weapons. Miura then spots Tamao, the only person anywhere, lying on the ground dying. She says that Renya Gouto has kidnapped Chihiro from her. As she fades away, she literally starts to fade away, disappearing into light. BJ says she has been shifted by Universal Control, being held until the world comes to an end.

(6) (Chapter 75) Miura heads over to Sakura High School to look for Gouto. He runs into Natsuno, who tells him that Gouto has been absent for a while and no one knows where he lives. Suddenly, Miwako shows up. Natsuno asks to see a picture Miwako surreptitiously took of Gouto, and shows it to Miura. Recognizing Gouto from Ayame Park a few days prior, he immediately runs back there, where he finds Chihiro. Chihiro initially refuses to talk to Miura, but Miura gives her the stuffed doll she dropped earlier, causing her to confirm her identity. However, Chihiro soon starts using complicated scientific jargon, confusing Miura. She says that she is “Chihiro Morimura,” having regained her original memories. Gouto then appears to a still-bewildered Miura. Miura is justifiably hostile to Gouto and tries to take Chihiro with him, but she tells Miura that there is nowhere to go back to. Chihiro is currently preoccupied with trying to prevent the loop and gain control of all systems, and tries to win over Miura to this cause by praising his work as a design engineer. Chihiro then leaves. Miura tries to run after her but is stopped by Gouto, who claims that Miura cannot currently protect her, as she is being targeted for assassination by Ei Sekigahara. Gouto once more asks Miura to cooperate and help Chihiro before leaving. Miura then recalls an interaction with Ei back in 1944 with Tamao. At the time, “Kiriko” had just vanished and was being hunted by the military police for espionage. Miura believes Kiriko to be innocent, with Ei being the real culprit. Ei tries to convince Miura to let him go after Kiriko, but is unable. Ei also mentions that Tamao’s memories have been manipulated, which she believes, having been told that her parents were not really her parents and that she was brought there from the future. Upon hearing Miura’s name, Ei realizes who he’s talking to, claiming they have fought together in the future, with that Miura currently being stored inside a scout unit. However, this just makes Miura think Ei is delusional. Miura tries to take Ei in, but Ei pulls out his phaser and makes his escape.

(7) (87) At the riverbank, Miura considers what he’s learned so far and realizes that he badly wants to hear Natsuno’s voice. He finds Natsuno, who is desperately searching for BJ, who is missing. The two split up to search for BJ, who Miura finds at the walkway. As it turns out, BJ was searching for Miura. BJ confirms to Miura that BJ is also Miura. BJ states that the world was destroyed previously, causing his death. After this, BJ was resurrected as an AI to fight in the Sentinels, taking Miura’s place. After a malfunction in the Sentinel, BJ uploaded part of himself into the scout unit, but 72% of him is still in the Sentinel he’s searching for. BJ tells Miura that it’s best Natsuno not know any of this. Miura asks BJ what’s going to happen, as BJ is from the future, but BJ states that “my experiences are all from past events.” He says that time travel is impossible, even with future technology, and that they have never traveled through time. Miura asks how that’s possible if BJ is Miura as well, but BJ states that he is just an entity that used to be Miura before him. BJ asks Miura to stop Chihiro Morimura’s plan, Operation Aegis, because BJ will be “gone soon.” Then, a log from 2188 plays. In that log, 2188!Miura is talking to 2188!Chihiro Morimura. Miura states that progress is going smoothly on the sectors, which are nearly complete. The sectors are built to be similar to the colonies they live in, and are divided based on simulated historical era instead of orbital position. 2188!Miura asks why there is no residential district of the present day, and 2188!Morimura replies that they wanted to start over before the world “took such a terrible turn” in the “nanomachine incidents.” Morimura states that humanity perhaps “tasted the fruit of knowledge too early.” She also says she’ll be happy just so long as “our civilization survives.”

Tomi Kisaragi (Cassandra Lee Morris)

(1) (Chapter 20) After shifting to 1985, Tomi takes in the strangeness of the era, then pisses off Nenji by insulting his hair to the point that Gouto has to intervene. Tomi wishes to return to 2025 and find her parents, but Gouto tells her that it has been destroyed and they are gone. Tomi does not believe this and endeavors to dig up some kind of corporate blackmail on Shikishima so she can force them to allow her to return. Yes, that is actually her plan, and she tries to accomplish this by checking out financial reports from the library. Anyway, after mentioning Shikishima to Miwako, Tomi finds out that Miwako’s old childhood friend has a father that works for Shikishima, and asks to meet them. Unfortunately for Tomi, the friend is Nenji. Wah waaaaaaah! The two bicker for a bit before all three of them including Miwako are instantly and completely out-of-nowhere transported to a destroyed cityscape. They realize that they are in the same city, but a sighting of kaiju causes Tomi to realize that they are in 2025 and Gouto was telling the truth about its destruction. Afterwards, Miwako discovers someone else is there with them.

(2) (Chapter 28) Tomi, Miwako, and Nenji are still trapped in 2025, along with the unconscious Ryoko, who Miwako discovered passed out. Nenji brings back some soft drinks and mentions some dead kaiju, which piques Tomi’s interest. The two head over to some kaiju remains and remark that they look like machines before an android forces them to hide. Once it leaves, Tomi notices a Shikishima logo on the inside of the dead kaiju, leading them to realize the invasion was man-made. Tomi then messes around with a control panel with no luck due to her lack of a “Biometric ID” match, leading Nenji to try. It works, possibly due to his father’s status as a Shikishima board member. The two discover that the kaiju are actually terraforming machines from 2188 meant for planetary development that have somehow been directed to attack Earth’s past instead.

(3) (Chapter 42) Still in 2025, Tomi and Nenji visit Tomi’s destroyed apartment, causing Tomi to remember encountering Megumi at school shortly after first arriving in 1985 and learning about what happened to Juro Izumi.

(4) (Chapter 56) Still in 2025, Tomi and Nenji head back to the apartment and witness a scout unit flying around. They meet with Miwako, who suggests heading back to Sakura High School, given that that is where they originally shifted from. Nenji and Tomi head out, but find their chosen path impassible. They also discover the destroyed husk of Juro’s Sentinel No. 13 embedded in a building where it was left back in Megumi #2. Tomi recalls the kaiju invasion of 2025, searching through a building for her mother while Gouto tried to stop her and bring her back with him, before Juro (Izumi) arrived in his Sentinel to fight the kaiju. Tomi refused to leave without her mother, but Morimura shot her with a nanomachine injector (I’m just going to call the “magical gun” a nanomachine injector outside of Megumi’s context from now on) to stop her. Morimura tells Gouto that there’s been a change of plans, Juro’s nanomachines won’t hold on much longer, and that they need to start the test now and the evacuation can wait.

(5) (Chapter 65) On the second day stranded in 2025, Tomi and Nenji return to Miwako, who tells them that Ryoko has vanished. Tomi and Nenji look for her at the old spots and see nothing but a passing scout unit. They then check Sakura High School, where an enormous pit with a massive construction machine inside has swallowed much of the campus. They locate Ryoko, surrounded by androids, but the androids attack them before they are rescued by Ei, who located them from the scout unit’s surveys. However, Ryoko vanishes once more in the confusion. Ei tells them that the way to get home is the shifter located at the bottom of the pit.

(6) (Chapter 74) On the third day stranded in 2025, Tomi and Nenji return to Miwako once more. I do not know why they came back a day later. They tell Miwako about Ei and mention that they have a possible way home. All three go back to Sakura High School, where Ryoko has taken over the androids and is using them to attack Ei, thinking him to be 426. Ryoko runs into the chasm while Ei is distracted. After dispatching the androids, Ei tells the others that they have to hurry to the gate before Ryoko strands them all in 2025. Also, the area at the bottom of the pit is the inside of the UFO. Ei is able to calm Ryoko down and convince her he is not 426. Afterwards, Tomi touches a mysterious pulsing holographic light hanging in midair, and is contacted by “No. 16,” the missing Sentinel. BJ, who is the scout unit Ei has been using, identifies No. 16 as “Kisaragi.” The reason Tomi is able to interact with the holographic light is because they are the same person with the same biometric ID. “Kisaragi” is currently “outside the world,” being denied access to all sectors by “Universal Control,” which Ei mentions is the mainframe located there inside the UFO which monitors the world. The mainframe is trying to keep them from finding Kisaragi’s location. The communication abruptly cuts off as Kisaragi mentions Universal Control’s attempts to block her out. Then, suddenly, several androids walk into the UFO and surround the group. Ei runs out of ammo, and the group quickly runs to the UFO’s shifter to escape to another time. The group arrives back at Tokisaka Shrine, but Miwako is missing. Tomi and Nenji search for her to no avail. They believe that she was left behind, but Ei and Ryoko tell them that Miwako was “not like them.” Everyone in the city is managed by the mainframe, and anyone who gets too close to the truth is handled by Universal Control. Ei says that Miwako, who “knew too much,” was determined to be an inconvenience to the world.

(7) (Chapter 91) At school, Miwako is acting like the trio never went to 2025, her memories having been tampered with. Nenji and Tomi talk discuss this in a familiar scene at the train station, with Tomi wanting to find answers about Universal Control and Nenji, surprisingly, telling her not to run off half-cocked as it is dangerous. Nenji says they’ll figure things out together. Nenji and Tomi are clearly into each other at this point, but neither want to admit it, also. At this point, Nenji gets into an also-familiar fight with Wajima, but the train arrives. Tomi leaves Nenji behind as she boards the train, annoyed that he didn’t keep his word. A few weeks later, Tomi visits the shrine, looking for the gate. She witnesses Hijiyama and Okino shift back from another sector, and ambushes Okino when he tells Hijiyama to go on ahead. She decides to start blackmailing Okino for help with her problem, having overheard that he doesn’t want Morimura to know what he’s doing.

Nenji Ogata (Billy Kametz)

(1) (Chapter 29) Nenji is on a train platform with Tomi when he suddenly realizes he’s been in this situation before. He originally followed Tomi onto her train home from school, but his last memory is of the train derailing. Nenji tries to convince Tomi not to get on the train, but after he gets into a pointless fight with Wajima she brushes him off. Nenji once again follows Tomi, but remembers too late the cause of the train derailment: the arrival of the kaiju. The train derails once again, and Nenji wakes up in his Sentinel cockpit. He panics over Tomi, but a mysterious voice contacts him and asks him about a “D-Code key.” When Nenji says he doesn’t know anything about it, the voice says “I’m sending you back” and tells him to find the key. Nenji comes to once more on the train platform with Tomi.

(2) (Chapter 30) Nenji ignores the voice’s instructions and focuses on trying to get Tomi to safety. He successfully convinces her not to board the train, but the two are eventually overrun by the kaiju invasion after escaping the station. When Nenji returns to the void with the mysterious voice, he demands that the voice help Tomi. The voice agrees in return for finding the key. Nenji then agrees to cooperate.

(3) (Chapter 31) Back on the train platform, Nenji asks Tomi and Wajima about the key, to no avail. After another loop, Nenji spots Iori and Okino together on the platform, recognizing Okino from somewhere. He decides to follow them onto their train to ask about the key. When he boards the train, neither are present. Nenji asks a young girl if she’s seen them, but the girl suddenly transforms into Iori. When Nenji asks her about the key, she transforms into Morimura the nurse, then Morimura in the black catsuit, then shoots Nenji with the magical gun. This awakens a dormant memory from when Nenji was seven, when Catsuit Morimura told him he would call monsters to destroy the world in the future, then shot him with the magical gun, implanting him with nanomachines to add onto “the program” already inside him. Afterward, Morimura said that doing this would allow them to prepare their weapons: the Sentinels. Nenji returns to the void and realizes that the mysterious voice had no awareness of where they were sending Nenji each loop until he told them.

(4) (Chapter 32) Nenji questions Iori about what transpired on the last loop, but she’s even more confused about what he’s asking than he is. Ryoko then shows up, so he asks her about the key but gets no answers. Nenji follows her onto her train, but when he boards he finds Ryoko and Ei passed out, with Ei holding a mysterious item labeled “DD-426.” Ida then reveals himself, saying that it’s “poison” used to infect the D-forces (the kaiju), with Ei and Ryoko ending up as collateral damage. Ryoko’s strange “condition” is a side effect. Ida says that fifteen teenagers are responsible for “commanding” the D-forces, which are an inescapable curse created by mankind. Then everything explodes. When Nenji returns to the void, he tells the voice about what he saw and the voice’s instructions remain vague. The voice’s static in its portrait starts to lift, revealing it to be Tsukasa Okino, who Nenji recognizes from the station.

(5) (Chapter 33) Nenji returns to the train platform and seeks out Okino. Okino seems confused by Nenji’s confrontation, and is ultimately chased onto the train. When Nenji follows, he is immediately thrust back into the void. Here, Okino expresses surprise that Nenji can see him before Hijiyama reveals himself. Nenji suddenly remembers getting sucker-punched and knocked out by Hijiyama, before he wakes up in a dark factory tied to a chair with a strange device attached to his head. Okino and Hijiyama, who are in the room in the flesh, wonder how Nenji broke out and answer his questions about the D-Code. The D-Code is a program that controls the kaiju, also known as “D-forces.” It was implanted into fifteen people without their knowledge, calling the kaiju from within themselves to destroy the world. Only one of these fifteen now-teenagers has the D-Code key at any one time. Okino and Hijiyama were trying to find the key by kidnapping Nenji, who used to have it, and extracting the data from him. However, the data was too buried in Nenji’s memories, so they had to have Nenji search himself. Upon hearing this, Nenji realizes that the train station was an illusion constructed entirely from his memories. Okino fixes the exploit that allowed Nenji to use the fake Okino’s access ID to leave the simulation, then moves to plug him back in, telling Nenji not to struggle because the device coming off his head forcefully could cause him never to wake up. Before Nenji goes under again, Hijiyama tells him that his only option is to cooperate and find the key.

(6) (Chapter 66) On his next return to the train platform, Nenji casually mistreats Tomi because she’s not the real one, walks over to where Wajima is, and gets beaten up. Afterwards, Wajima mentions that Nenji badmouthed Wajima’s school (Nigakuri). After Wajima leaves, Nenji remembers the “original” version of this day, where he got into an argument with Tomi on the train platform. The last train leaves and the loop ends. In the void, Okino tells Nenji to take things more seriously. The next time, Nenji asks Wajima’s gang where they heard the rumor that he badmouthed Nigakuri, and they start arguing. Nenji then walks away and notices Iori by herself this time, Okino nowhere to be seen. He asks Iori about it, but she does not know what he’s talking about. Then, Nenji notices Juro, who he spotted on a previous loop but was unable to follow thanks to Tomi’s interference. Nenji talks to Juro, realizing that Juro does not normally take the train home. Juro’s responses are oddly hostile and dismissive, and when Nenji asks about the key that summons the kaiju, Juro remarks that the subject is “childish,” setting off alarm bells for Nenji. Nenji follows Juro onto a train, where he confronts Juro, stating that he’s “not Kurabe.” After Nenji says this, a man who looks exactly like the older Juro from Juro’s memories of the future emerges from the background and disappears just as quickly. Nenji searches the train for him and finds Natsuno Minami staring at a glowing object he immediately knows must be the key. The older Juro identifies himself as Juro Izumi, a version of Juro Kurabe from another world, and tells Nenji not to trust the people looking for the key, as they will likely do unspeakable things to Natsuno if they find out she has it. Nenji concurs with this analysis of the situation, and when he returns to the void chooses not to tell Okino what happened. However, Okino mentions that Nenji’s mind won’t be able to survive many more loops and pushes him to find the key soon, putting Nenji in a precarious situation.

(7) (Chapter 76) On Nenji’s next go, he is stuck, refusing to sell out Natsuno but aware he is in mortal peril. He also realizes that the Morimura he encountered as a child did something to his key, and realizes the “Sentinels” she mentioned must have been that robot he saw destroyed in 2025. He asks his mental Tomi what she would do if the world was going to end in a few minutes, and she says that there’s no time to do much of anything, so she’d spend them with him. Nenji then heads back over to where Juro was last time. Juro seems more normal this go-around, but hands him a note mentioning the last car of the third train (the one Tomi gets on). Nenji waits for the train and sees Megumi Yakushiji boarding it. He follows her and is spit back into the void, except this time he is talking to the real Megumi. Megumi has apparently been sent by Fluffy to rescue Nenji, but she is unable to figure out how to get him out of the simulation. She does manage to lift a “restriction” Okino has put into place, however. Nenji asks her about the kaiju, since she mentioned saving the world earlier, and she confirms that they are real. She asks Nenji if he would fight back if he could, and he says yes. Megumi then “casts a spell” on Nenji that allows him to fight, which is almost certainly just shooting him with the magical gun. In the void, Nenji sees an image of a Sentinel. Megumi then sends Nenji back into the simulation with the restriction lifted.

(8 FINAL) (Chapter 83) Nenji arrives back at the platform. This time, he tells his mental Tomi that he’s worried about her and wants her to be safe. He says if she’s going somewhere, he’ll go too. He asks her to stay where she is and wait a minute for him, and walks off. The restriction Megumi lifted has restored Okino to the platform, and Nenji pursues him onto the train, freeing himself from the simulation. Megumi and Nenji leave the abandoned factory and pass by the unresponsive Hijiyama, who Megumi almost certainly shot with the magical gun to get inside. Nenji leaves with Megumi. Time then jumps forward to the final battle with the kaiju, where Tomi, Nenji, and Natsuno are out of their Sentinels, having hit their operating limits.Miura then contacts them from his Sentinel, having taken heavy damage and needing to shift out himself. Despite this, he tells Natsuno not to push herself so hard and let him fight her share because he’s worried about her. Tomi offers to summon her Sentinel, but Nenji tells her it’s too damaged and he’ll fight instead. Tomi objects, saying he’s already at his limit, but Nenji stands up straight from his perpetual slouch and says, “I don’t give a shit about my limits. I love you, and that’s why I gotta break ‘em.” He calls out his Sentinel and destroys a nearby G-Moler, telling Natsuno and Tomi to get back while he fights. Tomi calls him an idiot before escaping with Natsuno. As the two run away, Nenji swears he’ll protect Tomi this time.

Ryoko Shinonome (Kira Buckland)

(1) (Chapter 34) In 2064, an un-bandaged Ryoko is very clearly crushing hard on her substitute teacher, “Mr. Ida.” She ignores Ida’s requests not to speak to him at school to avoid attracting attention and tries to confirm if he feels anything towards her. Ida is more interested in convincing Ryoko to get in a dang Sentinel and fight the kaiju. Ei comes up to the two of them, angry that Ida is ignoring his own instructions, but Ryoko tells him it’s her fault. Before Ida leaves, Ryoko says she will fight, leading Ei to join the fight as well. Ryoko leaves and Ei looks forlorn. At the battle of 2064, the Sentinels are attacked by a malicious infection originating from Ei’s Sentinel. Juro and Ryoko suffer heavy damage from this in particular Morimura orders Gouto to force-shift all the Sentinels to prevent the pilots from dying despite the settings not being adjusted, meaning they’ll all be sent through time randomly. Ida stays behind to help Morimura and Gouto escape. Later, in 2025, bandaged Ryoko wakes up next to the unconscious bodies of Tomi, Miwako, and Nenji. She picks up a nearby phaser and enters the hideout of future-criminal “426,” Ei Sekigahara. Ryoko knows Ei is 426 because the infection was uploaded through Ei’s Sentinel and used 426’s ID. Ryoko wants to kill Ei because of what happened to Ida, but Ei is disappointed that Ryoko is still only thinking of him. When Ryoko pulls the trigger, the gun does not fire because it is registered to Ei. Ei then pulls Ryoko’s pills out of her pocket and notices the bottle is empty and her dosage is about to wear off. Suddenly, Ryoko grabs her head in pain. As she blacks out, Ei states that he’s sorry he was unable to save her.

(2) (Chapter 44) Ryoko wakes up in the nurse’s office with no memory of what happened after confronting Ei. She remembers that he’s 426, an AI from the future, though. Morimura tells Ryoko that they cannot use the gate presently and thus she cannot go after 426. Gouto is assigned to assist Ryoko, to her chagrin, and they go to the cafeteria, where Ryoko becomes “inexplicably” jealous from Shu fawning over Yuki. Then, Ryoko and Gouto talk to Megumi, who reminds her of their first meeting. In that meeting, just after Sentinel No. 14 was recovered, Ryoko objects to Megumi possibly being assigned to pilot it instead of her because Ida gave Ryoko that job. This angers Megumi, who tells Ryoko that she should have been piloting instead of Juro if she’s so possessive of this Sentinel. Megumi tells Ryoko that it doesn’t matter, because she’ll just “forget everything.”

(3) (Chapter 50) Ryoko wakes back up in the nurse’s office and heads back to the hallway to talk to the compatible girls. When she talks to Tomi, a lovestruck Miwako runs up and harangues Gouto, and while he’s distracted, Tomi tells Ryoko to run away. Ryoko does so, and encounters Shu as her pills stop working. She realizes Shu reminds her of Ida, and flashes back to when she first arrived in 1985. At the time, Ryoko had been arrested when her Sentinel force-shifted to the era, and was being questioned until Ida showed up, flashed his SIU authority, and took her away. Ryoko, remembering this, realizes Ida may still be alive.

(4) (Chapter 59) This time, after running away from Gouto, Ryoko heads to the break area, where she runs out of pills. She heads back to the nurse’s office to get more and discovers Iori Fuyusaka sleeping in the bed (and does not find any pills). She discovers an ampoule under Iori’s pillow and realizes that Iori is being injected with nanomachines. Ryoko then examines the medication record on Morimura’s desk and confirms this, along with Morimura having made attempts to transplant memories into Iori. Morimura then arrives. Ryoko confronts her, but collapses from the pain as her lack of pills gets to her. Before she passes out, Morimura tells Ryoko that she’s starting to disappear.

(5) (Chapter 70) Ryoko runs away from Gouto when she gets the chance again, but this time Tomi finds her and asks her why she’s still looking for Ei. Ryoko then remembers the true version of their confrontation. She located Ei in the science room attempting to shift, but the shift radius got set off, transporting Nenji, Tomi, and Miwako as well (Chapter 20). When she confronted Ei, he told her that he’s not 426, didn’t infect the Sentinels, and that he’s always looked up to her as his big sister. Ei tells her to leave with the other students, but Ryoko follows him, needing to know the whole truth. However, her condition is too severe and she passes out as Tomi finds her.

(6) (Chapter 79) Ryoko now remembers that Ei is not 426. After leaving the nurse’s office, Ryoko does not flee from Gouto this time, but instead runs into Juro, who she still believes to be Juro Izumi. Ryoko confronts Gouto about this and he informs her about Juro’s irreversible memory loss. Ryoko then remembers looking for her loved ones during the kaiju attack in 2064. She is almost killed by a kaiju, but Juro Izumi kills it with his Sentinel and introduces himself to her. He asks her to help him save the world.

(7) (Chapter 86) Ryoko escapes Gouto once more and finds Yuki in the cafeteria. Yuki tells Ryoko that the black suits are looking for her, but Ryoko doesn’t even remember who Yuki is. Yuki tells Ryoko that Ida must have something on her and is forcing her to help the SIU, but Ryoko still does not remember. Ryoko gets Yuki to remind her of an incident in the science room. In this incident, Yuki, Ida, and Ryoko shifted into the science room, having “left Amiguchi behind,” according to Yuki. Ryoko pulls a phaser on Ida. Ryoko tells Ida that she could accept being used, but not being thrown away by Ida, who was apparently planning on abandoning everyone to have a “do-over” with “her,” another girl who he has feelings for. Ida tries to talk Ryoko down, but Ryoko says she’s seen the logs from the lab and turns off the phaser’s stun mode before shooting Ida dead. Back in the cafeteria, Yuki tells Ryoko that no one has seen Ida since then. Yuki asks Ryoko why she shot Ida, and Ryoko (extremely reluctantly) recalls seeing a recording of Ida’s research in the 2105 laboratory. In the recording, Ida (the Ida older than Shu but younger than Mr. Ida) converses with Tomi, who is still inside the immobile android shell 426 was trapped in, as there is no viable replacement shell for her at the moment. Tomi says Ida should make bodies for the others (Miura and Hijiyama) instead of a new one for her, but Ida says they no longer need bodies as they are inhabiting Sentinels to trick the UFO into thinking it’s being controlled by “the compatible.” Tomi asks to be put into a Sentinel as well, but Ida refuses, stating that the risk of her being deleted as a foreign entity is too high. Ida still wants to put this Tomi into “this world’s” Tomi Kisaragi, but Tomi refuses to even consider sacrificing her, saying she could never forgive Ida for doing that. Ida puts the android to sleep, and realizes that 426 was right: the only way to put her into Tomi’s body would be to do it with her original consciousness data from the UFO without her ever being aware of the plan. Ida resolves to “start over from the beginning,” and “reset things” for the sake of putting Tomi into a new body.

Renya Gouto (Ben Lepley)

(1) (Chapter 54) This one’s gonna be really hard because it’s all over the place in the timeline, but I’ll try. In 1985, a few weeks before the final battle, Gouto is confronted by Morimura while using the gate in the science room. Gouto claims to simply want to know the truth, but asserts that Morimura has been acting strangely and asks who she really is. Flash back to shortly after the two of them first met, in 2104 after that era has already been lost to the kaiju. Ida, Gouto, Morimura, and Okino discuss the automated factories of the era being in full kaiju production mode. Gouto has two logs from 2188 he shares with the group, one concerning “innerlocitor” (nanomachines) company Newmen, Inc. being bought by Shikishima, and a later one involving Newmen, Inc. executives implicated in a “mind-hacking” scheme to use innerlocitors to digitally resurrect people through memory implantation. Back to a few weeks before the final battle, Gouto and Chihiro (Miura’s younger sister) talk about Chihiro’s “actual body” in the ruins of 2025. Chihiro, as it turns out, is a juvenile clone of Morimura, created in an attempt to re-establish “compatibility” with the UFO mainframe, which Morimura lost at some point. The experiment was a failure and the clone’s memories were ultimately sealed. Gouto tells Chihiro that Morimura is acting erratically and that she may have been compromised by 426, either convinced or mind-hacked.The two agree to travel back to 1985 and discuss the matter further A few more weeks earlier, Gouto is trying to access Morimura’s logs in the UFO, and manages to do so. The first log talks about Morimura’s failed attempt to give her clone compatibility, and mentions giving her to the Miuras after sealing her memories. The other log starts by saying “Ida-kun didn’t make it back either.” The other Sentinels infected, Morimura believes the only hope is Operation Aegis, that being the only way to ensure “he and I can survive.” Afterwards, Gouto finds another log under his own name. It is a log of the 2188 Shikishima CEO introducing himself as Renya Gouto and calling in an assassination on Chihiro Morimura.