In the episode Wish of Ensemble Stars - Element we get to see the performance of former fine to the song “Genuine Revelation”.
What stood out to me the most was Hiyori and Nahisa’s interactions through the episode but more importantly in the MV. We all know how the two become the unit Eden in the future, but what really stood out was the two who are quite literally the Adam and Eve of Ensemble Stars holding hands throughout the episode- a symbolic tribute of sorts to who they name their unit(s) after. Adam and Eve.
BECAUSE ELEMENT IS COMING OUT AN EPISODE A DAY HELLO????
Ensemble Stars Element spoilers below
The Eccentrics jfc
In Element we’re getting our first look at how they had all really interacted with each other before Eichi really got to targeting them. Rei before he was sent across the globe, Shu before he was humiliated, and Natsume before he knew he was betrayed.
I can’t say for certain what they were saying to each other since the two episodes that were out at the time of writing this aren’t subtitled, but it was immediately obvious to me that the five of them are very familiar in how they treat each other. Rei teasing Shu, Kanata and Wataru’s “Shuuu” when they were trying to convince him to do something, and how they were all laughing with each other at the end of the scene all was evidence to me that they were all really good friends. Even if we had already known that, we get to see it now.
On one hand, it makes the tragedy of the war arc outcome worse. We rarely see them that close again and they never get to perform together again, either. None of the shuffle units or fusion units have had two Eccentrics in them. They still all get along- we see that throughout the games when they mention each other fondly or interact in stories- but that little found family of theirs is estranged at best.
But that brings me to my point: Wataru. He’s everyone’s Hibiki Wataru- he changes how he acts depending on what best fits who he’s around. His energy and speech patterns are different in Element in comparison to how he talks to Hokuto in !-era but what doesn’t change is how interacts with the people in his group. In the case of ! and !!, Wataru treats fine with a same of familial nature that mirrors what he had with the Eccentrics.
To that end, I think that doing so is how he copes. While I’m sure he’s horrific at taking care of himself emotionally, mentally, and physically, even he has something he does to be able to bear with it. Substituting the people around him for friend group/family he had belonged to before might be what ‘anchors’ him (even if his actual anchor, in his perspective, is Eichi).
It’s like if you were separated from your family. If you find yourself around people who you can see even a glimmer of that past dynamic in, you’re likely to chase that familiarity. Even if none of them are anything like your real family, creating that structure that reminds you of what you used to have might help you handle losing that original safe space.
I can’t believe there was a fight at the advanced screening of enstars element. What got y’all so heated that you had to fight and disrupt everyone else?
I'm so glad they animated Blackbird, it deserves to be known more widely. Most people wouldn't probably read it even if they could, especially when they saw it was only about Eichi and Wataru, so putting it in the anime and in the same episode with EPN is a genius move.