[barnstenchfartface]

@Kiwami: honestly I feel like the Necrom Specter deal is more about Alain himself and less about setting Takeru up for his upgrade. It could still be doing that, but it's looking like it's being set up to teach Alain the value of inidviduality/that controlling people is bad/the true meaning of friendship. Plus it's giving Kanon something to do so I'm not complaining. I guess it's all things you could do without Makoto getting hijacked for a handful of episodes, but I don't personally mind it.

@RollOut: You have a point. I considered that angle, but there's Himiko's line of "I believe in the potential of the human soul, which he does not agree with" (or something among those lines). Whatever Newton's religious beliefs, that doesn't sound like the thing that would drive a wedge between them. That line in particular seemed to paint the conflict in a science vs. spirituality light. Not to mention that Newton had some pretty eccentric beliefs himself, so I don't know if he would be so uncomfortable with Himiko anyway.

Not that I really know a ton about the subject, just what I gather from skimming Wikipedia.