[DreamSword]

Episode 10: Family Portrait

All talking, but all very interesting. This episode had serious .hack// vibes.

The short of it is that this episode is both about family, and the role memories play in the bonds we keep.

As our small band of heroes journey off to Venus for a direct fight against the Immortal Nine and the Usurpers, they find a stowaway Cyan whose personality seems to have taken a major shift.

And like with alot of the show, there are many things that are portrayed in a very down to earth way. Just like in real life, many will stick with others solely due to a perceived blood relation, just as how the Immortal Nine stick together despite half of them also wanting to kill eachother.

There's also Cyan and Hank, with their bonds they had with others despite the perceived lack of direct relations. Hank ended up seeing Conner(Noid) as his son despite everything, and although Naomi would argue against Cyan and Rouge being sisters, Rouge chooses to follow in the example set by Gene, and does her best to welcome Cyan with open arms.

But the underlying snake in the water to all of this: Can anyone's' memories really be trusted in all of this? The Puppetmaster has already modified Rouge's' memories, and they've yet to be fully fixed either. Ontop of that, the Immortal Nine all recall a past together that Gene has little to no recollection of, and Cyan notes a voice that takes command of her personality on occasion. With all the Neans in this line up, have all of their memories been modified?

There's some other bits of foreshadowing throughout the episode as well, but as I usually do, I'll wait until later to reveal if I ended up getting it right or not. Though let's just say I chose this specific thumbnail for a reason.

It's the lead up to the climactic fight on Venus, and I had a good time with it.