The Hypernatural and Supernatural in Madlax -- Episode 21

Episode 21:　 The other side of the door and the incident 12 years ago

Cruel Confession ~guilty~: 告薄 (Kokuhaku)

note:
This is a coined set of words string. The reading reminds of other Japanese homonym “告白”=confession. “告” (Koku) means “Tell”, and “白” means “White” or “Immaculate”. “薄” (Haku) means “scanty” or “thin”.

In the avant, young boy Carrossea is asking to himself, “Why… Why? Why am I here? What have I been doing up until now?” He is asking Friday, “Please tell me. Who am I?” A grown-up youth Carrossea mutters, “I’m Carrossea Doon, member of Enfant. A false name, and a false job title. False information. A false life.” Present Carrossea says, “Please tell me, Margaret Burton. Tell me who I really am. Tell me what the truth is.”

Vanessa is watching Madlax lying in her bed, deeply injured. Nakhl tells Elenore, “Margaret Burton obtained the three books, and now with Lady Quanzitta’s guidance she is trying to open the door.” Quanzitta calls to Margaret, “Margaret Burton. Those eyes of yours will discern the era. Now, invoke the mystic words that will open the door. The mystic words of awakening”. Margaret, answering her, invokes the words, “Eluda Taluta.” “The mystic words of the Essence.” “Sarks Sark.” “The mystic words of truth.” “Ark Arks.”

Elenore enquires Quanzitta, “Where is Miss Margaret?” Quanzitta answers, saying, “On the other side of the door of truth.” Black sun is hanging in the sky. Quanzitta murmurs, “The time is coming.” The screen is depicting a mythical phase of the universe surpassing the norm of physical laws or even the limits of supernatural occurrences.

Elenore is telling Vanessa, “I’m told she opened the door of truth. …Miss Margaret left. She went to somewhere we don’t know.” Carrossea talks to Margaret, “Margaret, I want to know my past. The truth of twelve years ago. You and I met twelve years ago. That’s how we were able to get the Gift to open the door. Yes. The past you seek is in the place that I’m seeking. So please guide me, Margaret Burton. Guide me to the door of past and truth.” Margaret answers him, saying, “Yes, I want to know my true self too.” Then, Laetitia utters her words of warning, “You mustn’t come here. Because you can’t get to the truth yet.” As if Laetitia’s words reached to her, Margaret holds back Carrossea, saying, “You mustn’t. …You mustn’t open that door! …Because I heard someone’s voice telling us to stop.”

Carrossea will not listen to her warning. “I have to go. …Yes. What I’m seeking is truth. Unalterable fact!” Carrossea unhesitatingly looks into the door. The scene inside of an airplane is shown there. A boy is having a talk with his mother. He says to his mother, “That person told me…” His mother asks back to him, “What did he tell you, Chris?” This boy seems to be Chris Krana who appeared in the episode 5 and mysteriously vanished in the mansion of Friday Monday. The details of the accident that had happened twelve years ago in the airplane is going to be reenacted now. A fair-haired boy and a girl holding a doll in her hands get acquainted with in the airplane. They seem to be Poupee and little Margaret.

Next scene shows the crushed airplane on the ground. Among the ruins of the airplane and injured people, there are the figures of Poupee and little Margaret, who had miraculously survived the accident. The scene shifts, showing people in battle and Friday Monday, laughing loudly. Margaret says, refusing the packs of candy handed by Poupee. “Because it’s going to rain.” These out of place words, several times spoken by Margaret in this show earlier, were first spoken at this time. Embracing Margaret in his arms, Poupee mutters, “I’ll live. I’ll live through this. I swear it. I swear it!” Seeing this, present Carrossea mutters. “I’ll live through this, I swear it. Yes, that’s me. That boy is me.” Carrossea is looking at his own figure lost in the memory twelve years ago.

A man in military uniform comes flying in a helicopter and investigates the site of accident. There is a crested badge on his chest. This man and other in a long coat face each other among the ruins. The man in long coat says, “You should understand, Colonel Burton. Or should I say, ‘Madlax’?” Colonel Burton answers, “Friday Monday…” Friday continues, saying, “You should understand that this is, THIS is what humanity really is.” Colonel Burton abruptly shoots Friday in the face. Friday yells pressing his hand to his right eye, “Madlax!” At his word, little Margaret dashes forward. “Madlax?” She runs in front of the two men. Poupee runs in front of Margaret, trying to hold her back dashing into danger. Next scene shows blood dripping on the pages of a book.

In front of Carrossea, the door is closed again. Carrossea mutters, “This is… This is the truth. This is what happened to me.” Laetitia speaks to him. “You mustn’t open it. You mustn’t open it. If you open that door, your existence will disappear.” Carrossea mutters answering her, “Even if it does, I…” Carrossea opens the door again. “I see… That’s Madlax.” Laetitia is shedding tears. Beside her, Poupee’s figure loses its outline and disappears. “Thank you, Margaret Burton. Because I found out the truth, I was able to realize my own feelings. I wanted to protect you, even if it cost me my life. And I… Since before I became myself, I… I… loved.” It seems both Chris Krana and Carrossea shared the same phase of existentiality.

Friday Monday is speaking, “Carrossea Doon, your existence was nothing more than your will to live, which you made incarnate using the power of that place. If you find out the truth, that existence disappears. Thanks to you, the book has come into my hands. And the girl who opens the door, as well.” Margaret mutters, “Is this my dream?” Madlax says, answering to her, “No, it’s the truth.” Margaret inquires Madlax, saying, “If it’s the truth, then I met with Father in that place. Dad was there. But by you, Father was…” “I…” “You…” “I…” Colonel Burton is lying on the ground, and little Madlax is standing beside him with a gun in her hand still smoking. Laetitia mutters, “Yes, that is the truth.”

Carrossea’s being was generated selecting one alternative out of many possibilities that might have occurred to the fair-haired boy Poupee. By choosing one world axis out of many possible world lines, an independent phenomenality has been determined to exist. Madlax’s peculiar ability to be able to survive in her gun fight may be based on the same principle as Margaret’s, determining the course of destiny by their will. Though many-worlds interpretation theory asserted by Hugh Everette, that proposes phenomenality is determined by the function of consciousness through the act of observation out of latent possibilities in the primordial mode and branches off into many parallel worlds, was regarded as a ridiculous theory at the time when it was publicized, is now adopted as the indispensable idea in order to understand the mechanism of world formation in quantum physics. Many anime works are trying to develop similar speculative attempts in the mode of fictional description, reflecting the contemporary current of collective consciousness.