The Hypernatural and Supernatural in Madlax -- Episode 5

Episode 5: Annihilation or Absence?
"Nonpresence ~none~": (無在: Muzai)

In the avant, there are some figures of suspicious men who are carrying out illegal trade at the late-night port. A boy witnesses a cruel murder executed by men who have been waiting for smugglers who carried the goods, and he escapes into the sea from the ship and disappears. Television news reports on the statement of Min Durk, the leader of armed resistance group Galza. The content was a declaration that Galza was not involved in the assassination of Guen McNichol who was killed in the episode 3. The framework on the story description that makes a cutback connection between people through the incidents that occurred and the TV news reporting it, follows the directing method adopted in the 3rd episode. Such repetition and its variation will be perceived as an active element to form the fictional perspective of the work. Self-reflective directors exercise their ingenuity most effectively telling the story centered on rather trivial events and the details of the characters than the story line itself. Sometimes the story and characters can be distinctively stereotyped and hackneyed, because it makes it possible to emphasize the subtlety of peculiar direction adopted in a work like this anime.

Madlax is receiving her mission from SSS on the telephone. SSS talks about the situation. “Certain goods were secretly shipped to the armed resistance group Galza by a Nafrece civic group.” The mission assigned to Madlax is the recovery of the goods Enfant is trying to capture. However, SSS just tells concerning the details of the goods, “I don’t know.” It is too vague a mission content as a request for a free agent. Madlax goes to the store of an informant to inquire about the missing person in the illegal transport business, and variously tries hitting the stakeholders of the port area driving the motorcycle, in order to gather information about the missing “goods”. There appears the boy who disappeared in the sea from the ship at the beginning of this episode, and speaks to Madlax pointing a gun at her. “I am sorry, could you lend this bike to me?” Despite attempting robbery, his tone is very polite, and he seems to be unable to stand the action of shooting a gun. Madlax does not panic, pulling out her own gun quickly; she covers the boy with it. The boy gives up instantly dropping the gun from his grip. Strangely, Madlax invites the boy to date, and offers help with her motorcycle. Despite her unknown background motivation, Madlax’s incomprehensible actions of friendly kindness and the boy’s gentle manner build up a uniquely realistic scene here. It is a good example of this anime’s directing method, presenting actions and dialogs that embody hyper-real scenes, which should be esteemed as the peculiar strategy of the work’s ingenious presentation.

In a room of the military facility, there is the blond-haired young man of Enfant, who is checking the picture of the stowaway boy. Although he has never directly participated in Madlax’s or Margaret’s actions, he has been appearing around them in every episode, and it suggests the existence of an unknown factor which may form the axis of this fictional world. There enters the room the woman of the guard who met Madlax on the roof of the building and exchanged words with her in the 3rd episode. From her words stating her name opening the door and entering, it is finally disclosed here that her name is Lieutenant Limelda Jurg. The name of the blond young man who returned a greeting was Carrossea Doon. Not only the case of Madlax of the 1st episode and the case of Margaret of the 2nd episode, but also the name of each character appearing in this anime is to be spoken directly without explanatory narration following the convention of fictional description. They are to be confirmed by the hyper-real process as if the audience accidentally intercepted the encounter of the people in the fictional world, and gained information out of the dialogues between them.

The request of Carrossea is the detention of a smuggler boy. “That boy’s existence works against the interests of our enterprise. We cannot allow him to move freely.” Carrossea tells the reasons why he asked for the mission to Limelda, a member of the military guards. “I’ve received information that a certain agent is involved. I believe you know that person, Lieutenant.” Limelda replies. “Madlax.” Carrossea responds. “Precisely. That’s the situation.”

In a hotel room, Madlax is having a talk with the boy she assisted. The boy’s name was Chris Krana. Chris explains the current situation. “Last month my mother died of an illness. Before she died, she told me... She said my father was in Gazth-Sonica... And apparently he’s in a resistance group.” In addition, Chris gives the information that unravels some part of the mystery that had not been elucidated until now to the audience. “There was someone helping me. His name is Piederica Morey. He’s a Nafrece politician.” For the first time here, the contents of the requirement that was instructed through the telephone by Piederica Moray at the opening scene, who was brought to the inexplicable death by the hands of his own daughter in the 4th episode, turns out. Moray had sent Chris Krana to Gazth-Sonica with certain intentions and hired Madlax for his personal protection. At that time Moray was asking Chris a request. “In exchange, the civil war that began twelve years ago... I’d like you to investigate the reason it started, and tell me.” It seems that there is something hidden about the cause of the civil war that occurred in Gazth- Sonica.

Madlax guides Chris to the place near the destination and watches him off. Looking at the back of Chris, Madlax recalls the past scene of the battlefield. There is a figure of a girl wandering on the battlefield, wearing a red shoe only on her right foot. But it is not the girl who held a doll; the feature of the girl is of Madlax’s own childhood appearance. The girl mutters in the middle of bombs bursting around, “Dad, where are you?” At the foot of the girl, who fell down bounced off by an exploding shell near her, there is a torn page of a book and an identification tag with a hole on it. The girl stretches her hand and picks up the tag. When Madlax comes back from the hallucination, she also holds an identification tag with a hole in her left hand. “Somewhere... somewhere in this country...” Like as Chris, Madlax seems to have broken up with her father when she was a small child, and has been searching for him. It seems that the illusion of a man Madlax saw seeing Pete off in the 1st episode, is the back of her father.

A group of men suddenly appear in a car in front of Chris, who is walking towards the destination, and they start attacks trying to kill the boy. Madlax rushes in the scene on a motorcycle, develops a gun battle, and defeating the men, rescues Chris. “Who would have thought it was you I was supposed to recover?” Finally Madlax understands that the task of “retrieval of the goods” requested by SSS was for Chris. Chris tells the name of his father questioned by Madlax. It is “Min Durk.” Madlax understands that Chris’ father is the leader of the anti-government resistance group Galza, and the target of Enfant is Chris.

Carrossea, receiving a report about Chris’ whereabouts, follows him with Limelda. Carrossea comes nearer to the destination ahead of the boy riding on a helicopter, and decides to ambush him at a mountain pass with Limelda. Limelda seems to be unable to hide her excitement anticipating the reunion with Madlax. However, catching the sight of a helicopter above them, Madlax skillfully anticipates the plan of Carrossea and succeeds in giving a preemptive strike. Madlax’s fighting pose is a distinctive one looking away from the target as she had assumed in the battle scene of the 1st episode. Chris, convinced of the pursuers eliminated, speaks to Madlax on leaving, “I’ll be waiting for you in that room, three days from now.”

Madlax replies, “That’s a promise, then?” Despite the failure of his mission, Carrossea says satisfyingly in front of Madlax, “I wanted to see you with my own eyes. I wanted to meet you, Madlax.” There is no account given on this occasion, for the meaning of his words and the contents of his thoughts, or the circumstances that he is carrying behind him. Looking back on this scene after all the mystery has been solved; it is to be understood that Carrossea himself did not understand at all the unknown factor behind his own thoughts at this time.

Chris is accepted by Galza and is guided by a soldier to the headquarters of the organization. It is a place with a strange appearance like a castle. The guide tells Chris, “Our leader and your father, Min Durk, is inside.” The luxurious furnishings in the magnificent pavilion do not look like ones of an anti-government armed group. Closing a book with a strange illustration on it, the masked man speaks to Chris greeting, “Welcome to the center of Galza,... I have something I want to tell you. There’s no man named Min Durk here. No, in reality he doesn’t even exist.” He was the masked man of the International Criminal Information Group Enfant, who was exerting eerie mental attacks to Marini in the 4th episode. The illustration of the book on which he was resting his hand convinces the identity by a momentary vision. The masked man continues to utter strange words. “Within Enfant’s information, there is no data that says you are Chris Krana. You do not exist in this world.” As we have witnessed in the tragic case of the Detective Marini, a scene is represented that depicts not only the mental shaking but also the fatal effects that shake the foundation of Chris’ existence. After this, it is a candle fire blown out by the wind that is reflected on the screen. As visual expression, it is a hackneyed description often used to imply death, but there is no information to be fixed as to whether Chris was actually killed in this scene, or some other abnormality occurred. Whether the words “no existence” that were introduced in the title of episode 5, refer to any experience or phenomenon Chris encountered, is to be revealed without any special notice through a trivial story description, some while later after this. It is still long before the truth of the affair of the case that happened 12 years ago, the masked man talks, is disclosed to the audience.
 The screen switches, and it reflects the buildings of the night city.

Next, the figure of Carrossea is shown on the balcony of a mansion, looking back on his encounter with Madlax. Satisfied, he mutters. “That girl is Madlax... Beautiful, lithe and strong.” Some background information such as the relationship between Enfant and Galza, and people who seem to be involved in these organizations, has been fragmented out so far. However, the disclosure of the meaning axis of the story that should decide the characteristic of each individual action is rather getting far away. One is not sure, whether who will be the opponent the main character must fight as an enemy, or how she should accomplish her task to carry out the attainment in order to unify all the meanings, that are supposed to determine the value of the story. In the room of the hotel, which was the promised place with Chris, Madlax is left alone. Chris’ luggage is still there, but he does not show up. Madlax murmurs with her face down. “Liar. Chris, you liar...”