28 April

The Hypernatural and Supernatural in Madlax -- Episode 6

Episode 6: amnesia, empathy and fictional coincidence
"Dying Wish ~leave~": (遺言: Yuigon)

In the avant, a boy is wandering in a battlefield. A man in military suits helps him and raising him up, asks his name. The boy answers, “I… my name is Poupee.” He seems to be the boy appeared both in the avant and in the middle of the story, sitting in a bench beside the girl holding a doll. His name is at last acknowledged here, but his hair is painted in gray instead yellow.

Margaret wakes up in her bedroom. There is the picture book beside her. Margaret mutters recalling something, “That was a dream… No, what if it was…” It appears Margaret’s recollection of her dream content has consolidated with increased background information gained repeatedly several times. But neither the relationship of the four characters appeared in the opening nor the framework that connect their existences meaningfully is not afforded yet. After the title is displayed, a butterfly is shown caught up in the spider web.

Next scene introduces Margaret having a nap in her classroom. “Ouch!” She utters a cry of pain when the butterfly is about to be attacked by a spider outside of the window. Somehow, the butterfly is able to escape from the attack of the spider, and flies away out of the broken web. It seems Margaret is not aware of the incident on the other side of the window. No explanation is afforded about the relation between the empathy Margaret formed with the butterfly and the physical working that enabled the butterfly to escape. But it is suggested that this girl is able to share some sense with others that have no direct connection with her and is even afforded with a strange power to sway their fates without knowing it. Her cry of pain “ouch”, she uttered when she happened to touch the cactus pot in Vanessa’s office room, is repeated in this episode, accumulating the instances which disclose the existence of particular quality or ability constructing peculiar perspective against a fictional background. But the viewers have to wait for some while until the disclosure of a shocking fact is amply provided.

Elenore is consulting with a psychiatrist at his mental clinic in the town, reporting Margaret’s activities of this month. The doctor says to her, “If you judge Margaret to be normal, that means she’s recovering well.” Elenore tells about the most recent doings of Margaret. “Miss Margaret found a picture book in the closet, and ever since then it’s seemed to be very important to her.” The doctor says, “…it would seem that book is somehow connected with Margaret’s past.” Elenore asks back to him, “Could Miss Margaret be trying to remember her past through the book?” The doctor replies with advice, “…this is something that shouldn’t be rushed. After all, Margaret isn’t conscious of the fact that she doesn’t have any memories more than twelve years old.”

Margaret is recollecting her dream she had in the class. “That dream… My father’s picture book…” The man in her dream is clothed in military suits like the officer who was helping Poupe in the avant. His appearance seems to be the same man as Madlax had seen in her delusional vision while she was seeing after Peter in the jungle, in episode 1. But there is no concrete information afforded about the nature of their shared experience. Though several suggestive visions are presented repeatedly, no explicit information is given to the audience in the form of conceptually understandable ones.

Elenore and Vanessa are recollecting together the incident that occurred to Margaret 12 years ago. Margaret had been caught up in an airplane accident in a foreign country, and suddenly came home alone after 6 months’ loss of correspondence. Her memory had been all lost then. What she remembered when she reached her home was only one word, “Madlax”. Since then, Vanessa Rene, the neighbor of Margaret has been aiding her not only as a governess who instructs her studies, but also as a kind consultant taking care of the orphan of a millionaire, together with Margaret’s faithful maid, Elenore. Margaret has a big loss of memory not only for her helpers inaccessible, but also for herself utterly impossible to regain.

Margaret is invited by one of her classmates in the court of her school, and joins their party reluctantly. A delinquent youth approaches her expressing his special concern with her. But Margaret gives him a downright answer. “That’s a lie. …I don’t know why exactly, but somehow I know it is.” As for Margaret’s mysterious power of intuitional discernment, it is supposed that she is endowed with some supernatural ability, judged by the incident of the butterfly exhibited in the starting part of this episode. Maurice Lopez, who is trying to seduce an orphan of a millionaire, seeing his plan is not working well, decides to choose a forcible way, in spite of the direct refusal of the uncompromising girl. But something occurs to him when he accidentally grasped the picture book Margaret carried. Casting away the amiable attitude he had hitherto assumed, Maurice Lopez violently approaches to her. “Go out with me. I like you.” He tries to hold Margaret violently in spite of her refusal. Margaret utters a cry of pain, “That hurts!” Lopez continues, “You’re going to be mine. Give yourself completely to me.” Naturally, audience will be prepared to witness some supernatural occurrence after her cry. But after all what ensues as the result of her reaction against the violence is not depicted in this episode. It is not until later that the audience is allowed to surmise the shocking aftermath that might have occurred at this scene, corroborating the similar scene in which an occurrence of eerie incident is suggested after Margaret has uttered her cry of pain. At this point, what is actually described in the show is the details how some part of her latent quality only is revealed without even constructing the condition of underplot, as a result of accidental consequence. This is the peculiar instance of this fictional work Madlax, attesting the way extremely hyper natural directing method is introduced in a possible world as anime.

note:
Aristotle developed his argument on the mechanism of the possible worlds in the preliminary stage before the generation of phenomena, introducing the concept “dynamis” in his Metaphysics. Long time after the age of Aristotle, in 20th century, modern physics had to introduce various innovative hypotheses in order to comprehend the inexplicable modality of superposition quanta exhibits. facing the principle of polysemy.

Just then, Elenore and Vanessa come at the scene of violence. In this episode, their appearance has resulted in hindering the chance of revelation of Margaret’s latent ability. Elenore, like a meticulously careful servant, had gathered unsavory rumors of Maurice Lopez, and hurried to come into the party with Vanessa, anxious of her safety. Elenore rescues Margaret after exhilarating combat against Maurice Lopez who took out a knife. She even goes too far in her punishment to the villain as return for the violence he committed to Margaret, that makes Vanessa frown. This scene exhibits a sound sequence of fictional reality, as the detailed description is endowed with some kind of peculiar concreteness, in spite of the exaggerated development peculiar to anime. Elenore relievedly watches Margaret sleeping safely back home again. This maid is going to be described with minute care in this show, as a character who exhibits some kind of abnormality in her deep affection to Margaret, adding to her exceptionally high ability in both intelligence and physical strength. The waning moon is hanging in the sky. The scene shifts, showing similar waning moon above jungle.

The girl holding a doll and the boy named Poupe are nestling close in a bench among ruins. But it is the waxing moon that is hanging in the sky. Next scene shows Madlax in her room with the same picture in a page pinned on the wall. It was exhibited at the end of the episode 1, and the image drawn on it was similar to the one drawn on the page of the book the masked man of Enfant was holding. This book and the image drawn in it suggest some undisclosed connection of these people, who have not yet actually met but only have been implied of some hidden relationship indicated through the cut back directing technic.

There is no explanation especially given on the strange effect Margaret’s picture book exerted on Maurice Lopez. It has been depicted as a matter-of-fact incident shown through hyper natural presentation, as if one of many occurrences in a fictional world.