#speculation...

[ceoofcrimes]

so if doomguy's a bottom, out of master chief and duke nukem, who's the top and who's the verse?

[chromesthesiatic-blog]

MOMOKA

So I was wondering why someone like Momoka would ever want to help Moral out in the first place with these crappy plans (especially just to kill him in the end, whatttttttt) but then I realized--

She agrees with his line of thinking. Momoka wants the world to be equal, she wants everyone to have a Minimum. She looks up to Moral and respects him for this, but...

... Maybe she doesn't agree with how Moral is so obsessed with Nice? His main goal was to save Nice, and it doesn't seem like she cares for him much. If anything, Nice would just get in the way of her main plans to provide the world with equality and power. If she can somehow manipulate someone to do her dirty work and take them both out at once...

... It would be such a great opportunity. And you all remember what happened at the end of episode 12.

Momoka had been watching over Art. We already know she's an extremely talented hacker and she can somehow influence people and draw them in... (the kids 15 and under that acquired guns from her and Moral in episode four, at Cosmoland is a good example-- what kid in their right mind would go through with any of that, even if they did want a gun? There's also Takahiro who seemed like such a timid and sweet kid, yet somehow he was drawn in under the premise of gaining power... Why?)

Takahiro claimed that 'his head cleared up after a week,' meaning everything he did beforehand was probably something he wouldn't normally do. What if she could manipulate Art's mind in the same way? And take out two birds with one stone?

So then nothing would be in her way?

[chromesthesiatic-blog]

What do you think will happen at the end? ; v ;

Oh gosh. I have way too many theories, but the main one that I think will happen, is:

Moral isn’t going to die. He’s going to get his comeuppance in Nice’s own personal way. Rather than escaping, or having the ability to escape in the first place, Nice is going to tie him down to the real world and force him to face the consequences of his actions.

Isn’t that one of the themes Hamatora has been pressing onto its viewers? That escaping reality for long periods of time isn’t good, and being honest with both yourself and the people around you gets you places?

I don’t think Moral is going to be killed, or have the chance to kill himself— unless he happens to have the ability to explode his own brain as he did Takahiro’s in the case of his plans failing… No, I believe Nice will see to it that Moral learns his lesson and gets his ass jailed. He’ll have to meet the families of the children he’s tortured and the people he’s slaughtered.

He’ll have to fix his own problems and strive to become a better person. Nice isn’t going to label him weak for his decisions and kill him, because that would make him a hypocrite— that’s not to say he’ll ever forgive Moral, because I’m 100% sure he won’t.

[chromesthesiatic-blog]

Art's brother's death + Ratio speculation

Art's brother died in a bus accident related to the terrorist attacks on Minimum Holders. But who had been with him...?

Can you imagine if Ratio had been there, along with the rest of the group? And maybe Art's brother didn't die immediately, maybe he lived long enough so that Art and Nice could find him and tell him that it'd be okay and they'd get him to a hospital--

-- and then Ratio takes one look at Art's brother with his Minimum and breaks down into tears because he knows it's too late.

Everyone brought something to Art's brother's grave except for Murasaki and Ratio. Even Birthday brought something. Obviously Murasaki didn't know him, but... What if Ratio had been so traumatized by the accident that he just wanted to keep it pushed out of his mind? What if Birthday knows this, which is why he brought such a large quantity of treats to the grave, to make up for Ratio's absence?

What if this is why Ratio reacted so strongly when they found Chiyuu in the alleyway? Or when that kid was injured in episode 8, who he stopped to help?

Him and Birthday are so reliant on each other, it's not even funny. If something were to happen to one of them, both of them would be in trouble. Any arguments they have must be pretty scary.

[chromesthesiatic-blog]

Two different sorts of drinks for the two rather referred as "the same" especially by Art. Coffee and juice.

Moral’s as bitter as the black coffee he drinks. Honestly, I’m 99% positive he got the coffee just to rub it in Nice’s face. It’s a lot like how he phased into Art when Nice asked where Art was; rather than giving a direct answer he allowed Nice to put two and two together. Just to watch him squirm.

The drink Nice had seemed pretty fizzy, to be honest- I’m not sure whether it was juice or a soda or maybe even something alcoholic? But there was a cherry there, so obviously it was something sweet. Him and Art both have a sweet tooth. I feel like it shows the more childish, pleasant, and somewhat pure side to them both.

About Moral and Nice being regarded by Art as ‘the same’ … Yeah. Art was deathly afraid Moral would corrupt Nice or something just… terrible would happen… if they were to meet, so he didn’t involve Nice in the case at all. The stand off that’s happening now is clearly displaying their differences after the show had made it a point to build up their similarities— maybe the drinks serve as another way to do this?

It’s like they’re trying to say to have a little more faith in your friends and not go rushing off on your own, in a way. Just… Augh.

tldr; Moral's a bitter asshole and the drinks could maybe be a way to show how different they really are

[chromesthesiatic-blog]

I'd had a theory for a while now that Moral's plans involved disrupting society to the extent where the government would have to intervene. It was mainly proven with this episode, and there are a few things I want to touch on in regards to the opening sequence and Art's whereabouts.

Has anyone ever wondered just how the opening sequence was relevant to the plot of the anime?

Nice is chasing after a globe of the world while trying to evade all of these colorful missiles. While one could say they made the explosions colorful to add a nice effect to the animation... I want to say they represent the assaults from the series of Minimum Holders that worked under Moral (as you tend to see that colorful type of animation when a Minimum is used, yes?). Combined with the fact that the government has to intervene to put an end to the sudden madness, you get these rainbow explosions.

Nice is only evading them. He's not trying to stop the tanks from attacking him or anything, meaning he probably knows they're a distraction, or taking care of them won't solve the problem at hand. He's just chasing that globe.

There's a point during the OP where a lot of the character's faces are shown coming from the globe.

In order, it goes:

Murasaki Koneko Art Birthday Ratio Three Honey Hajime

Their expressions seem to be... fond, when they turn to face us? And I assume this fondness is directed to Nice himself, especially since his face doesn't flash in this part. So basically, this is the world he wants to protect, right? The world that shows this specific set of people; these are the ones closest to Nice and the ones he will fight with his life to save. They are his entire world. His world would break into pieces if he allowed it to be disrupted so easily.

Art is part of this world.

Nice ends up catching the globe and setting it back on the table in the end safely, and then it repeatedly zooms in to Japan and then to Yokohama (where Hamatora is set) before the opening ends.

So pretty much what I gather from this is... Nice is going to fix this. He's not going to allow a single person to die under his watch. He's going to protect the world that's important to him; he's going to save everyone, including Art.

Seeing as Art's body was under Momoka's care in episode 10 and seemed untouched, we can (hopefully) expect a full recovery, now can't we?

Also, the picture in the ending with Moral conducting a symphony with chains sorta happened in this episode (10), didn't it? What showed after that was a dark & corrupted Nice and a trapped Art and a Murasaki looking like he was going to kick some ass. All surrounded in chains. Possibly hinting at how episode 11 will play out? Any ideas there?

(Think about episode 11's preview; Koneko said Nice broke. There was a bit of Murasaki yelling at Nice. There was Nice asking Moral in a very clear voice where Art was. There was Nice declaring that him and Murasaki were a duo.)

And then what showed after that in the ending was Hajime's hat, Murasaki's glasses, and Nice's headphones all set down together, before a light was turned off. Hey, that signals a pretty peaceful ending to me.

[byrdsfly]

I'm 6 episodes in...

And I already hate Tarlach (is that how it's spelled?). Also... he's got something to do with Amon. And I don't like him. Tarlach I mean.