Plunderer

Episode 15

In which our heroes learn that the world is already past saving.

When we last left our hero, Jail had a gun to the back of his head and had been promised by a literal time traveler that he would not make it out of the secret lab alive.

While Jail gives it his best, he is easily defeated by Alan. However, Alan can't resist being the teacher and imparts a few final words of wisdom to Jail—which causes Jail to realize that Alan is actually Alex, the commander-in-chief of the army in his time and his adoptive father. So he takes a gamble on the man who raised him and tells him the truth—exactly who he is and where he is from.

This completely blindsides Alan. It shows him that, in the end, their longshot plan for victory will succeed. But that's not what stops him from killing Jail—it's the fact that he now knows he will end up raising Jail as his son. And given how much he loves his child in the future, it's no surprise that even this young version of him is unable to kill Jail. Thus, Alan moves on to a backup plan: convince the time travelers not to change the past at all.

From this, we get to see the situation outside of the school first-hand. People are so starved that they'll attack an armed, military transport with only makeshift weapons. Even something as simple as giving a kid food to take home is a death sentence for that kid.

Witnessing this teaches Jail the hard truth: He can't save this world. It is too far gone for him to save. Even if he had his powers, he couldn't feed the people or prevent the coming war. Moreover, he doesn't know when they will be returning to the future so he can't even be counted on to fight in the war. The only ones who can save the world of the past are Licht and the other Aces—heck, they already have from his point of view. However, just because he can't save the past, that doesn't mean he can't save the future.

Instead of trying to prevent what's coming, he will instead use his time in the past to become stronger by battling against Alan. While he believes in the goodness of his adopted father, he has seen the evil that lurks within the government he serves. He knows that to protect the common man, he will need the power to surpass those in charge—even if they include the man who raised him.

The rest of the episode follows the class as they move ever-forward in their attempts to become a no-killing army. As they train on a beach, they are pitted against the other classes in a few games of capture the flag. It's here that young Licht steps into a leadership role and brings his class to victory. In their first match, he shows them that by having higher physical prowess, they don't even need to fight—they can simply run away until their opponents tire themselves out. In the second match, he shows them that, if that doesn't work, they simply need to outthink their rivals.

By the end of it, his classmates have decided that, despite being a pervert, he is their best chance at not only victory but getting through the upcoming war with their souls intact as well. But this responsibility already weighs heavy on Licht and so when given the opportunity to gain more power, he doesn't even hesitate in volunteering to become the second Ace.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• When Nana went to the future, she saw Jail would die in the lab if he left after the time limit she set. He didn't. The future can be changed.

• Only Hina is still dead set on changing the past and stopping Licht from becoming an Ace.

• While clearly battling against his own dark side, it seems that the Schmerman of the past is 100% truthful about his love of children and his need to protect them. He's only willing to ask Licht to take the risky procedure to become an Ace because the alternative is that all the children will be massacred in the coming war.

• On the other hand, it's Firenda who seems the evilest. She doesn't even really appear to care about the war—rather it's just a convenient excuse for her own, amoral research.

• The purpose of the upcoming war? To curb overpopulation in the already war-ravaged world.

• For Alan to be Alex, that means he is also 300 years old by Jail's time and is one of the Aces like Licht and Nana.

• Alan posits that what holds Jail back as a hero is that he has no friends and therefore doesn't understand human nature. And he's right to highlight how important it is. After all, it's not the powers that make Superman a hero, it's the all-too-human soul underneath.

Plunderer is currently streaming on FUNimation.

Richard is an anime and video game journalist with over a decade of experience living and working in Japan. For more of his writings, check out his Twitter and blog.