RErideD: Tokigoe No Derrida

I didn’t think I would try my hands at watching another sci-fi themed anime. At least not after the disastrous Beatless that had me confused and not understanding everything. But don’t worry. At least RErideD: Tokigoe No Derrida isn’t about artificial intelligence. It is about time travelling. Yeah, it’s in the title. Oh no. Are we going to tackle that time paradox and its other issues? Too bad I didn’t have the ability to jump to the future to see whether I will understand or enjoy this show but I have a hunch of how it is going to turn out based on my guts and past experience. So why still watch this? Sometimes when the synopsis is worded in a very interesting manner, the only way to settle that curiosity is to find it out yourself. Only time will tell…

Episode 1
Derrida Yvain meets his fellow colleague, Nathan Bilstein. It seems their previous meeting with their boss, Hans Andrei, their suggestion to find a solution to a bug in the DZ automata was rejected. Hence he will not allow a recall of those robots. The only choice now they have is to see Derrida’s father, Jacques who spent half his life creating DZ. But first, we got to celebrate the birthday of Mage, Nathan’s daughter. She is joined with her friend, Yuri Dietrich. At the end of the day, it seems Nathan wants Derrida to join in some experiment of his but he refuses. Mage even talks to him about his idea of time travelling and its possibilities. She seeks an answer why he won’t work with her father but he dodges the question. Next day when Derrida sees Jacques to point out his views and flaws, he is told not to delve into this deeper. This only makes Derrida angry and thinks he is in cohorts with Andrei. Derrida throws a fit that dad never acknowledged him and did everything only for his own gains. More woes as Nathan calls Derrida to tell that Mage is in coma. Although her condition is stable, it seems last night she tried to do an experiment by herself. Deep into the night, Derrida receives a distress call by Nathan. Both men pack their stuffs and run. Apparently Andrei has orders for them to be killed. You see, their worst fears of DZ has come true as it has been used as military weapons. I guess they know why Andrei was so reluctant for a recall, huh? And since they know about the bug, hence he wants them silenced forever. But when Derrida says he gave their access card to Mage after the party, you mean Nathan got so worried he tried to turn the car around that he overturned it?! Ah, cliché moment for Andrei and his goons to pop up before them. He is going to frame Derrida for killing Nathan before killing himself. Derrida sees a strange vision of Mage before the goons fire at the car. You mean the explosion only knocks Derrida off the cliff? Trekking through the forest, again he sees a vision of Mage but this time he falls through some shaft and into some deserted lab. If Derrida wanted to rest, of all things he could rest, why lie in the most suspicious chamber ever???!!! Because of that, it activates and he is frozen to sleep. Not sure how much time have passed but he wakes up. Yeah, somebody left a timepiece on his chamber. Derrida is shocked to see the world as destroyed and Terminator-like robots roaming the dystopia.

Episode 2
If the robots fire at you, they aren’t your friends. Wow. Derrida can run and hide faster! I suppose when your life depends on it. Luckily he is saved by this tough old dude, Vidaux Volker. Derrida learns 10 years have passed and this is all the result of the war from those DZs. At first everyone was excited but hell then occurred and the only ones benefiting from this is the one who sold it and became rich. Vidaux wants compensation if Derrida is going to make it out here alive. That’s the price of his life. Can’t say no, right? They return to Vidaux’s daughter, Mayuka and they make their escape in his Knight Rider knockoff, Graham. Mayuka tries to scan his chip but he has no ID whatsoever, shocking them as they think he is dead. Meanwhile Andrei is still the despicable boss and he gets shocked to learn Derrida’s survival is detected. Wow. So high tech. Back at Vidaux’s base, Derrida rues of being set up. He realizes something amiss. He passed the patch to Jacques to fix the DZ bug so why isn’t it fixed yet? Oh right. He didn’t. Jacques also got hit, right? Also, the key to that patch was given to Mage. It means everyone is still searching for this. He wants Vidaux to take him to Mage but he won’t do it unless compensated. Derrida says he will give that file for him to sell and make a fortune. They make their way to Nathan’s home. Destroyed. Again Derrida sees a vision of Mage but this time she speaks. She is not Mage but Ange. As he looks around, suddenly he is apprehended by a girl. He recognizes that voice as Yuri and thinks she won’t shoot as it is a toy gun. She fires. It’s real! Meanwhile Andrei has hired an assassin babe, Donna to kill Derrida. He wants his death swift and quiet. Nobody must even know about it! I guess he is desperate enough to pay her advance. Luckily Yuri’s shot missed. At first she finds it hard to believe he is Derrida since it has been 10 years. He asks about Mage’s whereabouts. Well, guess what? She’s dead.

Episode 3
Yuri shows the grave of Mage. Can’t believe it, right? You know, if Donna really wanted to kill them, she would have just shot them from afar instead of approaching them and making her presence known. Vidaux fights her before they escape in Graham. Before you can accuse of Donna trying to be flashy, she actually calls Andrei that she can’t kill Derrida quietly! Hence Donna using her military drone to blast Graham to smithereens until they lost her in some mini cave. Thank goodness there is some underground resupply station to fix Graham and looks like Vidaux is going to have to charge Derrida extra as a bodyguard from Donna. Then they head to town where all the survivors resettled to get some more supplies. I suppose Yuri know believes Derrida is the real deal so she brings him to where she and Mage once lived together. In this little apartment she explains that when war came, her parents left for abroad. You mean somehow they were convinced and allowed to let Yuri and Mage stay behind???!!! WTF???!!! As they stayed here, men kept visiting them asking about Derrida. Which is odd because the official news said he died. Yuri reveals the real truth: Mage is still alive. The grave she created was just a decoy as she knew men were after them. Mage went missing last autumn and Yuri was looking for her. You mean it took them 9 years to do something? As Derrida leaves the building, another annoying vision of Ange. Can’t speak this time but she hints something. Thinking Yuri is in danger, he returns only to see the building explode! Oh, Yuri hanging on the edge. Lucky for her, Derrida is there to catch her. Just in time to escape with the gang, huh? Donna calls Andrei and she doesn’t like him hiring others for her prey. She warns she will kill everybody who gets in her way. Derrida doesn’t want Yuri to get involved anymore and will look for Mage himself. However Yuri has decided to join the search even if it is dangerous. I mean, her home got blown and she has nowhere to go, right? So who is going to pay foot this extra cost for Vidaux? Put it all on Derrida’s tabs! Man, this guy better have deep pockets…

Episode 4
To make another patch, Derrida needs the necessary equipment. Something that only Rebuild (the company Derrida worked for and is now mass producing DZs) has. After the war, Rebuild has become the largest defence contractor of the country. And because Rebuild only has internet access, I guess that’s the excuse they need to sneak in. So what’s the use of the company only being connected but not the rest of the outside world? They sneak in via a creepy tunnel connected to the main building. There are lots of DZ robots too but since they are low on battery, try not to provoke them. You really think a car can go through the rubble without making noises? Yeah, eventually ramming through them is the best option. Remember, they are low on battery and can’t pursue further. With Derrida’s hacking skills, the guys easily sneak in. Yeah, security has not even changed for the last 10 years! Vidaux warns Derrida if he is here purely for revenge, he is out. Would his fee be waived then? Guess what? The passwords and workplace of Derrida and Nathan are still the same and unchanged?! WTF?! No wonder Derrida can even access the data! But first, your creepy Ange premonition again. What she’s saying about Mage waiting for him?! Can she be more specific?! Anyway, Derrida sees some horrifying info. They download and escape but looks like they’ve been discovered. Thank goodness it is human security so it took some time to alert. Uh huh. Enough for the guys to run out and rendezvous with Graham outside!!! WTF security???!!! Plus, can a few bullet shots stop a vault door from closing???!!! WTF security???!!! Back home when they plug in the data, Derrida realizes a horrifying thing. It seems the bug was planted in there intentionally. All higher ups and the government except Jacques ratified it. Thus the DZ rampage was engineered from the very start. I guess it makes sense why nobody is searching for the patch file. As Derrida doesn’t want to drag them deeper into this, he parts ways. Oh, he’ll somehow pay his dues. Somehow Vidaux doesn’t view this as revenge, he opts to stay in. No charge? I guess he’ll sell the patents once he clears his name. Later Derrida and Yuri talk about Mage’s birthday. He remembered he came early but Yuri said he came late and had video proof of it. Derrida wonders if he changed past with this time ride and experienced a different past.

Episode 5
Conveniently we have info on Mage’s whereabouts. She was last seen at the museum at Vanfort. Oh good. It’s conveniently close by. But first Vidaux stops by somewhere in Vidaux to take some of his stuff. A robo pup goes on alert but when it detects Vidaux, it goes into support mode. It seems Vidaux was once an officer and this was his support dog? At the museum, Derrida remembers strange memories of being here with Jacques. Was he here actually? I guess there is still power running so they get to see the beautiful planetarium stars. Of course Donna is here to hunt her prey so Vidaux holds her off while Derrida and Yuri go do the necessary. Derrida is guided by his weird memories to the main control room where they easily and conveniently download CCTV footage of Mage in the building. They would have left after they’ve done their business but those weird memories once again makes Derrida acting up. He remembers for real he was actually here with dad to view the launch of the first automata prototype. And damn that Ange now pops up. What the f*ck is she saying about 2 people’s timelines never overlapped? This damn excuse allows Derrida to go back in time when he met dad for the last time. Because he knows the future, he tries to warn him about Andrei’s intention and the bug. Actually, Jacques already knew everything. He wants Derrida to escape himself because he has a responsible to see through this DZ bug thingy. I guess time is up because now Derrida returns to reality. Save the regrets for later because Vidaux and Donna’s fight is getting more intense. Luckily robo pup saves them and with lady luck on their side, they manage to escape and Donna pinned under some rubbles. Don’t count on her staying there forever. Back in Graham, Vidaux shows a photo of his young ex-partner. His father was a cop and commissioned him to retrieve it as it is the only record left from when he was alive. Looking at the museum’s footage, they see Mage talking to a man. Such clear footage that Derrida could identify him as Cassiel.

Episode 6
Derrida tells us he is experimenting on time ride. Based on the Trout Theory, you can send your consciousness back to your past self. With Graham’s circuits blown, looks like it’s a job for father and daughter to find the parts in the next city. Since it will take all night, Derrida and Yuri have to find some place to hide for the moment. In an abandoned building, Derrida explains more about time ride and its requirements is to vividly recall certain memories. I guess now Derrida is an expert in using time ride as he just vividly remembers and whoosh! Back in time. However using time ride a few times, he doesn’t seem to be able to change anything. Firstly, he notices if he tries to do something really different from the original, he will be pushed back to reality. Secondly, even if he did change something, how could he tell? But something during one of those time rides has Yuri taking notes down so this gives Derrida an idea. He writes down the current status of Jacques, Nathan and Mage. If he uses time ride and their status changed, it would mean it worked. Derrida tries time ride for a few times but will not go back earlier to when he completed the key access as it will be no point. Unfortunately nothing seems to have changed. At least the dead are still dead and Mage is still missing. When Derrida remembers that night being late for Mage’s birthday, he realizes this is another set of memories. Because of him using time ride, the timeline branched out. So now he has 2 sets of memories? With nothing important changing, Derrida deduces if he changed his actions, naturally others would change theirs too. Late in the night, it seems Yuri has been hiding a grave secret. She was the one who accessed the key access and Mage found out about it. Hence she blames herself for people targeting Mage and not Derrida. I don’t know why she is running away but looks like she got kidnapped. Next morning, Mayuka is frantic looking for Yuri. Not around. I guess Derrida didn’t even realize it. Sleeping the whole night, eh? So makes them think she is gone? There. She dropped her precious camera.

Episode 7
Vidaux believes Yuri and the people who kidnapped her will be in Bruque as it is the nearest town. This is where they’re headed too so they could get Graham fixed by their old mechanic friend, Klaus Baden. So they went to get this monster trailer to haul Graham to Bruque? Derrida asks around about Yuri but nobody knows. Yeah, he just missed a spot because in that building, Yuri is being held and interrogated by Schmidt Maier of the Union Intelligence Bureau (UIB). He wants Derrida’s patch file. He was assumed dead and the file lost until someone accessing the patch file online was detected a year ago (Yuri accidentally accessing it). The UIB wants it to turn the tides of war in their favour. His predecessor was the one who bombed her apartment as they believed of killing those before the data falls into the enemies’ hands. He promises to not harm Derrida if he gives the file. With Derrida yielding no result, it seems Vidaux has done his own snooping. He noticed UIB men looking for Derrida and with Yuri as hostage, they’ll use it against him. There are also rumours about the government planning to use missiles to bomb the hell out of the rampaging DZs. Nothing beats wiping everything out on a clean slate. Normally Vidaux doesn’t care about it but realizing Mayuka would have no future, he isn’t going to allow it.

If you’re wondering why Derrida as a very wanted men is out drinking coffee in the open, it is part of Vidaux’s plan to set him to talk to Schmidt. He gets down to business to trade the file for Yuri. He brushes off his time ride theory as a dream as the world they live in is the end result of a series of decisions and actions. Also, Derrida is to bring Vidaux too. Derrida doesn’t have the patch file (they just think he has it) so he creates a fake one. At the site before the exchange, Derrida wants to take a photo because all government transactions must have documentation. Schmidt gets impatient and he should’ve brought more henchmen if he was planning to subdue them. Especially a tough guy like Vidaux. A signal is given during the struggle as hiding Mayuka throws a smokescreen for them to rescue Yuri and escape. Good thing the trade didn’t happen because Yuri reveals sneaky Schmidt would have killed them all instead. Great timing that Klaus has finished fixing up Graham and boosted it up as well. Because with Schmidt ordering to violently kill them (I guess he didn’t want the file) and even blows up the bridge, Graham turns amphibious! Wow! Amazing modification in a short time. After losing their pursuers, Yuri comes clean that she was the one who made Mage on the run since she accessed the file that day. She knows Mage still loves Derrida a lot and that’s why they have to find her. You don’t need to tell him what he has been planning to do all along. Finally we see Mage in the flesh and she is going to finish this and do something risky.

Episode 8
Before they enter the next city, a mysterious voice tapped into their communications to warn them there is a trap laid out. They are able to take a detour and avoid it. That trap was set by Donna and she has a hunch who was behind this. Yeah, Andrei the chicken thinks she’s out to get him now! In town, they rent a room to stay as Derrida feels that voice is familiar. Vidaux goes around looking for info on Mage but only picked up hints that Cassiel is in town and that Donna too is targeting him. Then that mysterious voice calls Derrida’s caller ID. Derrida now recognizes this voice as Cassiel and was the one who tried to warn him 10 years ago. Yeah, he remembered it like it was just yesterday. They make plans to meet up tomorrow. That night, Vidaux talks to Derrida about his time rides. What would have happened if the past got changed. Derrida is sure he would be alone right now and the time Vidaux saved him would be no more than a mere memory like thought it is a dream. At the break of dawn as they leave town, Donna is seen fast on their heels. She didn’t fall for the leaked info trap as this is all part of her plan to follow them to lead her to Cassiel so she can kill them all in one fell swoop. But thankfully this device Cassiel created could malfunction Donna’s mechanical arm. Thank goodness for plot convenience. After driving Graham into his stealth trailer, Cassiel explains he is doing this out of atonement. As part of Andrei’s engineers he helped hide the bug and altered the checking process. Out of guilty conscience he tried to warn Derrida and Nathan but I suppose he was too vague then.

He also reveals about coming into contact with Mage and had done several odd requests for her before she left for a quiet place. Speaking of her, it was Mage who unfroze Derrida from her sleep. She also secretly carried on the research of Trout Theory that Derrida abandoned after he realized it was too dangerous to be backed up without any substantial proof. We interrupt your talk as Donna attacks. Oddly, Vidaux gets injured protecting them but she didn’t kill him and went straight to target Derrida?! Conveniently, another time ride. This time to the point he was creating the patch when Cassiel’s warning call came. He tries not to be too enthusiastic to trust him and plays it cautious like as though he is a stranger to avoid returning to reality but there is only so far he could go. Did he alter the past? Well, at least he got that device conveniently in his hand to malfunction Donna’s arm! Conveniently the guys escape back to the trailer. Derrida realized the future has changed a lot with that recent time ride because there are other bounty hunters chasing them and there are continued bombing tests right about now. It’s only a matter of time the big mother load will destroy Earth. He thinks of redoing that time ride again but guess what? Ange tells him he can’t do it because he can only change history once. WTF????!!!! Hence he cannot travel back to that specific point in time anymore as he has 2 conflicting memories in his consciousness. WTF???!!!! YOU MEAN I CANNOT HAVE MORE THAN 2 ALTERNATE UNIVERSES IN HIS HEAD OR LIFE???!!! WHAT KIND OF CRAPPY SCI-FI EXPLANATION IS THAT????!!!! WORSE PLOT DEVICE EVER!!!!!!!!!!

Episode 9
Derrida believes Mage will be at Yetz Engineering College, his alma mater. But first, they have to get away from cars chasing them. While they manage to lose them, Vidaux’s wounds open. Thank goodness for this nice quiet spot for them to rest and treat his wounds, eh? So we hear Mayuka telling Yuri how Vidaux often goes away for business for a few days, leaving her alone. She fills that time by reading books. Her dream is to give her papa a good life. With Derrida deriding Vidaux for always bringing Mayuka along and putting her in danger, this prompts a flashback Vidaux doesn’t want to remember. His wife died in a hit and run accident and when the culprit was still at large, he lost faith in the law and equality as it failed to protect his wife. He became a vigilante to track down the culprit and when he did, killed him in a cold fashion way. However he realized too late he had a baby child. Rest time is over because now crazy DZs are approaching. I guess this slow episode needs some action so we see the guys blasting away all the dumb DZs. When Vidaux falls off Graham and is surrounded by DZs, why those dumb robots just stand there and not kill him?! Yeah, they really waited for Graham to turn around and Derrida firing back at all of them! HE MISSED NONE!!!! SO F*CKING BADASS???!!! WTF???!!! So now we get some peaceful moments as father and daughter bond together. Too bad bomber jets are seen in the vicinity. Derrida needs to time ride and change the past again but remembers Ange’s damn words. Then he realizes how reliable would his memories be. Is there a possibility he has not realized the loss of memories from using time ride? Hey, can’t remember what you forget, duh. We now see Mage meeting with Professor Marlene and wants to teach her about Trout Theory. Her goal is to jump back in time and despite the theory having so many flaws, she still needs to as there is something there needs to be done.

Episode 10
Angelica Klein was a researcher in an experiment that is trying to shape an automata’s personality based on dialogue. For the first few days, it goes well. But the more it carries on, the creepier the automata gets. You see, this automata is slowly trying to imitate and understand Angelica, though it claims it was programmed to do so. We also see Angelica changed and getting traumatic from it all as the automata tries to assume her identity! Obviously, the automata is trying to become Angelica and even suggesting Angelica rename herself as Donna. Because, it means donor. A personality transplant volunteer. Angelica goes crazy and attacks the robot! The other researchers try to cancel the research but Angelica insists this to be carried on. I guess she wasn’t prepared for this because the automata now 100% believes herself as the real deal and the human as Donna. A fight ensues and we can’t tell who is attacking who. But we see a lot of blood, so… And now Donna is going to kill Andrei with the reason of protecting this body. Too bad all this bodyguards can’t even touch her. You’re dead meat. Derrida is outside of Yetz. He is only let in because of Marlene whom he was a graduate of her programme. She tells him Mage was here but has left. Damn. Missed her again. Marlene begins explaining she first met Mage at Nathan’s funeral. She was asking for help about the Trout Theory but Marlene didn’t take her seriously then. 6 months ago, she came here claiming she had found a way to perfect it but needed to see the documents Derrida left.

Marlene continues about another dangerous experiment she did. The experiment of creating a DZ model with a personality that ended in tragedy. It would have brought a lot of potential had it been a success but as we know, DZ models went berserk. She distanced herself to preserve her position. Another organization took over her research and this was the one that Angelica participated. After that failed, it seems Angelica lived but burnt down the facility. Bodies were found except for Angelica and her DZ clone. Derrida is in despair thinking his researches on bring tragedies. As Donna is Angelica, this is the reason why she came after him as she is a victim of the research. Marlene says the only regret they have is not chasing their dreams but turning their backs on their research. She could have saved Angelica had she not abandoned the research to save herself. There are unexpected things produced from experiments whether it is for both good and bad. She hands him a jamming device that will block DZ sensors and avoid encounters. This is how Yetz managed to survive. The lesson of the day, don’t turn your back on what you believe in. Derrida goes through the documentations of his research. He stumbles onto the piece of Effelsberg electronic telescope, which is a quiet place.

Episode 11
Derrida believes Mage is continuing his experiment and restore things to the way it was before the war. There’s some explanation about if you control certain factors, you can still change things. Yeah, everyone is worried the world now they live in will change. For better or worse, let’s find out. Better hurry, because the world has begun their war of bombing the hell out of each other. But first we have to plough through those crazy field of DZs to get near Effelsberg. You know, I thought they should drive up a bit closer to the telescope before getting off. Because here comes Schmidt unleashing his improved DZs to capture them. Great. Now they got to fight their way through this crap? I guess this is for this plot convenience for Graham to turn back and do some final heroic stuffs. Oddly the car can somewhat believe in Derrida’s choice of a changed future and then thank everyone for the ride. Really. I don’t know if Graham could fly or if there’s a ramp because it ‘jumps’ into Schmidt’s craft and self-destructs!!! OMFG! That explosion can take down that craft?! I guess it’s better than ramming the DZs. Vidaux stays back to fend off the other DZs and as the rest trek on, they encounter more of Schmidt’s men. Obviously for some action bits but totally unbelievable because could you believe they miss shooting Yuri at that distance and she had to jump over a gap?! WTF?! They are easily taken out by Donna who won’t let them kill her prey. Out of the pan and into the fire? Donna blames and hates Derrida for creating such a monstrosity. Well, if you keep beating him up, how will he explain himself? If you’re wondering why Donna has a hard time finding against this wuss, she’s injured. Such convenience. Derrida knows this Donna is actually Angelica because the machine was not programmed to have feelings. So with her feeling all this hatred, it proves she is human. Donna still believes herself as a machine and that everyone else killed Angelica. She views such people doing such things for greed and ego. Derrida laments about the tragedy some experiments will bring but if they stop progressing, they will never have moved forward. With all the injuries, Donna shuts down. Or dies? Now before entering the structure, they still ponder about changing the future? Yeah, last chance before everything is changed. So Mayuka decides to go back to papa because if the world will indeed change, she wants to be with him till the very last moment.

Episode 12
We hear Mage waiting for Derrida to return to a certain place in time. So she’s been waiting there like forever? Anyway, back to current timeline, Yuri is still having that dilemma of not wanting to forget memories of this timeline even if the world changes due to the time ride. But this world has no future, right? What future is there to give? As they enter the facility, they see it is the exact replica of Mage’s old house. Derrida explains that to invoke time ride, such vivid memories is needed to enhance the time ride’s precision. In the next room, they see Mage lying in a chamber which is supposed to be a time ride hardware. Conveniently there is a video made by her for her future self. In case she loses her memories, this is to remind her that her mission is to find Derrida and send him to the past. She claims she has perfected time ride but in exchange lost a lot of memories. She can’t remember anything before she was 14. Her final message is for Ange to help Derrida. I guess now Derrida has connected the dots as he explains to us. But this is what I understand. Derrida thought he has been doing time ride by himself but he was wrong. Because part of Trout Theory states that some huge hardware is needed to facilitate that. In other words, Mage is the one making his time ride possible. This is why Derrida didn’t lose any memories. Or so he thought he can’t remember the memories he lost. It was Mage’s memories that were eaten instead. The reason Mage couldn’t go back in time herself was because her memories aren’t that vivid. Unlike Derrida who just woke up hence his memories of 10 years ago were like yesterday. Mage is now a little conscious but she thinks now as just after her birthday party. Schmidt interrupts to call for Derrida to surrender the data. Do it and he will allow him and his friends to a safe place because now the bombing will begin and everywhere will be on fire. Yeah, Derrida ignores this dude and makes his final time ride. Damn Ange, do you need to remind us again this is the last time?

So Derrida returns in time to after Mage’s birthday party whereby they talked about time travelling possibilities. This time he didn’t brush her off and respects and answers her question. He apologizes for all that and if this science makes people happy, he wants Nathan to pursue it in good faith. Originally, Mage tried an experiment and collapsed from it and Nathan took her to the hospital. But now she gives the access card to Nathan. Then Nathan receives an anonymous tip about Andrei’s scheme. He and Jacques expose him and Andrei is arrested. This major change in timeline means that a war was averted. Derrida observes these important changes as he finally asks who Ange is. In reality, she does not exist. In the original timeline, Derrida is supposed to have died with Nathan that night. Her appearance prevented that. Also, she says there is no single timeline but many timelines branching out like rivers. So by wishing hard enough, humans can choose which timeline to be? Gee, if it was that easy. Hence Mage wished for a world where Derrida and Nathan but barely managed to keep Derrida alive so it was up to him to save the world. Yeah, Mage saved him. He saved the world. Returning to this new timeline of peaceful times, nobody remembers that original war one. We see Vidaux as an inspector and is soon to be a father to his soon to be expectant wife. Mayuka grows up in a happy family. Even Graham is a cute waiter robot! Donna or rather Angelica looks so happy in whatever she is doing right now. Nathan and Jacques continue their time travelling research. Lastly, Yuri still remains friends to Derrida and Mage who are now a couple. I guess the age gap doesn’t matter now that they are of legal age.

REwriteD: Deriding Ride Back In Time
Passable. I guess slightly more understandable than Beatless. But still was confusing enough for me to understand in detail about all this time travelling stuff. Heh. It’s not like I really wanted to be a rocket scientist and delve deeper into this time travelling aspects, right? Even if I said this series was passable, overall it still felt mediocre since some of the pacing and sci-fi aspects felt a bit rush. They’re trying to put together a story and perhaps make us put on our thinking caps about this part of time travelling but this topic isn’t anything easy to understand if you’re trying to aim for the masses. And with this thriller and chasing around in the mix, it just dilutes and weakens the series even further.

I guess not everything you do will be a hit. As in this case whereby the director, Takuya Satou was acclaimed to have directed the critically hit time travelling anime series, Steins;Gate. I didn’t see that anime even though I heard a lot of mixed but mostly good reviews about it simply because I didn’t have a sci-fi-like thinking mind. Then there is the original character design by Yoshitoshi Abe who designed characters of old acclaimed sci-fi anime series like Serial Experiments Lain and Texhnolyze (again, both animes that I never would bring myself to watch now or in the near future thanks to all that sci-fi elements). I’m not saying that they are past their prime or in a slump but not everybody can have the Midas touch. Like even that legendary director Miyazaki had his misses too but fortunately a lot more hits that made him a memorable insurmountable legend. But for this case, sometimes gathering talents that worked on praiseworthy series may only work up the hype and when it comes down to the real deal, it totally lets down everything. See Chaos Dragon to know what I mean (they gathered so many talented guys with acclaimed achievements for a big project only for the adapted anime to be just mediocre).

I want to point out one of the sci-fi aspect that got me interested. In fact, it was the only interesting thing that I find throughout this series. It was the experimental part of Donna and Angelica. This side experiment that felt like a side distraction and somewhat almost unrelated to the overall story is by far the most interesting concept. It was interesting to see how humans tried to programme a robot to become so human-like. And then the opposite of what is intended happened. As the robot became more human-like, the human started breaking down after constant attacks that the robot is more human than the human herself. This gives a lot of food for thought that as humans our memories and emotions are simply easy to manipulate whereas for the AI, are they only as smart as we programmed them to be or could they overcome that limitations and live up to their name as artificial intelligence? I’m sure if this theory was the main story, it would have been one big interesting and exciting affair. Maybe in another timeline.

But then we had to deal with some of the certain no brainer inconsistent theories of this time travelling theme. I’m sure there are many flaws that I want to point out but I suppose when you are researching an imperfect theory, there are bound to be flaws and hence that is why it remains a theory and pipe dream that many of such theories sound more like fantasy and are unachievable. What I’m saying is that some of the time ride theories don’t make sense and the one I truly couldn’t understand was how Derrida cannot return to that same timeline anymore. It was totally BS. Like as though you can never time travel in the first place. Maybe there is a deeper explanation for it but as a casual (and dumb) viewer, you want to comprehend it all by the end of the episode or at least at the end of the series.

So for Derrida not being able to travel back to that specific point in time just contradicts Ange’s statement that there are lots of branching timelines. Yeah sir, you get to change history only once. Not twice but once. After that, you’re barred forever from going back there again. WTF?! So can I go back 0.01 seconds before that and start changing history from there? Hah! Didn’t see me exploiting that loophole, did you?! So all I can think of is that this part especially is for plot convenience. Imagine for the rest of the series is about Derrida using his time ride just to get to the exact moment to change the outcome until he gets it right. BORING!!! Uh huh. That way he doesn’t need to find Mage anymore. Which is what this entire series’ ‘plot’ revolves around. They should have renamed this series as RErideD: Derrida And The Search For Mage.

As for the characters, I’m still reeling from all that confusion and disappointment so I can’t really say if they’re good. But most likely ranging from mediocre to bad. Like Derrida who seems to be one clueless scientist fumbling his way in search of answers. It feels he gets it right only because the plot needs to advance. We don’t think him as so because of the setting that he came from the past and has no idea about the future so we forgive him for being such clueless. So when the plot calls for it to advance the story, hence he will start realizing some revelation or something to do with his theory that I don’t understand and supposedly bringing him one step closer to find Mage. I guess the biggest clue has got to be under his nose all the time. Yeah, that timepiece… Not that I could see why either so I guess if I was in Derrida’s shoes, I too won’t be able to figure it all out either ;p.

I have a hunch about why Derrida is oddly named so. It’s not your typical John or Michael, Kotarou or Yuusuke either. There was an Algerian-born French philosopher named Jacques Derrida. Ah, so you can see they named the father and son in this series so. Coincidence? I think not. (Although in the anime, Derrida pointed out that father named him so because of his obsession for time). Too bad I don’t really understand his works either. What semiotic analysis they’re talking about? Because of that, I am not sure if they are paying some sort of tribute to him in this anime.

And it still bugs me who Ange really is. I think logically she is just someone Mage created to help Derrida but why another name and not herself? Oooh. More dramatic mystery effect please. Yeah, it was really getting annoying with Ange popping up at random times but who knew it was Mage’s attempt to help him with his time ride. So, uhm, thank you? Yeah, it was a really pretty elaborated setup for Mage to keep Derrida alive by making him stumble into that abandoned lab and then have him sleep in that chamber! All so convenient! Unless she got it right at the first go, I wonder how many tries did she take and all the mistakes she made to get this timeline correct the way she wanted. Hah! What did Ange say again about not being able to go back to the exact same point in time?! Nonsense, I tell you!

The other characters in Derrida’s groupie… I guess we need some sort of macho tough action guy as his bodyguard. That’s you Vidaux. Make him an ex-officer too. That will be easy for him to fight and take down baddies. Tough guy has got a cute daughter? Definitely not blood related. See I told you so! I guess in many anime series, we need a cute loli to liven up things when things look bleak and gloomy even if her character doesn’t really do anything of significance. Sorry Mayuka, wasn’t paying attention to all those stories you read and made up. Good thing it was the dystopian future. Or you would have been sued for copyright infringement. Hey, if dumb corporate bosses can sell out killer machines to governments and make money while nobody else cares about the people dying, they’d be gunning for young girls infringing too if there’s money in it! Then I guess they really need another female character because I’m not sure what Yuri’s role is because it’s not like she too had anything significant except for being the ‘scapegoat’ for the plot as to why Mage had to run and hide in the first place. Lastly Graham… If you can’t get an animal mascot, a robot mascot will do like Star Wars. Graham feels like he exists for convenience so as to tell us that not all artificial intelligence are bad. We got this useful car that could almost do anything from a transport to a weapon. Besides, why is Graham the only vehicle that is capable of AI? Are there no other vehicles with this feature? I noticed Graham is the only talking vehicle around. How the f*ck did Vidaux get his hands on this futuristic car?! Did he kill a bunch of scientist secretly working on this and steal it?! Maybe in another timeline.

The villains in this series are a joke. Let’s start with Andrei. From the way he acts like a big shot you can tell he is totally a chicken when things get a little rough. This guy looks more like a clown than trying to be some big bad corporate bad guy. This guy is such a joker that I thought he was that character from Saiki Kusuo No Psi-nan, you know, Saiki’s father. I wouldn’t tell them apart if he turned into a full blown joker. Good thing he is dead in the original timeline and serving time in the new one. As for Donna, she sounded she had some sort of ferocious and perfect killing record and reputation. Until her prey is Derrida. It’s like she keeps failing because the plot says so. There goes her scary reputation. You might think she is stumbling because she holds Derrida responsible for whatever ill-fated experiment that befall on her and hence some emotions got in the way (and hence proving she is human after all) but in reality maybe it makes you think that all her targets were just wusses.

Schmidt feels like a pain in the ass for trying to be sneaky and get the better of Derrida. But you know how far can a government man do and go. You’re the second joker character after Andrei. As a man from the intelligence department, not so intelligent after all, eh? It felt like his UIB had some sort of important role and would be the ultimate antagonist Derrida would have to face off but I guess all that was unnecessary since the timeline was ultimately change to give us a happy ending. Good Schmidt-tens he doesn’t exist anywhere in this peaceful timeline. Probably stuck behind a desk job… And those DZ robots… Why do I have a feeling they’re trying to copy that Terminator story? With all those discount Terminator robots roaming the land, it is amazing that they didn’t continue to kill everybody. On energy saving mode, huh? Tell me again how some of them suddenly get a full blast of energy to attack you like a mad dog when you get near them? WTF do they think they are ghosts or zombies trying to attack you?!

So as not to bore you with the sci-fi bits and the so called ‘detective work’, I guess when you have a dystopian sci-fi setting and killer crazy robots, this calls for some action bits. Unfortunately they are a bit exaggerated and a bit farfetched. Just because for the sake for some robot ass kicking action, we see those sequences as sometimes unrealistic especially the part where Derrida was gunning down DZs like crazy from Graham. Yeah, looks like they forgot physics existed for that time period. Or did Mage do some time ride to temporarily stop all physics and logic? I’m not sure if it is a fun thing to see Graham plough through the DZ masses because this sometimes feel like a zombie flick. Heh. What did I tell you those DZ automata think they’re in some kind of zombie apocalypse world.

Art and drawing feel pretty standard and average. At least better than the promotional poster because those look hideous. As though somebody quickly used some crayons to sketch. The use of CGI mainly on DZ robots feel one kind. It’s not bad but it feels that it could have been done better. As for the character designs, the first time I saw Vidaux and Mayuka father-daughter pair, it reminded me… WHAT THE HECK IS COYOTE RAGTIME SHOW’S MISTER AND FRANCA DOING IN THIS ANIME???!!! OMG!!!! That anime was like over a decade ago and this pair of a tough macho dad and his cute loli daughter brings back memories when I was watching this show! Damn, did I just time ride back to that anime?! Ange for some reason, reminds me of that character in Boku Dake Ga Inai Machi. I thought Schmidt looked familiar and then upon realizing he is an antagonist, suddenly it hit me. What the heck is Bleach’s Aizen doing here???!!! And why does Nathan look like Satsuriku No Tenshi’s Danny? Is it because same seiyuu?! This anime is done by Geektoys and since is their first project and so far their only one, so forgive them for any inconsistencies? Not in an era where we have high expectations of our animes!

For the voice acting part, I only recognized Takahiro Sakurai as Nathan and Yuu Kobayashi as Donna/Angelica. For the latter, I was anticipating she would go into her typical crazy voice screaming trademark. Her character would have been so crazy had she done this voice but Donna overall sounds more mellow with a deep grudge still sleeping inside her… For the rest of the casts, they are Kensho Ono as Derrida (Slaine in Aldnoah.Zero), Mao Ichimichi as Mage (Bada in ClassicaLoid), Hiroo Sasaki as Vidaux (Hank Johnson in Ingress), Kaede Hondo as Mayuka (Koyume in Comic Girls), Himika Akaneya as Yuri (Yatsumura in Mahou Shoujo Site), Kazutomi Yamamoto as Graham (Yumoto in Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-bu Love – now you know why he sounds so gay), Minoru Inaba as Andrei (Khajit in Overlord), Kazuyuki Okitsu as Schmidt (Andre in Prison School) and Kenichirou Matsuda as Jacques (Gordon in Black Clover). On a trivial note, I am not sure about the implication of mid-intermission that displays “clockwise” but at first it sounded creepy because I thought I heard “cock wise”! WTF?!

Paradox by Quadrangle as the rock opening tries to sound edgy for a sci-fi themed series. But it turns out somewhat messy especially those chaotic electric guitar power riffs whatever that makes everything sound so anarchic. Toki No Tsubasa as the ending theme sounds a bit weird too. This piece that has a Mage version, a Yuri a version and a duet version of the duo sounds out of place because it sounds like a spacey-like song (as in outer space kind of song). Perhaps due to the mediocrity of the anime, the slow-moderate pace of this song also makes me feel somewhat confused.

Overall, this series is forgettable because of its bad pacing, story and even characters. I guess we don’t even need to do a single time ride to totally forget about this trash. Just wait till the next season arrives! Yeah, that is what happened to all bad animes. As usual, the sci-fi and time travelling concept are interesting but they failed to make it appealing to casual (and dumb) audiences like yours truly. But I’ll still not paint it as the worst as many over the internet have over this series because of that Donna-Angelica experiment. That was the only interesting thing that got my attention and I’ll give them credit for that. Therefore if the possibility of infinite universes exist, perhaps this series was really outstanding, flawless and the best anime and even TV series of all time. Yeah. Maybe that happened in another timeline and now we’re stuck with this mediocre one instead. Somebody must have gone back in time to try and change it but screwed up. Thus the stupid limitation of can’t go back and change history another time to rewrite this anime… Perhaps that’s possible… In another timeline…