Ai, Isami, and Miho look out into the vast (and mostly empty) expanse of Shangri La.

In another inadvertent flash of the Dragon Torque's erroneous powers, Haruka's house, along with the people still inside it, gets ported to Shangri La. Miho's explanation, as usual, involves - wait for it... Aliens. That's right. Say it again with me, like that pigeon from the movie "Bolt". Aliens!



According to Tobi, things are happening five years ahead of schedule.

Through a bit of techno gabber from Uchida, we are given a brief and generic explanation of what the Magic Circle Project is intended to do. Upon listening to her observations of the experiment, Tobi concludes that events are unfolding five years ahead of similar incidents in the Dragon Knights' timeline. The sense of urgency is increased as time is literally cut short, and the Project must be stopped once and for all, else the universe collapse on itself.


Haruka pleads with Noein to stop his barrage of unsettling images of the future.

Noein draws on more underhanded tactics and deception as he tries to get Haruka to use her power to fold the universe into one, tiny, convenient, and emotionless package of stagnation. Haruka rejects his statement that the future is full of nothing but sadness and angrily denies his request. Noein drops a bombshell on her by taking off his mask and revealing his real identity - a Yuu from another future.


What's behind the golden mask? A disgruntled Yuu! Surprised? Not really.

So, it was Yuu all along. It's hinted that another of Haruka's futures ended with her untimely death, thus leaving the already dispirited Yuu to wallow in his own misery. It's not far-fetched to say that he would turn into this depressed, obsessive psychopath, but this seems a bit of an easy escape route, a cop-out if you will. I was hoping for a more grandoise revelation. Instead, we are given just another one-track-mind lunatic. There are too many of those in this show as it is.

The glimpse into the possible misfortunes that the children might encounter as they grow up and the twisted paths they take is a nice touch. It would be a worthy task to dive into that dark future, as well as expand on the events shape the personalities of some of the Dragon Knights. It would certainly make for a more engrossing and enthralling show. It's quite unfortunate that the writers did not explore this aspect further.