Note: I have seen Jean Jacques Gibaltes last name spelt as Guibarthez but am keeping the spelling as Gibaltes for consistency and because it is slightly easier to spell!

While an enjoyable episode to watch, the first episode of the series had the significant flaw in that it was set part way into the series as part of a time travel episode but was not explained as such leading to some confusion as to what was actually happening. Thankfully with the fifth episode “jump off into never-never land”, the confusion finally comes to an end with a partial explanation about what is actually going on.

Koyomi and young Yumiko remind us of the events of the first episode confirming that they took place 6 years ago and despite the danger they do not regret it as they met each other then.

The date is confirmed as being Christmas eve of 6 years earlier and Koyomi tells Misa that she came from 6 years in the future, but Yumiko isn’t and Koyomi wonders if Yumiko is okay. The earlier confrontation with Gibaltes ended when he left without attacking as he was reluctant to face 3 people with strong codes (Misa, Koyomi and Yumiko) at once.

Elsewhere Gibaltes thinks about how was awoken by a machine based code that belonged to his arch-enemy Anehara Kenjuro (Misa’s ancestor) who had killed him with a sword whose injury he still feels. He thinks he wont last long so must obtain the sorceress’ library.

The opening of the episode is a fairly slow affair and essentially acts as a refresher for the events of the first episode given that there have been 3 episodes since then. Thankfully it is swiftly explained for anyone who had not watched the next episode preview at the end of the first episode that the events portrayed occurred to a time travelling Koyomi in the past.

The scene with Gibaltes while partially explaining why he has a grudge against Misa and Yumiko, also hints at what the purpose of the modified Christmas Shopper code in the future is intended to do, given that the original code is responsible for his return albeit unintentionally. The sword that is seen impaling him in the past and present is also shown to have significance once his true nature is revealed.

In the present day Misa and Yumiko teach Koyomi and Kaho about ghost scripts and how something doesn’t need to be dead to leave one but are created when a strong image is burned into something as a code. A cat ghost script then appears which upsets Yumiko causing her to leave.

Misa then mentions that Yumiko may have a Cat related trauma due to an event that occurred 6 years ago on Christmas Eve when they first met, and that she meant to ask Yumiko to take a peak into the past. Misa then asks Koyomi to do it instead and hooks her up to a machine to get the password to the Christmas Shopper code which is causing trouble and then activates the machine.

Back in the past the young Misa tells Koyomi that she might be trapped in this world and Koyomi tells her she has been in the past for 2 hours. Misa then theorises that Koyomi may be highly sensitive to ghostscripts and the data is reaching Koyomi’s mind in a highly compressed form meaning she has not been in the past for that long from future Misa perspective.

The start of this scene and the talk about ghost scripts while important to this episode also comes into play later on in the series with the fact that people dont need to be dead to become a ghostscript coming into play. This also forms a part of the eventual resolution of the current problem with Gibaltes.

We are also given the erroneous impression that Koyomi is not actually in the past, I say erroneous as in later episodes we see a resurrected Gibaltes and more importantly Yumiko (albeit in her memories) remember seeing Koyomi take part in events though it is indicated that intially at least that she does not clearly remember it is Koyomi.

There is however an issue that when she gets back to the present day it turns out she never left. My current guess as to what happened is that Koyomi somehow changed the intended peek into a simulated past into a visit to the actual past by a solid astral projection of Koyomi, though past Misa and Koyomi are unaware that this is the case.

Soshiro then appears to give Koyomi her washbasin back, which impresses Misa when she realises Koyomi summoned it. When Misa discovers that Koyomi can transform any code she thinks up a way of returning her to the present by having her cancel a code that is affecting the whole world as it may stop the ghost script causing Koyomi to be trapped in the past to stop running.

Elsewhere young Yumiko picks up Misa’s cat (Katamari) that has followed her and remembers visiting an amusement park with her parents. Back at Misa’s, Misa tells Koyomi she has until 9pm to find Yumiko before Christmas Shopper is ready, then warns her that she is so intertwined with the code in the world that its possible that any harm she takes here could affect her in the future.

The first part of the scene is the setup for the plot device of getting Koyomi out of the “vision” as she would think of it by establishing that she can cancel out a code affecting the whole world and if she is part of this “fake” world then cancelling such a code should send her back to the present day (from her perspective).

Katamari appears to have a thing for Yumiko since he also follows her when she is in a similar state towards the end of the series. In this episode however it is meant to make us think that Katamari dies given Yumiko’s reaction to his ghost script. earlier in the epsode. The reaction to the Katamari ghost script is actually quite strange given that Katamari survives and Yumiko appears to have a mutual affection for the cat in later episodes.

My best guess at the cause of Yumiko’s reaction to the ghost script is that it reminded Yumiko of the events we are now seeing which while ending in a fairly positive manner would be unpleasant to remember. Another less likely option is that Yumiko realises that it is about time for Koyomi to travel to the past and does not want to interfere.

At Misa’s we learn that the Christmas Shopper is designed to help build an amulet with 2048 codes built into it and is surprised that the code still has an effect 6 years from now. At that moment Gibaltes arrives asking for Anehara Misa (Koyomi), Misa recognises his name as belonging to a mage from 100 years ago.

Gibaltes tells Misa that he is after the sorceress’ library left behind by the legendary sorceress Digitalis Flammalacia. Digitalis was an evil mage who is said to have killed more than 100 000 men in Europe and is rumoured to have returned to life countless times and the library is the key to her revival.

Gibaltes tells Misa the library is sealed in the staff Kerykeion (Yumiko’s staff), and wants Anehara Misa (Koyomi) to avoid taking action in this matter and in return he wont interfere in the large scale magical ceremony (Christmas Shopper) she is planning. Misa then tells Gibaltes that she is the one running the ceremony not the Anehara Misa he is looking for but as she has no interest in his affairs offers him a deal that neither of them will interfere with the other until they have finished with what they are planning.

As well as giving more details about why Gibaltes is after Yumiko, we actually learn what the Christmas Shopper code is intended to do, which is to make the amulet that the present day Misa always wears around her neck (except if loaning it to Koyomi in episode 2). Given that Misa is still using it 6 years later and has not shown any signs of making a new one, I think that the codes of the amulet are “reusable” rather than once only with its abilities typically limited by the user rather than the other way around.

The information given about Digitalis, her frequent resurrection and the Sorceress’ library is also significant as they both return as major plot elements in the last few episodes of the series and even from the limited information given hints can be seen about what happens in the penultimate episode. I think it is a fairly safe assumption that Gibaltes at this point does not understand what the trigger is for Digitalis’ resurrection as if he did I would think he would be a tad less aggressive when confronting Yumiko. I did have a slight issue in that I could not see why Gibaltes and Misa would go into such a long discussion about what Gibaltes is after and why and the majority of the scene appeared to be solely to give some exposition.

While Gibaltes mistaking Koyomi for Misa is used as a plot point to allow Misa to work unimpeded with Misa never actually lying about Koyomi not being her, it also reminds us that from an outsiders perspective Koyomi has a very powerful code despite her clumsy nature. While her abilities are never explained in this series, I would suspect that they would be explored more if there was a follow up series produced. I also suspect that her odd hair colour (pale blue) is like Yumiko’s pink hair meant to be an indication of innate magical ability rather than a standard anime hair colour trait.

Elsewhere Koyomi is looking at Yumiko with delight causing Yumiko to angrily ask what she is after. Koyomi then admits she is just happy about how little Yumiko is compared to how she will look in a few years time, this causes Yumiko to start to attack Koyomi with magic leading to Yumiko getting hit on the head with a wash basin when her magic is cancelled. Yumiko is also under the impression that Koyomi is Misa until Koyomi sets her straight and introduces herself and tells her she is a student of Misa’s from the future.

A little later as Koyomi gets a hamburger for Yumiko, a strange man appears before Yumiko after her great grandfathers diary glows asking her if she has heard the story of “The President and the Elephant” which is about which is stronger and in what circumstances and the answer depends on how you think.

The old man then asks her who she thinks she is and how important the staff is to her, he then tells her that staff will only be truly important to her once she has engraved her own history into it and how the curse he placed on her body may be his greatest gift to her and to not hand the staff over to Gibaltes. There is then a strong gust of wind allowing Yumiko to see the old man’s eyes who then vanishes leaving the diary on the ground. At this point Koyomi arrives back with some hamburgers.

Yumiko initially struggles with the hamburger as she is not used to eating fast food with her hands and wants a knife and fork. However, as they start to bond Yumiko spots Gibaltes sitting across from them who greets them with his trademark “Bonsoir, mademoiselle.”

I had to laugh at Koyomi’s reunion with Yumiko as Koyomi acts in a completely believable but still amusing fashion with her delight over meeting a “chibi” Yumiko. Given what Yumiko has been through and Koyomi’s odd behaviour it is also natural that her response is to attack Koyomi, albeit with the inevitable wash basin ending.

It is also fairly obvious that the old man who speaks to Yumiko is meant to be a ghost script of her great grandfather Cristbarth that had been designed to activate if a descendant was in trouble. The story he tells also has significance as it’s purpose is to teach Yumiko that strength depends not only on who you are but who you are fighting and where. This will have significance in resolving the current situation with Gibaltes as Yumiko is the one who chooses where they battle, with an earlier flashback to a fairground ride also coming into play.

The episode as a whole is in hindsight a massive information dump as we are given insights into ghost scripts, codes affecting the whole world and Koyomi cancelling them out, Digitalis, and there being a curse on Yumiko’s life. Fortunately the episode does not feel bogged down in detail as the majority is relevant to the situation at hand and the rest foreshadowing what is to come. The only part of the episode which seemed forced was when Misa and Gibaltes talked as it seemed strange that Gibaltes would just calmly tell a potential enemy his goals. Despite the episode being heavy on dialog it is still fairly enjoyable to watch and also a welcome relief now that the events of the first episode can be put into a proper context.

Episode Rating

7/10 – An exposition rich episode, but one which still manages to carry over some of the tension of the first episode whenever Gibaltes appears