A focal episode for Lala and a turning point for the show.
So, this episode continues the theme of doing things right, but also a little bit paint-by-numbers. We focus on getting the backstory of and giving screen time to one of the main cast who we have not previously put in the spotlight, fight an enemy where that character gets to be the hero, and obtain a few answers about our plot and where things might be going next.
Briefly, Lala is the introvert nerd that you expected from the moment she was shown with glasses. She wants to be a watchmaker like her father was, and is afraid of dying like most rational living things would be. Most of the episode, she’s hacking the mook head from last week, with the big events being that Akira tries to do good for her, bringing her food and, when she laments being out of coffee, getting the gang together to brew some dandelion root coffee (A real thing, I looked it up. It lacks the caffeine of real coffee, which you’d think a nerd pulling an all-night hacking session might want, but it’s the thought that counts).
As she gets through security, this activates EDVA’s trap card and the thing’s brain jumps out in jellyfish mode, latches on to Akira’s head, and tries to mind control him. Lala can apparently do a full brain dive with her Engine and does so, helping Akira fight back against the control attempt, ultimately shaking it off and disabling the enemy.
After this is done, EDVA appears, identifying that, surprising no one, she is the floating lady we’d been seeing make ominous remarks. She asks nicely for ENIA to be handed over. When questioned on how she’s hear, she reveals that she’s a being of pure data and, since she couldn’t be killed, was simply trapped in the magnetic field of the sun by the last generation. When asked why she wants ENIA, that’s simple: it’s so she can have a physical body. What would she do with that physical body? Nothing major, just exterminate all life in the universe that doesn’t fit with “the answer [she] found to the task [she] was given” Including humanity. So pretty please, hand it over?
Naturally, Akira tells her off, and she leaves after revealing that she’s gotten past those jamming bracelets. Sometime after this we see Lala, alone, declaring that there’s a way to beat EDVA but that she doesn’t want to die. I don’t know in what way those are related, there are a few ways it could be put together – maybe the method she has for defeating EDVA demands a sacrifice, or maybe she just said her “I don’t want to die” catchphrase considering that EDVA would make such happen if not defeated.
So, yeah, we now have the basic level 2 psychotic AI motivation for EDVA, the poorly thought-out paperclip maximizer who isn’t just senselessly hostile, but is just mechanically following a directive where somehow omnicide is the logical choice. These can be done well, and it’s not beyond the show to salvage the situation because we don’t know the question or the answer (I mean, the answer is probably 42, but still…), but I was hoping for something a little meatier. I’ve seen people say that Vertex Force is “passionless” or such like that, and while that’s normally been code for “It didn’t have the tween ass shots I wanted from this creator”, I’m starting to come around to seeing a general lack of passion in the actual storytelling. As I established in an earlier one of these, fanservice or no doesn’t really change the quality of the writing, but a creator’s level of caring and investment in their own work sure as hell does.
With the talent on screen right now, the worst I could give Vertex Force is a C – in all honesty, not a “bad” grade. It hasn’t made any mistakes, and there’s nothing to be angry at it over, but it also hasn’t really impressed with much beyond basic competence. While the show is still young, it’s looking more and more like it wants to ride that line to mildly inoffensive success before being forgotten entirely. We’ll see how the situation develops next week.