We’ve finally done it, after a tumultuous process. But in the end, it was worth all the effort.

The two batch Netflix release schedule really didn’t help us, and in fact made it harder, but I hope we’ve been able to deliver the best possible experience for you. I felt that Trigger delivered a show very in their own style, and especially stepped up the game when it came to the music, perhaps the single best part of the production. Not every single question raised was answered, but the way that the themes, mechanics, world, and characters all coalesced to form a cohesive whole with a strong viewpoint on how to best live your life was well done. Michiru was a great protagonist, and her contrasts along the way to Shirou, Nazuna, and Alan seamlessly developed their characters and the plot. Plus, it’s almost like the show was made for me with science, idols, and Morohoshi Sumire. I’ve got to thank them for that.

We couldn’t have completed this without the great staff on the project:

Translation: Akatsukin
Editing: wrd
Timing: Akatsukin
Typesetting: joletb, reed (4)
Encoding: joletb
Quality Checking: Akatsukin, joletb
Song Translation: Akatsukin
Song Styling: joletb (OP), LightArrowsEXE (ED)

Torrent | Magnet

And thank you for watching! So, if you’ve enjoyed reading everything I’ve had to say up until now, then this story analysis may tickle your fancy as well. It’s some science, but mostly opinion. Starting with the most important thing (click to read)…

Was the overall theme ruined when Alan turned out to be a beastman?

The entire show up until now was leading into a humans versus beastmen conflict, with humans being shown as intelligent yet evil, beastmen being violent but natural, and Michiru serving as the middle point and ambassador. This seems to come crashing down when the big bad villain is a beastman too. Even so, I believe that BNA maintains the most important themes of being able to change as many times as you want. In a way, Alan not being human almost reinforces that both sides of the equation can be evil, but both sides also have the propensity for good (even though only Michiru and later Nazuna represent that).

Michiru’s friends and family

We were shown that her mom still cares about her from the birthday message, so it’s slightly unsatisfying that Michiru was never shown contacting her afterwards.

Alan Sylvasta’s true form

Alan being a beastman was absolutely a surprise, but there are parts which help make sense in retrospect. He was able to achieve a three-headed form because of the earlier explained history that beastmen used to transform to look like human gods, and he obviously takes over Cerberus. Being in the same family as dogs and wolves himself, it’s not farfetched to think he learned to change his scent as well with his superior transformation abilities.

The super wolf beam cannon

Shirou was shown using something nearly identical in episode 08, so this has precedent.

Immortality and eternal youth

It’s very interesting how the blood of 1000 other beastmen makes you immortal from injury and illness, but only mixed blood gives you eternal youth and lifespan. I think it’s a subtle reminder from the writers about the importance of diversity.

The truth of Nirvasyl

It’s likely that the Sylvasta of that era intentionally caused Nirvasyl Syndrome to occur by attacking first with his human army and inducing stress in the beastmen. Him saying that the Syndrome occurred first was likely a lie. In much the same way the beastmen of Anima City were betrayed by a human they trusted (Nazuna as Ginrou), so too were the beastmen of Nirvasyl (their trade partner Sylvasta).

Boris’s true identity

Boris was shown to have superior transformation abilities with his snake attack, so it’s possible that he came from a family of purebreds who have always served the Sylvasta family. He likely wore a mask at all times because he appeared to be stuck in a half-human half-beast form, but the cause was never explained. It’s also possible that he was a failed test subject when Sylvasta Pharmaceutical was testing a drug to turn beastmen into humans. If that’s the case, then rather than being purebred, it was the opposite and he was given a drug to amplify his transformation abilities at the expense of a loss of control. Both explanations make sense, but one has more evidence, because…

What Boris said to make Yaba go crazy

Never explained. I speculated that Boris drugged Yaba and that Nirvasyl Syndrome was a hoax caused by poison, but that was not the case. It was also never explained why Boris said “You wouldn’t recognize me in this form”, other than to hint the viewer into my above theory that he was a failed experiment. The fact that Yaba is also a scientist heavily suggests this as well.

The Ginrou that Michiru saw at the festival

Deliberately left unanswered, and I think it’s better this way. In a world full of mysteries, I think it’s perfectly acceptable to leave some secrets.

Mayor Rose’s comment at the end

She made reference to living for a while longer to watch over the city as it changes. I believe this goes back to her being a naked mole rat, which is famous for being remarkably long-lived for a rodent. Or it could be from the prequel LN which I haven’t read yet.

What about all the Engelmaschines sent out before?

Decommissioned after the Prime Minister went silent after the failure in Anima City, most likely.

How does Michiru’s blood fix the berserk BDNA?

The Mayor says that it “overwrites” the existing strands, but I debunked that last time. However, I came up with a new solution that may make at least some more sense. Rather, I remembered that the vast majority of DNA in humans, about 99.9%, is shared. All the rest is what makes each person unique. If you imagine that the parts being switched on and then later removed are separate from these distinct locations, there may be some sense to the explanation. If there’s part of a chromosome that details how to make mitochondria for instance, and it’s epigenetically changed by stress, that could be cut out and replaced with a benign form with a CRISPR-like method by entire natural and organic proteins. Maybe those extra proteins were part of the “activated enzymes” Michiru and Nazuna got.

Suddenly antibodies?

For how almost-correct most of the science in this show was, this line was plain wrong. They didn’t even need to include that term. I’m chalking it up to Shirou the character not being a scientist and just pretending like he understands.

Michiru/Shirou/Nazuna’s character development

Being honest here, I drafted this post weeks ago but didn’t do this part, and now my brain’s out of juice. But each of them I felt had just the right amount of static and dynamic parts. Michiru was correct about everything she said regarding Nazuna, but had to learn how to apply her thoughts inward and consider her own life from an outside perspective. Shirou is hard to write, as nobody living can truly relate to an immortal, but given his entire history and how it was only less than a hundred years prior that he swore off transforming and murder, his slow change to accepting humans like Michiru and becoming more open was justified. Nazuna I’ve touched upon previously, but she went way too hard in on her noble dream of being an idol to help and inspire others, and while that part of her hasn’t changed, she’s gone back to being the friendly and trusting person she was, but now with more self-confidence.