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WIT Studio’s much-awaited anime series,Moonrise, recently premiered onNetflix. Surprisingly, the network released all eighteen episodes of the anime altogether, giving fans an uninterrupted experience. The series is based on a novel series by Tow Ubukata and is directed by Masashi Koizuka, the same man who also worked on several episodes ofAttack on Titan.
Despite the lack of marketing on Netflix’s side, several fans accustomed toWIT Studio’s previous worktuned in to watchMoonrise. It’s a space opera that features diverse characters and some fantastic animation work from the studio. That being said,Moonriseisn’t your typical straightforward story; instead, it’s a complex tale that constantly jumps between past and present events. There are multiple things happening at the same time in the story. While the series tries extremely hard to bring everything together, it gets really hard to catch up with the essence of the story, especially towards the end. The ending of theMoonriseanime doesn’t give many answers; instead, it raises a lot more questions for the viewers.
Sapientia Is The True Enemy In WIT Studio’sMoonrise
The AI’s Radical Methods To Preserve Peace Led To The Major Conflict
It all started with the sameproblem that we might face in the real world—diminishing resources, but too many mouths to feed. However, thebirth of the Sapientia AIhelped humanity overcome these challenges by initiating Moon exploration. The AI helped humanity set up colonies on the Moon, and to divide the ever-growing population,Sapientia suggested sending criminals, convicts, and the poor population to the Moon. While this radical step helped maintain peace on Earth, it made things worse for people on the Moon. Humans on Earth prospered by extracting resources from the Moon; the residents of the Moon, on the other hand, did menial jobs like mining and lived off the scraps.
It wasn’t logical to send humans (they are too fragile) to explore the Moon, so Sapientia created other forms of artificial intelligence. Yes, we are talking about the SEEDS. Sapientia intended for the SEEDS to adapt to the Moon’s environment and do a better job at extracting its resources for humans residing on Earth.There were different generations of SEEDS. For instance, Jack was from the first generation, and Phil was from the second generation. Similarly, the robots that we see fighting for Phil were SEED 3, the third generation.
I want us to make the Moon a place the Earth envies - Jack.
Bob Skylum, the so-called “terrorist of the Moon,” was a robot that Sapientia created to oversee the creation and growth of SEEDS. There’s one interesting catch, though. Apparently, SEEDS themselves didn’t know that they were artificial beings created by Sapientia. However, they grew extremely intelligent, to such an extent that Sapientia and the Joint Army started fearing their potential.
Sapientia feared that one day,SEEDS would take matters into their own hands and rebel against their creator. Out of this fear, Sapientia orchestrated a disaster to exterminate all the SEEDS that were being raised in a spaceship. While most of the SEEDS, or Bob Skylum’s children, died in the fire, a few survived. Some of the survivors were Phil, Jack, and, of course, Bob Skylum. WhileJack created a good life for himself on Earth, Phil stayed with people on the Moon.
Sapientia Destroyed The Orbital Elevator, Not Bob Skylum
Sapientia made a series of bad decisions, but the biggest one was surely the destruction of the Orbital Elevator. Yes, as explained by Phil in the concluding events,it was Sapientia that destroyed the Elevatorthat killed Jack’s adoptive parents and several other Earthlings. You may wonder why Sapientia did that if its sole purpose was protecting humans? Well, planning the survival of 15 million people on limited resources wasn’t exactly an easy task.
There were too many humans to manage, and starting a war was the only way for Sapientia to bring down the huge numbers. Sapientia destroyed the Elevator, put the blame on the Moon Devil Bob Skylum, and started a war between Earth and the Moon. Phil, unaware that his actions would lead to countless deaths on Earth, confronts Bob Skylum. After being treated like a pawn by the radical AI, Bob transfers his powers to Phil before taking his last breath. These powers were visible in the form of butterflies, and the reason whyPhil could put on Bob Skylum’s face.
L-Zone Stays The Biggest Mystery Of TheMoonriseAnime
Mary Was Somehow A Trigger For The L-Zone
The most bizarre thing inMoonrisewas the L-Zone. Unfortunately, the anime series didn’t put much focus on L-Zone’s origin and left it up to viewers' interpretation. However, what’s made clear is the fact thatL-Zone was some sort of organic matter, which the Sapientia used to create the SEEDS. These SEEDS were a failed experiment for the AI, though, so the Sapientia locked down the L-Zone in some isolated facility. But as expected, this organic matter breaks out of the facility and merges together to form a sea.
The L-Zone wascapable of killing every living matter in its path, except for the SEEDs. Also, while it’s not explained how and why Mary was connected to the L-Zone, it was clear that she acted as a trigger for the organic matter.Mary somehow had the ability to control this matter,and while this hasn’t been confirmed in the series, the most probable explanation is that Mary was also a SEED. Since SEED 1 (Jack) could trigger the powers of other SEEDs, he was able to freeze this matter after coming into contact with Mary while she was being controlled by the L-Zone.
The L-Zone was on the Moon’s surface, and the only thing that was preventing it from devouring the entire human population was Mary. Sapientia knew this, so theAI manipulated Rhys and her group into killing the young girl. Sapientia interpreted that the L-Zone would go berserk and kill every human on the Moon if Mary were killed, thus solving the problem of overpopulation.
Phil’s Ultimate Sacrifice To Bring An End To Sapientia
It Was All Part Of Phil’s Plan, Or Was It?
Everything went as per Sapientia’s plan, and even though Rhys couldn’t kill Mary herself,Sapientia took over the Engrave technology in Rhys' possession to shoot Mary.But before Mary could take her last breath, the L-Zone went berserk and captured the girl. The matter turned red and took over the entire city of Copernicus, killing several humans hiding in the city. The organic matter would have killed even more, but Phil and Jack took the final stand against Sapientia’s plan.
Phil helps Jack get closer to where Mary was being held by the L-Zone, and using his ability to trigger other SEED’s powers,Jack pulls Mary out of what could have been an eternal sleep. At that very moment, the organic matter freezes, and the Moon is saved. Phil, who is still seen as a terrorist, was arrested by the Joint Army. He was brought in front of Sapientia and the leaders of the Joint Army for punishment. However, Phil stated that he got what he always wanted: to be in close quarters with the AI. Finally,Phil unleashes Bob Skylum’s butterfly to kill Sapientia,and in retaliation, the AI shoots lasers into the entire room. The bullets not only kill Phil but also the leaders of the Joint Army.
Finally, you are within my reach. And to think it was you who came to me! - Phil to Sapientia
Ultimately, the world finds its way out of Sapientia’s clutches, and Earth and Moon can finally know true peace. They can work together to build the world in their image and not some AI. The Moon doesn’t have a King after Bob Skylum, and Jack reveals that the “people of the Moon” get to decide what’s good for them.Jack finally made peace with his destiny, and while he had said goodbye to Phil, his childhood friend was still alive. During the final moments, Jack gets an in-game message from Phil, which suggests that the boy is still alive. It’s unlikely that Phil’s body somehow survived after getting shot multiple times. Instead,Phil must have transferred his consciousness to some network, and maybe that is how he was able to send Jack that message.
Moonrisedidn’t do a good job answering some questions. We could have used some more explanations around the L-Zone, Sapientia, and, of course, Mary. But what’s made clear in the final episode is that Jack and the others get a happy ending. They get to live, have free will, and work for the betterment of society.
