| Episode 0 is about what has happened to Kadode's father, Nobuo. He was a manga editor who worked long hours and had little time for his daughter, who he fears may hate him. He awakens in a sort of refugee camp in an Osaka subway eight years after the mothership arrived. Kimika Ando, who lives there, explains what has happened. Four years after it arrived the mothership exploded, somehow killing all but 1/20 of all humans and plunging civilization as a whole into a state known as 'August 32nd' or 'Never Ending Summer Break'. Nobuo gets a text message on his I-phone (electricity is still available, I noticed) from 'The Person Inside', apparently an alien who possessed his critically injured body on day one, restored it to health, and moved to Osaka. This 'person' was the protector of Ando and her friend Hako Shimoda, but now is 'losing consciousness' which has allowed Nobuo's mind to reawaken and take control of his body again. It says it can't be absolutely certain, but strongly believes that Nobuo's family is still alive somewhere. Ando describes Nobuo as a 'parasitic half-invader'. She opens a sort of access panel on the side of his head which shows a ghostly face inside (the Person Inside?). Nobuo is warned to beware of 'asterisks', which are floating, glowing red orbs which will kill you instantly if they touch you. Also dangerous are 'Fujin No. 9's, which are 'combat vehicles powered by rouge AIs'. Nobuo is told of 'New Japan Harmony', a group that was once anti-invader but is now pro(?). Nobuo is determined to go to Tokyo and search for his family, and Ando and Hako offer to accompany him. They leave the protected zone and set out northwards, hoping to reach a NJH 'assembly point'. They do this, but the NJH is not nearly as friendly as Ando had promised. Ando and Hako have in fact betrayed him and handed him over to the NJH, but the NJH fighters callously kill both of them nevertheless. Nobuo manages to escape and is picked up by a van full of a mix of humans and others who say they are working for a 'private security organization, SHIP'. One of them, it turns out, is an old friend of Kadode and recognizes Nobuo. |
