Episode 9 –
[details=spoiler]Karako remembers how she first met Nagi and how she came to be his second in command. She is still trying to hold the bridge together and wonders if everyone got across. Realizing they did, she lets the bridge go and turns to face the robot. She tells the robot that even if Nagi’s hopes are just fantasies, she will stand by him. She punches the robot, causing it to explode and dies in the process.
The rest of her group makes it to the elevator and Ganta wonders if Karako will be okay. The others tell him not to worry and that they are all counting on him now. They wait for the elevator to activate and if it does that means that Nagi and Rokuro have succeeded in taking over the control room. In the control room, it seems that Nagi and Rokuro were successful. However, a little girl now enters the control room. She is really cute and wears a back pack that is twice her size and is made to look like a puppy.
Nagi walks over to her and asks what she is doing there. The little girl bows to him and says that she is in second grade and now that her homework is done, she must do her chores. Nagi kneels before her and thinks she must be lost. He tells Rokuro to start the elevator, but keeping his arms crossed, Rokuro just looks at the control that will activate the elevator. This goes unnoticed by Nagi as he tells the little girl that she should come with them.
The little girl just stares at Nagi and he turns around to see a smiling Rokuro. He tells him again to start the elevator Rokuro refuses and when Nagi questions him, he gets a crazy look on his face and tells Nagi that was never the plan. The little girl takes off her back pack and opens it to reveal a huge sword with a bunny rabbit on it. She says that she is the leader of the 3rd Undertaker Platoon and her name is Daida Hibana. Daida tells Nagi that she punishes bad kids and Nagi says that sadly, he will have to make it rain.
Nagi attacks Daida with his Branches of Sin, but it becomes ineffective against Daida’s sword. Just as he expresses surprise, Daida hits him with her sectioned sword. She tells him that his sins will be cleansed and that he will return to normal. Nagi suddenly realizes that Ganta was right and turns to look at Rokuro. He rightly assumes that Rokuro altered the video and Rokuro confirms it. Daida calls her sword “Worm Eater” and explains how it negates the Branches of Sin.
Rokuro offers to arrest Nagi, but Nagi is determined to see his plan succeed. Nagi tries to use his Branches of Sin again, but it’s useless against Daida and her sword and she hits him again. Nagi looks around the room and focuses on the elevator control. Meanwhile the others are still waiting for the elevator to come and are starting to worry that it’s taking too long. Daida is one twisted little girl and I wonder how she got that way.
Daida wants to keep “punishing” Nagi but Genkaku ordered her not to kill Nagi, so since Nagi won’t apologize for his wrongdoing, she will do Lingchi. Rokuro asks her what that is and she tells him that it is an ancient Chinese method of “slow slicing”. Daida says it was an artistic execution method where people were publicly cut to pieces. She tells Nagi what she will do to him and wonders how much she can get away with. Daida swings her sword again and begins to slice Nagi. She says that if she’s careful, she may be able to do over 3,000 cuts.
Daida continues to cut Nagi and tells him that only the initial wounds will bleed. She says that as he becomes more and more frightened, his blood will slow. Rokuro yawns and tells Daida that Nagi will die. But Daida tells him not to worry for pain builds character as her mother had said and from the images that flash on the screen, it seems that Daida may have been abused by her mother. Nagi falls to his knees and recalls hearing of murders in a kindergarten. Daida confirms that “a lady’s duty is to punish the wicked” but Nagi tells her that ladies don’t do things like that. He tells Daida what she really is and Daida has a vision of a hanged woman – perhaps her mother.
Angry and upset now, she continuously attacks Nagi with more force. While this happens, Daida flashes back to her past. A woman is reprimanding her for messing her sheets and says she must be punished. Then she must be punished for throwing up and the descriptions of the punishments are weird, like something out of a fantasy world. For instance, Daida “must repair the three holes in the Battenorrow orbit”. I wonder if she killed her mother as well.
Daida ends up almost completely severing Nagi’s arm and Nagi continues to bait her, pulling off his arm and throwing it at her. This momentarily startles her and Nagi is able to reach Rokuro. He knocks Rokuro unconscious by smashing his head against the wall and reaches for the elevator control. Daida says that he can’t do that and Nagi says she should let him and go deal with the Branches of Sin that are now coming out of his severed arm. He manages to pull the lever just before he falls to the floor.
The others are happy to finally see the elevator and get on it. Ganta is once again warned to hold on to the chip. They speak of what they will do once they reach the outside world and freedom. But this is not meant to be as the elevator continues to rise and Genkaku is there with back-up and guns blazing. Almost all of them are hit and the rest try to use their Branches of Sin against the Undertakers. And of course it’s useless. Everyone is killed or subdued as Ganta watches. He falls to the floor and drops the chip.
Back in the control room, Daida lies on the floor and Rokuro speaks with the dying Nagi, saying that he only had a two percent chance of success. He asks Rokuro if Undertakers were sent to stop the others as well. Rokuro confirms it but Nagi is still confident that the chip will make it outside and the truth will become known. Rokuro says that there is only a .17 percent chance of that happening but Nagi says they have hope on their side. Rokuro says it’s his job to reduce that .17 percent chance to zero. He tells Nagi that Tamaki let things go as far as they did so that would be the case. Then Rokuro tells Nagi that the finale is about to begin.
Ganta is rescued by a resistance member named Kosugi and he tells Ganta to protect the chip at all costs just before he is killed by an Undertaker. Ganta thinks of all the resistance members and how all of their hopes are now pinned on him. He likens their hopes to his own and realizes that now is not the time to be scared. Rokuro and Daida have been retrieved by their fellow Undertakers and Nagi is left in a pool of his own blood. He removes the radio from his teeth and asks for someone to please be there to hear him. Shiro wanders in to the Scar Chain headquarters and finds another girl standing there. She asks who she is and the other girl just smiles.
Another man runs from the Undertakers and is set afire. He runs into a room that contains something flammable. Ganta comes face to face once again with Genkaku. Although he knows it’s futile, he tries to use his Branches of Sin and Genkaku tells him that Ace Man won’t be coming to save him this time. Genkaku tells him that there is another ending to Ace Man where everyone is killed except him. Ganta continues to use his Branches of Sin but it’s useless and Genkaku tells him that there is no hope for him.
Genkaku takes aim at Ganta and a large man puts his hand on Genkaku’s shoulder, telling him it’s time. Genkaku walks away and tells Ganta not to worry. The Undertakers get in the elevator, leaving behind Ganta and three other survivors. They wonder what is going on but decide that this is their chance. Suddenly a pipe bursts open behind them and Shiro pops out. Ganta start to berate Shiro for not staying behind, but gasping, she asks Ganta for the data chip. He shows her the chip and she grabs it and upon seeing the burning room, she tosses the chip in and closes the door. No sooner is this done than an explosion takes place. Her back against the door, Shiro smiles and asks Ganta if he’s okay. I never thought the chip to be a bomb. If that was the case, they should have let Scar Chain go and things would have taken care of themselves.[/details]