

> _"anata wa soko ni imasu ka"_ (Are you there?)

... seems like this "magic spell" works over the radio, which the Festums have
to decode and hack into.

I have always wondered if this could be a kind of hypnosis. If so, the Festums
are more human like than I think.


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2015-04-07T15:01:46.890
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2015-04-11T05:50:43.773
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question
fafner-exodus
Is "A re yo u o ver the re" a kind of hypnosis?


The short answer is no, its not hypnosis - its essentially the Festums trying
to find/communicate with humans. The long answer is, it has a double meaning
in the show.

First of all, the most direct reason that particular phrase and voice is used
is that Festums originally found out about humanity by encountering a voyager
like probe - on the probe was a recording of a woman asking this question
(where it was meant to be 'Is there anyone out there?' question). The Festums
did not understand humanity at all and just echoed that exact recording back
when trying to find humans to "save". You can see a framed copy of this record
hanging up in the UN leader's office in a few scenes in Exodus.

Second, it's important to understand that Festums, at least in the first
season, did not understand humanity at all. (In the movie, they learned a
little... which made the situation for humanity even worse, not better).
Festums do not exist in the same way that humans do. They do not understand
the concept of existence as humans do. They perceive the human's state of
existence as an irregularity that needs to be saved from. As they understand
so little, the question becomes very literal - they are asking "Do you exist?"
- and if someone answers, the Festums become fully aware of the existence of
the human that answered and try to "save" them by assimilating them.

This question really is the core of the show's setting. These two races are so
alien to each other that this strange roundabout question is the only way they
could initially even communicate, and both sides think the other is in a
horrific, incomprehensible situation. Humans see assimilation to non-existence
as basically death, and Festums see human's existence as something they need
to be saved from. Most of the main cast want to establish meaningful
communication with the Festums, but at this point, it is unclear if it is even
possible, at least without fundamentally changing the nature of the Festums or
humans.


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