[Spoiler:Homecoming Voyage] The New Chapter is Really Good, But Also Sorta Not
Firstly, spoilers.
Secondly, they lobotomized Alpha.
Thirdly, TLDR at the end.
Fourthly, I did not do her side story yet. This is only looking at this chapter and previous chapters.
Okay, as I said in the title, I thought this chapter was really, really good, but also really, really not. I would like to note I am not a hater. I liked this chapter a lot. I got SSS3+ Alpha and bought the skin, I simply like the character and that is why I am critical.
Anyways, let me go through the chapter and Alpha. Also, I am disregarding CW's affection missions and the Tsubaki missions in this discussion as they have tenuous canonicity.
Part One: Romance and Lobotomized in Another World
My biggest gripe with this chapter is that it wanted to be a romance so, so badly. The focus of this chapter was a romance between SKK and Alpha, and that is…fine. There is nothing inherently wrong with romance, but I think the way they went about it was bad.
They literally, literally lobotomized Alpha so that they could make a romance between SKK and Alpha work. They had to remove all of her memories, make her a kid again, and have her raised by Nemo and some others—now, the childhood chapters were very well written, don't get me wrong. However, they only existed so that the writers could justify Alpha and SKK—not—getting married.
Alpha, at the end of Wintry Shackles (which was the last time she had any actual major impact on the story and the last time she was majorly in the story), was not going to end up with SKK. The whole point of that chapter was Alpha letting go of her past, breaking free from Ascnet, and finally reaching a point where she can forge her own path as Alpha, not Lucia or Luna's sister, but Alpha. The trajectory of her character arc would be, then discovering who to become, finding an identity.
That is not what happened.
Instead, Alpha is given a new identity because she was literally just shoved into another world without her memories and as a child. This creates a fundamentally different character. This is ego death. If you remove someone's memories and then give them an entirely different life, that is functionally a new person.
Looking at the actual content of the story in that new life Alpha had…the writing is actually really good. It is incredibly well written, in my opinion. The romance between SKK and lobotomized-Alpha was believable, the side characters were fun to read, and it managed to be sad without becoming exhausting (which is a fine line to balance).
The scene on the moon was cute. The dual-proposal was cute until it obviously did not go well.
The writing is good. I just think that the character they spent over half the chapter writing about just…was not Alpha. Different memories, different upbringing, different person. Even when Alpha is sent back to her own life and given her memories, the person she is has changed because she merged lives.
My issue is that we did not see Alpha develop. We did not see Alpha react to new things and change as a result of them. We saw lobotomized-Alpha develop. We saw lobotomized-Alpha change and then have her memories come back.
I don't know if I am explaining my complaint well. I'll put it in Star Wars terms. Imagine if, instead of Darth Vader being redeemed by Luke, Darth Vader had all of his memories removed and had a vision or whatever of a different life where he was a good father. Then, you merge the vision with real Vader! Vader with normal Vader, and now normal Vader is no longer evil. Yeah, Vader changed, but it wasn't because he decided killing his own son is bad. It is because he lived another life and is now influenced by it.
Part Two: Alpha's Character Arc
Alpha's character arc throughout all of PGR has, essentially, been this: my past sucks and I am stuck in it and I want revenge → I no longer want revenge but my past still sucks and I have no idea what I want to be, but I no longer want to be shackled by anything → I have broken free from fate and I am going to move beyond my past and forge my own destiny → I can choose my own fate, but my fate was also sorta chosen for me, and I will take on all of the suffering and hatred of the world, but I will also never be allowed to be happy because "the universe follows the law of conservation."
It is sad. The culmination of Alpha' story is…giving up. She accepts that there are some things she cannot change. She accepts that she has to suffer. This is the woman who's defining trait is being stubborn as hell. Alpha is defiant. Alpha was defiant.
Change is not a bad thing. Changing a fundamental character trait is bad without a very good reason. It would be like if, to go back to Star Wars, Luke Skywalker gave up and moped about on a random planet for years. I do not believe it makes sense for Alpha to stop being defiant and tenacious. It only works as a result of her lobotomy and then seeing infinite universes. That feels like a deus ex machina personality change. Alpha did not change. Alpha was Thanos-snapped into being a new person.
I do think there are some good things here, though. Namely, Alpha becoming a messianic, Buddha-like figure is interesting. I think that is good. Alpha has always been a good person on the inside. She has always been a character going through self-discovery. She literally achieves enlightenment here:
"She tells the lamb that she first grasped [Mercy], the foundational principle that every human must understand upon reaching enlightenment.
Look. [Mercy], [Foundation], [Kingdom], [Understanding], [Beauty]... So many of them, slowly ripening.
She rises and begins to consume more Sefirot... one bite at a time, one after another. At last, she devours the [Crown] as well: bite by bite, the peel, the flesh, the seeds, swallowing it all. Perhaps some creation myth penned by humanity speaks of fruits just like these."
Achieving enlightenment is inline with her character. What enlightenment means to her is not. It isn't even Buddhist. Buddhism teaches everyone must suffer if they exist in our false reality, Samsara. Alpha rejects that. She wants to take all suffering onto herself. Enlightenment, to her, is, among many other things, that she must suffer for everyone else to be happy.
Being a messianic figure also can work for Alpha. She has always suffered for the ones she loves. Expanding that to all of humanity works if she grows to love all of humanity, so I like this. I do not like that she rejects going after her own happiness, however.
Part Three: Her Frame and Power Ups
The trajectory of her powers was expected and inline with Wintry Shackles. I think they did a good job here. Wintry Shackles ended with Alpha being something that is beyond an Ascendant but not exactly an Agent. The progression from there is obviously that she would become something beyond an Agent, which is what happened. She literally became a god who, I believe, intends to fight the Observers: "Yes. I'm grateful to her, and I'll be seeing her soon. Before the day comes when I must face what lies beyond the "gate," I still need her cover." I think that refers to the Observers, but I might be stupid.
To be a negative nancy, I do not like how Alpha got her new frame. It was boring. She just…has it. Luna just gave it to her. I think it would make more sense for Alpha to have gotten her new frame when she got the crown as part of her ascension to a time/death/whatever god, but this is more being pedantic.
I do like and dislike her new design in relation to her themes. Alpha has always had a lot of dissymmetry in her design, and I liked it. It represented her mental state, and her eye color symbolized her conflicted sense of self. Inverse Crown is fairly symmetrical. Her eyes are basically the same color. It shows she has reached enlightenment, which is cool. Making her more devilish while she actually has become PGR's Jesus nicely shows that she has accepted being reviled and chooses to still be good.
Part Four: Religious Symbolism
The symbolism is awesome, but odd, but awesome. Firstly, Alpha is also titled Atheism. That fits her perfectly. Alpha has always been a defiant character, one who has always defied her fate, and Atheism stands in defiance of God, whom (kinda) writes fate. Except…you know…she gives into the laws of the universe.
Anyways! Sefirot. People have talked about it before, but the Sefirot are the manifestations of God. The first Sefirot, the Alpha Sefirot, is the Crown. Alpha, of course, is literally crowned in this chapter, and her frame is Inverse Crown. Inverse Crown, as a name, checks out given her other title is Atheism. The inverse of theism is atheism. Alpha, being the crown, and being atheism, is the inverse crown. Checks out. Works well.
What does it mean for Alpha to be the Crown? The Crown, keter, is the will to create and transcendence. It is also absolute compassion. Given she has become a figure of absolute compassion who is also transcendent and is willing the world to be what it is, it checks out. EDIT: I have been informed thaumiel, inverse keter, is a thing. It represents eternal suffering. Alpha fits both. Her appearance is thaumiel, her inside is keter. She suffers forever, but she is infinitely compassionate.
She also takes in all of the other Sefirot: "Look. [Mercy], [Foundation], [Kingdom], [Understanding], [Beauty]... So many of them, slowly ripening." She ate them soon after. Those fruits are other attributes/manifestations of God. It fits her being the crown.
There is a lot of other symbolism here, but quite frankly, someone else could probably look at them with more justice than I could, so I'll leave it here. They did a good job with this part.
Part Five: Emotions
Damn did this chapter hit in the feels. The romance made me smile. Every death hurt my heart. They wrote it well. Alpha talking to Von at the end was very good. It reframes their interactions in chapter…what was it, 14?
Kuro basically always does a good job with emotions in PGR, though. This was expected, but still great.
Part Six: What I Think Will Happen to Her in the Future
I doubt anything Alpha did will actually matter much. She can't take on all suffering or the story ends. Ultimately, this will serve to keep her off screen and eternally miserable. Her arc is at an end point here. There isn't anything to do with her. She is outside of time. She is basically said to be unchanging and timeless.
The only thing I can see her doing in the future is helping out in some kind of final battle against the final boss of the game. She is effectively out of the story until the end. I hope I am wrong.
TLDR:
While the alternate-world Alpha was well written, it takes away from Alpha's past character development and ultimately was done as a way to allow for Alpha and SKK to have a romance. The changes that happened to Alpha after she was lobotomized and then became her normal self forced her to act out of character. Alpha, at the end of the chapter, does not act in line with her past characterization. Surrendering to fate in any sense of the word does not make sense for her. For a character who fought to break shackles, surrendering to the law of conservation does not make sense. Alpha becoming a Buddha and messianic figure is in line with her past characterization, but her meaning of enlightenment does not fit who she was.
The emotional beats were very good. Her design fits her themes well. The religious symbolism is interesting. The ending of the chapter makes it doubtful she will be in the story much in the future.
This part was hilarious: Luna: "Yeah. Me, Roland, Lamia. Plus two others who tagged along last minute, but I'm betting they bail after today. So, Sis, our concert needs a new bassist. Like, urgently." Pfft.
Last, but not least, man is Alpha hot in a suit. Surely she is not hiding a ring behind her back.
