The last of the Black Roses? I thought there were 100 dead guys. Did a bunch of them already get used up in an earlier iteration of this cycle, or something?

Woah, the Student Council trying to do something useful for once?

The Student Council room has also gotten pretty surreal, with all those fans before and now a level crossing. Not sure how to take that, maybe the council has become further divorced from ordinary reality and is more akin to duel effects and the shadow plays?

It's interesting that this seminar is so well-known but seems to be separate from therapy elevator rumors.

The fire ties in with the fire for a corpse after a duel is lost. Maybe it's not a problem when duels are lost because the burning accomplishes something?

Ok, so Akio and Mikage are working together even though they seem to have different goals. Is the "I have no reason to obey your orders" indication that Akio is the one who gave End of the World letters to the Student Council but that Mikage's conception of the End of the World is different?

Oh, interesting, the 100 dead guys had rose seals 100 years ago or whatever, so this does feel very cyclical. But both Mikage and Mamiya are still young/younger N years later? Does that mean they found eternity somehow? Then what are they aiming at in the present?

Nemuro!Mikage's pointer vision is interesting, makes him seem Sherlock Holmes-y. Is this meant to be a glitch-in-the-matrix thing, time's not working right and cats are multiplying as indication that something's going on?

Also, Mamiya is very Anthy-coded, why is he so set on replacing her and are they related? He claims to be the investigator's brother, but they don't resemble each other.

Prominent coffins before the 100 boys seem to have died. Is this some sort of "Akio is a vampire" buildup?

Is Anthy or Mamiya-resembling-Anthy going to have been what lead to the disaster, which is why becoming a Black Rose duelist/getting possessed by a dead boy causes you to want to murder her?

It's interesting that what seems to be sabotaging the project is implied to actually be necessary fuel for the project. Did Mamiya know that, or was he manipulated into it with the opposite motivation, since he seems to reject the idea of being preserved forever? And in that case, does he currently seek to become the Rose Bride/Groom as a path to eternity or because he thinks that'll get him out of limbo and an opportunity to die in the cycle of violence?

Hmm, the investigator interacts with the shadow play this episode, even though I'd been wondering of Mikage was going to parallel Utena with his relationship with Mamiya and his pink hair. But I guess he's more Utena's shadow or mirror than a parallel, knowing too much and all. Is Tokiko going to be more than a one-episode character, then? Or is she just setting up for Mikage Black Rose-ing himself? (Her name is like "time girl" which does seem on the nose.)

Does Mamiya never go outside because he's supposed to be dead? Or is he actually dead and he's a ghost or memory that only Mikage can see? (If people never grow up at Ōtori, did that only start because Mikage's project or has that been powered by Dios in a christmas ornament all along?)