This section deals with the third OAV, Message, armor. This armor is different than the main focus of the site, but it still has some interesting properties to me. I feel it's important to note this armor for two reasons. One, it's Rowen. It's a part of him. Second, it looks pretty dang cool. It throws out all my color theory symbology, but it still keeps its wind and heaven properties. Really, though, I need a place to sort out thoughts on Message!
In the second OAV, Legend of the Inferno Armor,
the Ronin use the power of their virtues to destroy the white armor.
The white armor was dangerous without a virtue and they needed to do
something. So, banding together, the Ronin use their virtues to defeat
the Inferno Armor. In the third OAV, Message, the Ronin are incapable
of using their armor, or rather they haven't used it since that day.
Perhaps they were unable to summon it. However, they do keep some of
their abilities, Rowen can still create energy barriers to protect
himself. He still has super speed and strength. He still values
knowledge. When he finds a play that details their lives, he starts to
think that something might draw them back into the fighting. Rowen's
virtue will always exist in his heart. He will always study and move
forward. He will always work to uncover everything. He volunteers to go check everything out and get back to the guys.
This is one reason he goes to check out the
current events. He feels that something will be happening and he wants
to check it out before he worries the guys. He calls Ryo and leaves a
long and heartfelt message. He notes that he sounds crazy, but that he
is completely sane. He sends the play he found to Ryo so that the guys
can see his discovery. Unfortunately, he is taken into Suznagi's world
and is trapped there. In his virtue he explains everything he knows
about the armor. I feel he did this as a way to understand why she
hates the armor. When given the change he still summons the golden bow
from his armor. When Suzunagi tells him to shoot her and end her
suffering, Rowen refuses to do it because he doesn't
understand why. He won't do it until he understands everything. He
can't make the decision. He won't. Most likely because
there is a solution they can get to with more information.
Rowen is the first to go missing because he
finds a play that details his life, this disturbs him. He has to check
it out. He tends to see signs in things that others might not. The
plays ending of the armor being destroyed and everything falling into
darkness led him to his conclusions that something would be happening
again and he had to check it out. He drew this conclusion from the idea that the play had been written more than 150 years ago but detailed
their battles, thoughts, and friendship. Rowen was worried. Most
interesting, I find is that of the five guys, Rowen is the only one
that does not willingly summon the armor. Suzunagi summons it. He tries to get her to stop, but she forces the summon and he is then
seen in the armor. Rowen is usually calm and composed but the thought
of summoning the armor and being forced to wear it put strain on his
mind. The guys start having nightmares about him. I find this
interesting because Rowen usually has a deeper understanding of events. He tends to know what he needs to do and how to do it. His lack of
information made him unable to act right away. His surprise was often
clear when something happened. He was shocked to see pictures of armor
and realized almost immediately that Suzunagi had intended to summon
his armor. I feel that he was perfectly content to try and reason and
explain thing to her to try and find a solution without using
his armor. In fact, he had accepted responsibility for all past battles and understood there was no way to change that. They did what they had
to do in the moment and surviving had always been the goal. Rowen would fight against his own armor if it meant survival (for himself and the
mortal realm). That's just the way he did things. It's why he went
alone to check things out - no need to get the guys involved if he can
solve it himself.
After Ryo steps in and accepts his armor, he
calls the guys to his side. Together, they end up taking Suzunagi to
the graveyard of all the people who resisted the dark call of the
armor. Suzunagi's mother explains that people's hearts have good and
love in them and that there will always be light in the world. When
Suzunagi understands that her mother loves her and that people care
enough about her to help her, she gives the new armor to the guys.
Rowen is seen flying through the air without a protective bubble. He
can simply fly now. Ryo states that as long as they have love in their
hearts that all will be well. I like this for two reasons. One, the
initial armor was originally made and given virtue but was originally
part of Talpa's evil body and thoughts. Suzunagi's was created out of
the desire for light and love. This new armor should not have the will
to battle as much as the others, it should have the will to love,
protect, and carry on. It should not lead to destruction. Second, have
I mentioned that it looks pretty dang cool? Basically, I think that the new armor was created to better suit the guys' virtues without having
to take into the account of the years of evil the others had been
subject too.
