Angel Sanctuary 19

I didn’t think it was possible, but after 19 volumes, we’ve moved into some sketchy comprehension territory once again.  All the stuff happening here sort of revolves around vague questions I’ve had throughout the entire series, but they haven’t really been important until just now.

We’ve seen a few shots of Alexiel sitting in a chair naked up to now, but here we learn this is because she was being kept prisoner there in Etenamenki, in the Garden of Eden.  The Garden had the Tree of Knowledge, which sealed her powers away so she couldn’t use them.  She was also forced (?) to dine on the fruit of the tree, which was nourished by a piece of the flesh of Adam Kadamon, her mother.  Thus, not only was she committing the sin of eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, she was also consuming her own mother’s flesh.  But she was being forced to do this?  Anyone else forced to eat the fruit is driven mad, and apparently this happens frequently around her.  When she is forced to mercy kill these people, she is again called a callous monster.  Lucifer busts in on her one day to sully her and make God hate him, but he sees how good Alexiel actually is.

Okay.  So Alexiel lives for the fight, and apparently has no other feelings besides a love of battle and slaying demons.  No other feelings, that is, except a love for God, mentioned some time ago.  She was the more beautiful of the pair of twins, and it’s revealed that Rosiel was actually born the polar opposite of her, an old, wrinkled lump of flesh, and he only looks beautiful because he’s taken flesh from Alexiel’s body, which regenerates instantly on her anyway and serves to make him look more beautiful.  Everyone, including Alexiel, rejected Rosiel, except God.  Rosiel was beloved by God.  And God rejected Alexiel despite the fact she was the daughter of Adam Kadamon and loved him.  So… she was imprisoned in Eden BECAUSE she loved God?  It wasn’t revealed how she escaped, nor what the fight between Rosiel and she involving the Nanatsusaya explained yet, though I get the feeling it wasn’t a fight born of hatred.  This is driving me crazy, because the entire plot in this volume, and really, the whole series, revolves around these questions.  I think I’ve got it straight, and hopefully the last volume will firm things up and answer some of the questions about the more… ambiguous aspects.

There is a fight between Lucifer and Setsuna.  It wasn’t as spectacular as I would have hoped.  I thought for a moment Lucifer slayed Setsuna outright due to the fact Alexiel’s powers were restricted in the Garden… but stuff happens.  Alexiel takes over Setsuna’s consciousness briefly during the fight.  This is something I thought would happen before now, and I was actually expecting the two to merge body and soul at some point.  Alexiel explains this hasn’t happened because Setsuna has more feelings than she ever could as the Organic Angel who loves fighting and violence.  I don’t know.

Okay, so Raphael wasn’t actually in Etenamenki with the others, so they were missing two of the Elemental Angels.  Now they’re only missing one.  Part of me wonders if Raphael will make it, but the other part knows that nobody ever dies, and he’s not in any immediate danger.  Maybe something awesome will happen though, and Belial will come from nowhere and lop his hed off or something.

In any case, I don’t think this will be a very happy ending.