18. Chi disappears

A striking break in rhythm for this episode of high dramatic tension: Chi disappears, plunging Hideki into immediate anguish that clashes violently with the gentler tone of the preceding episodes. This disappearance, whose causes are gradually uncovered over the course of the episode, suddenly crystallizes everything Hideki may have refused to admit to himself until now: just how central Chi has become to his life, and how unbearable the idea of losing her is to him. The search for Chi across Tokyo allows the series to multiply scenes of tension, but also to revisit secondary characters encountered in earlier episodes, some of whom turn out to be involved, directly or indirectly, in this episode's events. Thematically, this disappearance functions as a brutal revealer of Hideki's real attachment, previously expressed only half-said or through gentle comedy, which now shows itself without detour, in urgency and fear. It is also one of the episodes that brings the series most directly face to face with its central mystery: why has Chi disappeared, and is this disappearance connected to the true nature — still unresolved at this stage — of this Persocom unlike any other? A pivotal episode that lays the emotional groundwork for the series' final stretch.