He was just a boy, who fell in love with a girl who was just a video game character brought to life.
One of the craziest subplots in Heroes Reborn revolves around Katana Girl’s (Kiki Sukezane) Tron-like story. We first met her in episode one where gamer Ren Shimosawa (Toru Uchikado) arrives at her Tokyo condo after finishing a high level in the online MMORPG EverNow. Despite rocky beginnings Ren stays true to Miko Otomo as he aids her in her quest in both the real world and in the virtual one.
He manages to help her inside the Yamagato building and is the one who notices that Erica Kravid (Rya Kihlstedt) has Hiro’s (Masi Oka) Kensei sword. He recruits help from gamers from all around the world to get them to Midian, Colorado and even orchestrates a cover for them to get into the Renautas campus via cosplayers invasion. Question is, how does he manage to get Miko a passport? I doubt there was one just sitting in her apartment…
Anyways, they somehow fool TSA and make it to Colorado. After some sneaking around, the two meet HRG (Jack Coleman) and Quentin (Henry Zebrowski) in the super secret basement where the Renautas scientists have been sending stuff to the future. We learned first learned that she wasn’t the real Miko here and that going back into EverNow to complete her mission would likely mean her death. Still, Katana Girl went back inside and freed Hiro Nakamura who then was able to take Noah to the past.
But what happened to her? Turns out she somehow got sent 7k+ years in the future to where Erica’s new city “Gateway” is. You know who else is there? Hachiro Otomo (Hiro Kanagawa) and the REAL Miko who seems to be in an induced coma (ala how the captured Evos are). The reunion between father and virtual daughter was short-lived however as he tells her to find the master of time and space to receive her final mission. Katana Girl is confused because she thought she had already freed him! She did free Hiro, but now that he no longer has his powers, Tommy/Nathan is the new master. Before they are separated once more the two share a touching moment when virtual Miko tells Hachiro that she’d always felt different but that a man had found her and treated her as if she was special. Awww!!! Her father nods and says that he sent Ren to her. But then he calls the guards on her likely to maintain his own cover.
Let’s take a moment though to notice that for all of the craziness that Renautas has done, Miko 1.0 is incredibly well groomed with a stylish haircut and makeup. I’m assuming that she has been in this sleep-induced state since she was a child after her tragic accident to have Hachiro do their bidding.
Lucky for Katana Girl that Tommy/Nathan (Robbie Kay) happened to take a field trip 7,957 years into the future with Erica, Q, and Phoebe (Aislinn Paul) so that the young man could see for himself that Renautas was trying to save mankind. After touring the expansive facility he agrees to help Erica and the CEO feels that she’s successfully manipulated him. In a sign of trust, she tells Quentin and the Shadow to go back to the present because she trusts Tommy. Also she wants Phoebe to find Malina (Danika Yarosh) and probably kill her of course. Just as the Frady siblings are sent back, Katana Girl shows up and disarms the guards to make her way to Tommy. She tells him that it’s her mission to free him and that they must go now. Thankfully this seems to bring him back from crazy land and he teleports them outta there. Erica’s enraged expression is priceless in this scene!
Meanwhile back in the present, Ren is still in Midian after escaping Renautas and has been trying to log back into EverNow to find out what happened to Miko. He sees a man dressed in samurai armor like Hachiro wore in the video game and rushes after him. He then gets led inside what appears to be a dojo where people are practicing kendo. The man reveals himself to be a construct sent by the real Hachiro who is in the future. The construct then tells Ren that he has a new mission and that is to save Miko who is dying. Does he mean Katana Girl or the real Miko?? Faux Hachiro says that he must go to the future by finding a time traveler and gives him the glyph necklace that looks an awful lot like what The Haitian had been wearing (it is supposedly a key). Ren needs to head to Odessa where the gateway between present and the future is located in order to be sent to the future with the others.
As luck is on his side as well, a bus pulls up shortly that is heading to Odessa and Ren is able to get in. He’s now on a quest to save his ladylove. Before they were separated, he had finally confessed that he loved her and she answered with the classic line, “I know.” I wonder though if it’s possible for Hachiro to somehow transplant the memories of Katana Girl into the actual human Miko so that the two can have a shot at a real relationship. Though Ren, let’s be real you are probably in love with the idea of being in love with a construct who has an all-important mission to help save the world. But shucks I’m rooting for you crazy kids.
Now the question is whether Tommy and Katana Girl have gone back to the present or are they still at some point in the future? We don’t know whether they time traveled or just teleported to a different location inside the Gateway facility. Also how will Ren find them and how does the glyph necklace fit into all of this? And what has happened to the Kensei sword? It wasn’t with Hiro when he was freed and Miko didn’t have it in the future either.
With only three episodes left in the mini-series we’ll have to wait to find out what happens next once the holiday break is over!
You can catch up on past episodes HERE.
Heroes Reborn airs on NBC, Thursdays 7/8 central.
