>>1379884
The brain related issues were different. One was due to being a NIKKE and the other was due to old age. They also functioned pretty differently.
The tragedy of Anne was her inability to remember those she may have come to love and who may have come to love her. Therefore her miracle was regaining the ability to remember. Nora was dying and so her memories were breaking down. Her tragedy wasn't that she was dying or losing her memory. It was that she had failed to return to her first and last love as she had promised. Nora's miracle was finally returning to her first and last love, fulfilling her promise, and allowing both their souls to pass on to the next life with no regrets holding them to this world.
Now, you're right that Anne was a character you could have bond episodes with, but Nora's story was a love story with someone that was NOT SKK. You couldn't write Nora's story if she was a NIKKE the SKK could bond with. At least, I don't think you could. The SKK is the ultimate desire of every NIKKE he bonds with. If he wasn't, that'd also be a problem.
As for the holiday tone, I think Terminus Ticket ended beautifully. Yes, it was sad. Yes, someone died. But Nora was able to "reunite" with Lucian. She was able to fulfill her promise. His "soul" had waited for her all these years and now that she had returned, both their souls could go on to the next life together. With the help of AXZ, they repeat Nora's prayer that sends Lucian and Nora safely to the next life.
It was a love story, which is a common type of Christmas experience for people in Asia IIRC.
With regards to Goddess Fall, I didn't quite feel like it ended sadly. Inherit died, but they died well. They died in a ways that they would've wanted to die. They fulfilled their purpose since coming to Eden. They died with the respect of their commander. As the Klingons would say, "Today was a good day to die."
As far as "drama mode" goes...that's kind of always been NIKKE. The story starts off very dramatic. You put a bullet in someone's head from the get go. And Rapi loses her head early on as well. Those moments had a purpose, but still comes off pretty dramatic.
>Also just wanted to point out that the event story made it a big deal that if Nora was to return to the ark then the mission would be deemed a failure due to her being the first passenger on the surface having to be returned early, but it hasn't been brought up yet that their first passenger died during the mission so it's still a failure.
Nora made a big issue about the mission failing. But she's incentivized to do that. She doesn't want to go back to the Ark. To her, it's a prison. And those aboard AZX came to understand that. Besides, if they had tried to return her back to the ARK, she may have died anyways since the only thing keeping her alive after a while was her hope of reuniting with Lucian.
Nora's mission, her journey, was to return to her true home, her only family, and her first and last love. The Ark wasn't her home. The people there were not her family. Her only friends, the ones who helped her finally return to the surface, helped bring about the miracle she had only ever dreamed about. She came home.