Year 2557
We were on a 500 light year journey from the third planet of the Petelgius system, Zaltzu, to the Earth.
Our mission was to safely carry cargo to the Earth.
Who's on the bridge?
Makimura.
Go back! Seal this passageway!
We'll have to get to the cockpit another way.
Yes Sir!
Was Makimura sleeping or something?
What happened, Makimura?
What happened?
Makimura!
Makimura.
He killed himself.
Aware of his on setting madness, he strapped himself to his seat.
So he developed Space Madness?
But considering his experience, it would be hard to imagine...
Take a look at this, Commander
The damage is horrific.
It looks like a meteorite pierced our ship.
The damage looks considerable.
Check the extent.
On the double!
Yes Sir!
The second and third engines are badly damaged.
The generator, fuel tank and parts of the right and bottom plants as well as the left plant are irreparable.
There are fissures on the fusion reactor and boosters. The sub nozzle is lost. Radiation is contaminating the area.
Is there any chance of repair?
Not with all that radiation.
Commander, the navigational system has shutdown.
The ship's course has been changed due to the collision.
We cannot correct it.
Damn it! What a disaster...
All crew to the escape pods.
We are abandoning ship.
I'm going
to be killed.
I'm going
to be killed.
Makimura
I'm going
to be killed.
Makimura
Phoenix – Space Chapter –
Roll call...
Saruta?
Present.
Kizaki?
Present.
Ichinomiya?
Present.
Everyone's here...
But it is unfortunate that this situation has come about...
We will be drifting in space with only 6 months supply of food and oxygen.
After that, our fate will be in the hands of the God.
Our chances of making it to Earth are near impossible but...
Try and do your best.
Damn it, I don't want to talk badly of someone who's dead but if only what happened to Makimura didn't happen...
There's something that I must tell you all.
It appears that Makimura didn't commit suicide. Someone killed him.
There was a message left on the computer that said
"I'm going to be killed. Makimura."
He probably typed the message when he felt that he was in danger.
Which was unnoticed by his killer.
Makimura was killed?
I don't believe it!
Why would someone want to kill him?
I don't know.
But what I do know is that the killer may be one of us.
That can't be! H...how dreadful!
I trust you all as fellow crewmen.
But I don't know you all personally enough to say that I can trust you fully.
So I guess I'm the main suspect.
Well, that's to be expected since everyone knew I hated Makimura...
You two were both after Nana weren't you?
I don't want to hear about it!
Stop it!
Please stop it...
I'm sorry to have upset you, Nana.
Why do we have to talk about these things?
Like who's the killer or who killed whom?
Nana's right.
With all of this finger pointing, we've made everyone suspicious of one another.
I'm sorry. I'll leave it at that.
Let's all calm down.
Huh?
Commander, something is closing in from behind.
Use the computer to do a scan.
It's...
Makimura's escape pod.
It can't be. Makimura's dead.
Who's in it?
Calling Makimura escape pod!
Come in, Makimura!
Do you receive me? This is Commander Jounouchi!
If you receive me, please respond!
It must be Makimura's ghost.
Makimura... Are you alive?
Or dead?
However there was no response...
The escape pod just continued to follow us in silence.
Before long, weeks had passed...
When eventually a serious problem occurred.
Kizaki's escape pod had begun to drift away from our course.
Kizaki, good luck!
Don't give up hope!
I'm not worried at all...
...would be a lie, Commander.
I'm scared...
Scared of being alone. I don't want to be alone.
We'll be losing radio contact soon.
Do you have anything else you wish to say to us?
Just one thing.
Nana...
I understand. I'll switch off my COMM.
Me too.
Nana, I wanted to hear from you that you loved me, just at least once.
I'm sorry, Kizaki.
But I cannot betray my feelings.
I see...
What happened between us? We were getting along perfectly up until we left Zarutsu.
Do you remember those days?
Well, I guess we won't see this scenery for sometime.
Missing it already? I'm not going to miss it at all.
Because you'll be with me.
Going to Earth has been my dream ever since I was a child.
I'm sure that a more marvelous place awaits us.
Watch out!
Wow, that was close!
Are you ok?
You saved us.
Thank you.
Hang on, are you cadets from the Zarutsu base?
Yes we are. So you're from the base too.
I'm Makimura. We might be on the same mission someday. Well, until then.
Then it was a few days later when the members for the mission to Earth were announced.
He was chosen as well.
It was after that time when you quickly became close to him.
I admit that he was probably better than me. More intelligent and skilled.
But...
To tell you the truth, I wasn't pleased about you getting closer to him.
What are you two doing?
Are you all right, Makimura?
What are you trying to do, Kizaki?
I was scared of losing you to him.
I had told you many times how I felt about you...
And I thought that our feelings were mutual...
Yes, I had the same feelings for you...
...until a certain incident occurred and I lost all my trust in you.
No, please! Don't talk about it!
It was the fifteenth year after departing from Zarutsu when it happened.
Please stop!
All else is normal.
And I think that it's best if you perform the ESP check each month.
That is all.
Understood.
Well then, I'm going back into stasis.
Wait a minute! Why are you in such a hurry?
We haven't seen each other for four years.
It wouldn't hurt to stay and chat for a little while would it?
But the stasis capsule is set to activate in fifteen minutes time.
Then just reset it.
You always take your time whenever you're alone with Makimura right?
What are you implying?
So you deny it?
Of course. He hands me the data and then just goes into stasis.
Nothing goes on besides that.
Well I can't tell if you're telling me the truth or not because I'm always in stasis whenever he's out of stasis.
Nana...
Do you swear that there's nothing going on between the two of you?
You're hurting me. Let go!
I think that Makimura's a wonderful man.
But he's a loner...
Who can't open up to anyone.
Humph, it's all just an act...
just to get your attention.
That's enough. I've had enough of this.
I'm tired...
Goodnight.
I returned to the stasis capsule but for some reason I was unable to go into stasis immediately.
Awhile after that, you entered the room...
Kizaki?
Nana?
You tried to kill Makimura didn't you?
I'm going to alert everyone.
No don't do it! Please don't!
I didn't record it into the logbook but the Commander and Saruta suspected something.
My feelings for you ended at that point.
But I'll tell you this...
Nothing like what you imagined had ever happened between Makimura and I.
Goodbye, Kizaki...
Have you finished, Kizaki?
Yes sir.
Your reception has become quite weak.
We will soon lose all communications with you.
This is where we part.
Farewell, Kizaki.
Commander, please find the cause of Makimura's death.
Understood.
I'll find the truth behind all of this.
You hang in there, Kizaki. Alright?
Kizaki!
He's no longer on the radar.
However, Makimura's pod is still following us...
Makimura...
He was a man with many secrets...
Did he ever tell you that story?
The one about the phoenix?
Phoenix? No, what's that?
Before he came to Zarutsu, he was dispatched to a certain small planet.
This is where the story took place...
He said that he was obtaining minerals for analysis.
He received what would be considered a fatal wound...
...but because he was covered by that mysterious bird's bright dust, he came back to life.
He said that he had become immortal and that he would not age.
Makimura kept quiet about this secret to most people...
I guess nobody would believe him if he told them anyway.
Indeed, nobody would. Immortality and eternal youth...
Thinking about it...he told me a story but it was totally different to yours, Commander.
It was immediately after we begun our journey when I was advising him about
being wary as to not do anything with Nana which would aggravate Kizaki.
But Makimura said this to me...
Don't worry.
I do love Nana without a doubt.
But no matter how I feel, we can never be together.
Why?
Do you promise not to tell a soul?
It depends on what you say.
This is a photograph of me taken ten years ago.
I don't look the same do I?
No you don't.
In what way do I look different?
In what way you ask? Why, you look much younger now.
That's not really you is it?
No, it's truly me.
I've become younger.
And it has become clear to me that I continue to become younger.
Impossible!
It is the side effect of a particular medicine.
Since then, my body has reversed its process and I grow younger by the day.
Unbelievable...
So are you saying that you'll eventually become an infant?
I don't know.
But the thought of becoming so frightens me.
It was an unbelievable story.
But even so, I began to watch him closely.
However, I saw no indication of him becoming younger.
So I thought that I had just been played as a complete sucker.
Well, with him dead in a mummified state...
I guess that it all that talk was really a load of rubbish.
You're wrong.
Makimura isn't dead.
What do you mean, Nana?
Do you know something, Ichinomiya?
I saw it...
It was the time around when we had passed the Prilla system.
The two of us were together doing some checks. We were running tests as to be cautious.
There's a slight dispersion of barium but it's within tolerable levels.
We'd better do a recheck.
Cathode nodes at 3.61. Barium at 200.
Neither Makimura nor I said a word.
But from what I saw...
His body was not that of a human...
Then what was that corpse on the bridge?
I don't know.
But that wasn't Makimura.
It was someone else.
Makimura's still alive.
I'm sure that he's alive somewhere.
So are you saying that there was someone else apart from us onboard the ship...
...who died in Makimura's place?
That has to be it! There's no other explanation for it.
Months had passed from that time.
We were drawn towards an unknown fixed star.
Saruta, take a look at the monitor.
What is it?
A bird? In the middle of space?
Was it a hallucination?
No. It might've been that Phoenix that Makimura spoke of.
Fortunately, instead of continuing our drift towards the star, we were pulled towards a remote planet.
I don't know which planet it is, but let's pray that we reach the surface safely.
Listen up! Upon entering the planet's atmosphere, activate the shielding.
The timing is vital. Don't make a mistake.
Now!
Commander!
Damn it! It won't activate.
Commander!
The planet's atmosphere was similar to the Earth's. There was also an abundance of water.
I miraculously survived.
I began to search for Nana in the hope that she too had survived.
It's Makimura's pod. So it had made it safely too.
Makimura.
Makimura. I'm going to open the hatch.
Did you hear me?
Nana...
Nana!
Wh-who are you?
I am but a traveler of the stars.
So you aren't an inhabitant of this planet?
This planet has no name. It's a place for those who have been condemned to exile.
A place for the exiled?
You were brought here by mistake.
Only Makimura was destined to be here.
Makimura you say?
So he didn't die?
He won't ever die. Or to be precise, he cannot die.
It is a befitting punishment for his sin.
Punishment? Sin? I don't have any idea what you're talking about.
Tell me, he... Makimura, what exactly did he do?
It all began on the planet Flemil.
He arrived on the planet to conduct a resource survey.
The inhabitants of Flemil welcomed them with open arms.
Makimura, the people here are quite hospitable aren't they?
If it wasn't for their bird feet, I would've liked to take one of them for my bride.
Not on your life! Looking at those feet repulse me.
I want to get these trials over and done with and get the hell out of this planet.
One day, an accident occurred within the ship during a matter analysis.
All of the crew except for Makimura, who was luckily working elsewhere, perished along with the destruction of the ship.
With no chance of ever returning back to Earth, Makimura was overcome with despair.
Leave me be! What would you birds know about how humans feel?!
Get out of here!
A Flemil girl took care of him.
Her name was Rada.
It was she who made him better.
And he became at peace with himself.
The two fell in love and their lives were bliss.
Makimura, who once despised the Flemil people, was a changed man.
A year had passed...
Makimura received a message from Earth,
And he was notified of the dispatchment of a rescue ship.
Makimura was exuberant.
Upon learning the news, Rada pleaded with him to as to not to return.
But it all fell onto deaf ears.
All of her pleading wore thin with Makimura and it angered him.
And Makimura reverted back to his former self.
In a fit of despair, Rada destroyed the communications device.
That is when Makimura went into a killer rage.
What am I hesitating about?
They're nothing but pathetic birds.
These eyesores must be eradicated.
These drumsticks smell good.
For those who came to investigate after hearing the gunfire came across a horrific scene.
Then Makimura began to kill the Flemil people like a madman.
He thought of them as nothing but beasts.
Humph, so there were still survivors.
Makimura.
You must be punished for your atrocities.
Don't make me laugh.
Remember this, you will be punished.
What the hell was that?
As he had wanted, he returned back to Earth burdened with his sins.
I can't believe that he did such a thing.
Over time, his punishment had slowly begun to take an effect.
His body was growing younger.
But the thought of becoming growing young frightens me.
That can't be. I observed him closely and he showed no signs of change.
He concealed it.
By creating an artificial body resembling himself.
At that time, his body was the same as a four year old.
While he was still able, he left that message.
It was then when the accident occurred.
And he boarded his escape pod.
All that was left on the bridge was the artificial body.
Makimura was following you in his pod.
Unbelievable.
So he was in that pod?
Is he on this planet now?
Yes.
He will forever be on this planet.
He has completed his reversion cycle.
He has now begun his growth cycle.
Once that has been completed, he will once again begin to grow young.
This will continue eternally.
Not matter how much he wishes for death he would never be able to do so.
Forever on this planet. How ghastly.
It is a suitable punishment for one who has no consideration for other life in this universe.
However, you were brought here by chance.
I will send you to Earth.
You're the...
The Phoenix.
Nana!
Saruta.
You're alive.
Ah, here you are.
I've been looking for you everywhere.
So this is Makimura?
So what the Phoenix said was true.
You met the Phoenix too.
It came here before and told me everything about Makimura.
What a horrid story don't you think?
To be eternally punished.
Do you know what they are Saruta?
Hmmm, they look like some kind of plant.
Yes they do, but they aren't.
They are what remain of people of various planets who strayed onto this planet.
They initially coped with the elements but eventually they could no longer do so.
So they asked for metamorphosis.
They told me that it was the best way to survive these terrible conditions.
We've become friends with them.
Look they are feeding him.
How long do you plan to take care of him?
The Phoenix said that it would send us to Earth.
Let's go.
Makimura must stay on this planet.
But you don't.
There's no point in sacrificing yourself for him.
I can't leave this child.
Makimura cannot die.
He'll grow old and then grow young again.
And this will continue forever, whether or not you're here.
But it's not the same with you.
You'll just grow old and die.
It'd be pointless to stay.
Think of your future Nana. Let's go.
I...I love you. I've been in love with you for a long time.
I'm sorry Saruta.
When I knew of Makimura's fate, I decided in my heart that I would stay here till my death.
No! That's certain death. I won't allow you to throw you life away like that.
I'm not throwing my life away. I want to stay.
Please let me do as I please.
No. I won't let you do this.
You're coming with me even if I have to drag you.
Stay here! I'm going to get your things.
Nana!
Saruta.
Saruta!
Who is it?
Is it you Phoenix?
It's you isn't it?
Take Nana and I to Earth.
I can no longer take Nana to Earth.
What? So you've hidden her?
Damn you! Bring her here right now!
Nana is before your eyes.
Absurd. Are you telling me that this is Nana?
This?
Nana wished to become so.
Why did she turn into such a thing?
Nana!
You tried to kill Makimura.
You wretched bird! Change Nana back! Bring her back!
You must be punished.
You and your descendants will forever wear this wretched face as a reminder of your sin.
Furthermore, your descendants will be destined to forever wander the universe.
No, no!