IKKYU SOUJUN SPOILER!
IS
Ikkyu Soujun leads the I-jin and gives their campaign its purpose. He regards modern humanity as selfish, foolish and unworthy of the world it occupies, so the historical geniuses gathered around him are not being revived merely to conquer it. Ikkyu intends to remove most of humanity altogether.
His plan depends on reconstructing Ludwig van Beethoven's lost Death Symphony and broadcasting the performance from a high-altitude rocket so its suicidal effect can reach the world below. The stolen books and manuscripts pursued throughout the OVA are pieces of that larger plan.
Ikkyu is also personally tied to Nancy. Another Mata Hari-derived Nancy remains at his side while the Nancy working with Yomiko infiltrates the British Library. That relationship becomes his blind spot. During the final launch he believes his Nancy has won their confrontation, only to discover too late that Yomiko's partner survived and has taken her place.
He can imagine humanity as something to erase. He is much worse at understanding the individual human attachments forming underneath his own plan.
His plan depends on reconstructing Ludwig van Beethoven's lost Death Symphony and broadcasting the performance from a high-altitude rocket so its suicidal effect can reach the world below. The stolen books and manuscripts pursued throughout the OVA are pieces of that larger plan.
Ikkyu is also personally tied to Nancy. Another Mata Hari-derived Nancy remains at his side while the Nancy working with Yomiko infiltrates the British Library. That relationship becomes his blind spot. During the final launch he believes his Nancy has won their confrontation, only to discover too late that Yomiko's partner survived and has taken her place.
He can imagine humanity as something to erase. He is much worse at understanding the individual human attachments forming underneath his own plan.
IKKYU THROUGH THE ARCHIVE //
I-JIN CONSPIRACY & SYMPHONY //
Open page →The Rocket · Beethoven · A Worldwide Performance
The stolen books, reconstructed historical figures and I-jin fortress all converge on one plan. Ikkyu intends to launch Ludwig van Beethoven aboard a rocket and have him perform the completed Death Symphony from high altitude, allowing the music to be transmitted across the world.
The rocket is not the weapon by itself. It is the delivery system for Beethoven.
That distinction matters because destroying the fortress does not automatically stop the plan. Once the rocket launches, Yomiko has to continue the pursuit aboard it and stop the performance directly.
The rocket is not the weapon by itself. It is the delivery system for Beethoven.
That distinction matters because destroying the fortress does not automatically stop the plan. Once the rocket launches, Yomiko has to continue the pursuit aboard it and stop the performance directly.
Why it matters
Ikkyu's scheme gives the OVA a wonderfully R.O.D version of an apocalypse. The final weapon is not a bomb. It is a resurrected composer, a lost piece of music and enough technology to make the entire world listen.
Historical Figures Recreated as Superhuman Operatives
The I-jin are recreated historical figures whose famous achievements have been exaggerated into superhuman abilities and pulp-science weapons. R.O.D brings back inventors, scientists, explorers, religious figures and artists, then turns whatever made each person famous into part of an action story.
Gennai Hiraga arrives with spectacular electrical weaponry. Jean-Henri Fabre commands insects. Otto Lilienthal takes to the sky. Genjo Sanzo is transformed through the imagery surrounding his legendary journey. Stephen Wilcox becomes part of the machinery supporting the I-jin fortress. Ludwig van Beethoven is revived because his music is the final weapon Ikkyu needs.
Nancy makes the idea more complicated. She is also an I-jin, derived from Mata Hari, but spends most of the story inside the British Library operation.
WHAT THE OVA DOES NOT EXPLAIN:
R.O.D gives enough information to understand that these people have been recreated and altered, but it does not provide a complete technical system for how every I-jin is made. The abilities are built around the historical figure, not around a detailed rulebook.
Gennai Hiraga arrives with spectacular electrical weaponry. Jean-Henri Fabre commands insects. Otto Lilienthal takes to the sky. Genjo Sanzo is transformed through the imagery surrounding his legendary journey. Stephen Wilcox becomes part of the machinery supporting the I-jin fortress. Ludwig van Beethoven is revived because his music is the final weapon Ikkyu needs.
Nancy makes the idea more complicated. She is also an I-jin, derived from Mata Hari, but spends most of the story inside the British Library operation.
WHAT THE OVA DOES NOT EXPLAIN:
R.O.D gives enough information to understand that these people have been recreated and altered, but it does not provide a complete technical system for how every I-jin is made. The abilities are built around the historical figure, not around a detailed rulebook.
Ikkyu's plan revolves around a supposedly lost composition by Ludwig van Beethoven known as the Death Symphony. Within the OVA, hearing the completed piece causes people to kill themselves.
That is why the I-jin are stealing rare books and manuscripts rather than conventional weapons. The material hidden inside them is being gathered so Beethoven's lost work can be restored and performed.
The final stage is brutally simple. Recreate Beethoven, give him the completed music, raise the performance high enough to reach a worldwide audience, and let humanity destroy itself.
That is why the I-jin are stealing rare books and manuscripts rather than conventional weapons. The material hidden inside them is being gathered so Beethoven's lost work can be restored and performed.
The final stage is brutally simple. Recreate Beethoven, give him the completed music, raise the performance high enough to reach a worldwide audience, and let humanity destroy itself.
Why it matters
The Death Symphony turns R.O.D's obsession with books and lost culture into the actual threat. The same history the British Library exists to preserve can be weaponized when the wrong people decide what humanity deserves.
The Partner Yomiko Trusts Becomes Part of the I-jin Trap
The OVA spends enough time making Nancy feel like Yomiko's natural partner that her apparent betrayal lands as something personal rather than another spy-story twist. Nancy has fought beside her, protected her and become the person Yomiko trusts most during the mission.
Inside the I-jin fortress, that trust is turned against Yomiko. Nancy appears to deliver her into Ikkyu's hands, and Yomiko is forced to confront the possibility that their entire partnership was manufactured.
Then the story reveals the missing piece: there are two Nancys.
Inside the I-jin fortress, that trust is turned against Yomiko. Nancy appears to deliver her into Ikkyu's hands, and Yomiko is forced to confront the possibility that their entire partnership was manufactured.
Then the story reveals the missing piece: there are two Nancys.
Why it matters
The betrayal works because Yomiko never responds to Nancy as an intelligence problem. Even after everything points toward treachery, her first instinct is still to find her. That loyalty is what carries Yomiko through the final episode.
She Stops Ikkyu, Then Refuses to Leave Him Alone
Nancy ultimately turns Ikkyu's confidence against him, kills him aboard the rocket and helps stop the plan she had once served.
Yomiko still tries to save her.
She prepares to escape the doomed rocket with Nancy, but Nancy stays behind with Ikkyu's body. Her final decision does not erase what he did or excuse her part in the conspiracy. It shows that killing him did not erase whatever she once felt for him either.
Yomiko still tries to save her.
She prepares to escape the doomed rocket with Nancy, but Nancy stays behind with Ikkyu's body. Her final decision does not erase what he did or excuse her part in the conspiracy. It shows that killing him did not erase whatever she once felt for him either.
Why it matters
That contradiction is the point. Nancy can choose Yomiko over Ikkyu, kill Ikkyu to stop him, and still refuse to let him die alone. R.O.D allows her final act to be emotionally messy instead of cleaning her into either traitor or redeemed hero.
