Madlax
Madlax – An assassin, head and heels above the rest. She is a deadly poison, yet irresistible to the tongue. Nothing can surpass her skill in the art of combat – except perhaps her skill in the art of deception. She will find you, she will charm you, and then she will most certainly harm you. It doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter where you are. It doesn’t even matter if you know she’s coming. Because in the end, strong or wise, rich or hardened, friend or foe, Madlax will have you eating bullets out of the palm of her hand.
Episodes
Expand / Collapse All- 1: Gun Dance
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Madlax is hired to retrieve stolen data that pertains to the Gazth-Sonika war. The man now carrying the data is a teenager named Pete, whose platoon was ambushed. His leader is captured, but he hides out in a tunnel until Madlax comes to help him escape. Pete figures out that his leader has betrayed him to save his own life. However, in the end he goes back to try to save him, and is dealt a mortal wound.
- 2: Red Moon
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Leaving Gazth-Sonika for the country of Nafrece, we’re introduced to Margaret as she drifts through high school life aided by her loyal maid Elenore. Vanessa Rene, an old neighbor of theirs who left town, moves back in next door and they renew their acquaintance. We also glimpse Bookwald, the company Vanessa and Carrossea work for, which has ties to the civil war in Gazth-Sonika.
- 3: Blue Moon
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Guen McNichol, Army Commander of Gazth-Sonika, hires Madlax to kill him in a public place. He’s sensed that someone is manipulating him and the Gazth-Sonika war behind the scenes. She assassinates him, and is almost caught by Limelda, the premier sniper of the imperial guard and an underling of Carrossea’s. Now we’ve caught glimpses of Carrossea working for everybody: Friday, the Gazth-Sonika imperial army, and Bookwald. Margaret watches these events unfold on TV at home, and is bored.
- 4: Enticement
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A girl kills her father and then herself for reasons which aren’t really explained. This girl went to Margaret’s high school, so Margaret talks to the detective on the case. The detective discovers that the notorious criminal organization Enfant was involved in the deaths. But he ignores warnings to stay out of their affairs, and all record of his existence is erased by Enfant, who brainwash him into working for them.
- 5: Non-Existent
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A boy named Chris smuggles himself into Gazth-Sonika to search for his father, the head of Galza. Madlax is hired by someone to keep him from getting himself killed. Unfortunately, she does not succeed. Instead, Friday tells Chris he does not exist, and as far as we know he doesn’t anymore. During all of this Carrossea and Limelda start sleeping together, and Carrossea meets Madlax for the first time.
- 6: Dying Wish
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Margaret is invited to a party and a boy hits on her. He is only interested in her money. She is totally clueless, and does not realize what his motivations are or even that he is hitting on her. Then he is accidentally Awakened to the latent violence within himself when he looks into her picture book, and Margaret is saved only by the timely arrival of Elenore, who turns out to be a closet martial artist.
- 7: Picture Book
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Margaret decides she wants to have a complete copy of the picture book (one page is missing; Madlax is using that page to decorate her apartment wall). Vanessa and Elenore help her hire a bibliodetective to find one. Eric (the detective) discovers that it’s written in Elies, the script of a dead language presumably spoken by an ancient civilization located where the modern-day Gazth-Sonika is. He flies to Gazth-Sonika. However, his guide is killed and Madlax is hired as his bodyguard.
- 8: Soul Words
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Eric and Madlax hear a rumor that someone in a G-S village can read Elies. Amidst much gunfire from both Galza and Enfant, they travel there and meet Quanzitta. Quanzitta tells Eric how to pronounce some of the words, and shows him some cave paintings with those words on them. In Eric’s specific case, he remembers that he had a little sister who was kidnapped, raped, and murdered. Eric shot to death all of the men responsible in an act of revenge and then forgot the whole thing.
- 9: Scent Left Behind
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Margaret & co. go to stay at a hotel that Carrossea is coincidentally also staying at. An assassin is sent by an unknown party to take out Carrossea. He fails, of course, and Limelda shoots him instead. Before the assassin is assassinated, he makes friends with Margaret so that we can see that Margaret has a “calming” effect on people. He also mentions that she “smells like Gazth-Sonika.”
- 10: Infiltration
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Carrossea decides not to tell Friday that he knows where Secondari is, and effectively starts double-crossing everybody and playing only for his own team. Vanessa’s character’s major motivating factor is a love for the truth, so she can’t in good conscience let Bookwald continue to lie to the world and contribute to war anymore. She asks and old friend to help her hack into Bookwald’s main computer and get her data she can go public with.
- 11: Foreign Nation
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Vanessa realizes someone may be targeting her and hires Madlax as a bodyguard (though she doesn’t know who she’s hired till the end of the episode, since she hires through SSS, the intermediary). Doing a little amateur spy work, she manages to get the data, and Madlax kills off the bad guys that are after her. Carrossea does cleanup work behind the scenes to keep Vanessa’s identity from Friday, since he knows she’s connected with Margaret and doesn’t want his own plans fubared.
- 12: Vanished Will
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Vanessa realizes she needs a password to access the data. Madlax warns her that if she goes public with it, she’ll die. Later the two girls bond by (probably platonically) sharing a bed and discussing Madlax’s past. Madlax exchanges bullets with Limelda, who knows through Carrossea that Madlax has the data. Note: Madlax is really good at shooting. So is Limelda, but Madlax is the one who has her own theme song. Vanessa vows that she won’t go home until she exposes the truth.
- 13: Cry of Awakening
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Vanessa tells Madlax about her past: her parents were executed on trumped-up charges of starting the civil war. Madlax returns the favor and tells Vanessa what little she can remember of her own past. Carrossea introduces himself to Margaret and they become friends (no, seriously, I’m not kidding) as he checks out Secondari. Friday gets impatient and sics Elda Taluta on Madlax.
- 14: Forgotten Thoughts
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Carrossea finds out about Madlax’s Elta Taluta incident and assumes she’s dead. Meanwhile, Carrossea realizes he and Margaret are the same, so he can’t steal the book from her. He warns her that people are after her and the book, so Elenore goes into Super Protective Mode.
- 15: False War
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Limelda is really smart and figures out that Vanessa is working with Madlax. This info gets into Friday’s hands. Quanzitta and Nakhl hang out being mysterious, in a continuation of a general mysterious-Quanzitta-and-Nakhl theme they’ve been building over the last few episodes. Madlax goes on another Elda Taluta trip and has a talk with Laetitia. She and Vanessa subsequently figure out that the entire Gazth-Sonika civil war has been set up by Enfant from beginning to end.
- 16: The Timbre of Gunshots
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Madlax realizes her entire career has been essentially meaningless. Carrossea analyses Margaret’s dreams. Vanessa and Madlax set up a meeting with a Nafrece intelligence operative who promises to make the data public and shut down Enfant.
- 17: Killing Moment
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Vanessa angsts for awhile about having shot someone. Madlax carefully explains that the man is not dead, and that furthermore even if people do die it is only because they have “failed at being alive.” Apparently Vanessa considers this a deep thought, because she repeats it several times. Madlax and Vanessa seal their friendship by promising each other that they won’t die.
- 18: Two Separated
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Limelda discovers the truth and is pissed at the universe. This causes her to fall in love with Madlax. This reinforces her desire to kill Madlax. Limelda needs therapy. Elsewhere, Madlax is researching the Elies script and runs into Nakhl, who picks a fight with her in the middle of the library and then vanishes so Madlax and Margaret can have the Significant Scene Where They Finally Meet. Also, everybody in the universe is in Gazth-Sonika now, even Charlie.
- 19: Targeted Book
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Some people try to kill Madlax again. Carrossea steals Firstari from Friday. The Madlax/Vanessa/Elenore/Margaret group visits Quanzitta and Nakhl. Quanzitta explains that the possessor of all three books can open the door to the Essence. This “possessor” is obviously going to be Margaret.
- 20: True War
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Madlax gets Elda Taluta laid on her again and figures out some of her past, which causes her confusion and angst. Then Limelda comes to kill Madlax. There are confessions of love, flying bullets, insert songs, etc. Madlax is injured. In all the confusion, Carrossea grabs Margaret and convinces her that they should open the door together and get their memories back. They go off to do just that.
- 21: Cruel Confession
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Carrossea and Margaret get all three books and open the door together. Carrossea goes through the door and finds out something devastating.
- 22: Violent Feelings
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Friday carefully explains to Laetitia that he’s going to save the human race by making everybody kill each other. Madlax discovers she has Margaret Radar, and sets off into the woods with Elenore and Vanessa to find her. However, the group quickly gets separated.
- 23: Lost Hearts
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Madlax has figured out her existence, which causes her to be invulnerable—or is it her invulnerability which causes her to figure out her existence? Meanwhile, Margaret is totally convinced Friday is her father, and they play house together. Margaret is totally insane and homicidal now, folks. Madlax and Elenore set out to find Margaret, and Elenore fires her first machine gun while screaming “I want to go see Miss Margaret!”
- 24: Devoted Heart
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Madlax shoots a bunch of people, and then apparently decides that since she’s invulnerable now, that’s become old hat and from now on she’ll have to take down at least three helicopters during every insert song. Luckily, she has also developed the magical power to say “Come here” to helicopters and have them obey.
- 25: Sacred Blood
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There are more flashbacks than the law normally allows, during one of which we finally get to see the scene where Margaret kills her father and she, Madlax, and Laetitia split into three. There is some disturbing yet incoherent imagery. Friday narrates for the audience what happened, just in case they didn’t catch it. Then he explains to Margaret that she should open the Door for him, because it turns out you need two eyes to do so for some reason.
- 26: Shards
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Margaret, Madlax, and Laetitia sort out their issues and integrate. Now they all have one body. Friday comes back into the picture and explains that Margaret has to tell the entire world that humanity is warped. Margaret points out that she already knows this, but feels sorry for Madlax since Madlax is the only one on Earth who feels bad about it.
