Extinction Party

* Episode
* JPN dub
* Teaser

***Extinction Party*** is the second episode of the *ENA* animated series.

## Plot

The episode starts with an empty animated background before abruptly introducing Ena in front the foreground. She asks Keeper if she could enter the Maze to find Moony and give urgent information to her. Keeper states, somewhat discriminatorily, that her exterior isn't up to their community's typical standards and asks her to present a blood sample immediately. Ena turns sad and responds that she felt rudeness in their sentence before changing into her sadder form. She asks Keeper to shoot her, having a meltdown and spinning around the screen while crying frantically. But she immediately regains her composure and returns to her happy state, explaining that the guardian's safety concerns are valid but reiterating that her mission is very important to accomplish. After the explanation, Keeper calculates her threat level, with the calculation being terminated when Ena is determined to be safe. They tell Ena to shut up and go in peace, to which Ena thanks them and enters the Maze.

Ena wanders the hallways of the maze and soon encounters Merci, approaching her in a cutscene-style interaction. She greets her dramatically, and via a fake translation in the video, Merci greets her back and assumes she's on a special quest. Ena affirms her assumption and asks for directions, to which Merci answers that she needs to leap straight ahead and dance to the right. Ena thanks her, ending the conversation. Ena follows Merci's directions and encounters a portal that leads to a small room with Rubik in it. Ena approaches Rubik, stating in a pun that their appearance is quite puzzling, before Rubik's face is revealed and they become annoyed, demanding privacy and shooing her away. Ena complies and walks into the portal behind them to another part of the Maze. She walks through a hallway filled with green fog before encountering Robert in another cutscene-style interaction. Robert pops up from their U.F.O. and, via another fake translation in the video, acknowledges that Ena is searching for Moony and sorrowfully gives her advice on how to reach the Moon, saying that she has to take the dizzying path behind them. They suggest that she shouldn't go with an untrained mind, as she could die as a result, before disappearing in a bright wave of light. Ena feels disheartened but presses on.

Ena follows the dizzying path leading to Moony; the path has more green fog, and a pink mesh hand appears to gesture for Ena to head forward. Ena then climbs a stairway leading to a giant eye. Inside, she finds a dark starry room with Moony floating in the center. Ena approaches Moony to talk to her, causing the Moon to become quite surprised at her visiting before laughing and spouting a nonsensical one-liner. The perspective shifts to a drunk Ena, speaking with slow, slurred words as she expresses her confusion about Moony's joke as well as the world around her, proclaiming, "everything here is so weird!", all the while temporarily transforming into different forms. Moony grunts, rolls her eyes, and asks if she's "drunk again", implying that this has occurred before. Ena returns to her happy state, repudiating her drunkenness profusely and clarifying that she came to visit in order to deliver a gift to Moony.

At first, Moony is unimpressed, as Ena's hands are empty, but she then gasps in realization. The camera zooms into Ena's palms until the line art becomes a black background. Moony appears in the void and proclaims that she is the gift after all, and Ena smiles at her.

## Trivia

* This is the first episode to use fullscreen formatting rather than being fully in a 4:3 aspect ratio. However, this effect does not occur until Ena enters the Maze.
* "The Purge Event", an upcoming music track composed by METAROOM to appear in *Dream BBQ*, has a synonymous title to *Extinction Party*. Whether the song or episodes are related somehow is currently unknown.

### Cultural references and inspirations

* The works of Osamu Sato were stated to be an inspiration for the episode.
* The existence of overworld sprites and unique dialogue animations alongside bizarre movement and dialogue accompanied by said animations are similar to the ones present in CD-i games, in particular *Link: The Faces of Evil* and *Hotel Mario*. It was later revealed by Joel Guerra that the game *Middens* was the inspiration for the aesthetic.
* The movements Ena makes while in her drunk form parallel that of Jackie Chan's in *Drunken Master*.

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1306708317423665153
2. ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1364371175758041089
3. ↑ https://twitter.com/JoelGuerraC/status/1364371170641014786

## External links

* *Extinction Party* on Newgrounds
* *Extinction Party* on YouTube
* *Extinction Party* on Twitter
* *Extinction Party* on Instagram