The format seems simple enough at first with Red Reflectors and Blue Reflectors and they’re fighting over a difference in ideology. We’ve seen this in Madoka and Kampfer where girls are fighting over territory or because their colors are different. We expect that every episode or so we’ll be introduced to characters alluded to in previous episodes and they’ll be fleshed out later on.

We’re thrown for a loop when Mio mentions to Momo how Yuzu and Lime, previously unknown to us save for a 3-second nameless appearance in episode 1, are the ones that chose Mio to be a Reflector. We still don’t know enough about AASA to know if these young girls could be affiliated or if they’re a different group entirely. We only know there are more players than we originally thought. We’re also shown Momo wearing a yellow ring and with these new characters revisited, it could be that there is yet another group of Reflectors with their own motivations we have yet to learn!

We’ve seen the relatable bad-guy shpiel about how their evil actions are actually to rid humans of suffering. Many villains have sought to take feelings or control away from other humans with their reason being that humans will agonize over needless things. They even enforce this ideal by having many of the girls ‘saved’ by Niina and Uta chastise the blue Reflectors for getting in the way of their happiness.

With Mio’s stoic personality and some vague idea that she’s trying to protect those serving her, this seems to be her driving force in taking these girls’ feelings away. But despite Mio and her subordinates talking about taking away suffering, in episode 9 Mio reveals a new motivation to not repeat the mistakes that got her and those she loves killed. Her actions actually stem less from a lofty, emotionally superior notion that she should decide man’s fate and more from a personal despair at her previous incompetence.

We would assume that the very first fight we see in Blue Reflection Ray between Mio, Momo, and the Sephirot will be indicative of future fights. Several episodes in where fighting is strictly between other reflectors, it makes sense to assume that that will instead be the Big Boss our girls will have to team up against. But episode 9 reveals that in a different reality, the girls were always fighting against these creatures that threatened Earth.

Sephirot was a big enough threat that it killed Mio and Momo and wiped out humanity and it’s not the only one of its kind. Knowing that there are alternate timelines in the mix makes it impossible to anticipate what the true battle will entail. There are too many episodes left and too many unknowns to hold too much significance on that which is shoved in our faces.