Asuta Jimon is someone who is admittedly lost. His initial introduction shows him wandering the streets of West Udogawa aimlessly, having just left the shelter of his incredibly powerful father. As we come to know him in the series, he is someone who values closeness, specifically when it comes to mealtime, and eschews the influence that he could have had from being the son of Kyoshiro Jimon: Governor of Tokyo. He lacks direction, and doesn’t know what he wants to do. The idea of what he should do with his life has presumably been laid out for him from a very early age, with only one path to travel.

However, he is very firm in his belief that, even while lost, he should be allowed to make his own mistakes, going against the plans that were structured for him. Asuta may not have a plan for what he wants to do with his life, he may still be attempting to define what he cares about the most, but in the midst of all of that indecisiveness, he knows that he wants a world in which he is allowed to choose what he wants to do.

“I still don’t get the big deal when Kate talks about world conquest, and I’m not entirely sure what it is that I want to do. But if I can spend my life as I wish, if I can be my own man, I want to tell someone. I want to tell everyone that can hear me that the world, everything you can see and cannot see, you can decide everything for yourself.” -Asuta Jimon, World Conquest Zvezda Plot, episode 11

It’s easy to equate the idea of conquering the world with the likes of Alexander the Great and long-gone empires in dusty history books. World Conquest Zvezda Plot goes out of its way to show how antiquated this idea is, and how ridiculous it would be to unify the entire world under one person’s rule. The great smoking conflict of West Udogawa is the series’ best example of this, as it uses the clash between smokers and non-smokers to illustrate what would happen if one who was to conquer the world was an eight year-old girl, with the values and foibles of one so young. At the same time, her youth – in both outward appearance and demeanor – is what allows her actions to be genuine. People naturally flock to her because she is so transparent in her aspirations, even with her obvious and exploitable weaknesses.

Most importantly, World Conquest Zvezda Plot uses Kate as an example not only for how foolish the idea of conquering the world is, but the fact that our ingrained idea of what conquering the world entails is informed by past attempts, and hardly defined for the present day. Based on prior knowledge of various attempts, one could make the point that world conquest isn’t something that particularly needs definition. The idea is overly ambitious, and something that speaks to the arrogance of the would-be conqueror. With so many people inhabiting the world, all with different values, beliefs, and structures – additionally, with the increased ease with which all of these people are able to communicate with one another – it would be impossible to unify the world under one rule.

Kate Hoshimiya wholeheartedly disagrees with this sentiment, and her actions speak loudly in favor of a different type of conquest; a more individualistic social revolution in the same vein as how Gatchaman Crowds dragged the idea of heroism kicking and screaming into the present day.

“He couldn’t understand how the person closest to him felt, so I didn’t get how he was able to command dozens of men and serve as governor of a city.” -Jimon Asuta, World Conquest Zvezda Plot, episode 11

Asuta reiterates in the waning episodes of World Conquest Zvezda Plot that he still looked up to his father when he was younger. The figure that the elder Jimon cut was so domineering and powerful, even in light of how poorly he treated those closest to him. Kate shows him a completely different – but no less powerful – ruling persona than the Tokyo Governor, even as her imposing alter-ego of Lady Venera. Like Asuta, Kate values seemingly small things like sharing meals with the entire Zvezda crew. When she wants to do something – the school-wide treasure hunt, for example – she drags everyone else in the group along with her.

Kate’s leadership style offers a stark contrast to that of Asuta’s father, and the government organization that opposes Zvezda, White Light. Both of these latter institutions are defined by a vertical, hierarchical structure where the line of communication flows from top to bottom. As inferiors to their captain and the Tokyo Governor, White Egret and White Robin are kept on a need-to-know basis, whereas Kate informs all of her presumed inferiors, regardless of whether they want to know or not. While Asuta, Goro, Itsuka, Natasha, and even Yasu are forced to pledge allegiance to Zvezda and Kate, they are also allowed to go about their daily lives as they wish, fairly unrestricted by Kate’s rule until she requires their assistance.

Amidst the ridiculousness of their battle – where a giant robot piloted by Kyoshiro Jimon faces off against a magically-empowered Lady Venera – there is an underlying serious clash of ideals, with Kate representing a more grassroots, individualistic approach, and the Tokyo Governor embodying the hierarchical old guard. Additionally, World Conquest Zvezda Plot makes it a point to show that, of all people, the person who suffers the most from the existing structure is Kyoshiro Jimon himself. Upon his defeat, Kate applauds Kyoshiro’s tenacity and gives him the compliment of, “Like father, like son.” validating Asuta’s personal progress throughout the series.

“Most people would consider me to be a nuisance! But I don’t care. If they want their lazy version of a utopia, they can stay shut up in their own world. The future doesn’t wait for anyone!” -Kate Hoshimiya to Asuta Jimon, World Conquest Zvezda Plot, episode 12

In her conquest of West Udogawa – and subsequently, Tokyo/Japan as a whole – Kate defines world conquest as something surprisingly personal. She vows to greet everyone in the world personally. Her triumph is evident not in hiding behind a desk in an imposing office building, but in the energetic way that people wave at her while she rides around West Udogawa on her bicycle, still outfitted with training wheels. This image goes against the nature of what one would presume world conquest to look like, and redefines it for the modern age.

After giving this impassioned speech, she reiterates that Asuta shares her vision of a future: presumably one in which, even if an individual has no idea of what they want, people are allowed to choose for themselves instead of having their lives dictated for them. In the first episode of World Conquest Zvezda Plot, Asuta yells at Kate, insisting that she doesn’t need to conquer the world in order to find a place that she can belong. His, and our, initial perception of Kate is skewed. Like Asuta himself, she wishes to “conquer the world” so that others may find a place to belong, even if it means rejecting the paths in life that had been previously laid out for them.