Hampnie tells Ai that she’s not a real Gravekeeper. Somehow, that entire village of undead made her believe that she’s a Gravekeeper and act like one. A real Gravekeeper appears in front of them and explains few things. First, a real Gravekeeper was NOT born from a mother, they just appears out of nowhere, instantly created by God. Second, they have no emotion and function more like a robot (at least from my view). Third, they have no name, they just take whatever humans call them as their “name”. The one in front of Hampnie and Ai calls herself “Scar”.
Ai was born from a mother, has emotion and does not have a “robotic” memory like Scar. By definition, she’s not a real Gravekeeper. But when Hampnie asks Scar to perform a proper burial for those people from Ai’s former village, Scar replies that she can only sense dead people who have received proper burial. So Ai does have real power of Gravekeeper, to grant “real” death and peaceful rest for those undeads.
Next, Ai and Hampnie meet a new character named Yuri. He’s a skilled hunter who sees Hampnie as his greatest enemy. Six years ago, Hampnie “killed” Yuri’s wife. In Hampnie’s defense, his wife was already dead a year before, so she was a walking undead. Now that Yuri’s daughter died, Yuri pretends to seek “revenge” from Hampnie, while actually he simply wanted to have Hampnie kills him.
Having escaped from Yuri, Hampnie and Ai have a peaceful conversation and we finally see a little bit more about the unusual world setting of this anime. 15 years ago when humans can no longer die and reproduce, dead people can still move normally as undeads. However, these are not permanent. After a while, these undeads will start to lose themselves and will only have one last instinct remains: survival. They will end up becoming wild beasts that will attack anything. And that’s the reason Hampnie is killing every undead he can find.
Ai’s real ability to grant peaceful rest means she’s a rare mix of human and Gravekeeper. Her mother was a Gravekeeper ! Hampnie used to be an albino with very weak body. When the big change happened, he gained his ability to regenerate from any would, making him “immortal”.
Hampnie’s theory about God is also interesting. In his theory, God didn’t actually abandon mankind. Instead, He was grating humans’ prayers. Before this world changed, people wished they will never die, and that wish is granted. Arguably partially grated, as being a walking undead is not really the same as normal living. Then, when humans realize they can no longer “die”, they wish they can still die. And God once again listened, and created Gravekeepers.
