K – 12

Weismann recounts that when the Colorless King in Isana Yashiro’s body attacked him, their powers clashed and they switched bodies – Weismann into Isana and Colorless into Weismann. He recruits Kuroh, Awashima, Kusanagi and Anna to help him end the fighting and evacuate the school. He also calls the Gold King, the lieutenant from WWII to say goodbye. Weismann intends to deal with the Colorless King, save Kukuri, and stop the Red and Blue Kings from destroying each other and the city.

Things really get moving this week, as many dots are connected in satisfying ways. Finally we’re getting answers about what the heck is going on, and for once, the red and blue clansmen are the ones who are confused. All of the current conflict has, predictably, been caused by the colorless king, who is so crafty, he doesn’t even have his own body. Kukuri’s myriad facial expressions as not only he but other personalities talk with her voice and move with her body is quite chilling, particularly the tiny voice of the real Kukuri begging for someone to help.

Help is on the way, in the form of Isana/Weismann. The new-and-improved Silver King isn’t interested in stamping out his bodily host, even though he may not be able to ever leave him. He seems willing to coexist with Isana as a dual person, and as a handy metaphor for the coexistence that has to happen between SCEPTER-4 and HOMRA. For all the answers now in the light, there are still multiple threats to deal with. This is a war of the order of Silver (and Gold) against the chaos of Colorless, with Red and Blue in the middle, two bombs that must be defused if there’s to be a Tokyo tomorrow.

Rating: 8 (Great)

Zetsuen no Tempest – 12

Yoshino has successfully convinced Mahiro that the Tree of Exodus – and by extension Samon – could be responsible for Aika’s death, and Samon has no further leverage. Hakaze scours the island for the offering, but cannot find it, but a dud missile lands on the beach, and she uses it to break the prison of time and return to the present. Before anything more can be done, the Tree of Genesis goes berserk, spouting branches all over Japan and the rest of the world, breaking the barrier that controls Exodus. A battle between the trees commences, and in the melee, Yoshino and Mahiro are impaled by branches. Hakaze and Samon commence healing them, and must suppress Exodus to attempt to calm Genesis before all of civilization is destroyed.

No more standing around in deep thought and chatting and thrusting katanas into the ground and pointing chained machine guns at people – this week we get down to the climactic action, and there’s a lot of it. First, Hakaze finally returns to the present and sees the lads for the first time. It’s a sudden turn of events, but after all, the logic of the world is on her side, and it’s quite a triumphant moment. Unfortunately there’s no time for celebrations, as the same tree that helped get her back is now locked in a furious battle with Exodus, a battle that may well be the titular “civilization blaster”, turning men and their works to ash. Even Hakaze isn’t quite sure which tree to trust, but at the moment both are a threat to humanity, and must be dealt with.

Luckily for Yoshino, the shit hits the fan before Mahiro can tell him to reveal who Aika’s girlfriend was. Unluckily for both of them, the Genesis deems their service to Princess Hakaze complete, and seems to dispose of them by impalement by errant branch. It’s a frightening, visceral scene, enough to make us briefly forget the Kusaribes are wielders of healing magic that can mend them. But even if they do, there’s still a huge shitstorm left to deal with. All of civilization is at the mercy of two immensely powerful badass trees who do not like each other – vying for dominion over the earth.

Rating: 9 (Superior)

Kamisama Hajimemashita – 12

Upset with the town’s rumors that her shrine is rundown and haunted, Nanami begins planning an autumn festival. Among the events is a Kagura dance, which Nanami only has one week to learn. Normally not clumsy, she cannot remain calm around Tomoe, and progress is slow. Making matters worse is the wind deity Otohiko, who doubts Nanami can truly succeed his friend Mikage. He unleashes a cloud of miasma that envelops the shrine, and Nanami cannot disperse it no matter how hard she tries. Having accomplished nothing, a dejected Nanami flees the shrine. Meanwhile, an ominous sealed box she knocked over in storage breaks open.

All episode titles up to this point have been pretty accurate in describing what the episode will be about (“God Gets Kidnapped”, “God Goes To The Beach”, etc.) So with a title like “Nanami Quits Being a God”, combined with the fact it’s the penultimate episode, we knew despite things ending on a happy note last week, some final conflict would commence this week, and Nanami would indeed quit being a God. Nor were we surprised that the architect of that conflict is the deity who had only played a bit role up until now – the bizarrely-attired Otohiko – whose formidable power and devotion to Mikage pointed to an inevitable clash with Nanami. So what was surprising? Simply put, the manner and speed with which Nanami gives up.

That there’s only one episode left after this underscores the need to get things going, but 9/10ths of this episode goes at a very leisurely pace, replete with scenes of Nanami practicing the Kagura dance – which is fun, but repetitive. This lollygagging is to the detriment of creating a plausible scenario in which Nanami would truly say “I can’t take this anymore” and flee. The episode does not  fully succeed in doing so. One could say Tomoe’s “you need not come” remark was the straw that broke the earth deity’s back, but we’re talking Nanami, who has not only gone through quite a bit of hopeless situations, but also has nowhere else to go (besides Kurama’s again). Nanami’s rather rushed retreat aside, the series has more than earned our confidence it will recover with a strong finale.

Rating: 7 (Very Good)

Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! – 12 (Fin)

Yuuta is distraught  as he’s heard no word from Rikka since she left with her mother. Dekomori has reverted to a normal eighth grader, while Kumin appears to have “inherited” Rikka’s Wicked Eye. When Yuuta’s sister tells him the movers came for the rest of Rikka’s stuff, he races to her house by bike, heeding a letter he wrote to himself two years ago as Dark Flame Master, imploring him to remember he is “special”. He learns that his past exploits triggered Rikka’s Chuunibyou, which she used as a coping device. He “rescues” her from her mundane existence at her grandfather’s house, flees the police with the help of their friends, and shows Rikka the “Ethereal Horizon” so she can say goodbye to her father.

Well now…we’re quite happy with this, the first ending of the fall. It was a good ending, with the message that we all have our little “syndromes” at varying times in our lives to deal with whatever life throws at us. Rikka and Yuuta are no different from anyone else in this regard, except that Yuuta’s Chuunibyou led Rikka to explore her own imagination, and find solace there from the harshness of reality. In flashbacks we see that she was essentially numbed by her father’s death, as she always held out hope he would recover and had no indication he wouldn’t. The world of fantasy she enters doesn’t hamper her growth. It makes it bearable. Yuuta finally makes the right choice, deciding to listen to his past self and heroically races to save Rikka from the prison of normalcy he himself helped build around her.

Ironically, in order to face reality, Rikka had to return to fantasy, and Yuuta helped guide her there, just as he inadvertently guided her into the world of Chuunibyou years before. Certainly, fantasy mustn’t occupy every waking moment of one’s life, but nor can it be totally repressed, going against one’s instincts. Ever since Rikka removed her eye patch, both she and Yuuta both felt something wasn’t right, because something wasn’t. We can never totally reject the extraordinary from our lives, because the fact of the matter is, when you take a moment to look at it, every aspect of life is extraordinary. So, we bid adieu to Yuuta, Rikka, Sanae, Kumin, and Shinka, all of them having realized that in their lives a personal balance must be struck between the ordinary and the fantastical.

Rating: 9 (Superior)

UPDATE: Looks like there will be a second season of Chu2Koi. We look forward to it, and hope it further fleshes out a Yuuta/Rikka relationship.