Unlike the last two episodes’ cold opens, which could have stood alone as masterful short films, this week’s doesn’t even feel necessary, since we already know a concerned Touka is rushing towards CCG siege on Anteiku. On the other hand, it’s only 55 seconds long…because there’s shit to get done this week.
While the Mall and Prison super-battles felt larger in scale, this one brings more emotional and dramatic weight, because this time it’s Anteiku, which has always striven to live and let live, and the battle isn’t going well, because the CCG are bringing it.
Koma and Kaya are ready to make their last stand tonight, fighting beside Yoshimura, who brought them together in peace, and going out in a blaze of glory, or at least with one last good fight. Koma and Kaya don’t get their wish, as Kaneki arrives just in time to save them from the finishing moves of the Doves attacking them.
A lot of the glory this week goes to our two favorite white-heads, Kaneki and Juuozu, who both show just how terrifying they are when they’re serious. It’s kind of a shame that they don’t meet or cross blades this time, but I can see why the two sub-battles were separated. Koma and Kaya were able to be saved by Kaneki because Yoshimura is attracting all the CCG heavies, Juuzou included.
Even with Shinohara, Iwa, Juuzou, Ui, Houji hacking away at him all night in varying states of coordination, Yoshimura is one tough sonofabitch, which seems to almost work against his plan to pay for his sins and pave the way for the future by all but letting himself get killed. He can’t help but fight back, and his status as the Owl means even if he doesn’t lift a finger in defense (and he very much does), it takes a good long time for him to go down.
That emotional weight I mentioned? It comes in a flurry of flashes as Yoshimura remembers all the various people in his life he either saved or was saved by. The last thing he sees is his beloved Ukina, the human who accepted him and even bore his child, who is now out there somewhere. You want to hope now that he’s paid for his sins with his life at last, he’ll be able to rest in peace with Ukina in the hereafter.
Unlike Kaneki, who saves Koma and Kaya, Touka takes no action in the battle. This was probably a good move on her part, as I imagine she would have been outclassed here. Still, she doesn’t particularly look happy about sitting this one out. As for Hide, he’s somehow able to suit up as a CCG grunt to watch, which…well, that doesn’t exactly reflect well on their security procedures, now does it?
As for Kaneki, he isn’t able to simply walk away after dispatching the Second and Third CCG divisions. The Fourth still stands in his way, led by a particularly focused-looking Amon. I don’t imagine he’s in the mood for talk. And while Amon is the underdog in a fight with Kaneki, he’s got friends, and he hung in there versus an admittedly more unstable Kaneki at Cochlea, so he won’t be a slouch.
Finally, as soon as Yoshimura is defeated, the other Owl, his daughter, arrives on the scene, ready to rumble against the by-now exhausted Doves. Yoshimura’s last request to Kaneki was to not squander his unique status as the one person who bridges the gap between ghouls and humans.
He also told him to try to save his daughter. With Kaneki and Eto about to enter into fierce battles of their own, prospects for either of those things happening seem pretty bleak.
RABUJOI - An Anime Blog 