Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc – 03 – What Goes Around Comes Around

Kotetsu believes that Tanjirou is entitled to the mysterious 300-year-old sword that emerges from the defeated mechanical doll. After all, he was the Demon Slayer who defeated the doll, and just so happens to be in need of a sword. Who should emerge from the bush but the surprisingly ticklish Haganezuka Hotaru, who vows to repair the rusty blade, and gives Tanjirou a replacement Nichirin sword to use in the meantime.

Tanjirou, the Best Boy who only wants to be friends with everyone, tries in vain to be friendly with Shinazugawa Genya, who has no interest in interacting socially with Tanjirou in the slightest. He still holds a grudge from when Tanjirou broke his arm, but Tanjirou quite rightfully tells Genya that was his own fault for hitting a girl!

That night, a swordsmith is attacked and consumed by Upper Five Gyokko, who is hiding in an ornate vase. Tanjirou is braiding Nezuko’s hair like Mitsuri’s, which is one of the most adorable things I’ve ever seen him do, and ends up dozing off when he’s awakened by Tokitou Muichirou, who is looking for his swordsmith Kanamori.

Just then, Upper Four Hantengu enters the room, and both Tanjirou and Tokitou can sense he is bad news, only a hair too late. Tokitou’s first strike misses, as Hantengu is extremely spry. Tanjirou uses Hinokami Kagura and Nezuko delivers a swift kick to the demon, enabling Tokitou to behead him, but that only causes him to split into two separate, younger demons.

Hantengu’s attack blasts Tokitou several hundred yards away, and it’s only thanks to Nezuko that Tanjirou remains in the vicinity to fight on. When Genya uses his Nichirin gun to behead both demons, Hantengu then splits into four demons, each with their own name and abilities. One of them is a harpy-like demon that separates Tanjirou from Nezuko.

Meanwhile, Tokitou hurries back to the site of the battle, and spots Kotetsu being attacked (and losing to) a lesser demon. At first, Tokitou continues on, deeming Kotetsu a low priority for rescue. But then Tanjirou’s words to Tokitou about how helping others eventually comes around for the better, and he decides to stop and save Kotetsu. Hopefully the detour won’t take too long, as Tanjirou, Nezuko, and Genya are overmatched against the crafty, adaptable Hangetsu.

Hell’s Paradise – 04 – I Have So Many Questions

This week we get little vignettes of the various convicts who have survived, starting with the Dragon Blade Tamiya Gantetsusai, who was appointed the officer of a lord. When the lord said that surely Tamiya couldn’t cut down a real dragon, Tamiya cut him and his house down. Now he’s on the island, accompanied by Fuchi, who among the Yamada Asaemon seems to be the most devoted to the dissection and medical research part of their clan’s job.

When the giant monsters appear, Gabimaru makes a business decision not to overthink things and simply kill first and ask questions later. Because of this, both he and Sagiri are able to live longer. He’s able to take immediate action to neutralize the threats before them, and he even rescues Sagiri from being killed because she’s so overwhelmed by the situation that she freezes.

That said, even Gabimaru is momentarily distracted to the point he almost gets killed, so he’s lucky to be bailed out by the kunoichi Yuzuriha (Takanashi Rie, killing it as always), who is in the running to be Best Girl of the Season. Not only is she extremely deadly, but she’s also funny as hell. She also makes sure to at least try to seduce Wife Guy Gabimaru to bring him under her control. She fails, but better to have failed than to have never tried.

Yuzuriha now has not one but two Yamada Asaemon minders, as the one who was assigned to another convict she tricked and killed believes she’s too dangerous to have only one Asaemon guard. She also proves she’s able to at least put Gabimaru into a position where he has to listen to her, but fortunately for him, she doesn’t want to kill him, she wants to work with him and Sagiri. The five of them have a better shot at finding the elixir than just Gabi and Sagiri.

As for Sagiri, she’s so overloaded by weirdness of this island that she ends up passing out, so it’s fortunate that Gabimaru isn’t a dishonorable fellow, and that Yuzuriha is accompanied by two of her clan-mates. The balance of the episode involves a unique pairing of convict and Yamada Asaemon guard: Aza Choubei and his little brother Touma, who became a Yamada Asaemon executioner for the express purpose of providing support to Coubei.

The two were once the sons of a powerful samurai, but when their father was disowned by his lord they became beggars, then bandits. Touma remarks on Choubei’s preternatural ability to assess and adapt to any situation that comes their way, and believes his older brother is always right. This pair, along with Tamiya Gantetsusai, will surely be tough customers to the new alliance of Gabimaru and Yuzuriha—but I trust them to rise to the challenge.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury – 15 – What Do You Want to Do?

Gundam wisely doesn’t try to juggle too many storylines this week, but focuses on the fallout to the Earthian resistance group Dawn of Fold in the aftermath of Sophie and Norea’s assault on Asticassia. Led with a steady hand by Naji and his right-hand man Olcott, the group hastens an evacuation of their current base before Spaceians arrive to blow them to bits.

Scenes of their half-ruined buildings and modest food, water, and weapon supplies underscores the power mismatch. Dawn is also composed of both grizzled vets, rookies eager to prove themselves, and innocent kids who have already lost too much. For the latter two groups, survival may not be as important as revenge.

Norea certainly would like to take revenge on Nika by killing her, as she’s responsible for the Spaceians now knowing where Dawn of Fold is holed up. Norea curses and kicks her for being a traitor to her people, and for what? “Ideals?” Still, it’s hard to feel anything but horrible for poor Nika.

She didn’t want her Asticassia friends to be hurt or killed any more than she wanted her Earthian bretheren hurt or killed. In the seething churn of the Space-Earth conflict, long since devolved into a mostly one-sided affair, both she, Norea, and the departed Sophie are nothing more than statistics. Nika’s “betrayal” wasn’t some kind of turning point.

What is happening now was always going to happen, no matter what Nika did, and whether she’s dead or alive, because the one now doing the stirring in that churn is Shaddiq Zenelli. As he explains to his adoptive father while sitting his trademark Indian-style on a table, the time of Spaceian dominance in this war is about to end.

Shaddiq intends to give the Earthians, to which he claims half of his blood and all of his loyalty, more and more Benerit Group assets with which to upset the balance of power. For too long Earth has been a whipping boy while Spaceians enjoyed clean water, hot meals, warm beds. Shaddiq has never forgotten the deprivation he came from, and he’s determined to end the suffering of his people.

But whether anything he does actually reduces or ends the suffering of Earthians is very much an open question. The kids of Dawn of Fold are just wrapping up a makeshift memorial to their hero Sophie when they’re ordered to board evacuation vehicles. That night, a Spaceian punitive force of Mobile Suits arrives to put Dawn of Fold down.

Have I mentioned that Guel Jeturk is a captive of Dawn? Well he is, and he is lost. Olcott has to force feed him to keep him alive as a bargaining chip, though I wonder how much the likes of Lauda would be willing to give up to get Guel back. Two kids, Seethia and Sedo, stay behind at the school where he’s held. Seethia hopes to take revenge for losing her dad by killing him.

When the school is bombed, Olcott, Guel, Seethia, and Sedo are buried in the rubble. Everyone is fine, except for Seethia, who is too far gone for Olcott to justify bringing along. Guel is also under rubble when Olcott leaves with Sedo. He emerges and carries Seethia on his back until he finds a crashed mobile suit.

The pilot inside is dead, but the cockpit still has power, so he pulls out the corpse, climbs in, and takes flight. It’s all for naught, as Seethia succumbs to her injuries in his arms. Guel lands the suit and asks Olcott what he should do. Olcott tells him that’s for him to decide, just like everyone else. Which side will Guel take, now that he’s gone through several crucibles of suffering? Earth’s? Benerit’s? Neither?

Back in a clean and sterile lounge in space, where the civility and comfort almost mocks the blood and mud and death down on Earth below, Miorine meets with one of her father’s top officers, who explains that her mother Notrette spearheaded Quiet Zero program in hopes of bringing order to a world that war partitioning wasn’t achieving.

It’s only now that Miorine is hearing that Delling actually cared about her mother enough to keep her project alive, if in secrecy. Like Olcott with Guel, this officer tells Miorine that she doesn’t have to carry on this project; her life is hers. But is it really?

Under the circumstances, the mess Guel and Miorine (not to mention Suletta and Nika and Shaddiq) have inherited from the previous generations is so vast, it probably feels like there is no better path than the one laid out before them. All we know is, nothing the adults have done so far has been able to do anything but control and extend the conflict. Perhaps Quiet Zero, whatever form it takes, will change that. Or maybe it will only make things worse.

Loving Yamada at Lv999 – 04 – Bouncing Back

Akane assumes the cute girl who looks like the online Rurihime is Rurihime, but she’s actually Runa, the little sister of Eita, who is the real Rurihime. This comes as a slight shock to Akane, but Eita is in firm opposition of the derogatory nekama label. As for Runa, she hates Akane’s guts, likely because she’s somehow insinuated herself into Yamada’s good graces.

For his part, Yamada doesn’t consider himself the property of Runa nor anyone else, but is never anything more or less than Yamada Akito. While not the most verbose or charismatic fellow, when for instance Akane drops her water glass while he’s staring at her, he blocks her hand from touching the broken shards, rightfully telling her to leave it to the café staff.

The gesture is so unexpected and oddly tender that Akane averts her face from everyone, lest they see how suddenly red it’s gone with embarrassment. Yamada excuses himself “to make a call”, but Eita finds him outside just messing around on his phone. Turns out Yamada interpreted Akane’s reaction to touching her as revulsion and made himself scarce.

Through Eita we learn that Yamada’s indifference towards girls is starting to worry him. That leads us into Yamada’s memory of a girl who was being bullied, asking him if he was the one who did it. It’s clear he has some past baggage that causes him to act the way he does. Perhaps he hurt this girl, and vowed never to hurt another by transforming himself?

Whatever the case, the remainder of the in-person event passes without incident—unless you count Runa staring absolute daggers at Akane as she interacts with Yamada and Eita. She doesn’t like this interloper, and vows to expel her from the guild with her own hands.

Yamada joins Akane on the subway ride home on her suggestion, and while she has trouble maintaining a conversation with him, she notices that every other girl on the train is staring at him, and then stares at her when Yamada does another kind thing for her—switching places to a more comfortable spot.

When talk turns to dinner and Yamada says he’ll probably just eat pudding, Akane has him wait on a park bench for ten minutes while she runs home, packs him some curry and frozen rice, and bolts back to him. Whatever feelings she may be developing for Yamada, Akane currently considers him a valued friend and fellow gamer and guild member, and a high school kid needs to eat properly.

Akane’s generous gesture is interrupted by a call to her from Runa of all people. She apologizes to Akane for being rude and hopes that they can hang out on Saturday and start over. Akane is obviously over the moon to hear this, while it seems clear enough to both me and Yamada that something’s up. Yamada confirms this when he sees a calendar alert for tutoring Runa on his phone—on the same day Runa is meeting Akane.

Will Runa stand her up? Try to execute some cockamamie scheme to get Yamada and/or Eita to turn against her? The mind staggers at the possibilities, but I don’t know how successful she’ll be. After all, it’s becoming clear that Yamada isn’t bothered by Akane’s sudden presence in her life, and is even relieved that she’s feeling better after how depressed she was when they met.