Yuru Camp△ 3 – 01 – You Can Always Go Again

Yuru Camp was a healing balm during Covid, but it’s no less welcome now that everything’s opened up. In a fun coincidence, I started watching this right after I got off the phone with a friend about planning a four-night camping trip in a part of the state where we’ll see a ton of stars if the skies are clear.

The episode is neatly split into two separate stories. First up is Rin, who is on a camping trip by herself to Lake Shojiko. Not only is it a splendid place to view Fujiyama, but there’s a much smaller mountain in front of it called Kodaki Fuji that looks like it’s being hugged by Fuji-san.

During her present-day trip, Rin reminisces about taking the train to Toei to spend the day with her grandfather. After visiting a dam, she expresses interest in his camping equipment, so he takes her to Tsugu Park for a little day camp.

She’s eager to see him make fire manually, and it isn’t until the present day when she decides to make the attempt herself that she realizes how difficult it is. But like her gramps, she doesn’t give up, and when she actually creates fire with her bare hands, well, it’s obviously hugely rewarding!

We trade the gorgeous scenery of Shojiko for school and the Outclub, where Nadeshiko, Aoi, and Chiaki make DIY alcohol stoves out of metal cans. It’s highly instructive and informative, while Toba-sensei also points out the dangers of such stoves, no doubt remembering a time she knocked one over when she was half in the bag.

I appreciated how the lighting suddenly got more dramatic and “camp-like” when Toba-sensei closed the curtains in the classroom so the girls could see the pretty blue flames burning from their little stoves. Ena then invites everyone to her house for a “day yard camp” to test out their stoves in a controlled environment, and also to show off the camping gear she bought for her adorable pup Chikuwa.

On the way there, Nadeshiko stops and snaps a photo of a budding branch glowing in the setting sun. Spring is about to spring, and she’s clearly pumped for it, just as I’m pumped for more beautiful Laid-Back Camp!

Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy – S2 12 – Not Too Late to Apologize

After a bear attacks one of the orcs as a warning, Makoto investigates the deep forest and meets huggable bear, a surprisingly reasonable pack of wolves, and an ever larger bear, essentially the ruler of the forest. Once Makoto makes clear he has no plans for conquest and only wants to be friends, the animals are open to coexistence.

While Makoto is scolding Tomoe and Komoe for picking too many persimmons, another animal friend appears: a giant bird that shrinks to the size of a pigeon to speak to Makoto. Introducing himself as “Boulder Bird”, once Makoto compares it to “roc bird”, he adopts that name going forward. In these guardians of the forest, he’s gained subjects, not to be confused with followers like Tomoe, Mio, and Shiki.

Back in Rotsgard, Jin and Abelia dress up and go out for drinks. Abelia wants to pump Jin for info on Shiki at first, but it become apparent they both want to have another go at the demidragon before summer break is out. We learn a lot from the two. Abelia has no family or home to speak of since her mother passed, so maintaining high enough marks to stay in school is key.

As for Jin, he admits he has a village to go home to, but he left it with a bad taste in his mouth. Another resident of the village, an orphan girl named Miranda, was his first love, mostly because she was so much stronger than him. But when they discovered a giant chimera in a remote barn while on patrol and she seemed to take pleasure in tearing it to pieces, Jin called Miranda a “monster”, and she ran into the woods, never to be seen again.

While he was only a punk kid, how he left things with Miranda never sat right with Jin. So he vowed to work hard enough to get scouted by the academy so he could become strong enough that when he saw Miranda again he could apologize. To that end, thanks to Makoto providing them with one, the whole group, Jin and Abelia included, manage to bring down the demidragon as a sign that they are becoming stronger together.

As for Miranda, well, we know her: she grew up to be Sofia Bulga, the tough-as-nails warrior that nevertheless was squashed by Makoto once he got serious back in season one. Having returned to the abandoned barn where she and Jin last saw one another (and indeed, she momentary wonders whether he’s still alive), she vows to track down her creator, Luto, and “absorb” him, no doubt to become strong enough to defeat Makoto. Good luck with that, kiddo: he’s got a slime suit now!

The Apothecary Diaries – 23 – The Undefeated Courtesan

Maomao, whose face Lakan can see clearly, has a plan to get her father to make things right. She challenges him to a best-of-five chess match, with the winner of each game choosing one of five cups containing “medicine” for the loser to drink in one gulp. Three of the cups contain a poison, and if all three are drunk by one person the poison becomes deadly.

As Jinshi, who promises not to interfere, watches, it becomes clear Maomao is no match for her father in chess, losing the first two games and drinking from two of the five cups. Lakan lets her win the third game, not willing to risk his daughter poisoning herself if the previous two cups she drank were poison.

Maomao doesn’t just use her dad’s paternal protectiveness against him, but his teetotalism as well. When he drinks one of the remaining three cups, he notes the awful taste, which Jinshi believes confirms that it contains poison, since Maomao said the poison affects the taste. But then Lakan turns red, then green, then passes out.

Turns out the “medicine” is very strong alcoholic spirits. Maomao can hold her liquor, but one drink is enough to knock out her father, who has abstained from alcohol as long as Jinshi has known him. And because she got him to agree that one player could not continue the match, he loses, and so rather than her moving in with him, he must buy out a certain aging Verdigris courtesan

We go back in time to Lakan’s circumstances. Turns out the guy doesn’t just “see” everyone as chess or go pieces because he’s a strategist with no other interest in them, but because he has literal clinical face blindness, which cost him his position as his father’s heir in his well-to-do family.

His uncle, who by the sound of his voice is Maomao’s adoptive father, taught Lakan how to discern people not by face, but by other qualities, and his interest in go and chess led to him seeing faces as those game pieces. The first person whose actual face he saw was that of Fengxian, the Verdigris courtesan renowned for her prowess in the games he loved.

Lakan would visit Fengxian to play as often as he could, which became less and less frequent as the price for her time kept rising due to demand from numerous wealthy customers. Fengxian was clearly frustrated she couldn’t see him more, and one day in the middle of a go game, her exquisitely manicured fingers reached out to meet his own.

Their hands clasp, and the next thing you know, they’re making love. Lakan makes clear that neither had sweet or honeyed words for one another, nor did they ask for or need them; it’s just the way the two of them were, as kindred spirits who were able to find pride, comfort, and love through the games they played together.

Then, suddenly, things took a turn. Lakan’s uncle was exiled from the palace and Lakan was sent abroad by his father. He and Fengxian exchanged letters for a time, but a couple of months turned into three years, and by the time he was allowed to return, everything had gone to shit.

Not only had her buyout agreement fallen through, but she had become forced to walk the streets plying her carnal trade, having lost all value to him making her pregnant (with Maomao). That far riskier line of work led to her contracting the wasting disease that has eaten away at both body and mind.

So it turns out Lakan did ruin Fengxian, but doing so was the last thing he wanted. If he hadn’t been so short-sighted about what making love to her meant, or had stood up to his bully of a father, he might’ve been able to avoid her cruel and terrible fate.

But what was done was done, and as he wakes up in Verdigris house, Fengxian’s former servant girl Meimei presents him with two “gifts” from Maomao. The first is an extremely bitter medicine, perhaps a hangover cure but also a message, as the flavor efficiently conveys her feelings towards him. The second is a dried rose, which despite withering and shrinking, still holds its shape.

I imagine this to be a symbol of Maomao’s mother Fengxian, and another message for Lakan to do what he couldn’t do in the past and buy her out. As Maomao holds a dried blue rose bloom of her own while riding in a carriage (presumably back to Jinshi’s), after defeating him in the chess and dictating what he must do following that defeat, I wouldn’t be shocked if she had nothing more to say to her biological father.

Also, while I’m glad we’re finally getting the complete picture of Maomao’s parentage, and I’m happy she was a love-child and not some kind of tactic to tank her mom’s value, with so little time left I’m hoping the focus returns to Maomao herself, along with the still very nebulous and under-defined (at least to her) relationship with Jinshi. He clearly cares about and has affection for her, so hopefully he can make those feelings clear, even if she’s not interested in romance him, or anyone.

The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic – 11 – Doing What Needed to Be Done

As she lies on the ground beaten and bleeding, Suzune remembers that dark, rainy day when she and Kazuki were at school late. She hid her sad smiles from Kazuki when he praised her for earning the teachers’ complete trust and exceeding their expectations.

Then they met Ken, who forgot his umbrella, ended up in another world, and Suzune was able to be herself, and Ken accepted her true self, not the fake Suzune she’d created back home. She thought as long as the three of them were together, everything would work out.

My attitude going in? If Suzune or Kazuki die, I RIOT. Well, we don’t know how this story ends, but so far, Suzune’s still right! Before the Black Knight can deliver a killing blow, Ken charges in at Mach K and delivers a hell of a right hook to the Black Knight, sending them flying.

When Suzune comes to, she and Kazuki are being healed by Ken. They were certainly in a bad way like his vision, but they were still breathing. He made it in time by not hesitating. They all stuck together, and things worked out.

As expected, the nanosecond things started not going exactly the Black Knight’s way, she (as it turns out) gets all whiny and petulant about How Things Are Supposed To Be, and fury at why those things Aren’t That Way. She’s nothing but a cheatin’-ass bully, and it’s time to put her in her place. Not only is Ken able to actually harm her and damage her suit of mana armor, but her attacks have no effect on him.

Throughout their battle Ken is surrounded by a green healing aura that turns her razor-sharp attacks into black goop. But this is no stalemate; Black Knight can’t hurt Ken, but he can most definitely hurt her. When Kazuki comes to, he and Suzune watch the battle and aren’t sure why Ken’s attacks aren’t continuously healing his opponent.

Then it dawns on Suzune: the Black Knight has a weakness to healing magic. Not only that, but Ken’s healing fists are powerful enough on their own to deal significant damage. When Suzune actually says the titular line, “That’s definitely the wrong way to use healing magic,” I did a fist pump.

At first Black Knight is able to heal her armor, but as the battle wears on, it’s clear she’s losing mana. We’d seen her in the past lazing around, sailing by with her nigh-invincible armor. But Ken isn’t tiring; thanks to his ridiculous training regime, this is a walk in the park.

When she tries to go all out with one final attack, Ken’s fist meets the tip of her enlarged sword, blows through it, surrounds both of them in an gleaming emerald aura, and delivers a devastating punch to her gut. The Black Knight is knocked out and her suit of armor melts away, revealing a beautiful young demon woman with silver hair.

She’s promptly tied up and taken as a prisoner. Suzune messes with him a bit by telling him she overheard his embarrassing shounen name for his attack, but then gets serious and thanks him for saving her. Since she and Kazuki are all healed up, they head back to the front, while Rose orders Ken back to camp with her.

While he, Rose, and the other healers continue to treat the wounded and poisoned, they suddenly see a bright flash of light mixed with lightning: Suzune and Kazuki have done their part by taking down the giant snake monster, which was never going to be as tough as the Black Knight with her reflective anti-hero armor.

With the capture of their most powerful knight and killing of the giant snake, the Demon Army beats a swift retreat, their morale in tatters. Amila is at least level-headed enough to know they don’t stand a chance against Rose, Siglis, and a second Healing Monster in White.

With the battle being a complete victory thanks to Ken, Rose gives him his proper due, while also praising him for making it back to her alive. She admits he reminds her of comrades who only live on in her memory who represented the best of the Rescue Team, and now Ken has similarly distinguished himself.

Upon hearing her kind words, Ken can’t help but tear up, reminding Rose that at the end of the day he’s still a green seventeen-year-old kid. When he finally runs out of mana and stamina and passes out in her arms, she holds him close and tells him he did good.

So did this episode, which was full of heart, emotion, and some outstanding character work while also providing quite a bit of nifty, satisfying action. It’s a true gem of an episode that brought the whole season together—an emerald, if you will.

Classroom of the Elite – S3 11 – Warmth through Contact

This week’s opening quote, from the 19th century French writer Stendhal, states There is only one rule in love: bring happiness to those you love. Ayanokouji Kiyotaka was born in the “White Room” facility. It was run by his father, who made it a point to tell his underlings not to go easy on his son, even if it broke him.

Ayanokouji was raised without love or happiness. One day Sakayanagi Arisu visited the facility with her father, who loved her and encouraged her to love others. She spotted Ayanokouji playing chess from the observation gallery, and she was immediately smitten, vowing to one day face off against him.

That day has finally arrived thanks to the circumstances of the final special exam, and while Ayanokouji is his usual neutral self, Arisu having an absolute blast. Class C jumps to a 3-2 lead with wins in basketball, typing, and archery, while Class A secures wins in English and Math.

When the Mental Math subject comes up, Kouenji doesn’t take it seriously despite likely knowing all the answers, and Class C loses. Ayanokouji took a calculated risk and accepted that he wouldn’t be able to control every element in the exam. This leads to a 3-3 tie.

The deciding subject is chess, of course, and not even Ayanokouji could convince Arisu that it isn’t destiny that they face off against one another in the final game. That said, they are represented at the physical chess board by their proxies, Suzune and Hashimoto.

The two novices begin play on their own, with Suzune only learning a week ago and Hashimoto only a few months earlier. The latter tries to psych Suzune out by talking about Ayanokouji, but she already prepared for that eventuality. Arisu starts issuing instructions first, and for a few tense moments, Suzune is left hanging, but then Ayanokouji issues her instructions, and the real match begins.

Unfortunately, the animation of Suzune and Hashimoto as well as the chess board itself are rendered in somewhat stiff and plasticky CGI. This was most likely a cost-saving measure, but I suppose I’ve seen worse, and it didn’t pull me out of the game. In fact, I was spellbound as the game went on and each move gained more importance.

To Suzune’s distress, Arisu ends up winning, but later she learns the match was rigged: an instruction Ayanokouji sent to Suzune was edited by Tsukishiro, likely on orders from Ayanokouji’s dad. While he loses, the protection point prevents him from expulsion. That’s no solace for Arisu, who is disgusted by the interference, and promises Tsukishiro that he’ll “pay a high price.” I’m just glad Tsukishiro didn’t knock her over again.

The adults can’t keep our two scheming geniuses down, however; they replay the match as it unfolded in person the library, but this time, with none of his moves edited, Ayanokouji beats Arisu. He probably would beat her every time. She’s satisfied with the result, and more importantly glad to have gotten closure on their competition. It’s her loss, and she can live with that.

But it’s also her gain, because she was finally able to compete against the boy she saw in that cold, loveless White Room, and learn something in the process: his genius wasn’t and isn’t artificial or manufactured, but simply a product of his birth, like hers. She likens herself to a childhood friend pining for someone she wasn’t able to find, but now she has, and she’s elated.

Arisu is positively glowing for this final scene, and Hidaka Rina’s voice has never been kinder, gentler, or prettier. She admits that she chose to be a captain so she could spend as much time beside him as possible. And since he showed her he was a true genius, she tenderly takes his hand in both of hers and impresses upon him the importance of the warmth of human contact.

In the end, Arisu wasn’t some conniving mastermind hell-bent on destroying Ayanokouji, but a surprisingly sweet, emotionally intelligent girl in love who refuses to accept that anyone—not even unquestioned geniuses—can survive without love, warmth, and happiness. Is Ayanokouji is truly beyond saving, or is there still hope he may one day grow a heart in that chest of his? I’m sure if you asked Arisu, she’d say anything is possible.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – 25 – The Age of Humanity

The assembled mages are pondering how to proceed with so little information, but as others arrive, they gain more intel on the replicas, and with it the confidence to take on the Fake Frieren, who is terrifying in its stillness and patience. Dunste confirms it has no mind, while Lawine learned from her brother’s adventuring that the creature making the replicas is called a Spiegel, and is extremely weak once the replicas are defeated.

The third and most crucial piece of information is not only revealed, but demonstrated by Fern: whenever Frieren casts a spell, she ever so briefly stops detecting mana. I love how sheepish she is about it, as after all it’s a common mistake made by baby mages. But all her other strengths mean only a select few can exploit this weakness.

With sufficient intel to proceed, the group forms a strategy. Fern can tell from her smiles that Frieren is enjoying this, and she confirms that, as it reminds her of when she, Himmel, Eisen, and Heiter (if he wasn’t hung over) coming up with a plan to defeat a dungeon boss. Denken and the others are concerned that Frieren and Fern will be facing off against the replica by themselves, but Frieren has the confidence of someone from the party that conquered the most dungeons in history.

It’s rare for a show to come along that wields such mastery of restraint and elegance in the execution of its battle scenes. Frieren’s battles never last long, but they’re never too short. Instead, they are as long as they need to be. In the battles, Evan Call’s score rings out and time is compressed. So much action and invention and mayhem is conveyed in just a few brief seconds. It can jump from Slow Life to Turbo Chaos in the literal blink of an eye.

It can also make expert use of delayed gratification to lend its battles even more weight. Just as Repli-Frieren is about to zap Real-Frieren in the face with a spell, we cut to however many centuries ago when Flamme passed away and Frieren paid a visit to Serie to present her with her apprentice’s will. Now that the emperor has approved it, any human can now study magic, and Flamme wanted Serie to take over the training of imperial mages once she died.

Serie has no intention of doing so, and is angered by Flamme’s “greed”, but Frieren notes that Flamme predicted her master’s reaction with perfect accuracy. Before Frieren leaves, Serie asks her to take a walk with her. While she does, we have a glimpse of Serie’s headspace. She speaks rather coldly about Flamme, having trained her “on a mere whim”, but her attitude makes sense when you consider that the way Serie perceives time, Flamme’s entire life was equivalent to only a few days, or even hours.

I love how when they walk through a very elvish-looking forest, the spirit of a young Flamme follows Serie along, smiling, holding her master’s hand, showing her her favorite spell: creating a field of flowers. Considering how relatively briefly Flamme was alive, Serie was amazed she was able to bring magic to humanity. She warns Frieren not to neglect her training, as the “era of humans” will be upon them before they know it, and if Frieren is going to be killed, it will either be by the Demon King … or a human.

Knowing all of this entering the battle, Frieren keeps her replica focused on her as they fight to a draw. Fern conceals her mana and stays hidden until Frieren creates an opening. Replica Frieren, who has the same vulnerability as her real counterpart, cannot detect Fern’s mana until it’s too late. All Real Frieren has to do is move out of the way of Fern’s Zoltraak, which she can do because she knows it’s coming. Replica Frieren doesn’t, so it’s game over in a flash.

Elves like her predate Zoltraak, they’re unable to react to it as instinctively as a human like Fern, for whom Zoltraak is just a basic attack spell that existed long before she was born. But at the end of the day the replica lost because Real Frieren is a relic from an ancient time living in the middle of the Age of Humanity, and Fern is her adorable human apprentice who was able to best her.

A Sign of Affection – 08 – Waiting for Right Now to Pass

When Itsuomi introduces Yuki as his girlfriend, he’s shocked. Not because Yuki can’t hear, or isn’t a foreigner from Itsuomi’s frequent travels, but because it means Emma has to be told Itsuomi is officially off the market. It also means that Shin can pursue her without worrying about hurting Itsuomi. The only problem is, after all these years, Shin finds himself firmly embedded in the Friendzone where Emma is concerned.

It gives Shin no pleasure to be the one to break the news to Emma, he just thinks she’ll take it slightly better coming from him. And yet, when he meets her at his salon after hours, he can’t do it. He should have known he couldn’t, because he loves her to much to hurt her like that. Emma, meanwhile, is totally oblivious, because Shin won’t tell her what needs to be said.

While sitting in the styling chair, Emma asks if Shin remembers him putting up her hair back in high school. It’s a silly question; he’ll never forget that moment, or the day he first saw Emma’s beautiful hair flowing in the hall. Unfortunately, even then, it was flowing because she was running to tell a friend about the new hot guy, Nagi Itsuomi.

Itsuomi and Shin kind of organically became friends, while Shin and Emma started to interact in part because Emma was looking for Itsuomi in places where Shin happened to be. Especially in high school, that can often be how friendships are forged. Shin and Emma sharing headphones, and her giving him a CD of lovely piano music, are memories Shin cherishes to this day.

Touyama Nao is so perfectly cast as Emma’s seiyu. Her voice is so often a ray of sunshine, but as seen with her work as Honami in Classroom of the Elite she can do dark clouds too. Here, Emma is Shin’s sun. He can’t keep his eyes off her, and she might be the first person he tells about his dream of styling hair, not to mention putting her hair up in a classy braid.

Whether due to her own good looks or her ongoing crush on Itsuomi, Emma is ostracized by her girl friends, and she and Shin and Itsuomi become a tight-knit triad and a classic love triangle. Emma declares, without hesitation, she loves Itsuomi “lots”. Yet Itsuomi rejects her again and again, as he isn’t interested in romance “right now.”

Shin tries to find love in one of the girls who asks him out (lest we forget, he’s hot too) but it goes about as well as you’d expect: she starts to pick up on his unrequited love for Emma, and calls him out on it on the rooftop with Emma present. That’s when Shin loudly proclaims “he’ll never fall for Emma as long as he lives.”

Of course, that’s a complete lie, as he was in love with her as he said those words, and has been ever since. Back in the present, Emma’s hair is done, and she praises Shin for being “the one who makes her pretty”. But it’s not Shin’s hairstyling, it’s her love for Itsuomi that makes her more beautiful. Recall how Rin could tell Yuki was in love the same way.

If Shin tells her Itsuomi has a girlfriend, it will break her heart, and the sunshine in her eyes will be clouded. So he doesn’t. Instead, he asks if she loves Itsuomi. the reply is still the same as it was in high school, and just as instant: “Yup, I love him lots!” The thing is, Emma is going to find out sooner or later.

As Kyouya assures him, there’s still hope for Shin and Emma, but the first miles of that road will be arduous. I came away from this episode empathizing a lot more with Emma, who has suffered with loving someone who doesn’t love her that way back for so long, as well as with Shin, who is in the same boat. I’m rooting for these two attractive losers to get together!

It doesn’t look like we’ll be getting into that next week, as Itsuomi proposes a sign language boot camp with Yuki, Rin, and Kyouya. It’s geared toward helping Rin learn more signing so she can better communicate with her dear friend. It’s also another double date opportunity for Rin to ask Kyouya out, or vice versa. Me, I’m looking forward to some warm and cozy Laid-Back Sign Camp!

Ao no Exorcist: Shimane Illuminati-hen – 07 – Mall of the Damned

Now that we’re up to speed on the horrific circumstances of her past and torturous circumstances of her present, what does the future hold for Kamiki Izumo? Can she, like, maybe catch a fucking break at some point? The last couple weeks have made clear that she’s not just a prisoner of the Illuminati, but also convinced she is the only one who can and must bear this awful fate.

As she’s walked in cuffs down a long hall to her eventual doom, All Izumo can do is laugh and try to mess with Mr. Pink Hair, asking if he’s enjoying this. When he says there’s a chance she can walk away from this if everything goes well, she tells him there’s no hope for her: she’s a dead girl walking regardless of the results.

Her nihilistic attitude only lasts as long as the corridor, for when they reach Gedouiin she makes such a big loud outburst she’s able to swipe the pen from a guard, stab them with it, then cut herself with the spring and summon Uke and Mike.

When they tell her that people from the Order are coming to rescue her, she doesn’t want to hear it. The only one she’s relying on is herself and her foxes. She’ll escape, find Tsukumo, and get her to safety. It’s a terrible plan with little to no chance of success.

Pheles leaves the operation in Yukio’s hands, promising backup at some point but unable to tell them when. Inari Peace Town is full of brainwashed people who eat all day, like the pigs in Spirited Away. They’re then bussed off to a mall, for some unknown purpose. While Rin and the others ate food from Inari Peace Town, they’re saved from its effects thanks to Shiemi’s medicinal herb sandwiches.

Once they get past the first few guards and infiltrate the creepily deserted mall, they learn what happens to the people bussed there: They become Gedouiin’s experiments. The ones that fail become zombies, and he’s unleashed those zombies onto Yukio, Rin, & Co.

While the general zombie mall atmosphere is pretty creepy, it can’t really compete with, say, Jujutsu Kaisen, especially when the spooky zombies in question are lame CG models, some of which have identical blood splattering on their tunics. Some hand drawn stuff would pack more of a punch.

When Gedouiin learns that Rin and Yukio are among the Order intruders, he changes up his strategy, ordering the floor of the mall opened and all the intruders shunted into the foreboding-sounding “feeding area.” Feeding what fell beasts, I ask?

Izumo, flanked by an Uke and Mike determined to protect her they disobey her orders, try their best, but Shima is able to summon a demon that not only disperses the fox spirits, but eliminates them. Just like that, the foxes Izumo thought of as brothers are gone from her life.

Her spirit newly-crushed, Izumo is re-shackled and her long walk to her doom continues. As for Shima, if he wasn’t before, he’s truly an irredeemable villainous scum now, right?

As if the zombies whose head wounds healed wasn’t enough, now the exorcists are separated in different dark places, next to some kind of horrendous beasts that are excited for food. Rin recalls Shima telling him he’s going to have to be okay with killing humans if he’s going to have any chance going forward. The time for wavering and half-measures is over.

Saving Izumo means Rin will have to do a lot of horrible things and will have to live with himself. Even then, so as long as Tsukumo is in the enemy’s clutches, Izumo doesn’t even want to be saved. It’s just a big old downer. The good guys need a win somewhere in the worst way. Hopefully they can score one next week.

Ao no Exorcist: Shimane Illuminati-hen – 06 – Outfoxed

This week is given over entirely to the story of Kamiki Izumo’s childhood—if you can call it that—and it’s a tough watch, even during its more comedic moments. At no point does anyone in this episode treat Izumo like the child she is. We open with her ostensible mother, Tamamo, crying on her shoulder about Souji, Izumo and Tsukumo’s father. Meanwhile, all of the household duties are handled by the foxes, who love Tamamo unconditionally.

That’s because no one in the long line of Kamiki Tamamos throughout the centuries has performed a more powerful or beautiful dance of appeasement before the Killing Stone, where the Fox of Nine Tails dwells. Even Izumo is in awe of Tamamo when she’s doing her dance, even if the rest of the time she’s a complete train wreck of a mother unable to subordinate her forbidden love of the high priest Souji for anyone, even her daughters.

Tamamo takes every opportunity she can to pawn Tsukumo off onto Izumo, who must serve as a surrogate mother while she hangs out with Souji. When Izumo is at school, she has to leave Tsukumo in the care of other priestesses, who consider the girls bastards who sully the shrine. She’s made fun of and isolated at school for being able to see fox spirits. It’s a lot for a little girl, but this is Izumo; even she smells something shady-af when reps from Illuminati roll up to ask her some questions about the Killing Stone.

Even so, Izumo takes the business card of Illuminati’s Yoshida Maria, just in case she needs advice from someone else who can see what they call “demons.” As for Tamamo, she is responsible for appeasing the Nine Tails, a job that requires extreme emotional focus and stability. All that is destroyed with a few words from Souji, who as high priest should’ve really known better. When Tamamo asks if he’ll visit their children, he says he doesn’t want to, and if she keeps bringing it up, he’ll stop letting her visit him.

In the present, Izumo can’t stop blaming herself for everything that happened that has placed her and her sister in such a predicament. But she’s wrong. This is the fault of one person, and one person only: Souji. He sent Tamamo over the deep end, and eventually the Nine Tails took advantage of her heartbreak, anger, and despair, and possessed her, and transforming her into a murderous demon. That night, it’s all Izumo can do to run off while the foxes protect Tsukumo from Tamamo. She doesn’t even have time to put shoes on.

Izumo calls the only person in the world she can call: Maria, who takes her and Tsukumo to Illuminati, while her Nine Tails-ified mother is captured. Maria promises they’ll all be taken care of and protected from Holy Cross, who will want to eliminate Tamamo on site. But Maria isn’t in charge of Illuminati, and even though Izumo eventually comes to trust her a little bit, Maria never had the power or authority to make any such promises.

When Maria learns how mistaken she was about what goes on here, how much torture Tamamo is undergoing, and how Gedouiin plans to experiment on Tsukumo next, she make another unilateral call and has Tsukumo whisked away for adoption. When she did that, she automatically ruined any chance of Izumo trusting her ever again, no matter how good her intentions. Izumo asks if Maria will keep her cell door unlocked while she’s gone. She does, and Izumo leaves the room and is caught.

Once again, Izumo is subjected to sights and sounds a child should never see or hear, as Maria is beaten and begs for her life, only to be injected with an experimental immortality elixir that kills her after a few moments of unspeakable agony. The grotesque mad scientist Gedouiin is fearsome in his anger, and drunk with the absolute power bestowed upon him by Lucifer himself. Gedouiin doesn’t mince words with Izumo: submit to him entirely and he’ll leave Tsukumo alone … for a bit.

It’s a shit deal, and even young Izumo probably knows it, but she also knows it’s the best deal she’s going to get from this true demon in human skin. If becoming the next Nine Tails vessel will keep Tsukumo safe for a year, a month, or even just a day, she’ll do it.

Because if there’s one thing she learned in these hellish few weeks of her so-called childhood, it’s that she can’t rely on anyone. Not her mother, not Tamamo, and not Shima or Rin or Shiemi or Yukio. The gang rescuing her from Gedouiin and the Illuminati is one thing. Freeing her from the soul-crushing belief that she’s on her own in this wretched world, and always will be? That’ll be a far tougher task.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – 21 – Making it Rain

Serie sits on her throne in a library once in good repair, now crumbling around her (a beautiful crossfade), bestowing wishes on mages while remaining stuck in amber. Centuries ago, she remembers her student Flamme visiting her with her new student: a elf girl with silver hair. Serie could tell this girl was strong, but when Frieren refuses to have her wish fulfilled, Series believes she lacks the ambition to become a truly great mage.

But for all her centuries of life and amassed knowledge and experience, her student Flamme considered something she could not: neither of them have the capacity to imagine a peaceful world. Frieren can, and so she’ll be the one to defeat the Demon King. In the present, it heartens Frieren to hear Denken say the very same words she told Serie: the joy of magic lies in searching for it. One only has time to search if there’s peace in the world.

High above the canopy atop the plateau he created, Richter “babysits” Lawine and Kanne by giving them a little lecture about the fallacy of defensive battles of attrition. The basic defense spell in use all over magedom hasn’t changed because the simplest defense is the best defense.

However, one’s defense relies on one’s stores of mana, so Richter’s philosophy is to overwhelm his opponents with high-volume physical attacks, in this case earth. But while he overwhelms the girls, he obeys Denken and doesn’t kill them.

Denken fights well, but he’s up against Frieren. He never had a chance, but he had to try, and not for the privilege of being granted a wish. As he later tells Laufen, his only wish is to travel to his homeland to visit someone’s grave.

If nothing else, Denken has the pleasure of learning that there’s still a mage out there stronger than him, and then some. In battle, Frieren sticks to the tried-and-true basic spells, making him feel like a trainee in a combat lesson.

When Frieren calls out to Laufen to give her back her Stille or she’ll kill Denken he insists she stay put and conceal her mana. But she can’t, so when Frieren’s staff starts to glow, Laufen uses her flash-step and is instantly nabbed by Frieren, having fallen into her trap. Still, Laufen doesn’t regret using her ability; she knew Frieren probably wouldn’t kill Denken, but she didn’t want Denken hurt at all.

They get to sit back and watch firsthand as Frieren, who has finished analyzing the barrier, conjures a destruction spell that shatters it. The male proctor was 100% certain it would never be broken, because Serie’s the one who put it up, and “the world would have to be turned upside down” for someone to destroy it.

Well, Frieren does just that, and as soon as she does, Serie knows it happened and who did it. Now we see while she dwells somewhat stagnantly in that library, Serie still relishes times like this when the world is upended by a mage—in this case, the last great mage: Frieren of the Hero’s Party.

When asked why she did it, Frieren says she felt bad for Kanne, and that “magic should be free”. Now the only one anyone has to feel bad for is Richter, for his greatest fear is now a reality: he finds himself in a fight with a mage who controls water … in the rain. He gets a tast of his own high-volume medicine, as Lawine holds him in place with her ice while Kanne throws a cubic acre of water at him.

Later, when Frieren finds the girls sitting, drained of mana, she gives them pats on the heads, congratulating them for winning. Frieren never doubted they would, because she never doubted she’d shatter the barrieer.

With only a couple of hours until the first test ends, Fern, Land, and Ubel find shelter from the rain in a cave. Ubel asks Fern about the other spells she knows, and when Fern mentions the one that can see through clothes, there’s a perfect jump cut to Ubel suddenly far away, covering herself, and Fern assuring her she won’t use it.

Land warns Fern not to say anything more about what she can do, because the six groups of three who passed the first test will be dissolved and all eighteen individual mages pitted against one another in the second. Denken, Richter, and Laufen are among those who passed, thanks to Denken’s fists. They all have three days to rest before that second test. Freiren and Fern exchange satisfied looks. I hope that rather than fighting each other—they’re both mages of peace—they’ll use teamwork to win together if they can.

RABUJOI WORLD HERITAGE LIST

Goblin Slayer II – 10 – The Princess and the Priestess

The Princess of the Holy Capital yearns to leave the confining palace and go on an adventure like her brother. When he returns from an adventure of his own, she decides she’ll make her move and sneak out. Since we know what happens to naive folks who rush headlong into adventures, this probably won’t end well for her.

She sneaks out the same day Goblin Slayer and his party arrive, and Sword Maiden enthusiastically offers her Temple for their accommodations. She’s also delighted to escort Slayer to the library, but Dwarf Shaman insists they have a meal first. As Slayer, Dwarf and Lizard eat, Slayer shares with them some Big Questions.

He admits he had fun with the sea battle and the escort mission, but wonders if he’s neglecting who he fundamentally is: a goblin slayer. Dwarf assures him that just as steel must go though balance cycles of heat, striking, and cold, so to must people. Lizard adds that most people don’t have a firm calling, but it is perfectly okay to simply live and die while worrying and hesitating.

Priestess pays a visit to the Wizard’s grave, admitting to Archer that she wasn’t with her long enough to know her too well. When Archer sees Priestess is acting so serious for one so young, she takes her by the hand to do the opposite of serious. More specifically, they head to the capital’s lavish bathhouse.

Whlie there, Archer notes that Priestess is still wearing chainmail, which holds a great deal of sentimental value (as Slayer complimented her in it). Priestess also notices a female soldier seemingly watching her, but doesn’t let it keep her and Archer from having fun bathing together.

When Archer runs off stark naked to the saunas, a blonde, blue-eyed girl joins Preistess in the bath, and has a lot of questions about her adventuring and in particular the equipment she uses. Priestess can tell this girl is curious, but delivers a warning about being prepared that perhaps isn’t stern enough.

Priestess returns to the changing room to find her robes, chainmail, and staff are gone. In its place she finds the clothes of the soldier, who left the Priestess’ money pouch. When next we see Priestess she’s wearing the soldier’s clothes, and I thought for sure that Slayer would compliment her anew, since she looks very cool.

Alas, Slayer is holed up in his room sharpening a blade. The Sword Maiden pays him a visit with a book for him to study, telling him he can’t let girls cry as Priestess is crying; they typically want comfort from someone close. Slayer acknowledges this, and as Maiden turns to leave, says “Things end up lost,” then mentions specifically his father’s dagger he was meant to inherit, but ended up lost.

Sword Maiden says she’ll bring it up at the royal counsel at the palace the next day. His Majesty holds court as his advisors report on the “flaming stone from the heavens”, the possibility of having to summon the Hero and her party, and a strange new religion worshipping the “God of Wisdom.”

When it’s Maiden’s turn to speak, she gives some general big-picture report on the state of the world, but then gets extremely granular in reporting the theft of Priestess’ clothes and staff at the bathhouse, then declaring her believe that all goblins should be destroyed, creating some sweat beads on her colleagues’ faces.

Her mention of the theft connects to an urgent report given by a messenger of a young woman in holy robes being given a ride on a merchant’s wagon, only to be attacked by goblins. The merchant got away in order to get help, but the girl was taken by the goblins … and that girl is none other than His Majesty’s little sister, the Princess.

Needless to say, this is very bad for the Princess. She’s lucky she wasn’t assaulted on the spot, but there’s no chance in hell she’ll come out of this entirely unscathed either physically or mentally; not with what looks like a high-ranked goblin pope-looking mfer in charge.

His Majesty is loath to send his army out there, as the scandal of the princess stealing a priestess’ robes and getting captured by goblins will hurt the kingdom’s standing. He and the other advisors turn to the Sword Maiden to take care of this matter, as she is both capable and trustworthy.

The mere mention of having to deal with goblins absolutely petrifies the poor Sword Maiden, so it’s a good thing Slayer and his party are right outside the meeting room, heard everything, and are ready, willing, and eager to go. Time for Goblin Slayer to get back to doing what’s on the tin.

Goblin Slayer II – 09 – Anvil and Hammer

In a flashback a younger, more practically-dressed Sword Maiden and her party battle their way through an endless dungeon. Whatever hardships or powerful enemies they endure, the Maiden is grateful there are no goblins around and hopes it stays that way.

Back in the present day Goblin Slayer’s party are fighting a giant sea serpent in the middle of a churning storm. Slayer was told he’d be fighting “sea goblins” but this isn’t that. Despite the mission creep, he fights with his comrades and they manage to defeat the monster.

But you’d better believe Guild Girl hears it from Goblin Slayer …  at least in his way, which is repeating over and over that there were no goblins. At least the battle was relatively simple, and they gained a lot of loot, which they split up amongst each other and sell off the rest.

Goblin takes a gorgeous iridescent seashell, not for him, but for Cow Girl, who accepts it with all the glee and giddiness of a maiden receiving a wedding ring. Goblin Slayer, you old softie. But who should arrive, hidden in brown cloaks, but the Sword Maiden herself.

Accompanied by a nun bodyguard, the Maiden gets down to brass tacks: She needs to be present for a meeting in the Capital, but there are reports of roving goblins along the way. The Sword Maiden cannot abide goblins, so the Slayer assures her he’ll slay them.

The others agree to serve as the Maiden’s escort, but before leaving Slayer stops to chat with Cow Girl. The Sword Maiden, who has been smitten with Slayer ever since he vowed to protect her from goblins, is obviously very curious about the girl he apparently lives with.

After setting up camp the rest of the party sleeps while Slayer keeps watch. The Maiden joins him, telling him she can sleep better thanks to him, which leads him to ask why she’s not asleep then. Poor Maiden; all of her kind words clank off that chipped armor of his.

Even if he won’t acknowledge the obvious feelings emanating from her, she’s content to sit by his side at the fire. When Priestess wakes up and sees the two so close together, she’s as curious as the Maiden was about the Cow Girl. But there’s no time for anything more, as the Slayer senses goblins approaching.

The Maiden returns to her wagon with the nun. I was almost certain the goblins would make their way in an terrorize her, but thankfully that doesn’t happen because Slayer’s party is a well-oiled machine. They set up a perimeter, and Lizard Priest runs into the forest to flank the goblins.

Slayer has Priestess raise a Protection wall around the wagon and party, which serves as an “anvil.” The goblins are drawn to it, and then Lizard Priest brings the “hammer”, a squad of Dragontooth Warriors to mop up the rest of goblins.

In the morning after piling up the goblin and wolf corpses, Slayer then wonders what became of the handful of prisoners. He cuts open the bellies of the dead goblins to see if they were eaten, and determines that some prisoners and goblins belonging may still be at large.

They continue to the gleaming gates of the Capital, and the line for entry is long, partly due to the king and his royal entourage being out of the city. When the guards ask for ID and for each party member to write their purpose, they’re skeptical of Slayer’s silver rank (probably due to his tatty armor).

That’s when Sword Maiden speaks up from her wagon and vouches for his rank. Upon seeing her the guards immediately stand down and grant her immediate access to the city, but she says “paperwork is paperwork” and follows the proper entry procedure anyway, no doubt endearing her to them even more as they get her autograph.

I’ve always been a fan of the Sword Maiden even as my heart hurts for the trauma she endured in the past and her present unrequited crush on Slayer. Whether we see more of her next week remains to be seen, but this week proved that the Slayer’s party didn’t get the least bit rusty from those days of partying in the elven forest.

I’m in Love with the Villainess – 09 – Claire the Clement

Thanks to Rae buying Claire time to set up an extremely magical ray spell the two are able to defeat the chimera before it can hurt anyone. The battle requires that Claire trust Rae to keep the monster away from her while she’s a relative sitting duck, and that Rae trust Claire not to accidentally hit her with the spell. Rae’s trust in Claire goes without saying, but that Claire trusts in Rae now says a lot about how far they’ve come. They even high-five each other!

But then there’s still the matter of the masked mystery man. He confronts the girls, stating he’d hoped the chimera would kill as many nobles as possible. While this reveals his affiliation with the commoner movement, it doesn’t say much else about who he is or why he took this particular roundabout way to try to attack them. When he tries to stab Claire, Thane swoops in and gets grazed. The blade is poisoned, but Rae is able to heal Thane without any issues.

With the Aurousseaus arrested the mystery man vanishing, and the angry mob dispersed, everything is wrapped up on this one evening … which is honestly fine with me. I’ll be honest: I watch this primarily for the cute interactions between Rae and Claire, not magical combat or political intrigue. The show almost seems to acknowledge that when it’s announced the movement has gone quiet. This leaves what is to happen to Lene and Lambert.

One thing is clear, despite her head maid and oldest friend Lene betraying her as part of a plot to do harm to the nobility and even holding her at knifepoint, Claire has no desire for Lene or the Aurousseaus to die for their crimes.

Yet execution is the indicated punishment. So when she and Rae are given an audience and asked what reward they want (and even Claire has to admit Rae’s valiant look is on point), Claire asks for the execution sentence to be commuted. When the prime minister voices his doubts such a thing could be done and the king is ready to go with his opinion, Thane once again steps in to offer his two cents.

Claire and Rae can only say that the Aurosseaus have done for the kingdom justify leniency, but it’s a matter of scale. Thane presents an alternate argument that proves more persuasive to the king: if he truly desires more of a meritocracy, he should put his money where his mouth is. The king then decrees that Lene, Lambert, and the Aurosseaus shall be exiled from the Bauer Kingdom.

Not long after exiting the palace, Claire and Rae celebrate in jubilation at the same time. When Claire takes exception to Rae “copying” her, Rae starts to dance with her, and eventually Claire’s scowl turns back into a joyful smile. The next time the two see Lene, she and Lambert are headed out of the city for good. Rae calls her over to say her goodbyes and also provide some recipes that may help her with her money situation.

Lene thanks Claire and Rae for being the ones to save her and her family from execution, (although the Arousseaus have also disowned Lene and Lambert), and apologizes for what she’s done. At first Claire lets her go without saying a word, but then calls out Lene’s name and says she’s not saying goodbye for good, because she’s certain they’ll meet again someday.

After that final exchange that brings a smile to Lene’s face, Rae can tell Claire just might need a hug. When she refuses one, Rae gives her one anyway. While this is iffy consent-wise, it turns out to be the right move, as Claire needs a few moments to have a cry over everything that’s gone down.

The whole part about Lene and Lambert being incestuous lovers ends up being neither here nor there. Since so little was explored about it, it probably could have been left out of this entire mini-arc, as wanting to save his beloved sister (in a non-incestual way) would have been a perfectly adequate motivation for their treason.

As for Rae, Claire’s opinion of her continues to improve the more time they spend together. Knowing as we do that Claire returning her feelings isn’t necessarily Rae’s end goal, it is good to see them getting along more often. That said, the preview for next week suggests Rae’s about to have some female competition for Claire’s affections.