Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – 26 – The Ant that Slew the Dragon

So, about that attack Fern launched when Frieren gave her an opening … the replica blocked it. And so the battle continues, with Frieren and her replica flipping to the back of the playbook and executing some awesomely powerful offensive spells at each other while Fern flits around trying to find more openings. It’s stressful, but also gorgeous to behold, and at no point does Frieren seem remotely worried. On the contrary, she’s having a blast.

While she and Fern fight her replica, the others head out to face off agains the other replicas gathering at the bottom of the dungeon. They choose their targets based on how good or bad matchup they are against the replicas. Denken is quite right that their ability to work together and communicate means not only can they win, they should win. Even when Sense’s replica ambushes Richter and Lawine, and both have to break their golem bottles.

Ultimately, the only one who believes she can defeat the replica of Sense is Übel, who just shot up in the official Coolest Frieren Mages Ever ranking in my books for this reason. As Land, Denken, and Sense lament, Übel’s mind simply works differently than most humans. Growing up watching her sister cut cloth with scissors, she developed Reelseiden, a spell that cuts anything she thinks it can.

She could cut the indomitable magic cloak of a first class mage in a past test, killing him, because she saw the cloak as cloth to be cut. In the same vein, she’s able to easily defeat Sense’s replica (and Sense herself if she chose to) because hair can be cut. Reelseiden is the manifestation of her own personal intuition, which is separate from the typical rules of magic and logic. Put simply, she’s one deadly gal!

Methode makes contact with Wirbel, Ehre, and Scharf, asking them to take on Denken’s replica, while she’ll deal with Fern’s. She needs to be alone in order to maximize the sensitivity of her mana detection, plus in an adorable cutaway, we se her successfully testing her binding magic on Fern, complete with a friendly “Take that!”, Fern declaring she can’t move, and Frieren poking her face.

When replicas they’ve already defeated start to appear, it becomes clear the Spiegel can continue re-spawning them indefinitely until it is defeated. Frieren’s replica has to be destroyed soon to allow them access to the Spiegel, or everyone’s going to eventually be carted away by golems.

Rewinding back to before they confront the replica, Frieren tells Fern that she’ll give Fern the opening she needs by showing an opening to her replica, thus making it show an even bigger opening. Everything hinges on Fern being able to exploit that opening, and Frieren tells her if she thinks they can win, they can win.

Not only that, Frieren admits she “underestimates” Fern. This is the Age of Humanity, after all. Even in her relatively short lifespan, Fern can surpass Frieren one day, but again, only if she thinks she can.

Some truly heinous magic is unleashed by Frieren and her replica in the final stage of their battle, with Frieren cutting things so close her jacket is shredded and her shoulder singed. But the big opening works, and Fern is able to pummel the replica with offensive magic, blasting her arms off.

But then Fern is once again surprised by the depths and heights of Frieren’s magical knowledge as demonstrated by her replica. Fern is tossed across the chamber and slammed hard against the wall, her staff shattered … and Fern doesn’t even recognize it as a spell, nor can she detect any mana.

True to Frieren, the most powerful magic whips out is so elegant it isn’t even recognizable as magic. But as the replica prepares to finish Fern off, Frieren slips behind her and finishes her off. Fern had to take a bit of a lickin’ so that everyone could keep on tickin’.

Victory! I loathed the potential for an unaccounted-for replica to be hiding in the treasure chamber where the Spiegel resided, but Frieren’s replica truly was its final line of defense. Frieren shatters it, and all of the replicas vanish as if snapped away by Thanos. And just in the nick of time too, judging by the precarious state of the various battles.

Everyone arrives at the treasure chamber at the very bottom of the dungeon to a smiling, congratulatory Sense, who tells them all of them deserve to be first-class mages. As for the “ladies of the hour”, as Denken calls them, Fern once again watches as Frieren gets nommed by another mimic, shouting that it’s dark and scary.

But you know what? After being as badass as she was, she deserves to act a little goofy before the third and final test, for which only two announced episodes of the series remain to tell. More than anything, I’m already loathing an end to Frieren, even if it’s likely to get another season down the road. Few anime in history have succeeded so thoroughly in making magic look and feel so … magical.

RABUJOI WORLD HERITAGE LIST

The Apothecary Diaries – 21 – Getting a Good Look

With Suirei in the wind, Maomao refocuses her efforts on keeping the apothecary clean with the Quack’s health (I love their cat-and-mouse dynamic), and learns that his family is the purveyor of paper for the emperor, but that may soon come to an end. The quality of the paper has fallen, but she doesn’t know why until the good doctor says they’ve started using oxen for the manual labor.

Whipping up some quick arrowroot gruel for herself and the doc, she tells him to wet his spoon in order to thin the mixture. The same is happening with the paper: oxen secrete a lot of saliva, and if that’s somehow getting into their glue, it’s resulting in less sticky glue and weaker paper. Seven minutes in, Maomao has solved a mini-mystery that might just have saved the doc’s family’s financial future.

From there we shift to Lihaku, who summons Maomao with what she hopes will be some new news on Suirei. Alas, he’s come to her to ask what it would cost to buy out a courtesan at the Verdigris House; specifically Pairin. His is no longer mere puppy love, nor does he consider her a pet or toy; she is the only woman in his world, and he has fallen for her body and soul.

To that end, he, a military officer who makes around 1,000 silver a year, wants to know what it will cost to buy her out, because he’s heard rumors that might happen soon. Maomao identifies two major regulars of hers, none of whom are a good match, then does a quick calculation of the revenue Pairin brings in to Verdigris and doubles it.

Maomao notes that Pairin is not just a graceful dancer, but an “invincible warlord in bed”; even servant girls have to watch out when her “hunger” grows. The ballpark figure Maomao comes up with is 10,000 silver minimum, which makes Lihaku wince, but he still asks whether he has a chance provided he can get that kind of cash together.

Maomao knows Pairin better than anyone; when she was first brought in, Pairin actually nursed her with that prestigious bosom. She was part big sister, part surrogate mom, and she and the other two princesses and the old Madame all took care of her. Maomao knows there’s some maternity in Pairin despite her insatiable appetites.

With all this in mind, she takes anyone wanting to be Pairin’s partner with extremely critical eyes. In order to properly assess if Lihaku is worthy of her, Maomao has him strip. First his shirt, then his pants. The musculature is there, and Maomao has heard from her sources that he also has stamina.

When the time comes to remove “the final garment” for an assessment of his manhood, the sight of Maomao kneeling on one knee right in front of Lihaku’s crotch is what Jinshi encounters when he enters the room. Needless to say, he demands to know just what the heck is going on.

Maomao is extremely matter-of-fact, even clinical in her explanations. Nothing untoward is going on, she’s simply taking a good look at him to see “if his body is good enough.” Even Maomao can tell from Jinshi’s reaction that he’s jealous, but when she further describes Lihaku, he can’t help but be impressed with her ability to assess someone’s personality based on their body, a crucial skill for an apothecary who might have secretive patients.

When Jinshi steers the discussion to his own body, Maomao says there’d “be no point” in learning about that, because he wouldn’t get along … with her sister. Now that he knows Maomao was inspecting Lihaku not for herself but for her sister, he meets with the man in person, and even offers double what he needs to buy her out. Jinshi would be buying Lihaku’s lifetime loyalty.

Lihaku asks how he can make such an offer to someone he barely knows, Jinshi tells him “his cautious cat” considers him a solid candidate. However, Lihaku respectfully declines his generous offer, asking what kind of man he’d be to welcome his wife with someone else’s money. If he’s going to buy her out and make her his, he’s going to do it himself, the way he thinks is right, and with Pairin’s own input on the matter.

Lihaku and Maomao write to Pairin, and she writes back to Maomao that she’s still got some work left in her at Verdigris, and is still “waiting for her prince” to come. That could very well be Lihaku, and for less than 10,000 silver. As for the rumor about someone buying a princess out, Pairin says that was one of the servant girls “getting the wrong idea.”

Maomao deduces that the one talking about buying people out must have been that man, i.e. Lakan. The preview suggests the biological father and daughter will be facing off next week. Perhaps we’ll learn a bit more about what exactly he’s after, and how far he’s willing to go to get it.

The Apothecary Diaries – 20 – The Hidden Spare

Maomao’s fine, everyone! If anything, she looks even more like a chuunibyou from the future with her new face and leg bandages. But there’s no rest for the recently beaten and wounded: she must make a full report to Jinshi, Gaoshun, and Basen about just how she knew that pillar would fall.

Maomao lays out Suiren’s conspiracy, much of which I had already inferred last week. Jinshi & Co. having to catch up, combined with Maomao’s subdued reaction to learning how important Jinshi is, kind of takes the air out of the room and feels recappy, even if we needed verbal confirmation. Basen constantly angrily interrupting was also annoying.

Things pick up a bit when Lihaku, who is apparently Maomao’s police informant now, tells her that Suirei was found dead of poison in her room and is scheduled to be cremated. Before that happens, Maomao asks Jinshi to allow her to inspect the corpse, remembering the “resurrection” medicine Suirei mentioned at her hilltop garden.

Maomao opens up the coffin to reveal the corpse of an entirely different woman. The doctor who examined Suirei, and knew her personally, is shocked, but Maomao indulging her curiosity has blown this case wide open: Suirei, the one with the intellect, courage, and cojones to pull off such an intricate conspiracy, is still at large. Maomao wants to catch her so she can teach her that resurrection medicine.

However, the “Suirei incident” is swept under the rug for now, which is probably for the best considering how many people ended up dead. The episode re-focuses on Jinshi, and the revelations continue to trickle out: He’s not a eunuch, nor is he twenty-four. Rather, he’s the nineteen-year-old brother of the current emperor, and he takes drugs to suppress his manhood.

The Empress Dowager gave birth to him the same time Ah-Duo gave birth to the current emperor’s firstborn son, who died soon thereafter and resulted in Ah-Duo being unable to have any more children. The younger brother’s identity was concealed as “Jinshi the eunuch” to run the Inner Palace and ensure the emperor produced a son to replace him as heir apparent to the throne.

Thus far, the emperor has had a son with Lihua, who passed away, and a daughter with Gyokuyou, who can’t be emperor. That said, things may soon be changing: Jinshi informs Maomao that Gyokuyou’s cycle has halted, a sign she’s pregnant again. Perhaps this time the emperor will get his son and heir and Jinshi can get his own life back…maybe a life with the brilliant and cute apothecary??

Jinshi dispatches Maomao, whom he trusts over any other physician, back to the Inner Palace to tend to Gyokuyou. She’s happy to be back in a place where she doesn’t have to worry about bumping into Lakan, and seeing the emperor play with his daughter, her opinion of him as a lewd lecher is starting to soften.

What with Loulan being the daughter of a high-ranking official who is no doubt trying to ascend the ladders of power, and the loss of his longtime friend and most trusted advisor Ah-Duo, even the emperor’s got his problems, and isn’t just an old dude who loves big bazongas.

The Apothecary Diaries – 19 – A Ceremony of Importance

One morning while sweeping the yard, Maomao is approached by Lihaku. He has an update about the warehouse fire: it was apparently a distraction to burgle another warehouse of ceremonial tools. The manager of one warehouse was the older man who died of salt poisoning. The current manager got food poisoning. And the expensive pipe? The owner didn’t want it; it was given to him by a tall court lady who smelled of medicine.

Like Maomao, my first thoughts were that all these seemingly disparate mysteries she’s been investigating seem to be connected, and that Suirei may be involved. She reports all of this to Jinshi, who concurs with her theory that it could be a series of traps, and there may be more to come. When Jinshi observes that Maomao doesn’t seem that enthusiastic, he turbocharges her enthusiasm with the promise of a rare ox bezoar.

Thus motivated, Maomao digs deep into the archives, whose administrator is happy to assist her with his knowledge of ceremonial division, of which he was a part until he talked back to his superiors and was demoted. His grievance was the fact that a large, heavy pillar used to carry festive messages in the ceremonial hall didn’t seem the most structurally sound.

The metalwork inherent in the design of the pillar brings the metalworking brothers into this whole web of mysteries. When Maomao hears that there’s a ceremony scheduled for today, she suddenly realizes that this cold be a plot to assassinate the person of high noble birth performing the ceremony.

She runs as fast as her little legs can carry her. Even if she’s totally wrong, it’s worth it if she’s able to save a life and thwart the plot. But when she reaches the entrance to the hall, she’s stopped by a hulking guard. Maomao, who is a servant with no authority, can only hope she can sway the man with her words, but fails.

Then she tries to stir up enough of a commotion that it stops the ceremony in progress. She does so by accusing the guard of being in on the plot. He responds by striking her in the face with a metal club almost as big as she is. She falls down the steps in a heap, and her face immediately swells up as her nose bleeds.

Even so, she gets back to her feet, desperate to save the target of the plot. When the guard still won’t trust her word, he is brought to heel by Lakan, who accuses him of excessive force against a girl, and then vouches for Maomao. He’ll take responsibility for letting her through.

Maomao doesn’t want to turn around to see her apparent benefactor. All she knows is the timing of his arrival is far too neat to be coincidence. It also means she’s in this man’s debt, whoever he is. But for now, she takes the opportunity he gave her and rushes into the hall.

Maomao arrives and dives into the man under the pillar just in time, as one of the cables gives out and it slams to the ground, cracking the floor with its weight. It is only here and now when it is confirmed that the man performing the ceremony, and has likely performed many before, is none other than Jinshi.

He’s not just a eunuch administrator. He probably isn’t even a eunuch. But not only is Maomao punch drunk, but one of the cables badly slashed her leg. Her first thought is that she needs to stich it up, and her second thought is to ask Jinshi, now that she has him here, if he’ll give her the ox bezoar.

She passes out in his arms, and everyone around bows in deference to Jinshi as he gathers her up, carries her out of the hall, down the stairs, through various gates and down various paths to get her medical treatment. He’s not treating her like a mere servant girl under his employ, but as someone precious to him.

Whatever ceremony he was performing can wait, and his carrying of her through the palace grounds has the feeling of a different ceremony entirely. Like Maomao herself, Jinshi may owe Lakan a debt, for it was his authority that granted her access to the hall . But first thing’s first: seeing to Maomao’s safety. She saved his life at great cost to her person; now it’s his turn to save her.

My Happy Marriage – 11 – The Burdens of Blood

Miyo’s grandfather Yoshino tells her how the Usudas became mired in debt they couldn’t hope to repay, and one day the Saimoris offered to assume all that debt, in exchange for Sumi marrying into their family. Not seeing any other way to stave off the family’s ruin, Sumi went against her father’s wishes and arranged the engagement.

After that, Yoshino became completely estranged from her daughter, but the backstory picks up when he takes Miyo to the blooming sakura tree and tells her to place her hand on the bark. When she does, her Dream-Sight is unsealed, and she learns what happened after her mother married.

Shortly after Sumi had Miyo, she became aware of two things: If the Saimoris found out her daughter had Dream-Sight, they’d never stop exploiting her, and she didn’t have long to live (she was ill before she married). So Sumi sealed away Miyo’s gift, so that when the proper time came, it would be her choice whether to use it.

As Miyo rests and processes all that she saw with her gift, we see Kiyoka fighting the grotesqueries in the woods with his subordinates. Honestly his men don’t seem like they’re good for much except bait, at least compared to his frighteningly powerful gifts.

When Miyo wakes up the next morning, it isn’t a sudden awakening after a nightmare. She had no nightmares. But she still can’t feel truly at ease as long as she’s in a gilded cage far from her danna-sama’s side. I’m so glad that she remains adamant, even in the face of a pushy Arata, that all she wants is to see him again—if only to apologize.

Arata insists that it’s his duty to protect her, if she would just let him. He later refers to the two of them as alike in their status as “empty shells”, not considering that Miyo isn’t an empty shell; at least not since meeting Kiyoka, Yurie, and Hazuki.

My inkling that Kiyoka would be better off facing the grotesqueries alone is reinforced when one of them rushes Godou, and Kiyoka has to push him out of the way to save him. In the process, he is touched by the grotesquerie, and the miasma causes him to collapse. I’m not sure he would have made as reckless a move if Miyo was waiting for him back home.

Yoshino may be keeping Miyo away from Kiyoka, but he at least assumes responsibility for what happened to Miyo up until then, and expresses his regret that he didn’t make different choices regarding his daughter that could have prevented both her and Miyo’s suffering.

It doesn’t really change the fact that he did what he did, and that presently he’s probably fine with Arata eventually marrying Miyo, his cousin, per the Usuda way. But unlike the awful Saimoris, at least he’s trying to show a modicum of compassion and empathy.

Their exchanges also serve to underscore just how foreign the concept of “family” is to Miyo. Before meeting Kiyoka, the only person in the world who gave a shit about her was her mother, who left her far too soon.

Yoshino tries to explain to her that the members of a family may not always get along, or may at times disappoint, but the bonds of blood never shatter, and a family shares its burdens rather than let one member bear them all.

But when Arata informs Yoshino* that Kiyoka was struck down by the grotesqueries, Miyo insists she has to go to him. Even when Arata tells her that the Usudas struck a deal with the Emperor himself promising to keep her away from anyone supernaturally gifted, she won’t take no for an answer.

Perhaps seeing his daughter’s stubbornness in Miyo, and once again demonstrating he has a heart, Yoshino lets Miyo go to see Kiyoka. Arata escorts her, and she rushes to her fiancé’s bedside and breathes a sigh of relief when she feels his pulse.

That said, no one knows if or when he’ll wake up, which makes Miyo the only person who can do something. Specifically, she may be able to speak to him and even wake him up, by using her newly unsealed Dream-Sight. Just as her mother had hoped, she’s choosing to use it for her own reasons.

*Arata almost makes it a point to tell his grandfather about Kiyoka in earshot of Miyo. I’m not sure why, since at this point his primary duty is to keep her right where she is … Did he honestly think she’d hear that news and not want to immediately go to Kiyoka? … Arata could have lied and said Kiyoka died. Or he could have simply kept Miyo in the dark about Kiyoka altogether … Perhaps Arata did what he did because a part of him didn’t want to deny her free will, just as he had been denied his all his life? In any case, both he and his grandfather make for far more layered, complex characters than the cartoonishly evil half-sister and stepmother.

Synduality: Noir – 10 – Growing Up Fast

Some old tinkerers are working on some modifications for DaisyOgre, excited and proud that young Kanata is finally coming into his own as a Drifter. But their work is interrupted by a massive Ender storm that devastates the entire Boneyard camp.

Back at Rock Town, Mam gathers all of the Drifters to inform them of a pressing emergency: the “Silver Storm” has destroyed numerous camps and is headed straight for them. The Drifters are split into investigation teams and town defense.

Kanata wants to join Tokio with the investigations. Tokio is initially jokey in his responses, but when Kanata presses, he is more firm: Kanata should stay put, where it’s safe. Kanata feels otherwise. Ultimately, they’re both snotty brats to Mam, who tells Tokio to take Kanata already.

As Kanata prepares DaisyOgre in a hurry (and concerns Ciel), Tokio has a bad flashback to when a younger him was held back by Mouton as another young man—perhaps his brother?—looks back at him defiantly. Kurokamen and Schnee land at what I believe is the same site where Kanata found Noir, searching for the “Key to Paradise.”

Tokio’s carrier arrives at the Boneyard, where there’s nothing but ruins and rubble. Kanata fans out, snapping back at Tokio when he tells him not to go too far. It’s a bad time for Kanata to be puffing his chest out, as this is by far the largest threat our cast has encountered in this series.

It’s almost jarring how serious things are and how high the stakes have suddenly become after nine episodes of relatively lightweight adventures and character introductions. But there were hints of this threat sprinkled throughout those episodic outings, and now the shit is hitting the fan.

Ellie’s team spots the rapidly approaching Silver Storm, which gets bigger and more menacing as it consumes settlements. Back at the Boneyard, Tokio fights off a Parasitic Ender, while Kanata, on his own, is suddenly surrounded by three of them.

Within moments he loses an arm, his gun, and his footing. Noir couldn’t detect any of them in time, and in her head says she’s still a “dud.” DaisyOgre is a sitting duck when the Enders prepare to finish him off, but Tokio swoops in to shield him from their projectiles.

It occurred to me that Tokio’s brief but nightmarish flashback, as well as how hostile Kanata had been to him, may have constituted death flags, and sure enough, the Parasitic Ender spears impale him in multiple spots. With Tokio out of commission, Kanata and Noir seem doomed.

But the show has mercy on them as another savior arrives: Claudia and Flamme. They take out the Enders, stablize Tokio then load him and his Coffin onto theirs for travel to Rock Town. Claudia promises she’ll send someone back to pick him and Noir up.

The immediate threat may be past, but the Silver Storm is still primed to turn Rock Town into dust. Before Tokio departs with Claudia, he tells Kanata “we’re all depending on you now,” in order to make clear it’s not that he doesn’t believe in his abilities, just that he’s worried about his little brother’s safety.

But Kanata knows he can’t stand in his brother’s shadow forever, so he resolves to find a way to disperse the storm and save Rock Town and his friends and family—with Noir supporting him, of course. After nine weeks of being mostly a nuisance, the Enders finally have teeth, and Synduality finally has stakes.

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead – 06 – Equipment Check

Their rooftop haven is out of water, and Tokyo is out of power, so after visiting the Ginza to try on some watches and suits they’d never get to afford in their past lives, Akira and Kencho pack up and prepare to leave for Gunma, in hopes Akira’s parents are still alive.

Rather than take the motorcycle for the 4-plus-hour ride, Akira decides they need to have a kitted-out RV instead, and head to an RV show at a convention center. They have the same idea as Shizuka, and use her own risk analysis to get her to grudingly join them, since she doesn’t have a driver’s license.

As you’d expect, Akira and Kencho turn into excited little boys at the sight of all the cool RVs on display, one of which costs 23 million yen (or $150K US). But even Shizuka can’t hide how much she loves a sumptuous VW bus conversion, even though a lifted Tacoma conversion meets their needs.

Ultimately the choice of what RV to take is governed by the fact the boys were so loud they attracted a horde of zombies. They pile into a decently-sized Hino Cab-over RV and skedaddle; Kencho retrieves their bike and they head out in a two-vehicle convoy. The highways are mercifully empty.

I was ready to sit back and enjoy a fun road trip, but disaster strikes when both Akira and Kencho hit spike strips that ruin their tires. Kencho is thrown from his bike and injured. Three coach buses quickly arrive and block the way, manned by surly baseball players.

Their leader says “Tendou”, and Akira realizes that it’s his old boss, Chief Kosugi. Kosugi is all smiles in offering medical supplies, fresh tires, and the like. But of course, there’s a catch: Akira has to work for him for two days. And considering how often Kosugi lied to Akira at the office, two days might as well be translated as forever.

Akira, Kencho, and Shizuka have no choice but to accept Kosugi’s “kind” offer, and the latter two notice an instant change in Akira. Even he freezes up and can’t breathe or think when Kosugi is in his face, so traumatized he is by the past abuse.

When Akira tries to pull a fun-loving “new Akira” and chill some beers for everyone, but he’s reamed out for wasting electricity, and placed in the doghouse when the baseball guys think the cold beer is for them. Kosugi also shows Akira his ideal workforce: zombies that are tied up to pull cargo: No will of their own, no need to pay them, and no backtalk. Simply equipment. Chilling.

At no point does absolute contempt and menace drip from Kosugi’s features, nor does he ever miss a single chance to run Akira down, saying he can only hope to be as useful as the zombies. Suffice it to say this is a bad, bad place, and our peeps need to get out of here pronto. With Akira totally under Kosugi’s heel like the bad old days, organizing an escape likely falls to Shizuka, and a Kencho who hopefully heals up fast.

Vinland Saga S2 – 21 – Repaying the Kindness

As Canute inspects the dead “soldiers” who fought for Ketil, Floki asks if his men can use some of the houses on the farm. Canute forbids any soldiers from setting foot on the farm, as he knows they’ll want to pillage if they do.

Floki points out that pillaging is the right of a victorious warrior, but Canute holds firm; he’ll reward the Jomsvikings another way. His father’s head laughs at Canute for showing mercy, especially after all of the lives he’s taken. He urges his son to keep paving a road of corpses until he reaches “paradise.”

With Ketil unconscious, the choice of whether to surrender is not up to Thorgil, Sverkel, or Ketil’s wife. It is up to Olmar, whom Ketil named his rightful successor under the assumption Thorgil would remain a king’s guard. Olmar, who just got back from the medieval equivalent of a field hospital, is done pretending that courage means puffing out one’s chest and starting fights.

He decides that they’ll surrender. He doesn’t care what happens to him, as long as the killing stops. Snake has his back, but I wonder if Thorgil will really head his “coward” brother’s wishes. As for Sverkel, he’s proud that his grandson has become a man. The cost—Ketil’s farm—was steep to be sure, but he considers it a good deal.

Speaking of grown men, Thorfinn approaches Canute’s camp and is confronted and repeatedly mocked by one of the biggest of the warriors: Drott the Bear Killer. Thorfinn doesn’t rise to the provocations but keeps his cool, even apologizing for any offense after he’s punched.

The thing is, he’s not going anywhere until he gets to speak to the king. Drott takes several dozen more swings, but is only able to hit air, and the other soldiers start mocking Drott and praising Thorfinn’s moves. Wulf informs Canute that a young man named Thorfinn wishes to speak to him, but Canute says that won’t be necessary.

When Einar finally catches up to Thorfinn after hearing where he went from Leif, he urges Thorfinn to come with him. No one man can stop a war. But Thorfinn didn’t necessarily come to Canute’s camp expecting to succeed. Instead, he’s simply repaying the kindness Ketil, Sverkel, Pater, and all the other people on the farm showed to him.

Considering the past he’d lived, Thorfinn didn’t think he deserved that kindness or the redemption it wrought. But that kindness was shown to him all the same, so he’s going to do everything he can to stop the fighting, even if it gets him killed.

Einar respects his wishes, and when Thorfinn hears that the soldiers are placing bets on how many punches he can take, he decides to bet on himself. Specifically, if he takes one hundred blows and is still conscious and able to stand, he’ll get his audience with Canute.

f he can’t, the men will kill him. Drott is pissed off, but Thorfinn knows how to take a punch or two or twenty. But a hundred? From the “bear killer”? That’s a tall order for our diminutive protagonist.

Loving Yamada at Lv999 – 05 – Let Me In

Sasaki Runa starts out this episode as pure scum, standing up Akane so she can have her tutor Yamada all to herself. Yamada is aware of the scheduling conflict, and even gives the little brat a chance to redeem herself, but she insists she’s not standing Akane up; she merely had someone go in her place.

That “someone” happens to be one of Rurihime (i.e. Eita’s) online superfans, who is obsessed with Rurihime and assumes Akane is Rurihime. At no point whatsoever does this creep bother to listen to what Akane is saying to him. When she flees to the ladies’ room, he follows her in and tries to open the door to her stall. Like what the actual fuck?!

When Yamada tells Eita that Runa used his Rurihime account to prank Akane—and put her in potentially legitimate danger—Eita is not happy with his little sister. Eita texts Kamota saying Akane has been kidnapped—maybe a bit too far—so he can give him, Yamada, and Runa a ride to the meeting spot, where Akane is just barely tolerating the creep’s continued presence.

Akane is wearing a bandage on her shin from knocking against the toilet when the creep barged in on her.  When she spots Runa, Runa runs away, and when Akane gets up to chase her she hurts her leg again. But instead of continuing to run, to her credit, Runa turns back and runs towards Akane, getting down on her knees to ensure she’s okay.

Akane has all the guys fuck off so the two of them can have some space and time. And Runa does admit to ditching her and apologizes for being so shitty. Akane can tell she’s super protective of her friends, but makes clear she isn’t trying to take them away. She simply wants to become part of their circle, if Runa will have her.

Later, when having coffee with Yamada, Akane tells him she may stink at romance, but she’s pretty good at making friends with other girls, even tough nuts like Runa. Akane’s capacity for patience, empathy and forgiveness was on full display this week, thus endearing her to me further. If Yamada were to eventually get a damn clue, he’d be lucky to have someone as caring as her as a girlfriend.

DanMachi IV – 22 (Fin) – More Beautiful than Before

DanMachi didn’t seem like the kind of show that would kill off one of its more endearing characters, but in the final episode of its fourth season, anything could happen. Thankfully, it didn’t go that route, and with good reason: Ryuu Lion has too much left to do in the world of the living.

Her familia tells her as much as she wanders towards them on the etheral plane. There’s still hope in her heart, and they know she wants to save Bell and go to back home with him. So she wakes up, stands up, and joins the fight against the Juggernaut.

Ol’ Juggyshit may have added a bunch of tricks to its repertoire, but in doing so it sacrificed its most devastating advantage—its speed. Now it’s slow enough that Bell can not only dodge (most) of its attacks, but actually land damaging blows on its weak points. A Fire Bolt-infused dagger and an Argo Vesta spell later, and Juggernaut is officially on the ropes.

That’s where Ryuu comes in, chanting an incantation not just for Luminous Wind, but to summon the spirits of her dearly departed Astrea family, if only long enough to deliver an attack or two by her side. You could say they’ve been waiting all this time not for her to join them, but to forgive herself so she can call upon them when she needs them most.

After a decisive Luvia right to its kisser, the long nightmare that is Juggernaut is finally, satisfyingly ended. Bell and Ryuu managed to do it all by themselves, fueled by each others’ determination, refusal to give up, and digging deep into their abilities. Neither could have won alone, but as a party of two, they achieved the impossible.

This leaves them in an exhausted, critically wounded heap on the ground, still on the 37th floor. But they managed to survive just long enough for Wiene and the Xenos to find them. They administer Marie’s healing mermaid blood to both of them, then make themselves scarce before Lili’s team shows up (since not everyone among them know the Xenos are good guys).

Once Lili and the others do arrive, the elation and celebration begins. It’s just such an enormous relief that Bell and Ryuu can finally stop fighting and worrying about dying every waking moment and see the damn sun again. When Ryuu comes to in the hospital after three days, she’s so concerned about Bell she leaps out of her bed and runs to his room.

When he finds him, flanked by Hestia and Lili, their faces make her realize she’s wearing nothing but a skimpy pink hospital gown…that thanks to her alacrity becomes undone and allows Bell to see the sun, moon, stars…all of it. Hestia and Lili reflexively slap him, forgetting that he’s critically wounded. Thankfully a doctor gives them a stern talking-to.

As their convalescence continues, Bell tells Hestia by his bedside that he wouldn’t be there without Ryuu. Bell’s friends thank Ryuu for saving him, but she tells them they’ve got it backwards: it was Bell who saved her from her own despair. She also learns that as far as the Guild is concerned, “Gale Wind” is dead.

Taking the new lease on life she’s been given and running with it, Ryuu borrows a gorgeous white dress from Syr and meets Bell on a date when they’re both discharged from the hospital on the same day. Rather than be cooped up indoors, they decide to have a walk around the city, under the blessed sky.

At the peak of their adorable date, Ryuu takes Bell to a breathtaking view from an ornate stone balcony where she and Alise used to spend time. That she’s shared both the story of her familia and this space to Bell shows how far she’s come in opening up to him. He notes that the way she smiles at him “from her heart” makes her more beautiful than before.

Bell, unfortunately, isn’t aware of the critical damage such comments make, and Ryuu, suddenly unable to look him in the eye anymore, turns around and makes a break for it. As she runs, she clutches that heart of hers, now released from all that guilt and regret. In its place, love now resides, and Ryuu finds herself asking Alise what the heck she should do with it.

Alise’s reply, and the parting words of the fourth season, are “don’t let him get away.” Bell has his share of suitors—from Ais to Ryuu’s bestie Syr—but no one but Ryuu can claim to have been to hell and back with him. But for now, All Hail Ryuu Lion, the Champion of Justice, and absolute legend Hayami Saori for yet another phenomenal vocal performance.

DanMachi IV – 21 – So Warm, So Sweet

While it was surely nice to get a bath in the healing waters, those waters weren’t what you’d call warm, so Ryuu and Bell have to strip off their wet clothes and sit in front of a fire to keep their body temperatures up. DanMachi wisely keeps the comedy to a minimum here, while it ratchets up the romantic tension that’s been brewing between these two.

One she’s literally in his arms, Bell ceases to see Ryuu simply as some invincible idol and hero who has been protecting him, and sees her for the first time as someone he has to protect.

Ryuu is comfortable enough with Bell now that she wants to tell him the entire story of how she lost her familia, so while they have the time, she does so. Bell’s takeaway is our takeaway: they gave their lives to save her, so she’d better not die or they’ll be mad. Then Ryuu suggests they huddle even closer so they’ll warm up properly.

Ryuu may not think much of her body, but the fact is both she and Bell are very attractive. They distract themselves from that by talking about what they’ll do when they’re home. Ryuu wants a meal at the tavern (where she’s sure to get a tongue lashing from Syr and the others) while Bell wants to travel to Hestia’s mansion with the rest of his Familia so he can say “I’m home.”

I’m so glad the show slowed down a bit and let Ryuu and Bell simply exist with one another and think about nicer things than where they are and the challenges that lie ahead. But with no food supplies to speak of, they have to get moving once they’re warmed up enough.

As they continue on, they’re both relieved and a little weary of the complete absence of monsters. When they hit a dead end, Bell cuts through some brittle crystal deposits so they can climb to a higher level, where they find the fourth ring. That means they’re on the main route, and just one more ring from the connecting tunnel from the 37th to the 36th floor.

So of course when they’re so close to getting closer to getting the fuck out of this miserable hellhole, that ugly bastard the Juggernaut gets the drop on them. It’s seemed to augment itself by eating various other monsters, and while it’s much slower than the last time Bell fought it, those collected abilities make it arguably more deadly. Bell ends up getting stabbed in the kidney area by a giant spike, and has the sense of mind (and toughness) to close and cauterize the wound with a Fire Bolt.

Ryuu manages to drag the two of them into a narrow passage in the rock where the Juggernaut and his various appendages and projectiles can’t reach, and it wanders off, though I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of it. But Bell and Ryuu are once again in bad shape, having lost a lot of blood and mana.

Ryuu reverts to her fatalistic mode, but when she asks Bell to hold her again and he does without hesitation, she takes solace in the fact her final moments will be sweet. To borrow a Riri lyric, is Ryuu falling in love in a hopeless place? Perhaps! Hestia would never approve, but who cares? I’m loving this ship!

Of course, Bell has no intention of dying, nor will he let Ryuu die. When she nods off from exhaustion, he gently strokes her hair, then stands up and considers all the pain he’s in to be a blessing, because it’s a sign he can still feel pain and thus isn’t too far gone. I just hope those Xenos can find them soon. Maybe they can use their myriad abilities to finally take the Juggernaut down…

DanMachi IV – 03 – Meeting Their Mossy Match

Whelp, the fun and swagger didn’t last long, did it? Cassandra tries in vain to heal Chigusa and Luvis, but the parasitic plant that has infected them is beyond her abilities. Simply cutting them only speeds their growth. With time against them, Bell opens the floor to ideas, as he admits he’s best suited to combat.

Cassandra says they could retreat to the surface and enlist the services of a higher-level healer, or they could confront the enhanced monster in hope the plants within their people will wither and die if it’s defeated. Ultimately, the group goes with the latter plan.

I like Bell’s dedication to deliberation and consensus…in theory. In practice, it’s a little odd that Chigusa, Luvis, and his party members are able to survive as long as they are considering their bodies are being eaten from the inside by parasitic vines. Frankly, standing around talking about it saps (no pun intended) the urgency a bit.

When they find Luvis’ party mates, they’re clearly being used as bait. As Strategist, Lili delegates duties amongst the party members, with Bell and Asha focusing on the Moss Huge. But Moss is crafty, and arranges things so the weaker members of the party are closer to it, forcing Bell to leap in at the last minute to save them.

His Fire Bolt hits, and the Huge doesn’t seem to like it one bit, so it grabs him by the leg and dives into the water. Bell is about to run out of air when he is suddenly released by the Huge, and the current shoots him straight out of a massively high waterfall. Just like that, the party has lost its leader and strongest member.

Lili momentarily loses it and tries to rush after him, but Aisha reminds her of her duty as Strategist to keep a cool head. She also ruefully admits that Bell is stronger than her now, and has surely found a way to survive whatever fate has befallen him.

So Lili crafts a new plan: the party will head back to where they started on this floor: a high enough vantage point that they’ll avoid further ambush, but also an enticing spot for the Huge to attack them. Once the Huge is where they want him, Makoto will use her gravity magic to bring down the rocks and crush him.

It might work! Certainly Bell isn’t in a position to fight the Huge as he’s now several thousand feet below everyone else, but he is alive. No sooner does he get back on his feet than something slices him in the arm: one of the laser-quick Iguazu Eina warned him about.

At first he hides behind a crystal, which gets eaten away pretty quickly by the onslaught. So he considers what Ais would do in this situation, and then does it: faces the threat head on and fighting it off with his quick swordwork. He gets nicked more than a few times, but in the end he’s still standing and the Iguazu are gone.

For his efforts, he receives a surprise round of applause…from a mermaid he didn’t even know was watching! Hopefully she won’t try to kill or eat our dinged up Little Rookie.

Fruits Basket – 43 – Having Nothing in the End

Hiro is talking with Kisa about his yet-to-be-born sibling, whose gender will be a surprise, when he spots Rin in her school uniform. He’s concerned about her ashen appearance, but she gives him basically the same treatment as everyone else who tries to reach out: Buzz off. Go have your happy life with your nice parents and leave me alone with my misery.

The episode then revisits the time Rin approached Shigure, and we learn that she seeks a means of lifting the Zodiac curse, just like Tooru. She’s willing to give him her body for the info, but Shigure—in a rare instance of not being a total slimebag—rejects her offer. But he also refuses to help in any way, while stating he’ll enjoy the benefits Rin’s and others’ efforts, because, as he himself says, he is the worst.

Spurned by Shigure, who may or may not possess the answers she seeks, she goes through a Souma storage room in hopes of finding something, anything related to the curse and a way to lift it. Exhausted and nauseous, she collapses on the ground, then remembers one of the happiest moments in her life—in bed with Hatsu post-coitus, wishing she could be his heart—followed by one of the worst: her parents telling her they “don’t want her”.

Around dusk, she returns to Shigure’s house, strung-out almost beyond belief, but nobody’s home…until Tooru comes through the door. Even that act of opening a door sends Rin into a hysterical fit, repeatedly begging Tooru not to yell at her. Tooru being Tooru, she does the only thing the situation calls for in that moment: giving Rin a warm, gentle hug to try to calm her down.

Shigure may believe he’s the worst, but delving into Rin’s horrific childhood establishes some healthy competition for the title. By all accounts, Rin’s parents tried for years to put on a happy, fun façade as they raised her. It wasn’t until it started to feel like a performance to her, and she asked them why that was, that they snapped. This is not at all to blame Rin for breaking the façade; it was doomed no matter what she said or did. But it’s clear she blames herself.

Verbal and physical abuse followed, until one day Rin collapsed from the injuries the marks of which her clothes concealed. Kazuma and Hatsu are with her in the hospital, and that’s when her parents tell her flat out they no longer want her. Hatsu responds not by turning into Dark Hatsu, but simply by getting extremely pissed off with the parents, and lays into them, getting no response in return.

From then on, Rin lived with Kagura’s family, and the mere fact it was a genuinely happy household caused her intense emotional and physical pain, since she wonders “what she did wrong” to cause her to lose her own home. The only person in whom she found true peace and comfort was her white-haired knight Hatsu, who eventually confesses his love, and she reciprocates.

For the one person with whom spending time was not painful to also be a Zodiac member only adds fuel to the all-consuming flame of misfortune that is Rin’s life. Akito finds out, and when Hatori’s eye is brought up, Rin declares that she was the one who seduced Hatsu.

Akito doesn’t hold back on the verbal or physical wrath, calling Rin wicked and devious “like all women” and calling her flowing black hair “repulsive”. Seemingly feeding off Rin’s fear by grabbing her, Akito tells her she has no value other than filling one of the Zodiac slots before throwing her out the window. This is witnessed by Hiro, and if he hadn’t, Rin might well have bled out. Instead, she’s still alive…and wishes she wasn’t.

For all of those times I misinterpreted Rin’s standoffish, quick-to-anger nature in the few scenes in which she interacted with others, I can only beg for the character’s forgiveness. She’s had every right to act the way she has. It’s now crystal clear she broke up with Hatsu in order to save him from Akito’s wrath, as well as her own belief her love for him would be so heavy it would one day crush him.

I can only breathe a sigh of relief that Rin is now in the safest possible place: in Shigure’s house and in Tooru’s care. She may act like every bit the wounded horse upon coming to, and stubbornly reject any and all offer of help from Tooru, but the fact is the two share the same goal, and they’ll need each other if they’re going to make any progress.

So ends the darkest and most devastating episode of Fruits Basket to date, an absolutely unrelenting look at the destructive effects of the Zodiac curse on its members. Few episodes of anime hit me as hard as this one. Rin is at absolute rock bottom, neither wanting nor feeling she is deserving of love, happiness, or anything at all. But if anyone can help her, it’s Tooru. As long as Rin is alive, there is still hope. And I hope to hell she gets the redemption she needs and deserves.