Gushing over Magical Girls – 02 – Wax On, Wax Off

At the start of this week’s episode, Utena is fantasizing about the naked Tres Magia when she’s called out by the teacher for not paying attention. After class, Sayo (who is Magia Azure, but Utena doesn’t know that) tells her she can come to her if there’s anything troubling her. Utena turns down the help, but is happy Sayo spoke to her.

Utena should have taken Sayo up on her offer, because I don’t know if she can fight this sickness on her own. She prays at a shrine for the strength to stop doing stuff to Tres Magia and to keep Venalita away. She wants to be good. But then she discovers a trail of BDSM magazines (left by Venny), gives in to her curiosity, and starts reading.

Mind you, there’s nothing wrong with BDSM. Your kinks are your kinks and I ain’t gonna shame you. But one of the key tenets of the BDSM community is mutual trust and above all consent. The things Utena reads about are done between consenting adults. Utena and Tres Magia are not adults, and nothing she’s done was with their consent.

That makes her, well, a villain. A more contemporary term is sex offender. I have to think that if Utena knew Azure was her classmate Sayo, she’d probably reconsider covering her face with a fox mask and caressing her up and down her body. But she doesn’t. Doing this to Sayo here and now feels good, and she’s been given the power to do it, so she does it.

While Venalita presses Utena to come up with a Villain name, Haruka and Kaoruko can tell something’s off about Sayo. She maintains what happened to her “wasn’t that bad”, and she’s preoccupied with the villainess saying she’ll “have more fun” with her another time. But it’s automatically bad by dint of her having no choice in the matter.

When the three part ways, Kaoruko, who seems to be the shrewdest of the trio, sets a trap for the villainess, with herself as the bait. That means getting restrained by a giant candle monster, having the front of her top ripped off, and the villainess dripping candle wax on her chest.

Magia Sulphur then breaks out her giant metal fists, declaring that playtime is over. She gets a couple of licks in, but villainess is able to dodge serious damage, and creates wax clones to escape. Sulphur is fine with the result, but makes clear she won’t be falling for the same trick twice, then asks the villainess for her name.

Utena tells her she’s Baiser … Magia Baiser, with baiser being German for meringue. Like that confection made from egg whites, Baiser’s smooth, striking exterior masks a brittle (in her case moral) interior liable to crumble to dust. Venalita’s blackmail and manipulation aside, Utena still has the choice whether to act on her fantasies. As long as she chooses to do things to Tres Magia sans consent, She’s the Baddie.

Gushing over Magical Girls – 01 (First Impressions) – Magical Churl

Hiiragi Utena is an average girl who keeps to herself. Her town is protected by the Tres Magia, a trio of strong, beautiful magical girls. Utena loves them very, very much and wishes she could be them. Someone heard her wish, and decided to make it come true … with a twist.

That someone is the Kyuubey-like Vinalita, who presents Utena with a talisman that switches out her school uni for an extremely risqué get-up complete with star pasties. When she comments that the look doesn’t scream “magical girl”, Vinalita lays it on her: she’s going to be a villain.

When the Tres Magia spot them and think they’re up to no good, Vinalita blackmails Utena with video of her transformation and hands her a crop with which to turn a flower into a monster that binds the magical girls into compromising positions with its tendrils.

Utena admits that watching the girls squirm makes her feel “funny”, but it’s not a feeling she hates. Venalita, not content to let her simply watch, tells her to take an active role, and she does, spanking the girls repeatedly with her crop-like wand.

Venalita believes that Utena’s feelings for magical girls isn’t love, but a twisted delight from watching them suffer, and an even greater delight in administering that suffering. In other words, Venalita believes her to be a pure sadist—the perfect new recruit for the evil organization, Enormita.

Utena wakes up in bed, relieved it was just a dream (albeit one she somewhat enjoyed), only for Venalita to shatter the idea it was a dream. Due to magical interference, Utena doesn’t realize that the Tres Magia are in the same class as her, nor do they recognize her as their torturer.

Haruka, greets Utena warmly at school and and compliments the flowers she tends to; Utena is surprised Haruka even knows her name. Throughout the day Haruka and her comrades Kaoruko (blonde hair) and Sayo (turquoise hair) suffer the lasting effects of their lashing and vow revenge against the evil perpetrator.

They get the rematch they wanted, but it doesn’t go the way they want. Venalita lures them to an abandoned warehouse to fight low-level baddies. Then when Utena shows up, she creates monsters out of mannequins that once again restrain the magical girls.

This time, the mannequins tear away their sleeves and boots and start mercilessly tickling them. The display once again gets Utena’s juices flowing, and she joins in the ticklefest, once again giving in to her darker impulses.

When Sayo breaks free, Utena has to retreat. Back home, she continues to wrestle with the outrageous, previously unthinkable fact that she has tortured the magical girls she loves more than anything not once but twice now, and can’t even deny she enjoyed it.

As a bad guy, I’m sure it’s Venalita’s goal to hone Utena into a more confident villain by steadily flushing away her shame with more close encounters. The OP and ED also indicate she’ll be gaining two villainous comrades, so we’ll eventually see how a 3-on-3 battle will shake out.

Utena definitely engages in objectionable, villainous behavior. At the same time, there’s the question of whether this is who she was always meant to be. Before she met Venalita, she was a loner with no power. Now she’s about to gain friends and has gained lots of power. We’ll see if it ends up being worth it.

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – 19 – The Ice Queen Cometh

Ichigo’s training is now complete, and he’s dressed in layers in order to get through the 72 layers between the Royal Palace and Soul Society. The Squad 0 captains, satisfied with his growth, send him off like parents sending their kid off to his first day of school. Heck, Hikifune Kirio even tosses him some onigiri for lunch!

Once he gets enough Soul Bars, Ichigo uses his Soul Phone to call Urahara, telling him no matter how bad things are going, he’s on his way back, and he promises to take care of business. Like Gandalf the White returning to Middle Earth, he’s poised to complete the turning of the tide that has already begun.

Compare this warm and caring send-off to the far colder treatment Uryuu is receiving at Yhwach’s castle, where Haschwalth exacts swift draconian justice upon Cang Du (“I”) and BG9 (“K”) who failed to execute their targets. Upon death, the power and skills of every Stern Ritter is absorbed by Yhwach.

One wonders how such an entity would ever die, but the fact Yhwach has chosen a successor means that’s a certainty, so Uryuu will be absorbing him in due time. I’d like to think Uryuu momentarily flashes an “I’ve made a huge mistake” face during this scene, but we’ll see if that regret grows or fades in however many of the 9 days remain.

With check-ins on both Ichigo and Uryuu, the remainder of the episode consists of an extremely welcome Rukia battle. She fights Äs Nödt (German for “That’s all”), whose letter “F” stands for Fear. But his Slipknot schtick doesn’t reach Rukia, because fresh from the Palace she’s mastered her gorgeous zanpakuto Sode No Shirayuki.

The sword was never about shooting ice, but lowering temperatures, including her own body temperature to the point where she’s medically dead. Because all fear is rooted in death in one way or another, her already being dead makes her immune to Äs Nödt’s fear inducement, and when her temperature reaches Absolute Zero she turns her foe into an Äs Nödtcicle.

It’s pretty badass, but a cut to Äs Nödt’s miserable past living in agony in a hospital bed all but assures the battle is not over. Yhwach bestowed upon him a terrible power that enabled him to rise from the bed, but in a grotesque, monstrous, undead form.

Äs Nödt shatters Rukia’s ice and creates a Galactic Senate of creepy googly eyes around her. Rather than black slime, the all-consuming fear takes the form of a carpet of flies that cover her body. Once she’s seen this form of his, even the fact her molecular activity has ceased doesn’t matter. Rukia lets out a blood-curdling scream.

Before their battle began, Rukia said killing her “might” bring her brother around. That turns out to be correct, as he slashes through Äs Nödt’s eyes with Senbonzakura. Äs Nödt incorrectly observes that he’s using his Bankai, but he’s not; this is just his Shikai. Like Rukia and Renji, he was able to rediscover the true nature of his zanpakuto in the Palace.

Two of the coolest moments of the series follow (no pun intended). First, Byakuya praises Rukia for having become strong. The words are so simple, but they carry so much weight for Rukia, who was so hurt by his turning his back on her way back when. To have her older brother, who always protected her, finally acknowledge her, is extremely gratifying.

Second: Byakuya doesn’t finish Äs Nödt off, but leaves it to Rukia. He tells her what she’s seeing isn’t her own fear, but her opponent projecting his fear. She has nothing to fear. For the first time, he believes in her and trusts her to get the job done. And boy howdy, does she ever do so.

Rukia utters the word Bankai, and unleashes Hakka no Togame (白霞罸, literally “Censure of the White Haze”), which takes the form of an all-consuming avalanche of ice and snow that freezes and utterly destroys Äs Nödt once and for all. As he crumbles into nothingness, he repeats the mantra “I’m afraid” over and over.

After the big blast, Rukia’s Bankai getup is revealed, and it’s even more beautiful and ethereal than her Shikai was back in the day. She’s the very picture of a perfect ice queen, with a glittering crystal gown of white and soft blue, her eyes sparkling amethysts, and all around her crackling in the pristine coldness.

In a final gesture of brotherly love and care, Byakuya deftly guides Rukia out of her Bankai mode, warning her that while it is powerful, it is also extremely perilous, and will kill her if she doesn’t take great care coming down. Most satisfying of all, there’s no additional rug pull…Rukia started this battle, she finished it, and Äs Nödt isn’t coming back. That’s all.

But just so the Quincy don’t come off as too soft, her victory is followed after the credits with the introduction of the next Stern Ritter, who shows up to torment Isane and tiny 11th Squad Lieutenant Kusajishi Yachiru. Well, I say “show up”, but this Quincy is extremely adept at concealing their presence, to the point Yachiru thinks she’s landed a solid left hook on them, only for her left cheek to take the blow.

If this is the next battle, I hope no one interferes, because I like the idea of the brute force-forward Yachiru facing off against a Quincy whose body isn’t always there, supported by the best medical shinigami left standing in Isane. I can smell another Stern Ritter L.

Until then, I’ll revel in Kuchiki Rukia’s much-needed and appreciated win. She’s always been my favorite female Bleach character since the beginning when she showed Ichigo her awesome drawing skills. She’s gotten a pretty short shrift since that first Soul Society arc, so it was awesome to see her kicking ass and taking names with icy elegance and only a relatively minor assist from her cool big brother.

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War – 18 – Speaking the True Name

At his fancy new subdimensional HQ, Kurotsuchi calls Head Captain Kyouraku and tells him to do his job. Only around 30% of Soul Society’s military force remains, so Kyouraku orders all soul reapers to regroup at the nearest barracks that’s still standing, regardless of their squad and rank.

Captain Muguruma wastes no time whipping out his bankai, which creates armor around his arms and fists, making him seem like a good match for the pugilistic luchador. But while Muguruma pounds him into submission, he fails to account for James, his opponent’s #1 Fan.

Jame’s cheer powers up the wrestler, who turns the tables and beats Muguruma to a pulp before revealing his name and rank: “S”, “The Superstar,” Mask de Masculine. Which is wonderfully ridiculous in the true spirit of Bleach baddies.

Rose thought he wouldn’t be needed, but once he learns he is, he also unleashes his rather unique bankai, which takes the form of a
“musical troupe of death” and makes Mask believe he’s wielding both fire and water at the same time.

Unfortunately, Rose is a little too eager to explain his bankai, which uses sound to create deceptions. Mask counters his third and final “movement” by piercing his own eardrums, then sending a massive star-shaped beam right through Rose’s chest.

This somehow doesn’t kill Rose, but Mask moves in for a finisher when his star beam is blocked…by Abarai Renji’s Zabimaru. He’s back, along with Kuchiki Rukia, and both are sporting what I’ll call “Soul Society skiwear.”

Renji tells Rukia to fall back and get the two captains treated, and while it’s clear she doesn’t really want to leave Renji’s side, she obeys, and gets them to Kotetsu Isane, now the acting-captain of the 4th Squad by dint of Unohana’s death. Mask calls Renji a dirty, cowardly villain, a mantle he has no problem picking up and running with…starting with beheading that twerp James.

When Renji’s attack tears Mask’s mask, a multitude of James emerge from Jame’s corpse, and Mask breaks out his Vollstandig, growing wings and bashing Renji around like a pinball in midair. But despite the cataclysmic star-shaped explosion Mask brings down on him, it doesn’t make a scratch.

That’s because while he was hanging with Hyousube Ichibei, who came up with the whole idea of zanpakutos, shikais, and bankais, Renji learned that all this time he’d been getting his bankai’s name wrong. It isn’t Hihio Zabimaru…it’s So-Oh Zabimaru.

Mask has no hope against the full force of Zabimaru, and Renji turns him into literal dust. That’s now two Stern Ritters down in as many episodes, and with Ichigo still nowhere near the battlefield. Just twenty-four to go. Yes, Yhwach appears to “absorb” Mask, or at least his reishi, but doing so also causes Yhwach to “fall asleep”.

A confused Ishida watches this unfold, as Yhwach descends back into the shadows, and Haschwalth emerges in his place. Haschwalth isn’t sure even Ishida’s grandfather knows quite what Yhwach is, but as Ishida is Yhwach’s handpicked successor, Haschwalth is open to telling him.

NieR: Automata Ver 1.1a – 12 – (Part 1 Fin) – 420 Seconds

That giant beam from the sky that iced Adam? That was a satellite weapon that the Council of Humanity did not authorize YoRHa to use. And yet, it was used. When 6O asked Commander White if “this is okay”, White says, cryptically, “this world needs a god, even if it doesn’t really exist.” When the Pods detect a faint ML symbol, 2B and 9S ride them down into the blast area, where Adam is still “alive” but in rough shape.

2B prepares to finish the job, but hesitates briefly, as Adam recalls his promise to Eve and grabs her leg. 9S takes hold of 2B’s sword and plunges it into Adam’s head, defeating him for good. However, moments later 9S’ eyes turn red; the result of being infected by his hacking encounter with Adam.

This means 2B has to kill him before he goes berserk (he slashes her mask off with a metal sword arm), with no chance at backing up the personality of the 9S she’s come to know and care about…again. Even so, she does her duty and eliminates the threat.

Afterwards, 2B cannot help but weep at having to say goodbye to her friend once more. Fortunately for her, it’s only a temporary farewell, as all of the ML husks’ eyes start to glow green in sequence like fireflies, not only in her vicinity but all over the planet.

A larger ML mech rises to meet 2B, who draws her sword, but lowers it when she hears 9S’ voice. Turns out his uncorrupted personality data had been backed up in the ML network. 2B smiles in joy and relief, showing a great deal of emotion despite her past insistence that they’re forbidden.

9S gives 2B a ride back up to street level, and Bob’s your uncle: the end credits roll, announcing the end of the series less than eleven minutes in. When the credits end, we’re taken back a couple of hours to the Bunker, where the recently delivered 9S is undergoing diagnostics and checks.

In the process of connecting to the Bunker server, he hears a weird, unexplained sound. He does a little digging in the virtual archive and uncovers some forbidden data protected by a firewall. He’s then chased around the construct by defense systems.

Rather than destroy him, the units corral him into a black cube, within which he is confronted by a pair of seemingly identical girls in red dresses, whom we caught a slight glimpse of during the drunken battle omake after episode 10.

These girls in red talk in a bunch of cryptic riddles, but the gist is that they’re the ones controlling and watching the war between the Machine Lifeforms and the Androids. In other words, a Big Bad beyond Adam and Eve.

The voice of the Council of Humanity eventually chimes in, and 9S is given unprecedented access to top secret information. Among this info, something is revealed I had suspected all along; humanity really is extinct, and has been so for a while. There’s nothing on the moon but a communications server maintained by other androids.

The fiction of humanity surviving, and the establishment of YoRHa, was meant to improve the moral of the androids. This is all very intriguing, and I look forward to these mysteries being explored further in NieR’s confirmed second cour. Hopefully we’ll be treated to more fun 2B/9S interactions… along with more omake puppet shows.

NieR: Automata Ver 1.1a – 11 – We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Sword

The Machine Lifeforms are wilding the fuck out. Amassing in huge numbers and filled with (I assume) Adam’s rage, they quickly surround and overwhelm the Resistance camp. Fresh off their big guest appearance in episode 10’s omake, the redhead twins perform triage as Lily ponders her unit’s next move with the enemy growing and their ammo dwindling.

2B shows up to lend a much appreciated hand, and her Pod downloads a new, even bigger ML-killin’ sword. Commander White goes to the plate for her soldiers, but the Council of Humanity (who may well be neither a council or human), refuses her request for logistical aid, citing a greater purpose. Even so, 2B and the Resistance are still able to activate an EMP that disables the advancing ML armies.

Unfortunately, after it starts to rain, all of those neutralized ML husks combine to form a colossal Adam just as 9S returns in his mech. A resistance fighter fires a bazooka that topples Big Adam, but he simply transforms into a frankly silly looking giant monster, with the newly two-toned Adam lodged in its skull.

Rather than despair at the enemy’s evolution, Lily rallies her troops, and when they respond with unswerving loyalty, she looks the happiest and most excited she ever has. She believes they can defeat that big thing, and I believe her too.

2B engages the scary-fast, scary-vicious “elite” MLs, and while 9S’s first hacking attempt on the monster ends with the destruction of his mech, he is caught in midair by Pascal, who along with his village did not go berserk since they were cut off from the main network.

While he may technically be breaking a YoRHa regulation or two, 9S dons a heavy-duty hacking connector for his second attempt to shut the monster down. 2B is initially overmatched by her three elite hyper-berserk MLs, but manages to trick them with a hologram of herself and slashes them to smithereens with her big sword. It’s a magnificent spectacle.

Pascal carries 9S to the monster’s head so he can contact it directly with his gauntlet. Once he’s hacked in, 9S quickly realizes that Adam is pretty much going mad, which explains why the ML and the monster are totally out of control. But as usual, he’s able to buy just enough time exploring the various metaphorical constructs thrown his way and stab the cyber-Adam at his flaming table.

This causes the monster to start moving in the direction the Resistance troops want: right into the line of fire of a salvaged railroad cannon. When the monster is thrown back, an ICBM launches it into the atmosphere. While it initially survives and begins to plummet towards the earth, it appears to be finished off by a giant particle beam, I assume from an orbiting satellite weapon.

The battle against Adam and his berserk ML army escalated quickly, and appears to end just as quickly with a great victory for 2B, 9S, Lily, Jackass, and the androids. The omake is a brief one, with 2B and 9S petting their Pods as if they were pet puppies, and actually doesn’t result in a Game (or World) Over. With the Big Bad vanquished, I wonder what’s in store for the final episode, knowing a second cour has been confirmed.

NieR: Automata Ver 1.1a – 10 – Missing Eve

In the aftermath of the big Adam & Eve battle, 9S is shuttled back up to the Bunker for repairs (whether his memories are wiped again isn’t mentioned). Commander White orders 2B to finish the job solo and destroy Adam. Adam, as you’d imagine, is extremely blue, and has no patience for a ML dressed as a priest taking Eve’s place at the brothers’ table.

From the moment 2B arrives at a huge derelict factory festooned with religious banners, seething with proselytizing ML zealouts spouting boilerplate dogma. There’s some light comedic moments surrounding the fact 2B now temporarily has two Pods; they talk over each other and 9S’ wants 2B to converse more. Meanwhile the religious MLs get more and more fired up, while half of Adam becomes covered in tattoos.

You get the feeling 2B just stepped into the middle of a tinderbox, and while I’m not certain Adam’s change in body art triggers it, suddenly the yellow eyes of every ML in the joint turn red, and 2B and her Pods find themselves locked in a fight with a swarm of them. She does manage to escape to the elevator, whereupon she meets a still yellow-eyed ML, remotely controlled by 9S from the Bunker.

The happy semi-reunion vibes don’t last, as 2B jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire: specifically, an arena for a boss fight with a giant spherical ML with several legs. 9S uses the ML to hack into the factory in order to shut off the power so the boss’ shields drop, sacrificing the ML unit in the process. 2B manages to defeat the boss with a cool coup de grace. Unfortunately, she’s surrounded all over again by the hordes of red-eyed MLs. Back at the Bunker, alarms are going off all over the place.

It comes as no surprise that even in when White approves sending backup to 2B, comms are jammed. She’s on her own, and when she releases the Pods’ limiters, they barely make a dent in the ML numbers before going into low-power mode to recover. Fortunately, these Matrix Sentinal-like hordes of MLs aren’t interested in 2B, and pass right by her as they dive en masse into the tank of lava below, with the intention of becoming like Eve.

As for Adam, he’s destroyed his table, and looks ready to jump to his death…or do something else.I gotta be honest, while cool-looking and sounding, he’s simply not the most compelling villain. He has no one to blame but himself for Eve’s demise, as he’s the one who captured and tortured 9S and provoked 2B.

Could it be Eve, and his singular control over the network, was actually keeping the MLs from going berserk? Whatever the cause, that is the situation as the episode ends, with even the Resistance Camp threatened by escalating enemy action on all sides.

We close with a longer than usual puppet omake, involving the soft-spoken Popola and more rowdy Devola (both voiced by Shiraishi Ryouko, a fave of mine), 9S, and some desert rose wine. Hijinx ensue. I particularly liked the touch of using human hands to draw on the chalkboard and raise glasses for a toast.

NieR: Automata Ver 1.1a – 09 – Into the Lion’s Den

It took four months, but we finally learn where 9S ended up: right in Adam’s clutches, as expected. The trap takes the form of an endless matrix of hallways and doors, and Adam has all the keys. He stalks 9S, then sidles right up to him and mocks 9S’ fondness for 2B. Meanwhile 2B knows something is up, so she follows the Pods to the art room, where she finds specific coordinates.

After a futile call to the Bunker for backup (there’s no backup to spare), she uses her Pod like a Mary Poppins umbrella, arresting her descent into the coordinates. A pure white “Copied City” coalesces around her.

She walks down streets, through a church-like structure filled with reliefs of humans and a grotesque construction made from captured YoRHa soldiers, and in a library similar to the one in Beauty and the Beast, Adam finally reveals himself with panache.

Adam reminds 2B that they met when he and his brother were first born, but that there “wasn’t time” to get to know each other, what with 2B trying to kill them on the spot. Now he’s in complete control, and like a cat with a mouse is content to simply mess with 2B in an attempt to get her to express emotions.

2B takes the bait when Adam shows her a crucified 9S at his mercy, and seems to feed off of her surge of anger and hatred. The two spar, but it becomes clear that physical attacks are pointless; Adam can regenerate his body instantly.

With 2B seemingly out of options, Adam produces a pure white copy of 9S. Though Adam is disconnected from the network and thus mortal, a group of 9S clones spring forth from the ground and restrain and choke 2B. But before she passes out, her Pod tells her “the appointed time has come.”

2B wasn’t really trying to defeat Adam; she was only buying time for 9S’ Pod to hack into Adam’s system. Once it does, the white city turns charcoal grey, the clones disappear, and 2B is free to impale Adam with her sword. And she would have, too, if Eve hadn’t stepped in her path.

Eve protects his big brother, but as I assume he is also disconnected from the Network, when he dies, he seems to die for good. 2B gets off relatively easy; her sword is destroyed, but Eve’s blow merely blasts her out of the library. 9S is secured, and 2B is 100% emoting when she says “let’s go home.”

Any day’s a good day when you and your partner are able to walk away in one piece. But while Adam was once merely very curious and pushy in his desire to learn everything he can about Androids and 9S and 2B in particular, now that they’ve killed his brother I imagine they’ve made a mortal enemy of him. In other words, they might’ve taught him how to be vengeful, and thus even more dangerous.

After a production-related hiatus, the final four episodes of Nier:Automata have surfaced, and a second cour has been confirmed. I’ll be watching and writing about both. And no, I still haven’t played the game!

Tenten Kakumei – 09 – A Warm Hand

It was always held out before him: an invitation to fun, trouble, or both. Algard never quite knew exactly what he’d get when he took that outstretched hand, but he still remembers how warm it felt in his, and that he knew no matter what, he wouldn’t be bored. And yet, a time came when that very same hand felt as cold as ice.

Now Al wields ice in bullet, spear, icicle rain, and hammer forms in order to stamp out the sister he loved so dearly. Never again can their hands touch; not while both draw breath. A fight ensues between the unstoppable force of a super-regenerating vampire against the immovable object of a magicologist blessed with dragon powers. It starts out a stalemate. Yet Al can tell Anis is holding back. He might be too?

All this time, Euphie, the one person who could turn the tables in an increasingly brutal duel, is still busy trying to keep Lainie from dying of a stolen heart. Once she’s healed enough to speak, Lainie reminds her healer that as a vampire, she needs blood to wield her own magic. Euphie prepares to cut herself, but Ilia stops her, bites through her lip, then delivers her blood to Lainie mouth-to-mouth, healing her completely.

Now Euphie is free to intervene in the sibling fight just when both it and tempers are getting well and truly out of hand. By continually healing the wounds Anis causes and throwing everything he’s got her way, Al gets Anis to a state where she thinks killing him for real is the only way to stop him. And yet, she’s still able to hold back her killing blow when she sees the look on Al’s fast-approaching face is no longer rage or resentment, but resignation and even relief that his wretched existence is about to end.

Anis doesn’t like that face one bit, while Euphie knows Anis doesn’t really want to kill her brother, but is just doing it because she thinks there’s no other choice. So she creates another option by plucking Anis out of midair and tacking her to the ground, tells her that she and her brother are acting like a couple of damn fools, and they both basically need a good long time out.

Anis’ attack did enough that Al is lying in a defeated heap on the ground. He recalls a beautiful day when he looked up and found Anis up in the sky above him, smiling on him, before reaching out with that warm hand. When the two of them broke out of the castle to go on an adventure, they encountered a monster. Anis told Al to run while she dealt with it, and he obeyed, hiding in a tree hollow.

Al idolized Anis more than anything at this time in his life. But then horrible rumors spread that Anis was trying to off his brother to consolidate power, and Anis unilaterally decided the best way to prove to everyone that she had no desire for the throne was to renounce it and bestow it on Al. Little did she know that was the last thing Al wanted.

Both the day he slapped her hand away in response to her rash decision, and every day since, he resented her for giving up a throne that was rightfully hers, while cursing a world for being so cruel to her that she felt she had to. He hated this world that rejected his sister so much, he believed destroying it and starting over was the only way.

But Al shot his shot and failed, and accepts the consequences. His only “defense” to his father the king is that he was a fool, straight up, and will accept any punishment. His father disinherits him and exiles him to the borderlands to work for the kingdom until he “turns to dust”. His mother tries to bear some responsibility, and perhaps she does, but he says his sins were his own. Rather than her being a bad mother, he should have been a better son.

Anis also feels responsible for creating the monster that was Crown Prince Algard, saying if only she’d “lived a normal life” in this world (which we know to be an isekai for her) maybe he wouldn’t have suffered so much. Of course, during their battle, she said all she could ever be was herself, so she’s being too harsh on herself here. This time, Al holds out his shackled hand, and a tearful Anis shakes it to make up one last time.

In the following days, Lord Chartreuse and his son are executed for their role in the attempted coup, while both Anis and Ilia remain bedridden. Lainie has fully recovered, and she and Euphie are the only ones up and about the day Algard is shipped off. Lainie takes the opportunity to tell Algard that she’s convinced there’s true kindness in him that she was lucky to experience, she also won’t forgive or forget what he did to her.

When Euphie approaches him, he tells her not to put up a front, even if it’s second nature so the duke’s illustrious genius daughter. He gets in some final, half-joking barbs about her fitness as a fiancée, and then she gives him a well deserved yet oddly formal slap across the face that Al accepts happily, as he was just as deplorable a fiancé.

Here the two are able to be simply a man and woman, realizing that they were always terrible for each other and it was a wonder they were engaged as long as they were. And then, Al asks Euphie, quite solemnly, to please take care of his sister.

Just as only Anis can be the next queen, even in a kingdom where nearly all the nobles condemn her as a heretic, only Euphie can be the one take care of her. With Ilia still recovering from her injuries, Euphie makes nursing Anis back to health her primary responsibility. When she hears Anis muttering in her sleep about Al and being sorry, Euphie tells her to dream happier dreams, and kisses her on the forehead.

Even if the ill effects of the dragon tattoo eventually clear, the fate of Algard will continue to weigh heavily on Anis like a ball and chain. In that regard, her and Euphie’s roles have now fully reversed: Euphie is now the freer one, with her clean conscience and strong sense of purpose. That’s why it’s absolutely crucial she stay by Anis’ side to help her climb out of the deep dark morass, just as Anis helped her. Euphie must take her warm hand in hers, and never let go.

RABUJOI WORLD HERITAGE LIST

The Eminence in Shadow – 10 – Advent of Chaos

Eminence in Shadow? More like boxtease in shadow. Left and right girls are trying to get Cid to notice them or hang out with him, but he ain’t interested. He’s too lost in the pretend game he thinks he’s playing in this world. And the next stage of that game calls for a trip to the Sacred Lands and their capital, Lindwurm.

So Epsilon can augment her figure with slime, and Beta can write all the aspirational doujinshi she likes, and the two can compare their busts at Shadow Garden HQ, but Cid/Shadow could not care less. They’re not women to him so much as valued, loyal underlings.

That certainly extends to his non-Shadow Garden women in his life as well. Claire clearly wanted to have a fun summer day with her brother, but he hit from her. Alexia, who is also headed to Lindwurm, stops by Gamma’s modern department store and is introduced to thongs, and subjects her big sis a wall slam to prove her commitment to wearing one to win him back.

Then there’s Rose, who we learn found Cid alive and well in a flashback to the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attack. Since he gave her her life, she’s decided to return his feelings and give him her heart. He runs into her at the train station and from that point on she’s constantly clinging to him. Cid doesn’t want thongs or drill tails. He just wants some space and some intrigue!

Just as he hid from Claire, he hides from Rose’s attempt to sleep with him (he believes she’s trying to convert him to her religion) and two days later they arrive in Lindwurm. There, they have a sightseeing date, where he learns from Rose that the demon Diabolos lost his left arm to the Great Hero Olivier in the Sanctuary, a place just outside the capital.

He also learns that Rose is a huge fan of Natsume-senpai, a famous and popular author. One glance at Natsume’s novels, and Cid knows it’s someone blatantly plagiarizing works from his world (including Eminence in Shadow—nice fourth wall break, that). He’s disappointed to learn the author is Beta, with whom he’d shared those stories in hope she’d be inspired to, ya know, right something original.

A few episodes ago we saw how playful and flirty Alpha could be (and how utterly unaffected Cid was), but here she’s all business, investigating the gruesome assassination of Archbishop Drake. Shadow Garden is already well into the case when their leader arrives.

He ends up intercepting the assassin in an alley and parries his sword strike with a little wooden ice cream spoon (Cid seems to be channeling Riddick here). Then the assassin is swiftly dispatched by Epsilon the Accurate. She and Shadow exchange a few words, Epsilon’s fake boobs bouncing emphatically the whole time. But Cid has no time for boobs…there’s adventure afoot!

The Eminence in Shadow – 09 – Doing What They Must

It doesn’t take long for Sherry to tune the control unit, and she opens a hidden passage in a bookshelf to use the secret tunnels to get to where the artifact is so she can shut it down. She’s doing all of this for her father Ruslan, who took her in when her mother was brutally murdered.

She thanks Cid for all his help, and they go their separate ways. Once she reaches the balcony of the auditorium she finds out how bad things have gotten: the invaders are now simply picking off students for sport from above. Sherry wastes no time deactivating the anti-magic field, and when she does, Rose is ready.

Within seconds of getting her magic back, she slices the nearest invader to ribbons with a flourish of her drill-like ojou ringlets, and encourages everyone else to rise up and attack their captors; after all, they outnumber them. She tries to reach their armored boss man, whom even she isn’t sure she can defeat, but is soon surrounded and running low on magic.

Still, she fights on, confident others will fight if she dies, and eager to live up to the love Cid felt for her that led him to die for her. Things look dire until Shadow himself crashes through the ceiling and dispatches everyone around her. He’s not alone: his army of Shadows are with him, and mop up the invaders.

But the boss slips away, then hikes up the pressure of the oil lamps school-wide, causing an massive inferno. While I don’t hear a single cough from the ensuing smoke and flames, nor does anyone seem to be getting burnt by said flames … eh, whatever, maybe they’re special isekai flames.

The invader boss proceeds to start burning everything in Ruslan’s office, but Cid is there waiting for him, and knows who the boss is: Ruslan himself. Once he’d reached the absolute highest summit of swordsmanship, he became ill, and sought out a radical cure.

That’s how he ended up meeting Sherry’s mother. When she warned against using the artifact, Ruslan murdered her in a elaborate, grisly way, and while Sherry was present for that, it’s been established that she’s not very observant, and so never knew her adoptive father killed her mother.

Ruslan never gets into why he took the academy hostage, or why he set the academy on fire, but never mind, now that Cid’s there he’s not going to accomplish anything else. There’s a fun little fakeout when Cid lets Ruslan slash him right out the office window to his apparent death, only to reappear Batman-style in his Shadow form.

Ruslan fuses with the artifact in order to augment his power—as one does—but as you’d suspect, fighting him is still child’s play to Mr. Atomic, who doesn’t really have to break a sweat parrying his opponents’ lightning-fast fusillade of attacks.

When Cid has had enough, he ends Ruslan’s life in the exact same grisly way he ended Sherry’s mom’s … and just like that traumatic event, Sherry arrives just in time to witness a parent’s demise. Shadow departs as she screams out in anguish, not having the heart to tell her who Ruslan is and why he deserved this end. Knowing how much her dad meant to her, she most likely wouldn’t have believed him anyway.

While Ruslan was as two-dimensionally eeeevil as villains come (why else hire Oostsuka Houchuu to voice him?), he was never anything but a loving, supportive father to Sherry, and I was devastated watching her experience a repeat of her mother’s death. No one should have to face that. And now she’s an orphan again.

At the same time, I don’t blame Cid, because he did what he had to do. Even though Ruslan promised him that he arranged things so the real Shadow Garden would be framed for this entire terrorist attack, he shrugs that off. He never claimed he and his garden were walking the path of righteousness, but nor do they walk the path of evil.

Instead, they walk their own path. This comes as news to Alpha, who thought they were being righteous, but accepts Cid’s interpretation without hesitation, as does the rest of the organization. If Shadow is now the number one most hated and wanted fugitive in the kingdom, so be it—they’ll continue to do what they must.

As for poor Sherry, she and Cid share a muted farewell scene where she regrets not getting to know him better before heading abroad to a prestigious research institute. Before they part, perhaps forever, Cid asks her what she thinks she needs to do. A kaleidoscope of emotions fall over Sherry’s face as she’s momentarily unable to hide her emotions with a sad smile.

But she won’t tell Cid; it’s a secret. Does she, unlike so many others, know Cid and Shadow are the same person, and thus Cid is the one who killed her father? If that’s the case, is she going abroad in order to plan her revenge against him, or simply to start the next phase of her life as a researcher? It’s pretty ambiguous, and I like that.

Lycoris Recoil – 13 (Fin) – Deciding for Themselves

Chisato ends up alone with Majima at the top of the Enkuboku for a final round. Majima makes things even more interesting by activating a 60-minute timer on a bomb that will presumably bring the tower down. Why Chisato doesn’t just repeatedly shoot Majima right next to his ears is unclear, but the duel that ensues is pretty evenly matched.

Meanwhile, the power goes out on the whole tower to ensure no hackers, friend or foe, will be able to interfere with Majima and Chiato’s fight. The elevator still has aux power, so Fuki heads down with a seriously injured Sakura while Takina asks her to let her climb back up to help Chisato. Fuki decides that she and Takina should get to decide what they want to do for once.

After pulling off a particularly tricky acrobatic move on Majima, Chisato suddenly finds her artificial heart starting to give out. Majima, who may be a jerk, has no interest in fighting her in this state, so he shoots open a vending machine, offers her a juice and the two have a short break. Chisato want him to stop the clock, but he won’t.

Whither Mr. Yoshi? Helped along by Himegama, he continues his retreat, but is confronted by Mika, who actually doesn’t have a bum leg. Himagama charges him, but he wallops her with his cane, then riddles her with non-lethal bullets. Left unprotected, Mika has come for Yoshi’s briefcase, to tell him it’s time to let the kids make their own choices, then kills the man he clearly never really stopped loving.

After engaging it some philosophical sparring regarding who is the hero, who is the villain, and what constitutes a properly-lived life (Majima is resolved to restore “balance”, Chisato is fine with the status quo) their fight resumes. Chisato is feeling better but still far from 100%, and the clock is still ticking.

Eventually one of Majima’s many bullets grazes Chisato, and she goes down. Majima steps on her and prepares to shoot her, but just then Takina appears, and Chisato uses the moment of distraction to pull Majima head-over-heels.

The two hit the glass, which cracks and then shatters (in reality, glass in a tower like this would be several inches thick, like that in the CN Tower, but whatever); the two begin to fall. We don’t see what becomes of Majima, which means he’s clearly not dead, while Takina ensnares Chisato with her restraining wire.

The phone countdown hits zero, and the “punishment explosion” turns out to be a massive fireworks display, which was likely meant to cap off the Enkuboku opening anyway. Majima, while likely not dead, is at least out of their hair for the time being, and both Takina and Chisato are alive.

In the first of two epilogues, Sakura has made a full recovery and is back to her exuberant, poop parfait-lovin’ self, Fuki is still meekly deferent to Mika, and life at LycoReco has returned to normal,  except that Chisato has not been around, while Takina is out on a job.

That job turns out to be traveling to Miyako to find Chisato, but the mission is first portrayed as her tracking down and eliminating a target. The two end up trading gunfire in the forest and then shooting each other with restraining wire, and when they realize they’re…each other, they hop into each other with joy (while also scolding each other for coming at each other so hot).

Takina explains to Chisato how a regular café patron happened to capture Chisato in the background of a photo of her and her boyfriend, and so even with no internet or cameras, they were able to find her. Takina also notes that she’s glad Chisato is alive and well.

Chisato actually slipped out of the hospital and traveled to Miyako not sure about the nature of the operation she underwent. Turns out Mr. Yoshi was lying; the heart wasn’t in his chest, but in the briefcase. Now that it’s in Chisato’s chest, she’s going to live a long, healthy life.

The scenes at the seaside café and then on the beach are some of the most richly-colored and beautiful of the series, and really lend a lovely gravitas to what these two have been through…and what they mean to each other. When asked what she should do with the extra life she’s been given, Takina proposes she do something she’s always wanted to.

That brings us to the bonus epilogue: LycoReco Hawaii! No doubt thanks to Kurumi’s skills, the whole gang is able to travel to the states and set up a café truck by the ocean. Everyone seems to be doing their part and having fun, and we also learn their side hustle of helping people out is still going on as well, only now in adorable Hawaiian garb.

It’s a cute and satisfying all’s-well-that-ends-well ending. Sure, there are still a lot of guns still in Tokyo, and a heavily-bandaged Majima out there egging people. The moral quandary that is Lycoris and the DA is still hanging out there too.

But Chisato and Takina are where they want to be, doing what they want to do. They who were tools for the adults are now free to live their lives how they see fit. For that reason alone, I can walk away from this show with a smile.

Lycoris Recoil – 12 – Spider Lily Shuffle

Takina’s heroic arrival means Chisato’s finally able to maneuver herself into position to fire her gun near both of Majima’s ears, incapacitating him long enough for her to blast him with her concussive rounds and for Takina to shoot him with binding rounds.

He still gets in a couple of kicks, however, so as the girls recover by lying on the ground for a bit, Chisato asks why Takina there, Takina says she quit, and Chisato says she’s a big ol’ dummy. Takina won’t disagree, but between the DA and Chisato, there was no choice.

Chisato proceeds to find Mr. Yoshi, who expresses immediate disappointment when he learns she didn’t kill Majima. When Chisato tells him that she’s already plenty happy helping people, he says he “didn’t wind up the spring of a dying doll” for that. He can’t stress enough that Chisato can only fulfill her purpose by taking lives.

Takina, who is listening in the hall, has heard enough. If Chisato won’t shoot this guy, she will. Especially when they learn he’s had the advanced artificial heart put in his chest, making it so that he must die for Chisato to live. While that’s perfectly okay for Takina, it’s not at all okay for Chisato, who stops Takina from killing him.

Yoshi’s sidekick drops in and kicks Takina out of the tower and almost to her death, creating yet anoher cruel game for Chisato: kill his sidekick before she kills Takina. When Takina is holding on to a beam for dear life and Yoshi starts shooting at her hands, Chisato begs him to stop. When he won’t she finally pulls the trigger and sends a real bullet into his chest.

Fortunately for her, it goes straight through him and misses his vitals. Takina survives her bout with Yoshi’s sidekick (albeit with a half-bloodied face to show for it), and unloads a clip at the two as they retreat. Chisato tells her to stop and holds her as she says even if they killed Yoshi to save her, she wouldn’t be Chisato anymore. The time comes for farewells for everyone, but she’s not gone yet.

As Mizuki and Kurumi arrive in a helicopter to pick them up, Chisato and Takina learn about the next crisis: now that they’ve been outed to the public, the director has decided to eliminate all of the Lycoris (with the male version, LilyBell). Mizuki flies them to Enkuboku, while Kurumi gives them a USB dongle to put in the Enkuboku servers. Fuki and Sakura go floor to floor gathering up the wounded Lycoris, with Erika having their six, filling in for Takina.

When the three bite off more than they can chew with two of Majima’s bigger thugs, Chisato and Takina come to their haughty colleagues’ rescue once more, and then they proceed to the server room, where Sakura points out how Fuki and Chisato’s arguing sounds a lot like flirting.

Once the USB is in the server, Kurumi, AKA Walnut, proves she was and is the world’s best hacker, creating a new cover-up for the Lycoris (announced to the city as an immersive crisis adventure simulation…though that doesn’t explain the guns dispersed among the public) and leading the cops straight to Robota’s hideout.

With the Lycoris given fresh cover and Chisato dodging LilyBell’s bullets, the director orders them to retreat. Lilybell’s 1st glares at Chisato on his way out, and Takina isn’t sure whether she should be unsurprised or jealous. Probably both. Takina and Erika get another nice little moment, as Takina shows how a little Chisato has rubbed off on her by ribbing Erika for being “awful” for taking her placed at the DA.

It looks like all’s well that ends well, until Kusunoki is informed that the cleaners responsible for retrieving Majima have gone silent. The elevator doors are about to close when Chisato spots her bookbag and runs out to get it. Majima then sprays a clip into the elevator (all bullets absorbed by an airbag thanks to quick thinking from Fuki). But the elevator doors close on the Takina, Fuki, and the others, leaving Chisato all alone with Majima for a final round.

Majima’s plan to turn the public against the government failed, and he’s lost Robota, the only means of attempting to do so again. So this is clearly just him wanting to either kill or be killed by his finest and most interesting opponent. As for Chisato, she seems resigned to her fate, and unless there’s a third fake heart out there somewhere, Takina may have to be too.

But when that elevator descends to the ground floor, dollars to donuts Takina’s going right back up to the top to be back beside Chisato, as long as she possibly can, until the farewell.