“I want you to remember Jin Russell. And remember that his community pledges to take down the demon lords.” -Izayoi Sakamaki
Summary: On the night before the Gift Game with Galdo, the boys and girls split up and have some talk time amongst themselves. Izayoi reveals his plan for gathering new members for the no-name community to Jin, who starts to see it’s logic. The next day, Asuka, You, and Jin go to face Galdo (who is now in tiger demon mode) only to find that they must fight him using only the provided weapon. When You fails, Asuka steps in and manages to defeat Galdo. Two new mysterious people are seen throughout the episode, but if they will be friend or foe isn’t clear yet.
Impression: For such a suggestive episode title, this was a really tame episode. When you think of episodes involving baths, it usually means lots of fanservice, but there was none. It was kind of refreshing actually. So while Kurousagi, You, and Asuka have a bit of girl talk in the newly cleaned swimming pool/bath (which is now filled with water from their new water supply), Izayoi manges to get into trouble again by running into some trespassers. They’re people who have been forced into working for Galdo’s community and want Izayoi to take him out so that they can go free. It’s understandable that when your community blackmails and kills on a regular basis to become more powerful you’d eventually get fed up and want out. But Izayoi, with his unusually quick thinking, posits that these people aren’t just made at Galdo specifically for what he’s done, but also the demon lords for being part of a system that allows this to happen.
He tells them that unassuming, tiny, Jin will be the one to take on not just Galdo but the lords as well. He explains later that since their community doesn’t have anything to draw people to rally behind (not a flag, or wealth, or even a name) so he’s going to make the name “Jin Russell” the thing that brings in people. If they really want to take down the system, then the tiny no-name community is going to need people. People who can fight and who aren’t a bunch of kids under the age of ten. Jin starts to see the logic behind Izayoi’s plan and by the end of the episode he’s starting to fill his role of figurehead. With three such powerful members already, and by freeing all the people trapped under Fores Garo, I’d say Jin (and Izayoi who’s behind the whole thing) is well on his way drawing in the type of people who also want to get rid of the demon lords.
The real focus of the episode though is You, Asuka, and Jin’s fight with Galdo. Thanks to the powers of a strange goth loli vampire who’s seen floating around (who Jin also seems to imply was once a member of their community during his discussion with Izayoi) Galdo and the forest surrounding his house has been transformed in to a demonic vampire-like place. The whole area has become a jungle, and Galdo himself has been transformed even more so than last episode. Because of some poor planning on Jin’s part, when the group shows up they find out that the rules for this Gift Game state that they must defeat him using a specific weapon instead of their powers. Now, instead of having the advantage, You, Asuka, and Jin have a bit of a handicap. But they still trek on, since of course they’re not really the types to give up and go home.
When they eventually locate Galdo, and the sword they have to use as a weapon, You is the first to try and stop him while Asuka uses her Gift to make Jin run away. Unfortunately he also grabs her bridal style and dashes off. When they finally come to a stop, Jin tells her that a vampire is probably behind Galdo’s powers now but before they can continue the discussion a very injured You stumbles out of the bushes. That get’s Asuka pretty fired up, and she tells Jin to get You to safety while she goes to face Glado. Because this show is obviously on a bit of a budget, the final fight between Asuka and Galdo isn’t as great as some other shows would have done it, but it works. Asuka can not just command things around her, like plants to grow to create barriers, but she can also command other gifts to do her bidding in order to “create miracles” as flashback Kurousagi says. So Asuka commands the sword, which I guess is a part of some gift in order to be involved in the game in the first place, and with it’s power manages to defeat Galdo. With the tiger beast dead, the forest returns to normal and Jin is able to give back the flags of all the communities that had been under Fores Garo’s rule.
In addition to the strange little girl, the end of the episode shows us another new character. This time it’s a strange man, with some really weird two-tone hair, who’s asking after Shiroyasha. I guess we’ll see next episode if these two new characters are going to be allies or foes, since appearances can be deceiving. It’ll be interesting to see what Izayoi does, since he promised Jin that he’d rescue their old community member who had been captured and was now being used as a prize. Izayoi seems the type to keep his promises, but just how tough of a fight will he have to get into in order to get this person back? While I might not be waiting as anxiously for the next episode of this as I would be an episode of Shin Sekai Yori, I’m still curious to see where next episode will take us.
Final Though: Have we talked about how freakin’ cute the ending is? Because it is So. Freakin’. Cute. It makes me want to vomit rainbows and cotton candy.