“I will protect her. That’s what I promised!”
Synopsis: Mizar, the sixth Septentrion, will soon manifest in Tokyo — but Yamato has already plotted its course, and devised plan of attack. To defeat Mizar, JP’s will summon a powerful demon named Lugh; unfortunately, controlling it will mean trapping it in a human vessel that is bound to be destroyed. That vessel turns out to be Io, and when the others learn of the fate that will befall her, Hibiki will launch a desperate effort to save her from certain doom.
Impression:
Is this the best episode yet? No, that title still belongs to episode 8, but this episode was almost there. An epic ending and some glorious artwork almost bolstered episode 10 past it’s predecessor but an uninteresting start and occasionally shoddy animation let down the episode overall. Will there be a better episode than this in the future? I doubt it, I mean, I might have thought that a very long time ago, but now I see mediocrity written all over this anime’s ending… and that disappoints me, y’know?
Firstly I’d like to mention the abundance of screaming in this episode (also known as ‘beagling’ in the part of England were I’m from), whilst it was effective in some parts and sent shivers down my spine (namely any moment involving Nitta), it would sometimes (the screaming, that is) pop up unnecessarily and ruin the flow of the episode. There’s dramatic screaming and then there’s screaming because you’ve tripped over a pillow and landed on a memory foam mattress, y’know? Oh, you don’t know? What I’m trying to say is… After the first 20 screams it became unnecessary. That is all.
Speaking of Nitta and screaming… Nitta, a girl who I’ve abhorred since the beginning of the show, was, without a doubt, the star of this episode. I never thought I’d say it but… I really enjoyed Nitta’s part in this episode. Aya Uchida does a great job of voicing our ‘female protagonist’ and some of her best moments in this episode are also some of the most dramatic, screams and reunions, these are the moments that truly bring out a voice actors potential (although a likening to screams is somewhat subjective) and they are the moments that made this episode special. Not only did Nitta have some of her best moments in this episode, she also had some of the best moments in the entire show. Ever seen The Creation of Adam? It’s a painting by Michelangelo and that painting reminds me of Hibiki and Nitta reunion scene humorously, not because the scene was humorous but because I could finally make a cultural hipster comment but because that’s how strong I feel Hibiki is becoming… But I digress, back to Nitta. Nitta got completely and utterly fucked over in this episode, I’ve never felt sorry for any of the characters in this show and that’s mainly down to poor execution, but in this episode I felt complete and utter sympathy for Nitta’s plight. She was posed with an impossible choice and even though in the end she made the ‘right choice’ the execution was delivered perfectly. The dead face clip, Daichi’s anger and Yamato’s delusion, every single part of the latter half of the episode was brilliant and I have to commend the writers for delivering it so well.
That said, the first half of the episode was definitely less than great, maybe even less than good. Of course there were some good parts, all of which involved Nitta, but other than that I felt bored and almost didn’t make it to the ‘amazing half’. I mean, my God, there was no direction and did I want to see a tea party Alcor? No. Nitta was acting fine and it was wrong, so wrong. I get that she’s the type that hides their emotions but she’s just been told she’s going to die…? Tea party! And MY GOD Yamato that absolutely arsehole. I’m done with him, seriously, I can’t take anymore of that freaking Nazi’s antics. He is pure evil and I hate him. Professor Kanno? Yeah I hate her nonchalant ‘I’ll kill anyone for no reason or motive’ attitude. Why is her character even here at the moment? All she does is wander around smiling with her dead fish eyes as the world and the people who inhabit it die around her. And don’t even get me started on Makoto. She follows Yamato blinding, bum licking him every step of the way. What’s so freaking great about him?! The guy is a maniac and I hate him. I found myself wishing that Lugh would kill everyone at JP’s and the show would continue with just Daichi and Nitta. That would be nice. Weird, but nice.
And Daichi! My man! I’ve gained a new respect for my pathetic compadre, standing up for Nitta like that… brings a tear to my eye… and another tear of fury to the other as I scowl in anger when Yamato tried to strangle him… Unhand him foul beast! I’m telling you, Yamato is more of a demon than most of the actually demons. Shiva (from the last episode) is a God for God’s sake (see what I did there?)! I’m sure some people from certain religions would be offended by something like that? No? Philistines!
The conclude, this episode was good, the first half was mediocre and the second half was amazing. That Shin Megami Tensei feel is becoming more and more potent and this episode has one of the shows best endings so far… speaking of endings… what the hell have they done with the ending song? Y’know, Song Riders’ ‘Be’? I loved that ending! I know it fit in with the way the episode ended to use that music but still… I hope they bring back the old song…
Fumi bases her actions on logic and what has the most logical chance for success. Makoto follows Yamato and JPs because they gave her a future after her old one was ruined. Her dreams were shattered and it was JPs that took her in. I’m just waiting for the twist where it’s revealed they were behind it just to make them even more evil.
Now Lugh, oh man I wanted Lugh to get his revenge just for the fact that they dared to think they can seal away a God and then use it at their own convenience.