Impression
Wow, onii-sama really did get angry this time. We’ve known for a long time that Tatsuya possesses the ability and experience to kill (he did it on a more detached scale with Material Burst in the pilot episode) but we’ve never properly seen it until now – he left the Blanche members from the first arc alive, and the Nine Schools Competition is pretty much a series of glorified high school magic games. When he was killing in cold blood, I have a feeling he did it more as a member of his battalion rather than as a high school student – and he of course did it as Miyuki’s wonderful onii-sama as well. It was actually a bit amusing to note that Honoka and the rest of his classmates thought he was in bed, when in reality he was casually sniping some terrorists while on the phone with them next to an uncomfortable-looking Fujibayashi. The terrorists were all cowardly idiots, but I almost felt sorry watching them suffer after having incurred the wrath of the saviour. Poor guys were terrified by a bit of Decomposition. That one guy pretty much betrayed their boss by revealing his real name to Tatsuya – as per the name, No Head Dragon shrouds its leader in mystery, with only the closest of confidants interacting with him at all. Funnily enough, Tatsuya jumped through all the legal hoops in carrying out this “mission”, which sounds like it was only one on paper. Miyuki must be so proud.
I thought this episode was a bit rushed, as it managed to stuff in three main sections when the conventional procedure for this anime has been two most of the time – there was the terrorist extermination, the Official Division’s Monolith Code and finally the closing ceremony and all its frills. Admittedly though, they’re very tight for time, and Juumonji’s fight wasn’t exactly the most important of events – I think showcasing Phalanx was supposed to be a way to reinforce (see what I did there) the political and military strength of the Ten Master Clans, but it looked more like they were trying to make Juumonji look as manly and alpha as Tatsuya both before and during the event. But of course, no-one’s as manly as onii-sama. Just look at those sunglasses. In the end, part of Juumonji’s Monolith Code was depicted in the background as Tatsuya talked with his battalion anyway. I wonder if Juumonji could tell that everything Tatsuya told him in the garden was a big fat lie – maybe you can argue he’s not technically in the Ten Master Clans, but calling himself a mere high school student is just… not true. It’d be great if he ended up marrying Mayumi though, or one of her sisters Izumi and Kasumi (whom Juumonji didn’t mention in the anime).
The dance was alright, for what it was. It wasn’t surprising to see literally everyone line up to dance with Tatsuya, although the short appearances of girls like Eimi made me recall (very sadly) just how shafted they were in this adaptation. Also, it must have been awkward for Ichijou to dance with a Miyuki whose eyes were never fully on him, especially after managing to get onii-sama’s blessing. It’s going to be a steep road if he’s crushing on Miyuki. Probably better than Kichijouji though, he’s a lolicon.
I really wanted to see more Eimi. I think she’s had maybe ten lines in the entire series so far. All I really know about her is that she’s a beautiful redhead, and she dropped out of Ice Pillars Break rather than face Miyuki.
Part of me thinks it would have been kinder to just omit side characters like Eimi completely instead of half-assing things, but then this adaptation would be even more guilty of cutting out content than it already is. Admittedly though, it’s not like the original novels developed her to the extent of other supporting characters like Honoka or Shizuku.