This week on Chaos Dragon I learn to respect Ibuki a little more because he is in a rough spot, and rather than stay absolutely ignorant or become trusting to one part Ibuki proves: man I can’t trust nobody and I better play this by ear. Inori tells Ibuki that everyone in his expedition is planning to kill Red Dragon and surprisingly? He doesn’t seem completely ignorant to that idea! He actually seems to be skeptical of his party and for a kid who is reluctant and scared to use his power I finally respect him. While Ibuki might be afraid to use his power it is because it will hurt people he genuinely loves he shows that he is not ignorant to the situation he is.

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Meanwhile his sister is nutso. Ibuki suspects Red Dragon’s madness has rubbed off on Inori, as she is also bound to Red Dragon, and it might very well be the case as she reveals how easy the concept of killing someone and then reviving them with her power is. Inori is the ‘true’ Child of Contract and Ibuki is meant to be her ‘help’, a cruel way to look at everything if that means the pawn of the red dragon can kill anyone at the cost of their own happiness solely for the King.

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I am not sure what to think of this episode. I am beginning to suspect that Ibuki is the only ‘good’ guy of the show and that while characters like Sweallow have good intentions and Lou is genuinely controlled by her insane love of her sword, Ibuki is the only one who wants what is best for everyone. Yet we are steadily approaching the breaking point where everyone will realize how badly Sweallow has screwed Nil Kamui and I am weary of what that means for Ibuki. How far is Ibuki going to go when he realizes everyone from his new friends to his batshit sister is out for themselves?

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I made a comparison to Mana of Guilty Crown for Inori and that is really fitting now. The ‘true’ Child of Contract is incredibly batso and makes me want to cringe. Admirably Ibuki stomachs her insane outbursts and the fact that she sees fit to kill everyone and bring them back to life to ensure they are docile quite well. She just goes on rampages about killing all his friends and he is thinking ‘wow hoe don’t do it’ but says ‘yeah hoe lets do it!’ he plays it really well. I was kind of proud of him for doing exactly what I would do in the face of a serial killer. “Oh no yeah that sounds great lets go do this other thing first then yeah murder sounds awesome!”

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The show really presents some admirable things: Ibuki doubts his friends but also cares about them. He is ignorant but also informed. Ibuki will always do what he believes is best but is also in the most intelligent way he knows how. This kid is way too smart to be 12 but also just naive enough to be 12. I imagine he will be making a lot of mistakes and when he ended the episode by killing Mashiro because she had truly become a Returned One I actually felt a lot of sadness for him. While a lot of young protagonists have crushes I think Ibuki is the most believable young protagonist to love someone without actually saying it explicitly.

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This show has been confounding me all season because it started off with a very heavy plot element and then decided to take a vacation on the stimulus. We started off with having to kill your friends and then simply hovered over the idea without readdressing it for a long time. This decision led Ibuki to seem more whiney than unfortunate and now we really see the stress he is put under: Mashiro’s last actions were to reach out for him with a smile. He promised he would be a good King but his sister Inori, who has gone thoroughly mad, has declared she will be the King. Then again, she did basically declare war on D’Natia by KILLING THEIR BISHOP WITH HER PET RETURNED ONE.

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Man, we in for some shit. I’m happy to be along for the ride.

Oki