“After all, a hell one can see is slightly better than one you can’t see.”
Return of Kings picks up one month after the previous episode. Incidents of ordinary people gaining supernatural powers continue to increase, heralding the impending arrival of the Green King’s plans for mankind, and giving Reisi’s words from his fight with the Gray King an ominous tone. Maybe mankind will eventually flush itself down the drain if they are allowed to have special powers; time will tell.
In their little hideout, JUNGLE’s top agents are musing over their clansmen and the successes they are having with their missions. They note a returned player named Douhan Hirasaka. She’s dressed pretty scantily in the beginning of the episode when Fushimi busts her out of Scepter 4’s prison, but she turns out to be a little more badass by the time the ending theme rolls. Nagare also discusses Fushimi’s rapid rise through JUNGLE’s ranks, and Sukuna gets pissed off and jealous, and jumps out the window to go clear some easy missions. (Which is odd, and we see why at the end of the episode.) I want one of those windows, by the way.
Back on the school island, Shiro, Neko and Kuroh are planning their next move. Shiro’s feeling the pressure, but thinks he found a method to halt the powers of the Dresden Slates. It’s called the Resonance Hammer Effect, and it will change the Weismann phase of the Slates… whatever that means. I hope more information about this process is given in the next episode or two. ^^;;
I must say, while I was whining about the Seri fanservice in my last review, there was a lot less flaunting of her boobage than I thought there would be. You know what else the whole party scene taught me? I officially ship Seri & Izumo as a couple. <3 They are adorable, and it’s so obvious that they care about each other (or at least that he cares about her). “Yes, my honey” was the cutest line of the episode. o(*^▽^*)o
But ahem. Fushimi’s butt is saved by Douhan when he gets into a fight with Seri and Izumo. Once he pays her off for helping, he meets up with Yukari, where the latter congratulates Fushimi on becoming J-Rank and takes him to meet the rest of the gang for a celebration. Not just any party, but a sushi party! We get some insight into Fushimi’s view of the world, namely that he feels that JUNGLE’s mission system is a game and he wanted to see if his perspective of things changed once he “maxed out his score.” Upon Nagare telling Fushimi that he is now one of JUNGLE’s top clansmen and that he will be counting on him, Fushimi remarks that he will clear any mission Nagare gives him because it’s easier than dealing with people and their interpersonal relationships. Well. Guess that explains a lot, from his defection to Reisi to his rivalry and former friendship with Yata. Now I want to psychoanalyse him and write up a report, haha. (Yes I’m weird, I know.) 
And now for the cherry on top. As the camera pulls back in the final moments of the episode, we see that the claustrophobic little room they all sit in…. is really just a set in one of the enormous concrete bunkers underneath the city. So when Sukuna jumped out the window earlier, he could have just… walked off the set instead. xD
My thoughts: Nagare is blond now?! And JUNGLE’s little hangout space is so tiny! In such a massive open space, why not have something larger?? And if you note that the chandelier and airplane are hanging on wires of some kind, then those have to be some super long wires if they’re attached to the top of the bunker! o_o
In terms of the episode itself, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. Seri actually fights, and while she uses her chest to her advantage on one occasion, for the most part she holds her own. I honestly felt really bad for her this episode. First she finds out that Fushimi betrayed Scepter 4 for JUNGLE, but if that wasn’t enough she also witnessed the surprising return of Goki Zenjo, who has been assigned to protect Reisi’s back. And she obviously wasn’t expecting him, nor the demonstration of his impressive abilities. I mean he was able to slice a wasp in half in midair before Seri could even draw her sword! So perhaps she’s feeling a little usurped or a little unnecessary, which perhaps might lead to jealousy or a fight in the finale. I know that I tend to get protective and jealous when someone new comes along and totally surpasses my skills. >>;
When Goki Zenjou made his first appearance in Return of Kings several episodes ago, I mentioned that Seri might be the one to end Reisi’s life, but after seeing Goki kill the wasp I have a sneaky suspicion that he might be the one to do it instead. Especially because he was also the clansman who killed the previous Blue King, Jin Habari. Reisi might be a jerk, but he’s not stupid.
Hang tight, because next week it looks like we get to see more of Reisi’s spiral downwards towards what I think will be his eventual self-destruction.