The episode opens with what everyone was expecting: the villagers asking Mumei: “Why did u killed her? She was pregnant. “. Let me make a supposition here… I’m not really sure at all, it’s only an hypothesis but…. maybe it’s because… SHE TURNED INTO A KABANE! Come on people! You’ve learned that shit! You live in an over controlling society where when you’re bitten, samurai don’t even wait for you to turn into a Kabane before killing you! Stop playing dumb plz, and let’s get over the “SHE WAS HUMAN AND PREGNANT, U MURDERER! WE CAN’T TRUST KABANERIS! MONSTER!” part, it gets old pretty quickly.
Finally, the Kabanes’s attack that did not occurred in the last episode happens now so they have to start the train without finishing repairs. All the villagers are whispering and want the departure of the Kabaneris, same with some random guys with gay scarfs who think they are the big deal and start complaining to Ayame. I’m assuming they are some kind of nobles since they speak to Ayame like she was a little shit on the road of their destiny. Nobles or not, they piss me off, they don’t have a proper name so for now on, they’ll be the “gay scarf gang”.
They ask Ayame to hand over the master key, which “controls” the train, because… the pleb thinks Kabaneris are dangerous and do not trust Ayame anymore so she has to hand the key over to the gay scarf gang. The gay scarf gang wasn’t elected by no one nor anything, so they basically have no right to be in control of the train… They don’t have anything special, just horrible fashion sense. I’m sure that the villagers’s opinion could change if they were actually informed about stuff. I don’t recall anyone really explaining what exactly a Kabaneri is to them, so of course they are afraid since as we know, humans have the tendency to be afraid of what escapes their control and understanding.
Oh well, Ayame gives the keys and the leader of the gay scarfs gang decides to change the route of the train and to pass through the mountains since it’s the quickest route to Kongaku even if they’ll be more vulnerable to Kabanes’s attacks. Do you smell what I smell? Do you smell the upcoming battle that could have been avoided if the leader of the gay scarfs gang wasn’t such an asshole and had been gifted with gray cells? I sure can smell it.
Anyway, during that time, pony tail girl, Yuki Kaiji Takumi and Best guy are thrown into the “cell” were Ikoma and Mumei are locked. I don’t know why Pony tail girl and Best guy are there but eh, if I can see best guy more often… I’m fine with it.
The leader of the gay scarf gang was also planning on getting rid of the Kabaneris by separating their car from the train. What a nice guy, u know that there’s also humans in it right? Like Pony tail girl and best guy. Somebody will have to explain me why the hell they were brought here though. Oh! maybe Pony tail girl is here because she talked to Mumei but best guy? … He doesn’t even care about Kabaneris… Oh well, guess it’s because you can see him in the Opening sequence or maybe because he’s too hot for the train to handle and would cause the engine to overheat… Who knows?
But we have no time for that since the Kabanes attack . This time we discover a new type of Kabane : the Wazatori, who learnt how to fight from experience. Eh, I don’t know, the closest translation of that name could be ” Bird technique “? It’s quite literal though. But they did come on the train by jumping in the air… Heh, I don’t know…. The Kabanes then quickly take control of a big part of the train and are spreading more quickly than the ass cancer… Ayame then decides to go with Boris and another dude to stop their progression. She takes her big bad ass bow of the doom with her and uses it quite effectively because she’s so cool.
During that time Ikoma and Mumei go outside of the rain to fight. They’re some epic fighting scenes that we saw in the trailer. Even Boris does his best and seems quite bad ass. Which contributes to my theory that Boris’s true identity is a raisin cookie. It may looks like a delicious choco cookie but when you bite in it, it tastes like disappointment. Boris looks like a choco cookie but when he starts talking, he’s a raisin cookie.
Oh yeah, by the way, Boris got stabbed in the vagina by the Wazatori and Mumei went to sleep so Ikoma was left alone. He needed blood in order to fight against the Wazatori so Ayame decided to offer hers. Which is really cool, and bad ass. She was on the top of the train, cutting her arm, shouting ” FIGHT FOR US IKOMAAAAAA”. The scene was quite beautiful, the bright light and the blood flowing, I liked it. Ayame is amazing, I really like her, she knows when to make decisions and most of the time she takes the right ones. I feel bad for doubting her utility in episode one.
On another note I’d like to mention that I also like Mumei’s character. To be completely honest, I don’t usually like girls in anime, for various reasons but I like the girls Koutetsujou no Kabaneri. Well, Pony tail girl is a bit useless, but Pink Killua, Mumei and Ayame rock balls! I like how I can’t categorize Mumei, she’s just… You can’t read her, I don’t know what she’s thinking, she’s unpredictable and I like that. Finally some good girl characters. Was it that hard?
Ikoma beats the Wazatori and everyone is happy. It’s s a bit easy to treat Kabaneris like the last piece of shit in the world and now that you see that they are useful you accept them. But yeah, even the gay scarf gang has to shut up this time. Everyone, even raisin cookie Boris, accepts to give his blood to the Kabaneris so that they can protect them. Like Ayame said, it’s a sort of contract, they give their blood to them, and in exchange, the Kabaneris make the blood of their ennemies flow.
The end of the episode even looks like the final episode of the series. Everyone sitting on the train, smiling, laughing looking at the beautiful scenery while the main character says some sentimental bullshit about life and feelings. Ikoma event talked about his sister, saying that the souls of the dead ones will reach her and… it stroke me as odd because it’s after you see her alive again, that she dies while you hold her in your arms that you say that kind of stuff. Don’t try to skip steps like that Ikoma!
Am I the only one that likes Boris/Samurai-kun?
You what?
That’s fine…
Don’t worry, I don’t think you’re the only one. I think his character is meant to be painfully annoying in the beginning and then he’ll get better when he acknowledges all the stuff about Kabaneris being nice guys and not a direct threat. I’ll probably end up liking him too.
I appreciate him, let’s put it that way. He plays his role well and it’s better that he isn’t solely impressed by a good warrior’s display. Given who he’s guarding it’s better that he’s too careful… But with his skill he really could’ve settled for being more adamant about keeping Ikoma and Mumei in the car.
From here on out I’m actually wondering if he’ll help Mumei train Ikoma and aside from the bonding the three of them could do, it’d be interesting if he could smooth out Mumei’s biggest (and only really bothersome) problem: understandably she’s all but oblivious to the inner fortitude her training gives her.
I wish she would acknowledge that because insulting Ikoma just isn’t right. Beating him… well it’s probably harsh training and he does seem to have better regenerative properties than her. I mean maybe the insulting is part of her training method, but it really doesn’t work when she’s an understandably poor teacher :v
Japanese viewers voted Kabaneri as the most popular title of the Spring season, and also as the aggregate title they’re most actively watching.
http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2016/05/05-1/japanese-fans-name-the-spring-2016-anime-that-theyre-still-actively-watching
*Male viewers prefer Re Zero, Netoge and Kumamiko. Females preferred Bungou Stray Dogs, Sakamoto and Kabaneri.
In addition, the Bluray preorders for Kabaneri are so high that it’s already got it’s own meme on Japan’s 2ch forum.
Lol as always. I definitely enjoy these recaps! (And I am so fucking glad that the whole “hate the kabaneri even though a moron can see they’re saving our asses” arc is finally over). So now I randomly hope two things get answered: (1) what’s the difference between how Mumei only wears a ribbon to control her kabaneri side but it takes all that steampunk bondage gear for Ikoma (and please don’t just let the answer be fanservice), and (2) what is up with that guy with the American accent because I just can’t stop laughing at that.
I’m also definitely wondering if you called it on Mumei being Ikoma’s sister like you speculated last week. It’s clearly going to be a major plot point so…
I had completely forgot about Ikoma’s bondage gear! Damn… That must be inconvenient tho… Did he forgot about it? This shit is literally screwed on him. I can understand that now it has become a part of the character design but eh, there’s no real reasons for him to keep those. Well, it sustains my theory that Ikoma is a M.
I don’t think the american dude has a particular reason to be here. First I thought he was supposed to represent the Americans that arrived to Japan in 1853 under the orders of Perry, but by looking at some representations of that event, I couldn’t see any ressemblance between the american dude and Perry’s float but his accent sure is hilarious.