Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru – Washio Sumi no Shou Episode 6: Promise (Final Impression)

“Wasshi…I’m glad it affected you less than it did me.”

I got major flashbacks to Karin’s fight from the original series, as she used her Mankai over and over to protect the others as more of herself kept “dying” off. Except in Sonoko’s case, she payed an even bigger price. But it didn’t matter to her, as long as she was able to protect her one friend that doesn’t even remember who she is anymore. The way she screamed out Wasshi’s name in pain, introducing herself and Gin, with the saddest eyes, as she turned away to fight was so gut wrenching. Especially with the insert song making it all worse. The scene that played before us was a lot more familiar to me, and with that familiarity brought back the emotions from the original.

One thing I really liked was the opinions of the adults. We knew the teacher was reluctant about the use of Mankai and what the Shinjyu were planning but it was her duty to follow. We saw two different reactions from Washio and Sonoko’s families. Washio’s parents showed more concern and anger towards the fate of their (adopted?!) daughter, whereas Sonoko’s parents were more accepting, particularly her father while her mother was a little more unsure. Again the pride and honor of serving the Shinjyu was brought up again, but it was comforting(?) at least to know that in the end her parents cried for her. Either way, everything was out of control for the parents. It’s just sad that all the families we saw lost their daughters in horrible ways.

One last time, the episode starts off sweet. We get a more serious approach as the girls meditated under a waterfall and gave their phones away for maintenance. The next day at school their classmates secretly made them a banner as an apology for questioning them before. Washio and Sonoko then go shopping and have fun in the mall as they gawk and play with the Halloween decorations while their little fairies were cute. Interesting that Sonoko’s was a tengu, which is what the document from last episode had noted. And while the girls have fun, their teacher visits their homes and explains the new system. At that very moment, the girls sense a fight about to brew. The vision that Washio had before comes back to her again, predicting a tough battle ahead of them. She couldn’t have been more right.

One of the worst things in anime is when an anime character promises something to another. Because when they make a promise, something bad happens. “We’ll go back home together!” No…T_T

The girls have an updated transformation with updated outfits, Washio’s looking more familiar with her trusty rifle. What awaits them are three Vertexes again, and not knowing the consequences of their new abilities, the girls use their Mankai immediately. Lose the eyesight from one eye, lose the use of your legs, keep fighting, lose the use of your arm, lose your heartbeat, lose your memories.

It was hard to watch. I knew bad things were to come but it was still so hard to watch. The animation particularly looked amazing this time, the fight being tense and scary. The scene of the hoard of Vertexes slowly coming towards them was horrifying, and with Washio losing all of her memories, it was only Sonoko who could keep them away and protect everyone. I couldn’t help but cry. I grew so attached to these girls, knowing Sonoko even less time than I did with the original crew. She’s silly, childish, sleepy, cute, but she’s also responsible, strong-willed, and admirable. All of these girls are admirable and it hurts to see them in pain. Actually, right after this episode I went back to the original and found the episode and scene where Mimori and Yuuna are summoned by Sonoko AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHY I NEVER REMEMBERED HER NAME. The scene has so much more significance now and it’s even more painful where as I was rewatching it I just burst into tears. There were things I didn’t understand when I first watched it, that now causes me so much pain. As she Sonoko kept calling Mimori “Wasshi”, they kept zooming in on the ribbon tying her ponytail, how Mimori said the ribbon was so precious to her but she didn’t know why, how if Sonoko knew what Mankai did to her, she would have spent more time with her friends. The scene is so much more powerful now that I’ve seen the prequel that I immediately broke down into tears as the scene played. It also reminded me of minor details (Sange, the offerings, just the whole interaction between Sonoko and Mimori being even more significant). It tore me to shreds. It also makes me wonder why the Taisha view Sonoko as a God now? That was never made clear, but I wondered why in the ending of this episode why they carried her in some sort of coffin into a small room. Also, just how badly Sonoko looked in that bed. It looked like her legs weren’t even there, her head was completely wrapped except for one eye, and she couldn’t even move. Considering she had already saw her use her Mankai about 3-4 times, how many more times did she use it to drive away the hoard of Vertex coming her way? I can’t even fathom and the thought of it just breaks me.

The episode ends with Washio starting her new life as Mimori, and meeting a certain someone we all know.

Final Impression:

This prequel was very short. The three movies that had come out where separated into six episodes and told us the story of Washio, Gin, and Sonoko and how the Hero system worked different before it turned into what we were familiar with. In such a short time, we were able to learn about these girls and grow attached to them and their budding friendship. We saw their struggles and laughed with them, only in the end to watch their tragedies unfold. Gin, who lost her life and lost her chance to live her dream as a wife and mother. Sonoko, who lost family, friends, and even herself after her battles, with only the memories of her friends. And Mimori, who was less affected but completely lost the memories of her friends, her friends being the one thing she cherished the most.

When I watched YuYuYu, I saw people had compared it to Madoka Magica obviously. Which was a little irritating. The thing with Madoka was that the girls could easily die, with their wish making coming to bite them in the ass. In YuYuYu’s case, the girls can’t die but in turn they lose bodily functions. And as I watched the show I kept asking myself:

• Is it worse to die, or to continue living as a former shell of yourself?

Is it worse to die like Gin, or worse to still live but with next to no function such as Sonoko? Even now I still don’t know. But every time I look at Sonoko now, I might have to go with the latter.

Washio Sumi no Shou wasn’t entirely different from the original in terms of animation and music. It still looked great and it still sounded amazing. The OST in this show complements the scenes so well without being overbearing and knows which song to play in which moment to get an emotional reaction out of me.

However, I felt this prequel did a much better job in presenting its characters to us. Probably because we had a smaller cast, and we already knew one of our key characters (though in a different light). We had sufficient time to learn about each of them, which was aided with them being a bit of strangers to each other. So when they slowly became good friends, that gave us time to get attached to them and how sweet their friendship was. Another good thing was that the prequel didn’t waste time in the whole Hero selection. It was shown to use from the beginning that the trio were the Heroes so we got straight into the action from the start. I thought the pacing was perfect, I didn’t feel like anything was glossed over for other things, and I thought there was a good balance of plot and fun. The one negative thing I would have to say was just the entirety of episode 3. A silly episode of the girls being cute is fine but I felt like it dragged on and on and it got a little unbearable. Though…now that I think about it, I would rather have more episodes like that if that would save these girls from more suffering.

I absolutely loved Washio Sumi no Shou. I love this series in general. Next week starts the actual sequel and I have no idea what to expect! What’s going to happen now that the girls practically threatened the Shinju and Taisha with death and destruction to stop their bullshit and change the Hero system? Will Sonoko be okay?! I think so because she’s in the promotional art! Ahh, the reunion. ;_; I can’t wait, I’ll see you guys next week!

9/10