Nil Admirari no Tenbin Episode 11

WHAT. WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED?!?!?
My head is spinning right now! So… SO MANY PLOT-TWISTS!!!!!!!!

Let’s start with Rui first. It didn’t surprise me that Mozuyama turned out to be his birth father, but I was not expecting Shouko to have been his birth-mother!!!!!!! She was raped by the mad scientist who was obsessed with her, and thought the entire time because she bore “his child”, that was her way to confirm she loved him back (HELL NO!). But Shouko showed us she is a fierce survivor who insists Rui is her child alone. She had always wanted to kill Mozuyama, and today she had just that opportunity but it didn’t play out the way she probably imagined it in her head. In some ways I am glad that she didn’t because this prevents her from getting blood on her hands, yet she was still able to get closure. Better yet she was able to protect Rui, and he was able to protect her in return. Ultimately, the one who killed Mozuyama was the author of the fire aura tomes, by being possessed into walking into the burning building.

It is tragic to hear that Rui was taken away from Shouko when she loved him dearly. She was not allowed to keep him because he was born out of wedlock, and she was set to be engaged to Takashi. However even after being separated, Mozuyama still left a mark in Rui’s life by murdering his foster parents, and his experiments of creating artificial cursed tomes and his wild ambitions. But it was sweet to know, was the unspoken bond they share with their common interest in Kaleidoscopes, which I thought was an amazing way to tie the two together. I was a bit sad Rui didn’t hug her, but I get it, he wasn’t raised by her, he doesn’t have any particular attachments to her, and it hadn’t even been five minutes since he had learned she was his birth mother. Now with Mozumaya “gone”, Rui got the closure he needed and declared the end of Kagutsuchi.

And then we have the Fire Aura Author…. WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT IT WAS NABARI?! WHAT THE HECK?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

I actually forgot Tsumugi and Nabari knew each other in their childhood, but what the @#*!?! WHY DOES HE WANT TO KILL THEM!? Maybe they will actually tell us next week, or I am forgetting something important, but either way I am absolutely shocked. I never saw this coming. Plot-Twists after plot-twists, Nil Admirari is delivering! Fortunately Fukurou managed to figure it out, so at least they are aware of what is at stake… until they learn Tsumugi is a target. I don’t think they actually expected him to try and kill her. There is also that bizarre tie to Hayato’s sister reading Nabari’s works… Not to mention Yoshikiri having been targeted as well (be it intentional or unintentional), why did he go after them? So many questions… Unless he just wants to watch the world burn. (They did mention he had a fire trauma…)

That being said, the conclusion with Takashi being turned into the police after being knocked out by Akira (hell yeah!), was a bit underwhelming to say the least. In fact, with how much power Takashi has, I almost doubt he will be in police custody for long. Frankly the only way I could feel he wasn’t a threat anymore if he were actually dead.

Akira and Hayato are my BROTP for life! Thank god everyone let Akira come back, and it was so funny to see Hayato affectionately punch him in the face, and Akira doing the same back to him. Oh these two dorks. Hayato will always be more of a brother to him than Takashi will ever be.

Next week will be the finale, and… I never thought I would say this, but I am hoping they will go with an Open Ending. However the preview  worries me they just might try and force a Hayato x Tsumugi ending. While I recognize it would bring us around to a full circle, (under the assumption Tsumugi was the “Park Princess” that Hayato never confessed to), I honestly don’t want to see that happen. It would be one thing if Tsumugi has shown to have a crush on Hayato, but not once in this show has Tsumugi shown any interest in him beyond a friend! (AND DO NOT PULL THE: OH I LIKED YOU TOO BUT I WAS TOO SHY TO APPROACH YOU!” CARD!!!!!!!) Besides the chemistry Tsumugi has with Rui (I would even dare say she has a bit of a crush on him), or Akira and Tsumugi having experienced more meaningful interactions with each other than any of the other characters, I can’t see Tsumugi ending with anyone, and I think it would be in the show’s best interest to do just that. What makes Nil Admirari’s adaption more successful compared to most Otome Games adaptions, is that they used the game’s plots and focused on just that. It was so well done, that I don’t even care there hasn’t been much or any romance development for the matter, and that says a lot.