Alright, I expected this confrontation between the 5th and 8th divisions, but I honestly didn’t think it would be so soon. BUT HERE WE ARE ANYWAYS BECAUSE WHAT IS PACING?! It was pretty obvious that the 5th division wasn’t going to share any information with the 8th and even had the audacity to brainwash and force the infernal to join their side. Considering all the shady experiments they’ve been conducting, it’s not surprising. Though in this episode, rather than the typical infernal fights that we’ve become accustomed to (somewhat), we get some good ol’ people v people this episode.
We are starting to delve more into sister Iris’ backstory which I feel like maybe we should have started out with that first rather than all the other nonsense that has happened so far. Since at this point it feels like that Joker guy appeared and has no fallen off the face of the earth. A good story makes it so that its plot points flow seamlessly and doesn’t feel like it drops plot points only to scramble to pick them back up when it’s convenient. Sadly, that’s what it feels like for this series. But I digress.
Honestly, the 5th captain scares the living crap out of me. Her introduction was unnerving enough but her torturing the infernal through her experiments was hard to watch. I hate torture scenes and I wouldn’t wish torture upon anyone. And while this guy probably deserves it, the scene was still difficult to watch for me. It’s also pretty evident that the 5th captain had a pretty close relationship to sister Iris in the past. Which made the fact that she nearly strangled her to death all the more twisted. From how they acted in the past, it seems like sister Iris really loved the 5th captain. And while it is made obvious that she cared about Iris in return, she still acted rather reserved and cold towards her judging from her expressions and body language. I also did not catch the scene in the previous episode where the 5th captain glared at sister Iris. Whoopsies on my part.
In any case, their relationship sounds very complicated especially when the 5th captain went berserk over sister Iris wearing her “habit” in front of her and even went as far as to freaking BURN it off of her. And while there have been worse fanservice scenes, this one is still in bad taste considering the circumstances and it just made me a little uncomfortable. It has also been hinted that the place sister Iris grew up was either burned down from an infernal or someone with pyrokinesis. So whether the 5th captain had anything to do with it is left a mystery for now. There’s definitely a bit of beef between the 5th captain and where she grew up and I am curious as to what went down that caused her to become like this.
This episode’s animation and shot composition was severely lacking compared to the others. The action felt more subdued and some of the shot angles were a little questionable. One shot in particular bothered the animator in me where Arthur was shown stationary and the next shot shows him running. At least show him move forward in the stationary shot…. I know it’s a nitpick but if something like that takes me out of the scene, it loses the intended impact and I’m left sensing wasn’t right. I also don’t like how dark this anime gets. Not like tone-wise, but lighting-wise. I know they want to draw attention to the blue rings on the uniform, but it’s also kind of distracting and I can hardly see what is even happening in the scene because I can’t see anything but those rings.
SPEAKING OF ARTHUR. What in the world was going on with him today??? I admit, he had me chuckling at how dumb he was when he was inching towards sparrows. Though I hope he didn’t outright attack them because if he did, he’s dead to me. Anyways, I honestly did not understand what the significance of him “accidentally” using his left hand to fight with his sword. Was he just being dumb? I DON’T UNDERSTAND. We already know the kid is powerful, so I was not surprised that he was able to take down that infernal. Though I will admit he did it in a really epic and cool manner.
Can we just take a moment to appreciate Hinawa this episode? I admit, the guy absolutely stole my heart this episode and not just because he uses Masato from uta no prince-sama’s tone of voice. Though that is definitely a plus. He has always amused me since his first appearance so I’ve been waiting to get to know him more. And boy howdy did he impress me this episode! I was always curious of his fighting style since he’s been shown using firearms, but it was never that impressive… UNTIL THIS EPISODE. We were finally shown just what makes his fighting style special. Being a 2nd generation pyrokinetic, Hinawa can only use his abilities if fire is already present. We’ve already seen how Maki uses her abilities to manipulate fire, but Hinawa’s specialty is using the split second spark produced by firearms and also the sparks made upon impact, then manipulate the bullets to send them ricocheting where he wants them to. THAT’S FREAKING LIT. And when he finished off that bubble gum chewing guy with it, I literally shot up from my seat and yelled “SUCK IT BUBBLEGUM GUY!” That guy was being obnoxiously cocky so seeing him get dunked on was satisfying. Especially since his power is pretty dangerous and was causing them a lot of trouble.
Can I just say that one of my favorite fighting styles is dual wielding guns? So it was only natural that Hinawa won me over with that firearms show he put up against that mob of enemies. Not to mention the guy is RUTHLESS. He just freaking shot that one guy in the head when he was already down… I am deceased. Maki even makes it a point that he’s far more merciless against regular people than infernals. And man was it intimidating to hear him say that he joined Obi’s squad so he could “lay out the idiots of this land who won’t listen to reason.” No wonder Maki is afraid of him. But man, Hinawa is amazing and I love him.
At this point, I can’t even tell which show that I’m covering this season I like better because both suffer from pacing problems and shoving in so many different characters in our faces without properly developing the ones we’ve already been introduced to. However, I can’t say I’m not enjoying it at certain parts, especially when Hinawa and Maki are concerned. I am happy that we get to see the other members fight more rather than it just being Shinra. Though I am curious as to where Obi is in all of this. Did they go in without telling him? Or is he sneaking around as the others pose a distraction? Guess I’ll find out next week.
If you pay close attention to the ending, you’ll find three stills of Iris. In each of them, she’s interacting with a dark-skinned pink-haired girl. Now that Hibana has been introduced, it’s clear they both survived the nuns and orphans catching on fire.
Regarding Arthur, he’s more than just an idiot.
Spoiler
Yeah, he’s stupid, but he also suffers from a severe case of Don Quixote-ism in that he is genuinely living in his own little fantasy world. Later on you find out that he powers up the more out of tune with reality he is.
He seriously needs the help of a mental health expert.
I generally skip endings (like a heathen) so I see how I wouldn’t have caught that. ^^;;;
I knew that there had to be more to Arthur, but I didn’t think he was stuck in his own fantasy world. I was just as confused as the infernal when Arthur was asking what was wrong with himself. And yes, I agree that he’d probably be better off getting some help for his mental state.