Whew, I am so glad they didn’t try to finish the arc within this episode. I was very unsure so I found myself constantly checking the timestamp, haha! I kept on telling myself to stop doing that because I was doing that a bit too often! Apart from that, this was a very good episode and I’m glad that next week will be entirely devoted to the shit that’s about to go down! I’m excited to see how it will be delivered! It was especially encouraging to see them have the men who abducted Miyo use their abilities to conceal themselves from any onlookers. Sure the racing car was screaming suspicious, but it was still a great means of increasing the presence of these powers as the story goes on!

Following up from last week episodes, we see old man Minoru Tatsuishi turn to collaborating with Kaya. He knew exactly how to push her buttons so that she’d do the work for him. The initial plan was to get Kaya to ask her father to have her switch places with Miyo for Kiyoka’s bride. They were confident her father would agree because he never said no before, but ever since Kiyoka had that talk with Shinchi, that changed everything. Miyo is no longer someone they can touch without facing any consequences. That’s why Shinchi, for the very first time said no to Kaya, and told her to forget about Miyo.

Of course Kaya thinks the world revolves around her, so even if her father says no, one way or another, she’ll make it happen. So what does she resort to next? Coercion. Even if Miyo were to refuse, she’s confident that she can still easily bully her way into doing as she says. Oh what a fool. Miyo is not the same person she was when was trapped in that hellhole. Miyo now has a place where she can freely breathe and belong, and is now surrounded by people who care for her. There’s no way she’ll simply roll over and give that up, not after coming clean about her past to Kiyoka. Perhaps if she hadn’t had that breakthrough last week, then I think that possibility could have still existed, but not now. Thanks to Hana’s help, Miyo was reclaimed her courage, and we should expect to see that bearing more fruit in the face of this madness.

However Kaya isn’t the only foolish player this week. I find it rather laughable how the arrogant old man has no concern of facing any consequences. You’d think he would exercise a bit more caution since his shiki-gami were burnt to crisp. I mean, that’s as clear as a warning he was going to get that Kiyoka is at least aware that someone is tailing him. Hell, what makes him think Kiyoka wouldn’t further investigate it? He probably thinks that he can dump all the blame onto Kaya, after-all he simply had his men “pick Miyo up” and “drop her off” at the Saimori’s house…. Well, that was up until Koji got involved and attempted to stop him. Minoru thought tying him up would be enough to keep him in check, but he underestimated Kazushi’s willingness to help Koji out. Thanks to that Koji was able to reach Kiyoka and tell him what happened, and now thanks to his testimony there will be hell to pay. 

Koji’s anger against this father for deliberately turning a blind eye to Miyo’s suffering was justified (because god damn it, what a asshat), but man it was certainly long overdue. The fact it took him this long for him to even lash out is shocking really, so the fact he has remained as this passive coward after all these years still leaves me unimpressed. But I suppose had this happened sooner when he was younger, there could have been greater consequences. Either way, it still baffles me that he hasn’t tried to do more all this time. It does make you wonder whether asking his father for Miyo’s hand in marriage himself much sooner could have changed things. The problem is that Minoru’s grand scheme of things was to take advantage of the fact Miyo was being neglected and abused because it meant nobody but him would see her true value, and probably wanted to be able to control her so yeah… that was probably never going to play out even if they had tried. At that point, eloping together would have probably been the only alternative–though it’d require courage, something neither Koji nor Miyo had at the time.

While the bulk of the episode was the set up to the event that will unfold next week, we had the great pleasure to see Miyo excitedly host dinner for Godo to thank him for his contribution towards her reunion with Hana. It was a lot of fun to see Kiyoka and Godo’s back and forth banter, even more so during the dinner when he joked about how Miyo should dump Kiyoka for being a stick in a mud and marry him instead— the freaking gall for him to say that in front of his commander no less had me wheezing. But it was icing on the cake when Miyo politely flat out refused him because she wanted to stay with Kiyoka. Freaking adorable.

However even before Miyo was kidnapped, it wasn’t all sunshines in rainbows. We’re seeing her being swarmed by more nightmares, and worst off they have gotten progressively worse and more terrifying than how it started out when she first arrived to Kiyoka’s house. Now she’s seeing creepy things, mixed together with her trauma of being locked in the storehouse. It turns out that there’s a gift at play here, as Kiyoka was able to barely detect traces of it. Poor Miyo being forced to have to relive her trauma and torment even in her dreams… Good grief, leave the girl alone! Thankfully Kiyoka stayed with her, but we can see how it’s hard for him being unable to do more than wake her up to free her from these nightmares, and hold her in these situations. He doesn’t want to see her cry— in fact none of us do. PROTECT MIYO SQUAD ASSEMBLE!

And finally last but not least; HAS EVERYONE SEEN THEIR NENDOROIDS PREVIEW?! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! I’d be dead if they sell them as a set! Please sell it as a set, they must be together! I stopped collecting Nendoroids a while back, but THERE’S NO WAY I’M PASSING UP ON THESE TWO! THEY ARE SO CUTEEEEEE!!!

Eva

Blogging Anime since Summer 2009, & Founder of AngryAnimeBitches Anime Blog ...I may or may not be addicted to writing

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. kazanovakun

    I’m looking forward to watch the next episode where finally Kiyoka gave Miyo’s trashy family the punishment they deserve. I didn’t expect we’ll get the nendoroid of the two cute couple so quickly. I thought it’ll have to wait until the anime ends. That shows that the anime is doing good in Japan. I’m so glad. (^_^)

    1. Eva

      Get the popcorn. Time to watch Kiyoka pop off! I also didn’t think we’d see a nendoroid this soon, so I think it’s more of a testament to how successful the novels are. I really hope they’ll announce second season or cour right after this or shortly after. MOAR!!!! I’m glad we’re getting 2 volumes at least!

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