Really, Shion no Ou is one of these few series that’s just as awesome during its climaxes as during the building-up scenes. I don’t care anymore whether we get some exciting Shougi-matches or just their set-up: they’ll be awesome either way! Even though this episode just built up for the eight-finals of the shougi-tournament, it easy was able to remind me why this is my favourite series at the moment.
Like expected, Saori doesn’t get angry at Ayumi after finding out his secret. Instead, she and Ayumi get much closer now. Like Shion, she offers to pay for the operation on Ayumi’s mother, but yet again he refuses. What’s also interesting is how Saori too noticed that Ayumi started to get other reasons to play shougi, other than paying for his mother’s hospital bills. It also turns out that Ayumi has been keeping his shougi-adventures away from his mother as well. This was to be expected, of course. Ayumi really is a person who doesn’t want others to worry about himself, and likes to keep information about himself from others.
I’m still not sure what Satoru’s up to. First, he brought Saori and Ayumi closer together, and now he arranged behind the scenes with the help of the reporter that Shion’s first match in the eighth-finals would be against her foster-father. Instead, he keeps dropping hints how he was the one who killed Shion’s parents. What did seem interesting was the way he talked to Shion was much more different than usual, and it almost felt like he was emotionally involved with the things he said to Shion, how he too lost his parents at an early age. And really, Ayumi was too cute when he tried to protect Shion.
Interestingly enough, Hisatani also made it through the preliminaries. I loved how nervous he was at all the professional-looking shougi-players that he was amongst. It’ll be interesting to see what the underdog has up his sleeve. And I had to laugh at the way that Yasuoka picked up his phone that told him his place in the eight-finals. From his overdramatic movements, to him not knowing how to use a cell-phone.
The media also got developed a bit through this episode. Now that the tournament is progressing, the coverage of the media is also going to increase. Especially on the only two high-school “girls” who made it through the preliminaries. It really felt like they looked at Shion and Ayumi as they were a bunch of cheap idols, and it’s quite a change from the usual reporter, who always was really involved with the matches.
Thank you so much for review. I dying to see their relationship get deeper (Ayumi and Shion). Keep up the great work.
I just saw this (subs are just out), and I have to say that they better have a brilliant reason for Satoru acting the way he does, because he’s in danger of becoming a charicature.
He seems to be going to a great deal of trouble to hurt as many people as bad as possible simply for the sake of spite.
Good build-up episode. The Saori/Saito scene at the beginning was great, and Hisatani always provides the random funny moments.
Most of the MyAnimeList users who watch Shion no Ou are absolutely sure that Satoru is the killer, but I can’t help but think that Hani is involved with this…at the very beginning of the show, I also suspected Saori for some reason…
can anyone explain why Saito decided to play as a girl even though its an open tournament….and he could play as himself (amateur)??
anyways…apart from that…i am still loving this series….its so….un-rushed….and….light…but yet….intriguing…. 🙂
The subs for episode 15 is not out yet so i refused to look at your review of it (just yet). I’m extremely loving this series. It continues to impress me with every episode. The story is solid , the suspense and drama are really effective in drawing out the right emotions from the viewers. And it helps that the characters are all likable in their own ways. Ayumi and Shion FTW XD
I know i don’t have to tell you to keep blogging this series because it’s very evident from your posts how much you adore shion no ou. And likewise, i feel this is one of the best ongoing series. I really hope it continues its pace. Btw, i agree with you that it has risen on top amongst all the other series being shown this season. I’ve been watching quite a lot of titles, but only shion no ou managed to impress me this much. That’s it, sorry for the long post ^^;