Otogi Juushi Akazukin – 07 – The Slide To Fandavale

Ah. In the end, it seems that this was just a two-episode arc, instead of letting Ringo get captured for a longer while. It also seems that we won’t be saying goodbye to her yet, as in the end, she ends up going to Fandavale as well. Still, I like the pacing of the show. The fact that we’re already at this stage, when only seven of 39 episodes have been shown has to say something, doesn’t it?

We start with a little recap of the previous episode. Satou then tries to call Ringo, though she doesn’t answer. This is logical, as she’s just been kidnapped. Gretel, meanwhile, begs her brother from one more chance. She gets it. Baru, meanwhile, has found Ringo’s cell phone and the food she dropped when Gretel took her. Gretel uses this as a chance to tell the two of them that Ringo has been kidnapped, in puppet style. ^_^

Akazukin then tells this to Shirayuki and Ibara. The plan is for the two of them and Baru to bring Souta to the playground, while Akazukin goes to save Ringo. Souta doesn’t have to know about what happened to her, and Akazukin feels that she needs to save Ringo, as she’s an important friend.

Souta, of course, gets his doubts, when Akazukin suddenly has to go away in order to take care of something. That, and Ringo not responding is still on his mind. Shirayuki tries to cover, though this time, she fails horribly in it. It’s interesting. At times, she’s a perfectly good actor, though for some reason, she can’t seem to lie to Souta. Ibara gets to be the one to stop him in the end. In a very amusing way. ^_^

Another very amusing scene occurs when Akazukin’s being followed by Hansel’s little spy. We see both of them disappear into a corner, after which we hear some very disturbing sound effects and the screen shakes a bit. In the end, Akazukin finds out about Ringo’s location. Shirayuki, Ibara, Baru and Souta meanwhile have reached the playground, after which Ibara and Shirayuki decide to go after Ringo as well, using some very shallow cover-ups. I’d love to see the subs, and find out what they were really trying to say. ^^;

Souta also finds out what happened to Ringo in a very creative way. It seems that Akazukin has stuffed Ringo’s phone in one of Baru’s pockets, so when Souta tries to call her, he surprisingly hears a cell phone go off near Baru. ^^; Gretel, meanwhile, gets angry when it seems that Souta isn’t around, and so she and Akazukin start fighting. Baru, meanwhile, tries to prevent Souta from going to Ringo. It takes a while, but in the end, he indeed sees that Souta wants to go to Ringo. Still, I appreciate the fact that this was neither too easy nor too hard for the both of them.

Randagio, meanwhile, seems to have joined in the fight between Akazukin and Gretel, and sent a couple of bloodthirsty giant rats. It seem that he as well is trying to please Hansel, as he’s been failing as well, after all. In the end, Baru gets to be the one to help Akazukin in this. It sgood to see him in action again, as he’s been a bit neglected in the last couple of episodes. I also loved the fact that he enters with the message that he’s not a dog, even if nobody has mentioned it yet. ^^

Gretel then uses her gravity-spell in order to make everything extra heavy. Randagio isn’t pleased to see that even his rats have become unable to move. Gretel then, lifts the spell on the two rats, and makes hem attack. Ibara then counters in a deus ex machina. I wonder why the two of them were so late, after all, Souta and Baru left later, but arrived earlier. I think I can imagine a couple of things they could have been doing. Especially in Ibara’s case. ^^;

In any case, the rats are no match for the three musketeers cooperating. In the end, Gretel also takes a few hits, though when she tries to crawl up again, Hansel appears. This time, however, he’s not here to protect his sister, but he finally actually does something himself. It seems that he’s becomes sick of both Randagio and Gretel, who keep failing him. The two of them look pretty hurt when they find out about this, each in his/her own way.

Hansel then summons his weapon, which looks a suspicious lot like an old broom, and summons a huge dragon. Ringo then, as a last resort, tries to use provoke Souta by threatening to hurt Ringo if he doesn’t come along with her. Ringo, however, shows that she isn’t just a damsel in distress when she escapes with her own power. Hansel, however, then pushes her off a significant height. Souta then saves her with the power of the key, without even knowing it. In the end, he blamed Shirayuki for this. The three musketeers probably decided it would be best to keep him ignorant of this.

In the end, it seems that the gate towards Fandavale actually was an ordinary slide. Quite an original concept. Of course, Ringo goes along as well. Then, a new character appears: Souta’s father. It seems that he’ll be playing a big role in the later episodes, as he didn’t find it strange at all when he saw Shirayuki, Ibara and Akazukin. He actually asked them, a couple of strangers, to take care of Souta. He most probably knows about Fandavale, and I’m wondering what his role is. In any case, he sees Souta and the others off as they literally slide towards the gate to Fandavale.

And so, the Erude-arc ends and the Fandavale-arc begins. New characters will probably be introduced as well, and perhaps even new villains. That, or Hansel will be participating into the action a lot more. With a bit of luck, we’ll also see Hansel’s master, as we’ve yet to catch a glimpse of her.

Baru was great during this episode. He actually was the one who stood in the spotlight, saving Ringo and trying to keep Souta from discovering about her and all. I was beginning to get a bit worried about him, as the past few episodes turned him into a sort-of side-character.