It’s the penultimate episode, and a series that once was so incredibly fast paced here really takes its time to deliver its story properly. The result is one of the quietest episodes of the entire series. It’s going to depend entirely on the final episode whether its time was well spent. The main event of this episode was that indeed it wasn’t Yakumo’s father who stabbed Ishii, but instead it was the father of that little girl he talked to. This guy really is quite the interesting villain, doing everything while dead and only able to talk and influence people. In terms of the side-characters, I especially liked Gotou. Throughout the entire series, his dialogue and voice acting has been consistently snarky and amusing.
Unfortunately, this episode ended with the infamous “let’s nearly kill someone right before the final episode”-cliffhanger. That’s a bit of a bad sign as most of the series that pull that twist only use it as a cheap gimmick instead of making it really part of the ending. Again, it’s all going to depend on that final episode and whether they can portray it well. The problem is that Nanase Miyuki has been built up as pretty much the strongest and most professional character of the entire series. If she manages to miss Haruka (or whoever she intended to shoot), it’s going to ruin her character.
In any case, Bee-Train have usually worked with famous composers, such as Yuki Kajiura, the ALI Project and Kou Outani. I really like that this time, they went with the relatively unknown RON, and pretty much allowed them to put all kinds of creativity in the soundtrack. This episode premiered a ton of new tracks, all of which worked wonderfully well. The only soundtrack they did previously was the Kurenai ED, which was generic J-Pop, so I’m really impressed by what they ended up delivering when they moved out of that genre.
Rating: * (Good)
“If she manages to miss Haruka (or whoever she intended to shoot)”
So even you think it must be Haruka?She was the first person that came to my mind too!But I won’t rule out Nao chan…Yakumo’s father’s intentions might be to draw him into deep despair and Nao can be perfect for it.Its amazing how badass of a villain he is!
This episode left things in a suspense,it would be a shame if they don’t end things properly!
By the way psgels,in your voting for Fall anime series,Yakumo came 2nd right?It’s surprising that your Yakumo’s posts don’t get that many comments 😮
@Fai D Fluorite
I think the same way as you. Most possibly the victim will be Nao unfortunately.
And about very less comments amount, I guess it is because of fansubs’ very late releases.
No she is going to shoot Gotou.
Gotou has the most history with Yakumo and was the one who saved Yakumo when he was younger. He then met Yakumo again and became a semi father figure to him. In fact, the flashback showed Gotou never saw Yakumo again after he stopped Yakumo. Tears later when Gotou saw him again, Yakumo recognized him and called him by his name.
Gotou being shot and killed will tip Yakumo over the deep end more than Nao or Haruka.
Yakumo has a indifference and slight affection for Nao as evident when he ignored her distress and Haruka had to tell him to compliment her on being different.
Haruka sure would be sad but Yakumo knows she is protected by his mothers pendant.
Gotou would make the most sense if you delve into the psych of Yaku’s father. Kill Gotou and you take away the last father figure he ever had.
He lost Takeda, he lost Isshin so losing Gotou will be the last straw.