天下制覇

Oh good, now the show is using verbs as nouns.

Yes, yes, I’m awake already.

Impressions:

A pretty decent episode, though it’s pretty late in the game to just now be introducing new stuff that really doesn’t seem like it’s going to have the staying power to last through the final four episodes and they could have cut into and out of those action scenes a little better. At least show someone running off instead of just dropping things in the middle of a face-down. This new Asura Machine also better have a real power that isn’t "has a chain." The way it was schooling Hisui with a simple melee weapon was kind of pathetic honestly. The displacer beast girl is fine and all, but still hasn’t convinced me that she’d stand a chance against Shuri or even You. Even Takatsuki was holding her own against it without any real issues.

We didn’t really learn too much about the new handler either, except that he’s an Asura Cryin’, which from what I gathered is basically just what the proper handlers call people with Asura Machines who hang out with the demon folk, spray paint walls, and smoke behing the gym after school. Oh, and something about being crazy an a pox on the world or something. Tomo’s technically one too, so it kind of lacks particular malice at the moment. I’m not certain he has it in him to even destroy a pastrami on rye, let alone the world. Given the dreams Nia’s having about her sister chained up and the as-yet unseen projection of chain-boy, I think Christina’s location is pretty painfully obvious too. Although it’d be neat if that burial doll was just some random other person. Sensical, no… but at least it’d be a surprise.

Like other shows that shall remain nameless, I really am starting to worry about how they’re going to end this, although Seven Arcs has shown before that they’re not afraid to completely eschew an ending and just wander off when whatever minor arc they’re on finishes. Hopefully it won’t come to that and they’ll be able to segue from this into fighting something a little more related to the central cast. We’ve still got the whole airplane thing to cover eventually too.

Oh yeah, and let’s hear it for An. Tomo’s spent the entire series blowing her off to hang out with chesty women, and she hasn’t gotten angsty over it even once. Way to be a modern well-adjusted young woman, An. I salute you. Reishirou also gets a few points just because Basara made a big production out of trying to make little shoulder wounds while he got perforated by a displacer beast and is still alive and kicking.

Preview:

Pretty sure this isn’t going to end well for Christina.