天下制覇

Amazing the difference a budget can make.

Impressions:

This episode was… in a word… awesome. The art and animation was very good the whole way through (though apparently everybody lost their bras between the last episode and this one), the fight scenes were all rather decent… a little short on the humor, but everything else was fun enough to keep me interested and not missing it at all. There were definitely shades of the early episodes where Ikuto fought the plants and whatnot throughout. It’s absolutely amazing what art and animation quality can do for a series. Plus, while there weren’t too many (alright, any) romantic moments, blushing Suzu is damn adorable. Bring on the finale! I’m excited for the last episode again.

I’m going to rip out at least the fight scenes between the panda and chicken, so check back in an hour or so. I may update a few of the screencaps as well, but ripping the fight scenes comes first. To the video editor! All ripped and updated, should just be 5-10 minutes or so while youTube processes. Enjoy! 

Kaiyuu lives off on an island right off the coast of Airantou, but they’ll need a key to see him. The elder gives them a map to a shrine with the key on the mountain in the center of Airantou and warns them of how dangerous thiss will be before sending the two off.

The two, strangely well drawn and animated, are walking towards Kaiyuu’s mountain. Both are a bit tired from not sleeping well the other night. They head onward as all the other girls lurk behind.

Suzu lets out a squeal as the path ahead is covered in mame daifuku and she starts following it… scarfing it down. They end up in a giant bamboo maze built by the girls to keep them occupied.

Luckily, Tonkatsu has found a sign pointing them towards the exit. Rin apparently felt pity for them and left directions to the exit. Chikage bitches her out and Yukino takes off to the next delay/distraction.

Ikuto and Suzu then come to a door that won’t enter. Chikage is standing above at a lever… pulls it and starts a massive rube goldberg machine that catapults a ball towards them.

In the middle of the maze, Yukino is lost and sobbing. Rin goes to pick her p as the ball… a giant boulder… hits the ground and then crushes them and rolls on.

Ikuto still can’t open the door and falls over in his attempt. The door is then thrown open and Ayane comes through, saying that she’s finally found them and is ready to fight Suzu etc etc. They thank Ayane and continue through… only for the boulder to come rolling right after them, crushing Ayane as they start to run.

The Tiger lord appears and punches Ayane… attached to the boulder… and sends it flying away to land on Chikage. The Tiger lord asks them what business they have searching for Kaiyuu. He says that saving Misaki isn’t good enough, and attacks them.

He tells them about the four lords and the true organization of the island. The four lords are there to protect Kaiyuu. Ayane has recovered and is in the bushes listening.

The Tiger lord concludes his explanation and attacks again, but Meimei hops out of a nearby bush. She trips trying to run to Ikuto and the Tiger trips over her ass (complete with butt jiggle) and falls face first on the ground. She tells Ikuto that she’ll help Ikuto as much as she can.

The Tiger lord gets up and says that this time he’s not going to lose the battle. Meimei… her outfit better defined and far Far FAR more clingy than usual puts herself between him and Ikuto and tells the two to leave it to her. She even takes a fighting post with some kind of baton things.

The tiger unsheaths his claws and gets ready to attack, but she flees up a tree and starts dropping crap on him. Toona then attacks him from behind with an electrical shock kappa attack.

The next lord they find is the panda lord, who says more or less the same thing, but is mostly just stuffing his face and can’t be bothered to do much of anything. Machi is watching from the bushes.

He finally gets up and attacks them. Ikuto dodges and Suzu throws him a stick. He blocks the panda’s attack… and… CM!

At the wreckage of the boulder, Shinobu is surveying the damage, wondering where Ikuto is… and where she is for that matter.

Ikuto and the panda keep fighting. It breaks Ikuto’s stick and goes for the killing blow. Ikuto cringes… 

And then Shinobu shows up to take over the fight. Her speed is far past the panda’s and it’s no match for her. Machi decides to even the odds and tries to blowdart Shinobu… but she instinctually bats the dart away and back into Machi’s forehead. Sorry Machi.

Shinobu and the panda keep fighting as Ikuto and Suzu continue onward. Next up is the cat lord. Suzu says to leave it to her, saying that she wants to protect Ikuto too, just like Meimei and Shinobu. The cat wonders if she’s really ready to put herself against the cat lord.

She says that she is and the fight starts. She quickly manages to grab its tail… and the entire skin comes off, revealing it as a fake. All around them, other Cat lords appear and start circling them wondering if Suzu can catch the real one. Suzu, Tonkatsu and Ikuto start grabbing cats at random and pulling off their disguses.

Ikuto notices something about their tails though… how only one is moving for most and then quickly finds the one with two moving tails and snags him. The cat lord relents and congratulates him. Even Suzu says how much he must have learned on the island from his time of not being able to tell the fake mushrooms from the real. The Cat lord sends them on their way up the mountain.

They climb through snow until they come to a little shrine.

They open it and find a key. It’s snatched away from Ikuto by the Chicken (lord) who reveals that he’s the fourth lord to Ikuto’s shock, though Suzu… and all of us… already know. He then throws Ikuto a sword and says that this match is going to be serious.

Suzu tells him that she’ll help, but Ikuto tells her it’s too dangerous and she backs off. The chicken and Ikuto start fighting, him splitting into multiple forms and dodging easily. He then splits into five and attacks Ikuto all at once. Ikuto falls to his knees, thinking that he needs more power to win.

The chicken tells him that it’s absolutely impossible for him to win. As expected, this snaps Ikuto’s brain and he attacks with new energy. The chicken dodges and creates a tornado to knock him down. As he poses, Ikuto picks up his sword and gets ready to continue attacking.

The two rush at eachother. The chicken drillbeaks Ikuto’s sword, disarming him and then leaps up and goes for the finishing blow. Suzu suddenly appears between them and he slams into her back.

Both look shocked as she tells them to stop fighting. Ikuto remembers her saying that she’ll protect him and help save Misaki. She tries to tell him that it’s impossible to win right now, but he says that’s fine, because even if he can’t win, he won’t give up and it’s because Suzu has been there for him that he knows he won’t give up.

He walks over to his sword and challenges the chicken again. It powers up once more, and this time it uses its finishing blow. The two collide… but Ikuto swung with his empty hand. As the chicken realizes the feint, Ikuto spins around with his other hand and nails the chicken with his backhand. The key flies into the air and Ikuto grabs it. He’s defeated the last lord of Airantou.

Post ED, Ikuto and Suzu are rowing out to Kaiyuu’s island. Suzu is sure they’ll be able to do it… but underneath the boat lurks Ayane.

Ikuto/Shinobu vs The Panda Lord

Ikuto vs The Final Lord

Suzu et all vs The Cat Lord (just because I can rip it)