天下制覇

An entire setup episode for a Gen flashback? Say it ain’t so.

Impressions:

Yawn. I think I’d have preferred a return to the baker ghost cake making over this. This kind of setup for a flashback is just unwieldy and painful. Maybe if they had put some kind of action in here besides a dissociating centipede…. bah! If the preview is any judge though, next week will be mostly flashback about Gen’s past and him losing control of his powers and then a brief rematch between him and Yoshi.

Summary:

Gen comes home after having his ass handed to him and going berserk and immediately collapses on his futon. He’s still breathing heavily as he thinks to when he was originally sent to Karasumori by Masamori. The two talk about it and how important it is on the roof before Gen snaps out of it and sits up.

The next day, Yoshi is looking for his heterosexual napping partner on the roof. Gen isn’t there, so he goes off searching for him, but he hasn’t been in class either.

At Urukai HQ, Masamori and whose-her-face the ogre user pass by and exchange some kind of unspoken message (lips move, but no voices). She then incredulously asks him if he’s stupid. Masamori says that it’s possible before heading on.

His meeting is with one of the council members. The two talk about the danger to the kekkaishi and the worries that Masamori has about how things are progressing. He gets up to leave, and the guy gets ticked and tries to stop him. Masamori tells him to stay the hell out of his business, so the thing whips out a fan and attacks him. Masamori immediately surrounds himself with a round barrier that completely protects him. The guy backs down and lets him leave. Once out of sight though, Masamori collapses, bleeding from his mouth.

At night, Tokine and Yoshi are talking about Gen and how he’s a great warrior and had to be under a huge amount of selfcontrol. They suddenly sense an ayakashi and run off to find a little centipede thing. They think it’s easy and Yoshi tries to kill it, but as his barrier forms, it explodes into its segments and starts flying around.

It knocks him over a few times, and as the dogs taunt him, it smacks them around too. Yoshi tries to catch it, but it’s totally out of control and too fast for him. Madraroa says that he knows what it is and how to catch it and tells them that there’s actually just one main ball. Despite the crazy speed, they still can’t keep up with it, but say that they need to do it without Gen’s help. They find the main ball, but as they start to chase it, Gen suddenly appears and kills it, dispelling all the rest. He immediately leaves right after though. From above, Gen’s usual babysitter is reporting in to Masamori, who is getting some kind of magical healing backrub.

Back at Karasumori, the duo is doing cleanup while trying to figure out how to handle Gen so they can reduce the load on him and be more independant. Yoshi thinks about how tough things must have been for him without a family, though Tokine still goes on about needing to sit down and talk to him. Yoshi suddenly thinks of his brother and how Gen spoke about him with admiration.

The next day, Yoshi asks his father if he can tell him something… Masamori’s cell number. Yoshi tries calling him, but can’t bring himself to. He eventually does, but gets his voice mail. He yells at it and calls Masamori a “shit brother,” (“kusou aniki…” heh) but Masamori is in the doorway behind him. Everybody welcomes him home.

The family has their tempura dinner with the normal generic eating yammering about who can cook… arguing at the table, etc. Eventually Yoshi’s dad brings up Gen and asks him about bringing him over for dinner at some point. Masamori smirks at Yoshi as he looks distressed, so Yoshi puts up a barrier between them.

Later, Shige and Masamori are having their usual argument about how dangerous it is with the Urukai. Masamori assures him that he knows what he’s doing and that they’re concerned about what’s happening with Karasumori as well. Masamori tells him that he knows that protecting Karasumori is his first and foremost mission. Masamori then excuses himself.

Yoshi is looking for him, but can’t bring himself to open the door to Masamori’s room… only for Masamori to be standing behind him again. Masamori replays the message on his cellphone to Yoshi’s embarrassment.

Yoshi finally relents and talks to him about Gen. He says how hard it is to work with him and how they really don’t know anything at all about him, but that he is helping a lot. Masamori doesn’t give him any answers, but let’s Yoshi talk out loud and sort of give himself self-psychiatry about how Gen is a companion and ally but he doesn’t know a single thing about what he’s really doing or who he is.

He gets up to leave, but Masamori tells him to sit down. Yoshi refuses, but Masamori then says that Gen killed his clan, and Yoshi stops, stunned.