天下制覇

 

Hooray! The main cast returns… finally.

Impressions:

Remember September? That was the last time we saw the main characters of the first 39 episodes. Just putting that out there.

The month of “All Takano, All the Time” finally draws to a close. Hooray! This episode is mostly about the events directly preceding the start of all the arcs, but honestly really doesn’t add too much to the plot or intrigue. We get to know that Satoshi had a bit of an attack prior to vanishing and Hanyuu follows Rena into the bath. While both are of vital importance, I think that voyeuristic demon lolis are the least of Hinamizawa’s concerns. Otherwise, there wasn’t much going on this episode. I’m really not certain what else to say. After the month of insane Takano episodes, this was just fairly hum-drum and pedestrian. It was nice to actually see (most) of the main cast again, but nothing particularly interesting or noteworthy happened or was revealed so… meh.

Over shots of Hinamizawa, Dark Rika says that it is possible to overcome fate… with a miracle.

A man takes pictures of a child at play… it’s Rika and a strangley visible Hanyuu.

In the classroom, Satoko and Rika watch the other children play. Satoshi thanks Mion for looking after Satoko and making her time at school a bit easier. Mion says that it was nothing, but Satoshi goes all dark eyed and tells her that Mion’s power is what saved them.

Mion still says that she didn’t do anything, but then suggests that she play with Satoko more. Satoshi thinks their aunt won’t allow it, so Mion suggests starting a club as a pretense for it, letting them get around the permission of their aunt. Satoshi agrees and also tells her that Satoko’s birthday is coming up and he’s been working to buy her a gift.

Cut away to Rena at home. A woman is leaving, and tells her (as ‘Reina’) to be a good girl and make sure to take her pills.

She asks Rena if she really doesn’t want to go with her, but Rena just glares and nods. Rena looks up at the mirror and throws the pills to the side. She walks through the house, but hears footsteps behind her. She turns and sees nothing.

In the bath, she drips blood from her fingertips and looks at the fresh slashes on her wrists. They suddenly foam and maggots appear. Hanyuu apologizes over and over again to her. Rena voices aloud, “Lord Oyashiro.”

Some days later, Rena visits somebody who doesn’t recognize her, but recognizes her surname and asks if she’s Reina, which she confirms. She does correct her and say that her name is Rena. She then excuses herself and closes the door, darkly thinking that her new life is Rena.

At school, Satoshi wanders the halls. He hears the footsteps behind him as well. He turns and sees nothing, but then Rena grabs his shoulder from behind. She tells him that he doesn’t seem well and asks if he’s worrying about Satoko. She tells him that there’s anything she can do to let him know. Satoshi tells her about the footsteps he’s been hearing. Rena tells him that she’s heard them as well.

At the clinic, Irie and Satoshi talk about the baseball team and Satoshi is forced to admit that he can’t play anymore because of his new job to earn money for Satoko’s present. Irie is happy for his feelings and lays off. Satoshi does ask him if he can keep his bat to practice even while he’s not playing and Irie lets him.

The police look at photographs of a woman beaten to death. One muses that since it’s another Hojo, it must be Oyashiro’s curse. Oishi disagrees.

Satoshi and Irie walk out of the toy store and drop a giant teddy bear in the back of his car.

As they get in, Irie tells Satoshi that he’s looking a bit sick and offers to take a look at him at the clinic. Satoshi wonders aloud if his aunt is really gone and whether or not Satoko will be safe.

Satoshi starts to lose it, staring outside with maddened eyes and panicking, repeating that their aunt may not really be gone. Irie is a bit confused and Satoshi flips out even more, telling Irie that he sees his aunt outside the window. Irie tries to calm him down and says again that she’s definitely dead.

Satoshi starts yelling about her being there even though he killed her. That finally catches Irie’s attention. Satoshi thinks that this really is Oyashiro’s curse. Irie tells him that there isn’t a curse and tries to calm him down. Satoshi clutches his head and says that this is all his fault since he once thought of abandoning Satoko. Satoshi starts scratching at his wrists and neck. Irie pulls into his clinic and runs inside for a team of doctors to take Satoshi into custody. As he’s carried in, he begs to be saved.

Takano wonders what happened here to Irie. He tells her that the stress of Satoko and his life exacerbated Satoshi’s condition. Takano, on the other hand, thinks it somewhat funny how it lined up with the festival for Oyashiro and laughs.

Hanyu and Rika run through the meadow again.

They come up to the photographer and Rika says that this is a really nice place and he agrees with her. The three talk for a little while, confirming that Hanyuu really is visible to him. Rika says that it’s a wonderful place where children don’t need to be afraid and ends their little talk by referring to him by name… Maebara.

With a start, he realizes that he never told them his name. As he’s distracted, a man runs up behind him saying that he’s running late. When Maebara turns back to the kids, they’re gone.

At the Sonozaki house, Mion comes home to Maebara’s associate talking with Oryou. She comments that they don’t see him all that much anymore. He does reveal the big news that somebody new will be moving into Hinamizawa. As he drives off, Mion asks Oryou why she doesn’t let people move in. Oryou tells her that she doesn’t hate outsiders. She goes on to ask Mion about Rena as well and is happy that the two are friends.

Oryou goes on for a bit about how the village’s ‘air’ is becoming sick. Something needs to change

As Oryou heads inside, she asks Mion about Satoshi and the murder. Oryou had thought that time would let everything heal once the elders died, but it’s just taking way too long and the old wounds aren’t healing. Somebody from the outside needs to bring in a new breath of air, and Mion decides that that’s why she’s allowing an outsider into Hinamizawa. Oryou also adds that she hopes that Mion will become part of the new feeling in the village as the next Sonozaki head.

After the ED plays, a new student, Maebara Keiichi, surveys his school. Chie and the pincipal officially welcome him and tells him that everything will be fine. Keiichi is pumped and goes running off to explore the area more.

Rika and non-corporeal Hanyuu were watching from a log pile. Rika comments that it’s about time that ‘it’ happened. Hanyuu thinks that Keiichi will be the one that brings the miracle to overcome fate. Rika can’t resist poking some fun at Hanyuu for being powerless herself, making her ‘auauau’ quite a bit. Rika shifts to her dark mode and tells her that because of Hanyuu’s power, she knows the strong will that works against them.

Their century long struggle ends this last time.