天下制覇

I question the Yamainu as a serious military organization.

Impressions:

Remember when the Yamainu and Takano were threatening? It seems like such a long time ago. Alright, it was three months, but seeing them reduced to absolutely inept jokes makes the big showdown somewhat less than dramatic. Last episode had one unarmed man chase off about thirty heavily armed ones, and this episode had them being defeated by a bunch of childish traps. Hell, some of the things they showed weren’t even dangerous. "This is grunt #32! I’ve… I’ve been… mildly bruised! Help! Help!" I wouldn’t be surprised if they got a slapstick spinoff that became the Hinamizawa version of Hogan’s Heroes where they starred as the totally incompetent Nazi guards. Or maybe they’ll be the Fratellis to the Hinamizawa Goonies, reduced to harassing fat kids.

That’s really the issue with this episode. There’s no drama when the villains are reduced to bumbling simpletons and abject cowards. All we’ve got now is the increasingly crazy Takano, and with the Yamainu going with the true mercenary spirit of saying "screw this, there’s easier money to be had," even she’s not really that threatening. So, one episode left. Hopefully we’ll at least get some The World activity going on to at least bring a semblence of meance to the baddies. Or maybe Satoshi will show up in a Superman shirt to save the day.

Actually, I think I could get behind that.

At Yamainu HQ, they start getting prepared to move forward and recapture Rika. Takano is… amusing herself with Tomitake, to Okonogi’s personal enjoyment. They get another call from Nomura in Tokyo.

Takano has Tomitake tied to a chair talks childishly to him. He doesn’t care if he’s killed and refuses her offer to help her. She reminds him how the Yamainu are all she needs, but he’d be someone that she wants. He comments how she must be so alone.

The phone rings, and she lets Tomitake know that her men have found Rika et all. She bids him farewell and walks out.

Takano will definitely not let the kids escape. She and Okonogi head out to deploy the soldiers. The operation starts and they all head out. Some of them swing by and disable the communications while Takano coordinates the rest.

In the forest, the kids see the vans drive on and get ready for the fight.

The Yamainu start combing through the forest. A couple notice a huge pile of dirt and decide that it must be a trap. They walk on either side of it, both falling into pit traps. Others climb a hill, only for logs to come rolling down on top of them. The traps continue, snares, and whatnot. Okonogi can’t believe that his troops are losing to this primitive nonsense.

The kids are pleased as they observer the progress and Mion thinks that her part is done. The rest is up to Shion’s group.

Speaking of Shion, she, Irie, Kasai and Akasaka are at the clinic, having knocked out some Yamainu members there. They make their battle plan and decide that the only way through is to use Irie’s passcard and hope for the best. It’s still a dangerous plan and they’re going to run into opposition.

The Yamainu clinic security room sees their members bringing in Shion and Irie. They smile, but then notice that they’re using Irie’s passcard to get through the security doors.

Akasaka runs through and blows the lock off the door, but the Yamainu open fire immediately. They then hit the alarm, alerting the rest of the building for lockdown procedure. The building will be sealed and a nerve gas released. All Yamainu members are to get their masks. Shion’s group doesn’t have much time, so Kasai goes all gung-ho.

He thrusts his shotgun right through the door and then opens fire, scattering the remaining soldiers inside. Kasai orders them to give up, but they refuse. He continues to blindly fire his shotgun through the door. They decide to just wait for the gas. Kasai gets pissed and kicks down the door, surprising them and knocking their weapons away. He forces the still concious one to disable the alarm and as a reward, merely knocks him out with the shotgun’s butt.

They want to press on, but Shion runs ahead to find Satoshi. Irie catches up with her and lets her in with his keycard. She walks in, and finds Satoshi in a bed. She runs up to the window and tries to call to him, but he’s tranqed out. She asks Irie if that’s really Satoshi and he confirms it. Irie goes on, saying that Satoshi was pretty badly off from the Hinamizawa disease. There had been a ton of damage to his system because of it and he barely hung on.

Shion finally notices that Satoshi’s hands and legs are strapped down. Shion realizes that Satoshi is unsavable right now. Irie apolgoizes and tells her that he’ll definitely find a cure. Shion collapses in tears. He tells her to just give him a little more time to cure him and pulls her up. Irie asks her if she can hide this from Satoko and points out the big teddy bear that Satoshi bought for Satoko’s brithday. Shion starts crying again and says that she understands.

Irie and Shion catch up to Kasai, who has freed Tomitake. Unfortunately, the melee damaged the Yamainu’s comm equipment a little too much and they won’t be able to call for reinforcements. They decide that there’s nothing else to be done here and head out. As they leave, Shion looks back towards Satoshi’s room. Irie tells her that he’ll be fine. Shion tells him to wait for her.

In the woods, Rena and Keiichi coordinate snaring another group of Yamainu. They even high five after beaning them with an oil can.

Okonogi tries calling in his troops, but a strange woman’s voice echoes in their headsets, threatening them with death and laughing menacingly. The skies darken and a boy’s voice (Keiichi) cries out to be saved. The woman continues laughing menacingly. The Yamainu try to make heads or tails of it, and Keiichi starts crying out that it’s a demon. One of the Yamainu with Okonogi loses it and runs off with the fear of God in him.

It was Hanyuu of course. Everybody is impressed, she really sounded like a dark god. She ‘auauaus’ and compliments Keiichi on his awful ‘scared’ routine. Satoko is quick to pop in and claim that her traps were the real winner here.

Okonogi and the last of his troops wait for Takano to show up. She chews him out a bit, but he’s perfectly fine with saying "screw it, we lost."

He’s ready to give up in the face of people who know the terrain and have had time to prepare. Takano is pissed and graps the radio. She orders the men that there are no gods or demons. The fight will continue. As she rants at the men, a Yamainu runs up and reports to Okonogi about the ‘issues’ over at the clinic. He orders them to get Tomitake in line, but spares a look at the still crazily ranting Takano.

Yamainu troops were tracking Akasaka and crew. They park their van in the middle of the raod to wait and then hide in the bushes with a rocket launcher. Tomitake and Akasaka come driving up and into their sights. They accelerate towards the van and the Yamainu pull the trigger.