天下制覇

 

 Their plan was to make a giant stone guy with a glass jaw and prone to hallucinations? Well done.

Impressions:

A pretty solid, action packed episode, though still not quite as well done as the Sabrac vs Wilhelmina fight. It did feel a little stilted since we just kind of cut too and from a lot of the fights without seeing people actually attack all that much. The Konoe thing at the end was just painful though. Man, I thought we were finished with that particular breed of nonsense. Come on… this is the same Hecate that spent a few hours intimately ‘filling’ herself with Yuji at the end of last season… you’re not really telling me that the couple weeks of Konoe would affect her that chunks and chunks of Yuji would not.

Oh well, could be worse. I guess at least they had a plan to eventually use all that Konoe crap, but it doesn’t change the fact that I’d be happier if it didn’t exist at all.

Final thoughts at the bottom.

Bel Peol and Impboy look on from the HQ and remark on how things are progressing.

Outside the freak statue, Alastor trades jibes with the Professor. One of them screams like a nutcase. You only get one guess as to which one. Wilhelmina joins Shana and they get ready to save Yuji and pull the Reiji Maigo out from it.

Hecate attacks, scattering Shana and Wilhelmina. Shana outruns the blast and attacks, but Hecate blocks and the two trade blows until Hecate overpowers Shana and knocks her away.

Wilhelmina and Sydoney also trade attacks. Maidy tried throwing a ribbon spear, but Sydoney just catches it.

Margery watches on from below… and starts coughing up blood on Marco as they try to heal her.

Shana and Hecate’s battle continues with a little danmaku action. Shana takes a blow on the forehead and starts bleeding.

Yuji lies unconscious somewhere in the tower. His energy is being drained into the Silver.

Kazumi thinks about Yuji outside the barrier and replays the conversation between the flame hazes in her head. She looks at Pheles cross and thinks again about Shana saying she’d fight alongside him.

A huge energy blast knocks Shana backwards.

Sydoney rips through Wilhelmina’s ribbons and slams her against the structure. She then faceplants as she falls.

 Shana flies up to help her as Sydoney closes in for the kill. Hecate’s covering their back too.

Sydoney charges his blade, but stops and scoffs at them before the attack continues. Shana and Wilhelmina keep flying around, but Hecate refuses to attack. Shana realizes that it’s because the Denizens can’t risk damaging the statue thingy. The two split up and the battle continues.

Yuji wakes up and looks around. He sees Wilhelmina and realizes that Shana must be nearby too. His energy is starting to run out though. He starts running upwards again, vowing to join the fight. Dominos close in on him.

The hazes and Denizens keep fighting. Wilhelmina and Shana keep the statue at their backs so the Denizens can’t attack. They eventually back off to regroup. Everybody discusses the situation… blah blah… Denizens are defending it, etc etc.

Yuji is being chased by the Dominos now.

Kazumi stares at the cross and thinks that she can save Yuji. She clutches it and starts to fade.

No, it was just a dream. God damn it.

She remembers all the crap she did with Shana and vows to wait for Shana… that’s all she can do now. Shana believe in Yuji, so she has to believe in them as well. She’ll welcome them back when they come.

Yuji keeps climbing. He shoots down a few more Dominos, but he can’t keep this up. It’s strange though… he’s not scared anymore. He thinks about his parents and the new baby… and the city… everything he’s fighting for, even Yoshida. He’ll protect them all. He finally makes it back to Blutsauger.

The Prof punches some buttons and the statue begins shedding debris.

Yuji pulls out Blutsauger, declaring that he’ll protect Shana.

Shana and Hecate clash. Shana demands to know why she did that to Yuji. Hecate’s emotionless and a bitch as usual. Sydoney saves Hecate’s bacon, but it was just a feint and Wilhelmina attacks, forcing the Denizens out of the way and letting Shana into the statue. She then blocks them from pursuing.

The Prof hops up for more ranting and screaming. Have I mentioned that I hate him yet? I really do.

Inside, Shana starts looking for Yuji.

Eyecatch

Instead, she senses the Silver. She takes off her trenchcoat for some reason and starts running upward.

Yuji keeps climbing as well. His hand is starting to fade away. He cuts through the crap in his path, even as his body fades more. Shana and Yuji see eachother. She jumps to him, landing on him and telling him that he’s not allowed to disappear.

Yuji, in a rare fit of lucidity, tells her that they need to get back the Reiji Maigo. Alastor interrupts the lover’s moment to give some exposition on what exactly this whole crazy plot is. Basically to build a giant angry body. Shana doesn’t care about exposition. She just wants her man’s thingy back.

Yuji picks up the Nietono Shana and hands it to her, then grabs his sword and declares that he’ll protect them all and… nods at Shana. He pulls her up and they head to battle together.

Hecate touches down on top of the statue. She releases energy and it starts to move. The eggshell cracks as Kazumi, Bel Peol, and Impboy watch. Even the humans see the giant [s]mecha[/s] statue rise. At least until Margery casts a barrier sealing the whole area. She pats Marco as she sits there bleeding.

The Prof screams at us a bit more, unfortunately. How is he not dead yet? NOOOOOO PROBLEM! He slams a button and the statue sprouts giant wings.

Sydoney attacks Wilhelmina as she tries to make her way towards it again.

Shana and Yuji also head further in. The Silver comes to life, summons an an axe and attacks them as they enter. Yuji can sense the Reiji Maigo in it though. Shana starts attacking and manages to pierce it. From the wound a massive energy blast shoots out. Yuji blocks it with his own, chastising Shana.

Hecate can see through the Silver’s eyes or something. The Mecha flaps its wings and destroys the area. Kazumi is narrowly saved from falling glass by Margery.

The fight continues between Shana/Yuji/the Silver.

Outside, Sydoney and Wilhelmina also keep fighting.

The Professor keeeeeeeeeeeeeps ranting to himself.

Yuji figures out how the Silver works and yells instructions to Shana. The Silver charges a blast to attack Yuji, but then hesitates and misses. Shana leaps to attack, and the image of her flame wings reminds it/Hecate of the birds from when she was Konoe and it drops its axe, holding out its hand. Shana attacks it and then Yuji cuts into it, pulling out the Reiji Maigo.

The two quickly run away. Bel Peol isn’t surprised by this… however…

Hecate doesn’t understand what happened at all as the statue begins to crumble. The Professor keeps shrieking as Domino tells him that the Reiji Maigo was removed. The other Denizens pop by to tell him that they’re retreating.

Hecate is the last to leave, staring at the debris. She starts crying and looks surprised before leaving as well.

Yuji and Shana stand in front of the debris. She declares that they protected it together. Kazumi runs up and starts crying, then welcomes them back with a smile.

Yuji walks through the town with the two love letters. The girls wait for him.

MONTAGE TIME. CHRISTMAS EVE IN MARCH.

Yuji grits his teeth and heads forward.

Shana perks up and grins wide enough to give someone cancer.

Yuji narrates that he’ll protect this city and keep fighting as we see a shot of a Christmas tree to end things.

Final Thoughts:

Somewhat similarly to the first season, this one started with a lot of crappiness and really picked up around episode 12 or so. A little later than the first season, but once it got there, it was off and running for basically the rest of the show. Obviously, I would have preferred that they get to Dark Overlord Yuji and that fun business, but once we reached episode 20 or so, I’m glad they didn’t try to cram multiple novels worth of stuff into a couple episodes. That’s what the inevitable third season is for. I’m pretty sure I’d have no problems watching Yuji slowly become a cockier and more arrogant guy before his eventual turn. It’d make far more interesting filler than Konoe at any rate.

So… overall… who knows what I think. The first half was pretty awful, but the second half was pretty awesome. I’m not certain how that averages out. If they were equally spaced (like… say… Ikki Tousen’s action), then it’d be an easy call. I never thought I’d be holding Ikki Tousen up as an example of good pacing, but there you go. StrikerS’ one awesome episode per four weeks can also qualify if you want a slightly less boobtacular example. The second half was thoroughly enjoyable, and so while I realize that it could have been awesome, I’m happy that it was still very good. Could have been better? Sure. Was still one of the best action shows this season? Easily. Of the Fall season though? Pfft. Even Prism Ark beat it out on action then… and strange maudlin drama for that matter.