天下制覇

Sweatier and bloodier than normal for this show.

Impressions:

Well, here we are again, exactly where we were at the start of episode 21, only Raikou has a new sword… now wasn’t that a wonderful use of time?

I guess I should get the bile out of my system because this was actually a very solid episode. If they were all like this, I’d never complain. Sure, I’d mock Hattori’s giant evil head and the stupidity of the backhand knife grip (honestly, you have to move your entire arm to defend your body instead of just rotating your wrist). I’d probably also make fun of the SHOCK scene when Hattori took down Raikou just because of how cheesy it was. They literally flashed through every character in the room with a red tinted background, looking aghast. It’s not even like Hattori knifed him or anything. It just looked like he slapped Raikou’s brand new sword in half and then punched him in the gut, or maybe in his sword wound.

Really though, like I said, a thoroughly enjoyable episode, full of action in various qualities. Most of it was very short, coming in 20-30 second bursts, but after the first 8 minutes or so, it was pretty much constant. My favorite was easily the one between Yukimi and Raikou. Not quite the Spike vs Vicious duel, but both looked impressive enough. The fight between Yae’s group and the two remaining Banten elite was pretty lame and silly, especially because they don’t really seem to have anything to do with anything else going on at the moment. It was also nice to see vampire Kouichi again. Why he doesn’t just use his vampire magic cheats to take down people constantly is beyond me. Raikou already knows that he’s some kind of eldritch abomination unto man and god, does he really care that Gau might know that too? It’s nice to see the feral loli again too. As I recall, she’s quite a bit more important in the manga and is similar to Kouichi or something.

Oh yeah, and it’s completely a shock and totally out of nowhere that the preview reveals that the Banten doohickey is Kumohira’s earring. I mean, who could have seen that one coming? Shocking! I’m really hoping that berserk-mode Miharu’s first act is to tear Hattori in half. Even though Hattori showed that he’s still got the moves, I want him to die and go away already. Scratch that, I want Gau torn in half first. What the hell is he even doing there?

Ultra Brief Summary:

Hattori rambles onward at Yoite for most of the first half while Yukimi whines at him that Yoite’s still a kid. Two of the Ash Wolf elite attack Yae’s group, while the other two defend the Ash Wolf HQ. Kumohira returns and is greated by the feral loli. Raikou takes down one of the remaining assassins (but is injured in the process… and later takes him down again), the other tries to stop Raimei’s group. Hattori has Yukimi fight Raikou, but Raikou wins. Hattori tries to make Yoite deal with him next, but Yoite can’t do it, so Hattori drops Raikou on his own. Raimei senses something’s up, so she and Gau go on ahead, letting Kouichi use his vampire ninja powers to take down the other assassin. Raimei and Gau enter and see the fallen Raikou as Miharu starts to go berserk and darkness overwhelms the city.

Preview:

The earring!? Really!? I never guessed it!