天下制覇

I knew those years of Italian weren’t for nothing.

Impressions:

Actually, despite this being probably the episode with the least plot movement to date, I think it’s probably my favorite so far. There wasn’t too much random nonsense tossed out, there was minimal Tadashi (and his one moment was amusing enough, bad Italian aside), and while I’ve pretty much given expecting anything from the action in this show, at least they did a satisfactory enough job with Yukipon and Takahisa’s real introductions. GAO! They’re finally also getting around to showing Kakeru’s power and if the preview’s any indication, he’ll be in full force next week, so hopefully the whining will stop.

They still could have moved things along a bit better and some of the "hero of justice" stuff seemed a bit pointless when they just revealed it to be Takahisa a minute or two later. The Black Knights were also a little bit unstable in their power this weak, or maybe Takahisa’s meant to be that overpowered. Still, after Yukipon stabbed one of them (I really should pay attention to their names) in the head… twice, you would think that’d have been a relatively mortal wound. What did she hop off to do anyway? Stab it in the head again? The damn thing was already covered in minor wounds and leaking… whatever the black gunk is supposed to be, so you’d think a couple daggers wedged an inch into his skull and a 100 pound girl (with another 20 pounds of hair) on his shoulders would be slightly more of an inconvenience than a nearby fire. Oh well.

Brief Summary:

Yukipon’s got a clubroom for them to meet in, but Kakeru’s still moping about his pseudo-sister. Yukipon tells the others about a hero of justice in the red world. She also says that she’s a normal girl who scares the monsters away with GROWLS. GAO! Misuzu wonders about what the knights were calling them before. Elsewhere, Takahisa’s getting patched up again, but runs off rather than face punishment. He ducks into the classroom, and Yukipon introduces him as the hero of justice she met in the red world. Takahisa’s got no beef with them, but he’s not going to go out of his way for them either. Yukipon’s sure that he’s a kind person anyway. Later, Kakeru trains with Misuzu, who tells him to understand the weight of what he wants. His eye pulses and he sees an image of Misuzu attacking Yuka. He leaps to defend her, but everybody just stands around confused. Misuzu’s sure something’s up though.

The next day, after walking in on Yukipon groping Yuka, they’re sucked into the red world again. They see smoke in the distance and Yukiko explains that it’s Takahisa, since his power is pyromancy. They’re attacked by one of the knights, but Misuzu can’t hold him off. Yukiko takes off her glasses, pulls out a pair of daggers and shifts into hyperspeed, slashing the knight repeatedly until he backhands her into a wall. Despite the wound, she immediately gets up and throws her daggers, using them as a distraction to stab the knight in the head. She jumps off him to finish him, but is stabbed by another knight. Takahisa shows up, announcing himself as the hero and torches both knights. However, they’re thrown out of the world before the knights can be finished. Yukiko slowly gets up, her wound healed, and explains to the others that she can’t die. She thinks they’ll be repulsed, but Yuka hugs her, and the other two don’t care either. She shouts and waves to Takahisa, who is limping away and he smiles to himself.

Preview:

Gram sight.