Will the history that Hide knows prove to be true in this world?
What They Say:
At last Nobunaga has all the armor! They head back to Azuchi Castle, where they’ve left the remaining pieces. On the way back, they stop at Honnouji Temple. Even a dummy like Hideyoshi remembers that name! Her textbook says that this is where Akechi Mitsuhide killed Oda Nobunaga… no way! Meanwhile, Mitsuhide is at her breaking point. With some advice from Masamune, she takes action. Everything she does is for love..
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With this series working through the alternate world version of history where it’s all about the women that are in control and taking on the roles made famous by men in our world, you have to wonder just how closely it will hew to things at times. It is taking obviously liberal approaches to history, but there are key things that come from it that can be used. The big one so far involves this episode as the trio have arrived at Honnouji Temple and Hide has been going through her history book and realizes this is the time in history in her world where Mitsuhide killed Nobunaga on their way back to Azuchi Castle now that Nobunaga has all the armor pieces for herself. Hide has a hard time believing it could happen, but events start to move quickly in that direction.
Watching as these events do unfold over the course of the first half of the episode is rather fun to watch in a weird sort of way because it plays things so seriously with Mitsuhide going through the motions. While the motivations for what Mitsuhide does aren’t exactly clear as we see the initial manipulations being laid out before her, the crux of events with the temple in flames and Hideyoshi confronting her leads to a very good moment. Mitsuhide’s issues with feeling left behind and cast aside because of Hide’s arrival has been an underlying issue for awhile and it comes to the surface very easily here, though Hide has a damn hard time really grasping that as she just tries to shake Mitsuhide out of it. When it gets down to the truth of the matter, when Mitsuhide truly realizes who the enemy was, it’s a wonderful moment of character drama and emotion. It may be overly dramatic in its own way, but it fits perfectly here.
A large chunk of the episode is given over to the lead-up to the fire and the struggle that Mitsuhide goes through, while a lot is put into place for her confrontation with Hide and the resulting drama from that. It all works well and the episode ends up going by rather quickly as events unfold. With so much of its focus on Mitsuhide, it’s definitely a big win for her fans as she has so much time here, though a lot of it has her acting in a misguided way. When it shifts to some of the lighter moments towards the end, you can’t help but to laugh at it all and her reactions to what’s going on. Mitsuhide continues to be a really fun character for this show and often comes across as my favorite of the main group since Nobunaga is a bit too brusque for my tastes and Hide still has that edge of schoolgirl grating that gets on my nerves.
In Summary:
Battle Girls has a very serious episode here overall as it covers a big part of history when it comes to these characters, but it tweaks things to fit its own agenda and it works out for the best since these characters continue to be a pleasure to watch. Mitsuhide’s dominance here is obvious and it works to good effect as she can pull it off, whether it’s the darkly serious moments, the emotional outbursts or the girlish blushes she has when things go in an unexpected way for her. The time spent here is not without its impact on the larger storyline with the Crimson Armor, which brings Masamune back into play for a bit in a key way, but all of that is just prelude for the final storyline that’s about to unfold which already looks to be a whole lot of fun. Battle Girls continues to defy expectations. By all rights, I should hate these series, but it delights week after week.
Grade: B
Simulcast By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
