The path for victory for Nobuna takes some less than welcome turns.
What They Say:
Lies, secrets, and traitors will cost Nonbuna victory and perhaps the death of one of her retainers.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the group of characters that have found themselves under Nobuna’s banner after the various battles and encounters, it’s something where you expect there to be more tension, rivalries and other bits of intrigue coming into play. There are those that are wholly bonded to her which helps to keep the peace in general sine they have positions of power, but there’s still that element there where you’d imagine someone would try to make a play for more power. And with each of them having their own pasts, secrets and plans prior to aligning with her, there’s always a chance those can come into play in the present as well.
Of course, some of those secrets are gender related which leads to some silly bath time to be had here. But there’s also a good bit of fanservice that comes into play elsewhere as we see some separate bathing/cleaning fun that has Sagara all confused, aroused and more. Of course, it comes at a time when the focus is more on what needs to be done with the various forces that Nobuna commands and where they need to be placed. The problem comes in the form of Nobuna’s now brother-in-law as his father of the Asai armies intends to eliminate Nobuna so tha this son can rise and become the true power. Of course, Asai himself has now shifted to being loyal to Nobuna because of the relationship he has with her younger sister.
While events do shift big with the threat she faces, awkward as the whole setup is and the way many race to help her, a lot of what things come down to here is that Sagara is doing his best to show Nobuna that he’s on her side. And that he’s placing an incredible amount of faith and trust in her with his own future. The whole thing does give Sagara a chance to come across as pretty manly without putting himself in physical danger in a sense, such as riding into battle, and it proves to be pretty good atmospheric series of events with all the girls coming to his side in different ways since he’s made connections with them all before it goes into the real battle that must be had.
In Summary:
While there’s some awkward elements going on here where it feels like things are being rushed a bit, the overall atmosphere and mood of it is pretty strong. Sagara has made a strong impression with everyone from the get go and that’s only been reinforced as it went along, sometimes grudgingly, but still. With the way that Nobuna has come around to him while trying to keep him at a certain distance, it’s been problematic, but Sagara has been a strong constant. With the shift in the war here feeling like it’s changing to a sharp pivot in terms of the progress made, it feels off and you can almost have a sense of whiplash with it, depending on familiarity with the forces and characters, which can get confusing a bit on the weekly basis if you’re watching a lot. But there’s some good drama here and a lot to like, right through yet another gorgeous ending sequence, that makes it all quite worthwhile.
Grade: B
Streamed 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.
