It’s summer time in Edo, which means fireworks — and gigantic, city-crushing insects.
What They Say:
“Summer War in Edo!!”
Content: (please note that the content portion of a review may contain spoilers)
Jinbei and company are excited for the coming of summer, as that means celebrations like the River Opening fireworks are about to occur. But instead of being a relaxing episode, it soon becomes clear that summer also awakens a dangerous bread of insect. This time a Warrior King Beetle — a mountain-sized creature that pretty much plows through Edo — has emerged. This causes other officers to show their faces, though only long enough to give us a line and a name. But crisis also causes someone else to emerge: the Magistrate, who until now has been only a shadowy figure and a bell (honestly, until the episode, I just assumed this person only conversed in bell sounds).
Mugai gets all the glory in this episode, as the general rule is that the fighting of giant summer bugs falls solely to him while the rest of the group focuses on evacuation. By far this is the most ridiculous battle of the show. Mountain-sized creature aside, Mugai seems to fight by chucking his sword across streets, and then jumping on it as it sails through the air. Then there’s his finishing move, which involves taking the beetle’s massive lopped-off horn, fusing hit with his sword and then slicing the beast in half. It’s exciting, to be sure, but it’s so over the top it’s also a little hilarious.
Jinbei as usual does little of real use, not even being aware that the city is under siege by the beetle. Instead, he does his regular big of making the strange new character feel good about herself, this time for a strange, white-haired girl he finds standing around the Magistrate’s office while he’s trying to figure out where everyone got to, and becomes determined to find her a place to watch the fireworks from, since she cryptically says she can’t leave. This part of the episode displays the things that make Jinbei an enjoyable character — his endearing helpfulness, adorable cluelessness — but also the things that really make him disappointing as a lead, like a lack of character growth or depth, and his inability to figure out anything about anyone, even if it’s immediately obvious to the viewer. Honestly, as the main character, it’s really to easy to forget what the important thing he did in any given episode was.
In Summary
It was pretty satisfying to finally see the actual Insect Magistrate. Even though it’s immediately obvious who the girl is, long before the show confirms it, it’s still initially surprising. The action was pretty exciting as well, even if it was completely over-the-top and pretty much entirely focused on the least interesting character. Most importantly, the show seems to be finally revealing some things, showing us hidden characters and explaining more about the cycle of the insects. It’s still being far too mysterious, as the Magistrate must sequester herself away for the summer, and Mugai’s scantily-clad friend from an earlier episode finds this interesting enough to reappear and follow her, but it’s beginning to feel as if the show is actually gearing up to reveal what’s going on.
Grade: C+
Streamed by: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
13″ Apple Macbook set to 720p
