The Rat has a trick up his sleeve…
What They Say:
“To Treat A Man To Beef From His Own Cow”
The Taisen comes to an abrupt end when the Rat shows up with the Sheep’s bomb to a scene where the Ox has been subdued. But how does everyone seem to know the Rat from somewhere?
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
This episode was suspenseful, while still predictable but yet so well done. We find out the Rat’s power and see the last living warrior killed in one fell swoop.
The Ox had been contemplating why the Rabbit played the game as he did; relentlessly pursued despite the limitations of a mangled body. Suddenly the Rabbit’s mangled and now monstrous corpse find the Ox and they fight until the Monkey’s corpse springs out and pins the Ox down. He concludes that the Monkey had put the Rabbit’s body back together and hid inside it to play out this plan. Eventually, the Rat shows up holding the Sheep’s bomb that he had been bragging about his whole time alive. He credits the Tiger for this feat of finding it due to her killing the Sheep when she did. This reassures the Ox before Rat places the bomb and leaves before it explodes. The Rat has won the Juni Taisen…only halfway through the episode. I think my favourite part of this whole first half was the Ox acknowledging the fact that in the Zodiac race the Rat won by hopping from the Ox’s head and that the Rat in this tournament, in a way, did the same. It was cool seeing a character calling this out in the sequence of events, even while not knowing the full order of kills. I knew this from the start, but I hope this helps some other fans realize why the show has gone the path that it has in the order of the character’s deaths.
That all happens in the first half of the episode. The next is all a slight filled mess. It’s an organized mess, but a quite long one. The Rat has won the tournament. We find him in a room with the referee, Duedeculpe, who asks him if he would sit and do a short winner’s interview. The Rat refuses and when attempting to leave the building, the elevator breaks and falls to the ground far below killing him. We then see more and more scenarios of the Rat dying in various ways after refusing the interview. Some of these scenario deaths involved ways other warriors could have killed him: A flock of birds that the Chicken would have used, a sword like Ox, A bomb like Sheep, and machine guns like the Boar. I thought this was a nice little touch on the creator’s part and that of the mysterious entity killing the boy. It becomes evident that these scenarios are inside the mind of the Rat as he sits there with Duedeculpe. This is the Rat’s power of probability which he calls “The Hundred Paths of Nezumi-san” where he goes through paths and strategies before he picks one path to follow and “locks” it in This is the reason we have been hearing from every character upon seeing him that they feel like they’ve “met him before somewhere; he had been on a path that involved him meeting them or fighting. I do wish we could have seen him fight a bit but I digress. The Rat realizes that anything else he does could kill him, he agrees to talk about his experience, while still using his ability to gauge which answers would be favourable. Once this is done, the Rat leaves with a last word of his wish being revealed at a later date.
This episode was very bittersweet because I had to see the Ox go, even though it was his turn to die; but it was also terrifying. I really hated him to begin with as I was judging him based on what I had seen of him thus far; as a cold-blooded killer who didn’t seem to feel anything. While I still know even less of him from this anime now, his philosophy, loyalty, and dedication to his word with the Tiger changed him in my mind. His character developed, as some of them have despite most of their small screen time. He was also pretty fierce and badass so there’s that fact as well. I understand he’s cool and calculated, but his inner monologue began to feel a tad like information dumping and took me out of the thralls the show usually has me in; I was in suspense of course but the constant inner thoughts only drew out the inevitable. The whole thing about the Rabbit being put back together to find the Ox was a crowning moment. The Rabbit is my other most hated character, but I can’t deny that they used him very well despite having no past to speak of. The whole series he was legitimately threatening but his corpse acting as an unstoppable death machine made him all the more terrifying. The idea of having the Monkey’s corpse put the body back together and hide in it was genius, I didn’t expect her but then again I was supposed to because I knew she was still out there being controlled. It’s not like this corpse mess will give me nightmares or anything, but it was disgusting looking, as expected. Oh, and the sounds it made when it walked slowly and menacingly towards the Ox, let’s just say it made me forget that I had lunch to eat while I was watching this.
I did like how the Rat’s power worked once it was explained, but that took up most of the second half of the episode. I know why it was done (to showcase his power) but it was a bit of a stretch. It was cool, however, to finally see the Rat doing something in the tournament however small the action. He didn’t get any cool action scenes other than running away from the Snake’s corpse, but even then, there was a bit to be desired. After seeing what his power is about how he used it in the tournament, it was made clear that his tact never had to do with violence anyway, but if it came to that he could deal with a threat.
I heard it through the grapevine that this particular creator, Nisio Isin, does in fact successfully wrap up his stories, there’s just a mass of things to go through until we get there. I have high hopes for the next and final episode of this series.
In Summary:
This episode did its job once again. I was left in some suspense for half the episode, then the rest was filled with talking and being in the Rat’s head. I can’t wait to see what he would wish for.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
