“Welcome back, Yukimura.”
What they say:
Yukimura and Sawa have escaped to a secluded temple and meet a new people ready to start a new life. But not everything is as it seems. Kuzuhara is aware, and is ready to tail her down and make her pay for her betrayal. However, another unexpected threat looms.
The Review:
Content (Please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
This episode picks up right where the previous one left off. Yukimura and Asahi have reached the destination Tsukishiro was talking about and are taken in by a temple owner. The two begin to live peacefully as spring approaches and Yukimura resolves to change. They even meet a “hansum” sensei at the local school. Everything is going well for a while.But behind the scenes, they aren’t quite out of the woods just yet.
Kuzuhara interrogates the foster son of the doctor he killed (who treated Tsukishiro) about Tsukishiro’s notebook. It turns out the notebook contains clues to a hidden “treasure” left behind by The Treasurer to something that will bring an end to the Tokugawa regime. Tsukishiro herself is in a near death state, hallucinating about her comrades and falling over without the help of painkillers. Kuzuhara offers her some in exchange for the blue blood samples she took from Janome. He also reveals that he knows where Yukimura and Asahi are but will go after them later. He allows Tsukishiro to go since he assumes she has another 3 days to live at most before she croaks.
Back at the small village, Yukimura and Asahi attempt to enjoy a festival taking place only to find out it was canceled, leaving only them and the teacher Oikawa. Oikawa says it’s due to a lack of Ryumyaku, the fictional resource mentioned at the very beginning of the story and this is the first mention of it sine then. It’s the resource controlled by the Shogun and that’s how he maintains his authority. It’s an interesting concept. I hope it goes somewhere and becomes relevant to the inevitable final confrontation with Tokugawa. It would be disappointing if the series finishes without expanding on this important detail. However, I’m glad at least so far the series hasn’t forgotten it exists and is important because it relates to the shogun’s power. At this point the teacher starts to get carried away and ranting about how the Shogun quashes any opposition before he collects himself. This is when Tsukishiro shows up and expresses disappointment with how Yukimura has changed. Tsukishiro admired the old Yukimura, who sought nothing but revenge despite everything the world threw at her. Her relaxed image isn’t what Tsukishiro wants, and as they all leave the scene, Tsukishiro cuts the teacher in the back. This ironically means that she has silenced a critic of the Shogun despite looking for a way to end their reign. I’m not sure if this irony is lost on the writers or if this was intentional, but either way it shows that Tsukishiro has lost herself in her own quest to get her version of Yukimura back and overthrow the Shogunate. I would like to think the latter given how close these things happen to each other, but we’ll need to see more of Tsukishiro before I can say for sure.
In desperation, she takes one of the blue blood samples she hid from Kuzuhara and swallows it becoming a Changeling in the process and obtaining great power and more life in the process. She threatens to kill Asahi but appears to kill her before Yukimura can act, causing her to go mad and change into her white crow form that she used in her fights against the other Changelings and Janome. “Welcome back,” Tsukishiro says. This is where the episode ends, unfortunately.
However, we can look forward to some action next week, as the two of them get ready to battle it out. I hope this isn’t the end for poor Asahi. All she wanted was some familial bonds. She couldn’t get it (implicitly) with her real parents and when things started looking good for her and Yukimura, this happens. Of course, this show has thrown us for a loop before. I’m not sure if Asahi is really dead or if she’s still alive and barely hanging on. Regardless, cruel as it may be, it’s a big step in Yukimura’s development. Asahi didn’t want Yukimura to kill anymore, not even the woman pointing a sword at her. It’ll be interesting to see how this coming fight conflicts with her trauma from killing Janome and seeing her brother die. If she got over it already that would be a disappointment. However, I’ve been waiting to see some good action from this series and now we’re finally getting some more. It looks like the next episode will probably be the finale for Book 2 as well, setting up the (what will most likely be) final Book 3 that will deal with Kuzuhara and the Shogun. So far he hasn’t given any indication that he’s changed sides despite the ending to the previous episode but he does seem a bit more relaxed with Yukimura, so it’s possible she’s the one who’s causing him to rethink things, if he is rethinking things.
The art continues to be consistently good with the environments and the Changeling animation finally makes its return for the end of the episode. If we get more animation like that the next episode will be a climax to remember. The art and action scenes have always been a key strong point for this show. As for that upcoming action, it feels like this whole episode was setup to get us there, but I enjoyed the breather while it lasted, even though we all knew this kind of escape was just too good to be true. I enjoyed it with the slightest sliver of hope that maybe things actually would work out. But alas, just like with good action, it was not meant to happen this week. Maybe it will next week.
In summary:
In a mostly setup episode, Yukimura and Asahi get a relaxing venture that turns toward the tragic. However, it promises some juicy fight animation and artwork as the bloody climax for Book 2 approaches. The series continues to struggle with maintaining a good balance of pacing but it holds on with the bursts it does give us. It also continues to answer questions and introduce key ideas, but answering those questions and those ideas have been a mixed bag so far in terms of execution. In any case, the signs are pointing in the right direction, and a good climax determining the fate of the country is on the other side.
Grade: B+
Streamed by: Crunchyroll
