I kept fearing for the last couple of episodes do be horribly bland and dull. I just saw no way in which Anon could make for a good ending. Still, the creators keeps surprising me. They made Anon crazy enough to host an all-on-one battle against him. Add that to the fact that the side-characters played a big role this episode, and you have enough to make me see how wrong I was. But then again, we still have the ending. I’ll keep fearing for that bit.
The element I liked most about this episode was that there were SO MANY different parties playing a big role. We have Ueki and Mori together, Hideyoshi is alone, Sano and Rinko, Anon himself, Rihou, Margaret, the Ballow-team split up in three and not to forget, Kami-Sama’s assistant. Each of these parties gets sufficient airtime, everything somehow gets balanced into near-perfection. I loved it, even though the main premisse of the show is kindof cheesy.
Well then, Ueki and Mori were quite a distance away from Anon when he revealed his evil schemes, so it takes them a while before they can get to him. Before they get the chance, however, Margaret runs into them. He then reveals something very interesting about the protector-clan, which will probably give Ueki the advantages he needs to beat Anon for good. I have to say, apart from the convenient timing, that I like this. It really gives some background about the members of the protector-clan, and doesn’t just make them dull-characters.
The Ballow-team gets split apart. The punk-guy and the martial-arts-guy want to fight against Anon. The glasses-guy refuses to, and leaves with the intention of retiring. Ballow is just too stunned by Anon’s revelations that he’s become unable to move and react to the outside world. This is quite an interesting turn of developments. If they aren’t returning in the next couple of episodes, I’m going to eat my hat and like it. They still must have some role. In Ballow’s case, it’s a bit predictable, but in the glasses-guy’s case, this might turn out to be quite interesting. If this is done right, it can become really quite interesting indeed.
Sano and Rinko were quite close to Anon when he made his revelasion, so they try to hide themselves before Ueki arrives, trying not to be noticed. Rihou gets to be the first one to fight Anon. That’s not what I expected of him. The most often calm Rihou suddenly turned impulsive. Anyway, Rihou gets pretty beaten up by Anon, but it also appears that the sacred treasures don’t work on Rihou. Therefore, we get to see a long fist-fight. Of course, the creators turned into something reasonably interesting, but I do miss the strategy-element. Anyway, after a long while, Rihou gets smashed to unconciousness, and Sano and Rinko finally decide that they’ve waited enough. The way this was excecuted was pretty nice and original. Mostly, you see characters consider the options between going and not going. This time, you don’t. It’s a nice touch. Anyway, the next episode should be awesome: Sano, Rinko and the two guys from the Ballow-team versus Anon. They’ve got to do something to make him flinch in some way, and considering Sano’s tactics, it’ll probe to be incredible.
That may be fine and all, but the person I enjoyed most was Hideyoshi. Okay, he also ran away. But that’s the good part. He KNOWS he’s useless. He KNOWS he can’t do anything. He’s struggling with this fact. He’s been struggling with it all along. However, I’m going to eat my other hat if this was to be the last time he got some screentime. He still didn’t have his time to shine. Rinko, Mori and Sano all had this. Hideyoshi didn’t. Combine this with the power he has, and I can’t wait for the next episode to come by. Four episodes left to go!
