This episode was so incredibly sneaky. Mamiina is screaming, along with the other priestesses, you hear gunfire and the screen freezes. It’s a typical cliff-hanger. The episode was nice, the developments were okay. Until it seems that that was everything BUT the cliff-hanger, and the scenes which followed totally blew me away! That was SO awesome!

In any case, the episode starts as a standard Simoun episode. It’s centred around one character this time: Mamiina. She’s grown so much, ever since she showed up for the first time. In any case, during the previous episode, both Aaeru and Yun were thinking the same thing, and they went after the others in their Simoun, despite all orders. It’s something you really expect them to do, especially from Aaeru. ^_^

This also places the problem with the government officials in the back, an focuses on what’s really important again: the characters. That really is the thing Simoun’s good at: it’s immensely huge cast of extremely well developed characters. That’s what makes this anime work.

Meanwhile, the others have reached the Messis, and it seems that the two remaining members of the Chor Riboru will be replacing Limone and Doninüra: Vyüra and an unnamed Sybilla. Vyüra is also someone who’s changed a whole lot. She gets surprised when she learns that Aaeru and Yun are gone. Wauf then gives the Chor Tempest a chance to rest. We then switch to the dormitories, in which Mamiina sits on her own. Rödoreamon then enters, wondering why she’s taking so long. As Mamiina’s braids are starting to get loose, Rödoreamon offers to redo them. This only shows how close the two of them have become, despite their incredibly different personalities.

We then switch to a meeting between Wauf and the Chor Tempest, in order to come up with a strategy. Vyüra and her unnamed companion will be guarding the rear of the Messis, and be in charge of the communication relays, while the Chor Tempest will handle the offensive part. Aruti then says something which upsets Furoe a bit (one of the few times she talks) Paraietta joins in and Mamiina needs to calm them a bit. They also mentions the fact that everyone ate from the same pot, something only she and Rödoreamon can understand, seeing that she put some mice on the menu. ^_^

Later, the mission has started. The Simoun will be divided into two teams: Neviriru, Mamiina, Furoe and Aruti and Paraietta, Kaimu, Morinasu and Rödoreamon. Both teams are searching the skies. Meanwhile, Vyüra wonders why the Chor Tempest was used for this mission. Wauf answers with something Dominüra used to say: because the headquarters understand nothing. Looking at the previous episode, I agree with her as well.

Furoe, meanwhile, gets a bit agitated when Neviriru wants to talk to Mamiina a bit alone. About the fact that she’s changed. I think that Furoe’s the only one whom Aruti actually talks to. It’s very interesting, maybe this gets used later on in the series. Then the two Simoun run into the airbase. Neviriru gives orders to examinate the thing very carefully, as patrols might be lurking.

Paraietta, meanwhile, continues to act spaced-out, and people have to ask her twice in order to get a reply. Yun and Aaeru have meanwhile caught up with the Messis, and they immediately advance to the front lines. Wauf also gives the Messis the order to go full speed. I guess he was waiting for the two of them before he wanted to take action. ^_^

Meanwhile, Neviriru and the others have been spotted, and waves of patrols emerge from the air platform, including the stolen Simoun from episode 17, the two which managed to escape. Aaeru and Yun meanwhile have passed Paraietta and the others and head for the other group. Neviriru, does her utter best in order to defeat the enemies, though the enemy Simoun prove to be tricky to defeat with just Ri Maajons. But then again, this is logical. The Simoun are the only crafts which have total freedom in the air. The other airplanes have to obey rules, which makes them predictable, which in turn makes them quite easy targets for Ri Maajons.

Neviriru then tells Furoe and Aruti to escape, while she distracts the enemies. In the end, they get hit by one of the flying planes, and they manage to crash on the air platform. Mamiina is okay, though Neviriru is unconscious. The enemy Simoun are the soonest to be near them, and they approach Mamiina, and point their guns at her.

A very nice plot twist follows when it appears that the priests are actually good guys! They do view the Sybilla as the persons highest to Tempus Patium. In the end, they do seem to have acknowledged that Tempus Patiem and their god remain the same. They also claim to be different from the people from the Archipelago, and that they wish to help Mamiina and Neviriru. The latter recognizes no lies in their words, so the former agrees. Sortof. :)

Mamiina then activates the Simoun again, along with one of the Priests, and they take off. The priests jump off, though Mamiina then realizes that the Priests will be executed if they remain. She then cuts off one of her breads, says farewell to Neviriru and jumps on the platform, along with the priests. Meanwhile, the forces of the Archipelago come rushing in. Mamiina then screams with all of the others the infamous word: “Aaeru”.

And when you think things are already amazing, just wait till the next scenes, in which the other Sybilla discover that Mamiina has been shut! Especially Aaeru and Rödoreamon have it hard. Wauf meanwhile arrives, and blasts the air platform down with the Messis. He works really well as a captain. He really earned that job. ^_^

Mamiina immediately gets taken to intensive care, while Rödoreamon and Aaeru can’t take it anymore. Neviriru, meanwhile, is nowhere to be found. Then the Messis retreats and the episode ends.

And what an episode it was! I’m SO glad that the focus on the characters didn’t disappeared along with Dominüra and Limone! I was a bit worried, as things seemed to have been settled down. But this episode proved that I had nothing to worry about. I can’t wait for even more awesomeness from Simoun.

I’m also wondering what’ll happen to the Priests from Plumbum. They obviously had their reasons to fight against the Simoun, and Angurasu showed that they aren’t afraid to blow down an airship from Simulacrum. Did Angurasu actually agree with their views?

Memorable Moment: Aaeru, after seeing Mamiina.

Okay, so I was wrong. Six arcs it is, then. This arc will contain a massive six episodes, while the sixth arc will close the series with the last five episodes. The seventh and the eighth arc will then very likely come in some sort of OVA, even though it hasn’t been officially announced yet.

I’m not too happy with the fact that this arc will consist out of six episodes. Shion does remain my least favourite character, and this episode once again proved this. While it did have some funny moments, Shion was just utterly boring. Too much time is spent on her, and her feelings to Satoshi. One episode, okay. But this is just getting too much.

In my opinion, there’ve been three moments at which Higurashi no Naku Koro ni really shone. The first was Rena during the second and the third episode, which was also what originally made me fall in love with this series. The creators really projected her as a unique, evil character. Then, ten episodes later, Keiichi gained my respect while he killed Satoshi’s uncle, only to learn that it never really happened. The third was the fourth arc. That arc really was amazing, focused on Rika and her prophetic abilities. Perhaps the anime should’ve focused at small arcs, instead of the big ones.

Ah well, at least the sixth arc will get better again, when Rena finally comes into the spotlight again. She’s been away for quite a while, it’ll be good to see her back, with all her schizophrenic glory.

Until then, we’ll have to do with Shion. The episode begins with Shion questioning Oishi about the psychopath who killed Satoshi’s aunt. By the time that the police arrived, he was already dead. He clearly was manipulated into this in order to cover up for the things Shion and Satoshi did. Oishi then mentions Oyashiro as the culprit again.

We then switch to the OP, after which we see Shion in the library, trying to figure out what happened to the victims of Oyashiro-sama. She did manage to realize that each of the victims was on bad terms with the Sonozaki-family, though Takano interrupts her. She then explains Shion about the rumours about Oyashiro-sama which have been floating around. About one person dying and one disappearing. This, of course, is total nonsense, as Rika revealed that also some people who were missing turned out to be dead. It’s no more than just coincidences which have been noticed and inflated by certain people.

Takano also reveals something interesting: she’s researching about Oyashiro-sama’s curse, and the ancient, forgotten history of Hinamizawa. Takano tells her the things she told Keiichi while in the temple in the second arc. That’s why she didn’t get scared just as Keiichi when she heard it.

That afternoon, Mion comes to visit Shion. At that moment, Mion isn’t affected by the disease, and she starts apologizing about what happened. Shion accepts, though she gets furious when Mion wonders where Satoshi went. Shion’s probably affected by the disease at this moment. Mion reveals that she knows nothing about what happened to Satoshi. Though I think that the disease made her do something, which she forgot afterwards. Mion still remains on the top of my list for the suspects who could have killed Satoshi.

Shion then discovers that Mion actually endured the same torture she did, in order to bring her and Satoshi together. Though he disappeared afterwards. I have no idea which parts of these were acted. In any case, a year passes, until we move to the beginning of the second arc, but now from Shion’s perspective.

I was a bit disappointed to see that the things which Keiichi already saw weren’t shown again, but actually just skipped. I would have loved to see such a thing, though apparently, something’s about to happen which requires three whole episodes, while the second arc just took two of them.

The good part, however, is that some actual funny scenes are shown. It starts with a deja vu from episode 16, in which Shion encounters those three punks yet again. I still love the way they talk. ^^ Then Keiichi comes to show off, and you can indeed see the difference from him to Satoshi. This also was a scene which wasn’t shown in the second arc.

In any case, the fact that Keiichi meets up with Shion at the restaurant isn’t shown. This means that Mion actually was the one who met him there, and she was the one who brought him the lunch. Ever since, Shion started trying to get between the two of them, in a funny way. ^^ Still, Keiichi keeps reminding Shion of Satoshi. The fact that she reacted so differently in the third arc was because Keiichi didn’t pat her on the head like that. That’s why she acted differently, and I have a strange feeling that that scene was supposed to come in the fifth episode as well, but it was cut out for some reason.

In any case, Mion indeed loves Keiichi. Because of this, we know for sure that she indeed was shocked when Keiichi yelled at her in the second arc. This also shows that the disease took over and she started yelling about Oishi, and it also shows that the fact that she hid needles in the ohagi could never have been true. Of course, most people already knew this, but it’s good to have some confirmation. It also must’ve been very hard for Mion to see Keiichi so extremely serious towards her during the third arc.

Mion then tells Shion about the doll Keiichi gave to Rena. Shion then comforts her and they have a very cute conversation. ^_^ Shion, however gets more and more reminded of Satoshi. We then switch to where Mion and Shion are both fighting over Keiichi. Mion has a very evil look on her face when Keiichi pats Shion on the head, in a good way. Shion, however, has other thoughts, concerning a certain yellow-haired boy.

When Shion’s alone, she whines a bit more about Satoshi and the usual. Shion then gets the feeling that she’s being followed. (Interesting fact: remember when Keiichi had the feeling he was being followed in the eleventh episode?) That night, the Watanagashi takes place. Shion then runs into Tomitake and Takano. Takano reveals then that she spends a lot of time in the library, and that the two of them are going to break in the shrine. It then gets confirmed that it was indeed Shion who went with Keiichi into the shrine, and the reason for why she did it.

It’s strange, in the second arc, Shion was very calm, but now, she looks everything but calm. She also hears strange footsteps coming from somewhere. Keiichi and Takano don’t seem to hear it. I’m suspecting that the disease is messing with Shion at that moment. That evening, a party is being held in the Sonozaki-house. Mion and Obaba play as host, while it seems that Shion drank too much. And that at that age.

That night, when everyone’s left, Shion overhears a conversation between Mion and Obaba. I’m not sure whether Mion has taken control over the Sonozaki-family yet, though Obaba’s way of talking suggests that she hasn’t. In any case, Mion’s talking in disease mode again, and they discuss a certain male who has angered Oyashiro-sama’s anger. For some reason, the police are looking into it, which seems to suggests that it’s more than just breaking into the shrine. Mion then suspects that Takano has something to do with it.

It’s very interesting that the male name doesn’t get mentioned. It could be either Tomitake or Keiichi, but sneaking into a shrine couldn’t be something you’d call the police over to investigate. Shion, however, seems to think otherwise and immediately concludes that Mion’s getting angry over the fact that she snuck into the festival shrine. Shion then has a flashback of the sixteenth episode, at which Rena explains why Satoshi felt that he’s being followed. It’s being a sign of Oyashiro-sama, that you’re being followed, that someone’s spying on you. At that moment, Shion looks behind her and sees Mion.

This actually explains the first phone call between Shion and Keiichi. Shion then informs Keiichi about Tomitake and Takano’s death. It seems that she gets terrified by Mion after the cliff-hanger, and then she hears about the fate of the twosome. As she highly believes in Oyashiro-sama’s curse, she immediately believes that there are two deaths this time, which has to mean that the two of them have to disappear. She then tells this to Keiichi, who also believes it.

It seems that the last three episodes will really be explaining what happened dring the second arc. Let’s recap a bit, shall we?
- Tomitake and Takano head to the river shore. Afterwards, something happens which probably involves Takano killing Tomitake and stuffing him inside a car, only to end up getting killed herself.
- The next evening, Shion invites Keiichi, in order to make him meet up with Oishi, so that he can tell him a bit about the Sonozaki-family. I think that Shion decided to trust Keiichi after what happened to her after this episode’s cliff-hanger. I think that she believes that Mion will do her no harm if she’s with Keiichi.
- Later that night, Shion makes her first phone call and tells him about the two deaths.
- The next day, Keiichi learns that the village chief has disappeared the day after the Watanagashi.
- Rika comes to Keiichi, letting him know that she’ll protect him from something that probably gets clear after this episode’s cliff-hanger.
- That evening, Shion calls Keiichi again, and she tells him that she was the reason for the disappearance of the village chief. We’ll probably see if that really is the case at the end of the next episode.
- Keiichi and Rena realize that Satoko and Rika are gone.
- Mion lets the disease inside of her take control, almost shaking Keiichi off a ladder in a badly animated way.
- Keiichi hears from Oishi that Shion’s been gone. What happens after the cliffhanger should give us some clues about why this happened.
- Either Shion or Mion phones Keiichi.

The fact remains that things didn’t happen as they seem, during the second arc. We have to take into account the beginning of the sixteenth episode, in which Shion has overpowered both Obaba and Mion. This gives us two options for the eighth episode:
- The Mion we saw was actually Shion, pretending to be Mion.
- Shion did try to overpower Mion, but in the end Mion proved to be too strong for Shion, and Mion severely punished Shion for this in disease-mode.

I think I’m going to go for the second option after all. If the Mion in the eighth episode indeed was Shion, she would have mentioned Satoshi, which she didn’t. Instead, she was tortured by Mion, because of the fact that Mion was the head of the house and Shion had committed a crime. While she was tortured, Shion began to compare Keiichi with Satoshi more and more, until she eventually started to believe that they were the same, hence her reaction when Keiichi saw her.

I have no idea whether this is true or not, but the fact remains that either Mion tortured Shion, or Shion tortured Mion. If that’s indeed the case, one of the next three episodes will most definitely be covering this subject, I’m guessing for either the fifth or the sixth. I’m urging everyone, including myself, to watch these three episodes on an empty stomach.

Another thing which I noticed is that ever since the third arc, there’s been less and less focus on the disease, which makes people get extremely angry. The third arc did feature Keiichi angry a couple of times, but it never was as bad as Mion in the second arc, or Rena and Keiichi in the first arc.

Overall, the episode did have some cute scenes, but the fact that it centred around Shion made this episode rather dull. The next episodes suggest that the series will be focusing more on the mystery-department, instead of Shion’s love whom I don’t care about anyway.

Memorable Moment: Mion, getting annoyed by Shion. In the non-disease-way.

Oh my… this surely was a unique episode. And I mean that in a good way. I’ve honestly never seen an episode in which so much emphasis was put in just characters talking. 85% of the episode contains just Yuuko and Watanuki, talking about the case of the episode. 10% of the time is spent showing the woman while during the last 5%, Watanuki has to buy a couple of fake glasses. No Doumeki, no Himawari. Heck even no Mokona, Maru and Moro. Is it also me, or did the 85%-part of the episode feature no background music at all?

I really am left utterly silent because of this episode. Clearly, this manga chapter was taken in order to save a little budget, but the results turned out pretty awesome because of it. The woman in this episode has tendency to deliberately do all kinds of things which aren’t in her best interest. Things like pressing fire alarms, deliberately failing her tests, throwing a cup of coffee at Yuuko and even getting hit by a moped.

It’s easy to think that the woman’s got a problem, though Yuuko explains that she actually was busy balancing her life. For every good thing which happened to her, she’d compensate with something which wouldn’t be so good for her. But she’d never do something which would ruin her life, and the aftereffects of her actions all were only bad in short terms. She would easily be able to recover from all of them. After all, pressing fire alarms would get her in detention and she’d get yelled at. If she fails her tests at one school, she can just try another. Yuuko can get pretty angry if someone threw a cup of coffee over her, though it’s just someone she’d never see again, and Yuuko would quite probably forgive her for it. And fractures, indeed, heal.

The interesting thing was that there was also no spirit involved at all. Everything was going on in her mind. The question, however, remains whether she liked her habit or not. After all, everyone of us has some kind of strange habit. Some of them we like, some of them we don’t mind, and some of them we hate. The woman clearly was unconciously in the middle-category, but she did ask Yuuko to cure her. I think that Watanuki made her see that the things she’s doing aren’t very healthy, and that she’d indeed better stop. You can compare this with smokers and drinkers.

Yuuko uses the good old placebo-effect in order to cure her. In case you don’t know what this means: give a sick person a worthless item, tell him it’ll cure him and 10 to 1 that he’ll feel better afterwards. It’s very strange, but interestingly enough, it does work somehow. It also does in this case. Because the woman thinks that the glasses help, she tries to lose her habit. We don’t see how it’ll turn out, though the does manage to surpress the need to get hit by a car.

Yuuko also definately was interesting during this episode. After all, there had to be a reason for her to know that the fake glasses would be useful. The fact that she ordered Watanuki to buy some must mean that she knew or anticipated that someone with a problem which could be cured with the placebo-effect would come to her. Or was there more to it? Was her reason to put this order all the way in a locker near a train station just to tease Watanuki (which worked perfectly, by the way) or was it some method of aquiring things you need before you even know you need them? Or maybe it’s just me, thinking too much.

Overall, now that I think back, this was an awesome episode of xxxHolic. Some may find it boring, though I loved the fact that the episode just consisted of people talking. xxxHolic sure does know how to bring a bit of variety in its episodes.

I’ve got just one problem with xxxHolic. It’s a great series, but why does every victim have to be a woman? Seriously, apart from Watanuki, Domeki, the foxes and the guys who dated the woman back in episode 9, every single one of the appearing characters has been female. Was this also the case in the manga? Or did the creators of this anime decide to leave out every manga arc dealing with a male as victim?

Memorable Moment: Watanuki, finding out about Yuuko’s order.