Now this is more like it! Finally, the horrors of Shion and the fifth arc are over, and the sixth arc begins. And it starts out really great. It seems that Rena’s got some problems of her own, which could turn out to be really interesting in a couple of episodes.

This episode was divided into three parts: a prelude, Rena having fun with her friends and a part centered around Rina, Rena’s father’s new girlfriend. Th prelude was a rather strange one. Rena looks like some kind of prophet. Keiichi, Mion, Satoko and Rika all are watching her as she holds an interesting speech in the local garbage dump from episode 1. A bag containing Satoshi’s body is also seen. It makes you wonder one thing. Why hasn’t Rena yet encountered his body in one of her treasure hunts? I have a feeling that she’ll actually find it during the current arc.

The second part didn’t have anything to do with the story. Still, it was incredibly funny. The water-pistol-fight was awesome, and it was great to see Rena and Irie fangirling over Mion, Rika an Satoko. ^^

Then, the third part. It seems that Rena’s parents have been divorced, and her mother wanted to force Rena to come and stay with her. Let’s just say that Rena didn’t agree. I think that that’s the reason she walked around in school, smashing all of the windows in. In any case, she now lives with her father, who finally got a girlfriend: Rina. The only problem: Rina works together with Satoko’s uncle, and they’re a bunch of hooligans. Rina’s planning to use Satoko’s uncle in order to steal all of Rena’s father’s money through blackmailing. Rena finds out about this. We end the episode with Rina being alone and Rena following her. I wonder what’ll happen. ^^;

Shion (*twitch*) also appeared during this episode. Thank god she wasn’t serious. She’s actually a decent character when she is just having a bit of fun. Just don’t let her get serious. (*twitch*)

I’m not doing a full summary this time. Nothing regarding the main plot really happened. Except for the prelude, perhaps. Still, the prelude looked very promising. If that’s how this arc will go, I’m really looking forward to the remaining four episodes of Higurashi.

A very interesting theme yet again: the burden of murdering someone. It still remains interesting how fast Watanuki and Yuuko can switch from playful and bickering to serious, as showed in this episode. This also is a case in which Yuuko is the main character, with Watanuki just as a bystander/observer.

The case is like this: a woman killed her best friend by pushing her off a cliff. Somehow, a photo of this got taken, and it keeps haunting this girl. It’s interesting that she couldn’t throw it away or burn it. It keeps haunting her unconsciously. She asks Yuuko to keep it in keepsake, sealed away. But even Yuuko’s seal isn’t strong enough. In the end, the girl begs Yuuko to erase the picture from the face of the earth, at the price of anything. Not a wise thing to say in front of Yuuko. She erases the picture, though the price is high. If the girl ever gets captured on photo, image, video, etc, that picture will appear instead.

It’s like Yuuko said. The burden when you kill someone is high. The picture gave her a huge psychological pressure, as it kept reminding her of the things she’d done, while it couldn’t be thrown away or burned. After Yuuko erased the picture, the pressure will probably lessen. But in exchange for that, she has to be careful for her entire life, avoiding all cameras at all costs. She won’t have a minute of rest, unless she’s at her own house, with the curtains closed.

That’s not a good way to live.

In any case, xxxHolic is just like Mushishi in a way. It doesn’t seem that it can produce bad episodes. Or bad moments for that matter. I really enjoyed this episode, it’s another example of the greatness which xxxHolic can achieve.

An intermezzo. It’ll probably the intermezzo before the big finale of Simoun. Let us hope it’ll be able to deliver the long-awaited bang.

The important characters this time were Aaeru, Neviriru, Paraietta, Yun, Onashia, The Temple One and a bit of Harukonfu. The Peace treaty has been signed. It’s not a trap. But there is a catch: the Chor Tempest will be disbanded. The Priests from the highlands will be taking over the Sibylla’s duties. This worked exceptionally well to put time pressure on our characters. Especially and surprisingly The Temple One shows this, as she isn’t happy with this decision at all. After all, if the Chor Tempest will be disbanded, it’ll almost be impossible to perform the Emerald Ri Maajon. She freaks out and begs Neviriru and Paraietta, who she happened to run into, to perform it.

Yun has meanwhile left the Arcus Prima, and headed towards the ruins. There, she has a very interesting discussion with Onashia. Onashia once was a member of the Chor Dextra. She could understand Yun, as she lost a lot of former friends herself. Onashia then shows her something very interesting: the result of what happens if you don’t choose your gender. If that’s the case, you’ll end up like her. Your eyes get a weird colour, and your body turns blue and starts shedding away strange sparks, which don’t really look healthy. This also explains how Onashia managed to get such a high position. As she never went to the spring, she remained a holy priest for her entire life. Of course that would give her status.

Aaeru is getting more and more confused. It seems that she really wants to see another world. It seems that she had another reason to become a Sibylla than just not being able to make up her mind. Her grandfather also influenced her, making her wanting to travel to another world. That’s why she joined the Chor Tempest. In any case, later in the episode, we see her getting a bit annoyed and confused with Neviriru. She thinks it’s because Neviriru’s been talking more and more, though I (and Furoe as well) think that she’s still jealous with the possibility of Amuria still existing.

Harukonfu still doesn’t know what he can do. He can’t protect his daughter, he lost his status, he’s nothing. Maybe we can expect some interesting things from him in the latest episodes. Paraietta and Neviriru also finally seem to have understood each other.

It seems that everything is set now for the finale. I’m wondering how it’ll go. It’s got some good ingredients, now all that’s left is how to use them.