Short Synopsis: Finally, the thing that was about to come ever since Gretel appeared in this show: she flees from Hansel and joins Akazukin-tachi.
Good: OMG Turude! Beware for MAJOR SPOILERS below.
Bad: The power of friendship!
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8.5/10

Whoa!

Seriously!

The episode was nice and all, but a bit cheesy. It had it coming, but Gretel joining because of the powers of friendship just overflowed with cheese. The episode itself was nice, but it didn’t really solve anything, in comparison to the previous ones. But then, at the end of the episode, I realized something incredible about Turude.

She’s Souta’s MOTHER!!! Holy god. OF COURSE, how could I not see that!? Okay, it isn’t explicitly shown, but with this, all of the pieces fit together. It had to be strange for her to be the only major character left, without any background information or history. Of course that wouldn’t be shown, it’d spoil everything. Only now the creators dropped the first hints about this! That is SO awesome. It also totally explains why Souta’s mother was captured, why Cendrion knew about her, everything!

I love this show!

Short Synopsis: Akizuki recovers, while Hijikata and Enomoto conquer Hakodate.
Good: Nice battles, I liked how focused the episode was.
Bad: The timing of that husband was a bit too convenient. Akizuki acted really predictable.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7.5/10

Dammit, no online-summaries have appeared for this episode yet. Ah well, luckily, it wasn’t as hard to understand as usual. We’ve got a pretty focused episode this time, featuring only a select amount of characters. Heck, Soutetsu, the troupe and the Englishmen didn’t even appear, while Kakunojou only appeared for one minute or something.

I had one major problem with this episode. It was great as usual, but Akizuki was just way to predictable. Heck, how many anime have we seen up till now where a main character gets mortally wounded, separated from everyone else, saved by a bunch of random people, get involved with some of their problems and then becoming a better character? Probably too many to count. It’s not really bad or anything, but when anime keep and keep using this, things become a bit predictable.

Still, that doesn’t mean that I didn’t like the kid nearly drowning. Akizuki gets saved by a mother and her daughter. The father left to be a soldier a long time ago. Akizuki obviously doesn’t speak much, and he keeps having visions of an evil (and rather funny) Kakunojou. Then, during a rather nasty storm, the child went playing outside, and fell into the ocean. This scene really was meant for Akizuki to realize one of his major flaws: the fact that he always tries to do everything on his own, and that he keeps blaming himself for things that happened. But seriously, Akizuki is about to leave, and the husband suddenly shows up again? I thought the creators knew better than this.

The second focus of the episode featured Hijikata, attacking Hakodate with his army. After the last episode, I said that this episode would probably feature another climax, due to the pattern of this series. It’s surprising to see that this was the first climax in Bakumatsu to not feature Akizuki. Hakodate seems to be a major city in terms of trade with Russia, it even has a European design. I can imagine that it would be heavily guarded, and that it would hold a great strategic value to Enomoto.

Short Synopsis: A Matsuda-episode. See what happens when the idiot starts to act on his own.
Good: The beginning of the episode was great. L was too funny at times.
Bad: It’s a miracle Matsuda stayed alive through all this.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7.5/10

The creators found a nice way to develop the Yotsuba-arc further this episode. Earlier I mentioned that Matsuda is the most unprofessional of Kira’s group, and this time, we see what his stupidity brings him to. Heck, he even gets his own special hair-colour, differentiating from the usual red and blue. The episode would have sucked, if it wasn’t for L’s reaction to everything. He surely managed to turn this entertaining with his constant annoyance at the poor Matsuda. I loved how he had to act as a mere ambulance worker in the end. ^^

While certain parts of the episode smelled a bit too much like “filler”, certain parts were pretty interesting regarding the main plot. First of all, it showed that the security in the main office of the Yotsuba-group is garbage. The fact that Matsuda could sneak in and go to the secret meeting has to say something. You’d think that the members of the Yotsuba group would be extra careful, now that they’re playing with things that can get them in jail for the rest of their lives, but surprisingly, they don’t. Matsuda now also has been stripped from his role as Misa’s manager. As it would be troublesome if people recognized him on the street, it looks like he’s going to be promoted to full-time coffee-bringer.

The climax of the episode definitely was interesting, while Light’s father yet again showed how easy it is to get into the Yotsuba-building when he manages to bring a giant mattress inside of it, in order to save Matsuda. Actually, I’m suspecting that they went to another building when Misa and her friends arrived. Matsuda, however, surprised me with his athletic ability. The two thieves also were interesting in their acting. Overall, a funny episode. I liked how this episode tried to give an actual comedic note to the scenes. Still, Misa remains annoying. I’m suspecting that the Yotsuba-arc will be more of a comedic arc, since it now became clear that it’s being managed by a bunch of idiots. ^^;