Short Synopsis: The next, and probably final case revolves around a family which has been haunted by one or more spirits for a few generations.
Good: A smaller scale than the previous cases; I liked the back-story of the ghosts.
Bad: Will this final arc really save this series?
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10

Ah, last time, I made a prediction that either Naru or Mai would end up in some kind of grave danger. In the end, this turned out to be Naru, when he let a rather malicious ghost possess him. This leaves him put in a forced sleep for the next couple of episodes, and out of the investigation of the case. With this, Mai can only cling to Bou-san, which gives the current arc quite a bit of potential for Mai to show what she’s really made of.

But then again, I’ve been saying that for each arc. And still, they turned out disappointing. Gain, the show isn’t bad, but I keep expecting this show to match the fifth episode, and I’m getting annoyed that this has yet to happen. For some reason, the past few arcs found it a good idea to lower the pacing and give Mai a damsel-in-distress role. And that while the pacing was so addictive in the fifth arc.

Still, one thing I genuinely liked about this series was the back-story of the ghosts. If the creators can continue this further through the next episodes, then things can become really interesting. It seems that we’re dealing with a series of ghosts, among which is a couple, who committed some kind of sin and had to get chased out of their village because of this. I’m assuming that they died. So far, we’ve got three ghosts which have been confirmed to posses people. The one who now has hold of Naru, and the two children called Katsuki and Wakako. I assume that the two of them are possessed by the couple. Apart from them, I suspect that one of the other sons also has a spirit inside of him, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the other girl also was possessed. I’d just wish that we’d see a bit more of her.

I’m also glad that this arc is a bit more down-to-earth. Both Ubusuna and Sakauchi tried to curse an entire school, while Urado had almost countless of victims. This makes it rather hard to sympathize with the original victims, but right now the case revolves around a family. Most people who died were members of the family. This arc reminds me a lot of Ayatsuri Sakon, especially the Byakko-arc. Heh, I’d wish that Mai would be as versatile as Sakon. :P

We also got some very obvious signs that Matsuzaki is going to play a big part in this arc. While I don’t like the obviousness, it’s great to see Matsuzaki actually being useful. Before, you could have replaced her with a cardboard box and you still wouldn’t have noticed the difference.

Short Synopsis: Lief, Barda and Jasmine run into the trap of Nij and Doj, two of Tegan’s servants.
Good: Very refreshing, finally an adventure anime with the emphasis on using your head to get rid of the enemy.
Bad: I had a near-headdesk moment when Lief, Barda and Jasmine ran into the trap without noticing anything.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10

Ah, for the first time since the first episode I’ve been impressed again. The past few episodes were nice and all, but they were missing something. While this episode did have some annoying points, I still loved how both parties try to deceive their enemies. During the climax, Lief and Barda also didn’t just use their huge powers to slay the monsters. No, instead, they fled, and tried to eliminate them by disabling the path, which can be switched on and off.

I also loved the cross-references between the episode. I was wondering if the song of the last episode was some kind of introduction, and indeed it was. I’m suspecting that we’ll run into the eleven other children. Also, which raven has been swallowed by Tegan? I’m also curious about the frogs, the worms and the flees.

To make matters even better, the Tara-guy had a surprisingly heavy background. I assumed he couldn’t speak because he spoke a different language and didn’t even bother, but the voice of him and all his comrades has been sealed away by Tegan. Never knew that she would be this big. He also proved to be quite useful, instead of just acting like a random victim, or a person who gets to “see the light” because of our main characters.

Overall, I was right to chose to blog this series. It may have a few clichéd elements, but the rest of the anime more than makes up for it. It’s too bad that this series has been so incredibly neglected.

Still, I wish the fansubbers would proofread their releases a bit. At one point, they thought one of the monsters just talked gibberish at one point, they translated it as “bla bla bla”, with a note that he just “doesn’t say anything”, while it was in fact a sentence that even I could understand. Loosely translated, it’s something like “you’ll soon sleep forever”, which is why Lief suspected that they did something in the tea.