「炎の鶺鴒」 (Honoo no Sekirei)
“The Flame Sekirei”

All Minaka had to do was tell existing Ashikaba that there’s fresh meat out there for the taking to get them to come in droves, but it’s kind of concerning how there’s no regard for what gender Homura is as long as he’s seen as “free goods.” I gather no one really cares when there’s a high chance that the last unwinged Sekirei in northern Shintou is female to begin with, but the only Ashikaba I’d expect to be completely okay with finding out otherwise is Hayato. He does have Mutsu with him after all. For everyone else, I’m hoping they would at least react a bit like Minato to the idea, before getting into the whole “love that transcends gender” mentality (if at all). It doesn’t matter how slight it is, as I’d simply like some indication that everyone’s not bisexual here. So here’s to hoping that Sakurako Gokurakuin will humor me as the female mangaka that she is if nothing else. On that note, I wasn’t even aware that this series was created by a female mangaka for the longest time, so perhaps that’s why we have a hermaphrodite Sekirei to begin with. I don’t think I’ll ever quite understand the mindset of a female artist who can create such a male-oriented series, but I’d imagine she’d be a pretty cool person in real life!

Most of this episode played out much like the previous one set it up for, but did reveal some additional tidbits along the way. The most notable one was the revelation that gathering a lot of Sekirei under Minato is part of some plan that Matsu has to break free of the twisted Sekirei Project game that Minaka’s running. Both Miya and Seo are well aware of that fact since it coincides with Takehito’s wishes when he was still alive, which explains why they’re all gathered at Izumo Inn and why both Kusano and Tsukiumi were winged by Minato back in season one. Miya’s passive involvement wasn’t too surprising, since she’s scary Miya and wants to kill Minaka herself (apparently), but Seo’s help in adding Sekirei to Minato’s collection wasn’t all that obvious. Back then, I was only under the impression that he was easygoing and didn’t care about the Sekirei Project at all. While that still holds true for the most part, it changes my perspective of him well before he helped out with Haruka and Kuno’s escape from the city. The other big twist was the arrival of Uzume, who joined the hunt for Homura as the “Hire” Sekirei (i.e. veil/shawl). Her appearance as an enemy put new meaning on her words last episode about not thinking of her as Uzume anymore, plus gave us a high definition look at her flashy Sekirei outfit and fighting style. Out of the bunch at Izumo, Uzume’s character design is definitely one of the most stylish, so it’s always a treat to see her in action. As for the last tidbit, Homura also revealed that discarded Sekirei such as Akitsu with the crest on her forehead are ridiculously strong even though they can’t form a contract with an Ashikabi, raising questions about exactly why she’s still kicking around with Hayato.

Aside from the above, the focus of the episode was the hunt for Homura, with Hayato taking the forefront by sending in Akitsu alone in a one-on-one fight for his own entertainment purposes. The revelation that she was going commando loosened the tension a bit, while the arrival of the other parties of interest set things up nicely for a huge showdown next time, where Shiina may finally run into Kusano. However, what absolutely stole the show for me were Tsukiumi’s antics earlier on. The way she finally put two and two together about Kagari being Homura was hilarious, especially seeing Kazehana try to get the hell away before she blew up. I also got a really good laugh out of how she was trying to convince herself more than anyone else that Minato should go and “marry” Homura as well, and how she as the “true wife” permits him to pick up a sixth one. It was a pretty shoddy attempt to say the least, since Tsukiumi could barely contain her sanity with the thought of another girl being added to the mix, but Minato’s rebuttal about Kagari being a guy and Kazehana calling him “unrefined” for being concerned about gender was just as funny. There was Tsukiumi’s justification that she tries to kill him all the time as well, which summed up the whole scene as an attempt to force Minato into a homosexual relationship. I don’t recall the first season ever being this funny, but I just love the mix of comedy and seriousness shown thus far.

As some people may recall, Tsukiumi was more or less coerced into a contract with Minato when Seo tried to force himself upon her (which we now know was on purpose). Her hesitant change of heart here was prompted by thought that some other Ashikabi would try do the same with Homura, so it sort of went to show that Tsukiumi’s more thoughtful than she cares to admit. Next episode should be a nice follow-up to the group’s sentiments, though the preview didn’t suggest whether or not Homura will be winged then. My guess is that he will be, seeing as his powers are about to go out of control and get himself killed if he doesn’t.

 

Preview

21 Comments

  1. OMG I’m the worst !!!

    ♥ Uzume ♥

    Is my rule to never read the manga for an ongoing series. However Kazehana and Uzume made me sin. I read the whole thing !!!!!! Good and/or bad is that the series is still ongoing with no end insight. YES!!!

    So to avoid any spoil will refrain for comments until season end. I love this series and what’s coming up !!!!!!
    And of course traps (hermaphrodite, cross dresses, whatever you want to call them ) are the best, Homura is nice but Hideyoshi is still more sexy 😛

    Island Esper
  2. The mangaka does seem interesting and an obviously great artist as the art of the manga is awesome. Anyone interested in seeing some examples should look up the book that gave name to this season as its a colored picture book featuring nice pictures of the characters in the manga. But her yaoi and shotacon background did give a bit of a sinister twist to this arc in the manga. Minato didn’t even suspect it at this point in the manga and thought Homura was very much male. Homura who started to react to Minato even pointed out to someone, Matsu I think, that him giving in to his attraction would involve butt pain for Minato! I guess its to avoid the yaoi implications that Homura is made more obviously female in the anime.

    Znail
  3. I would not be surprised to see Minato end up with Uzume and Miya in his group by the end of the series/manga. If they end up killing Uzume instead thats gonna suck ass for Minato’s harem as everyone loves Uzume. I know he can’t wing Uzume or Miya but maybe he can still get them to work with him? I also wanna see what happens when the brother and sister get together and discover they are BOTH ashikabe Show Spoiler ▼

    .

    Karmafan
    1. Your spoiler is correct.
      Show Spoiler ▼

      Uzume and Miya arent quite out of the question as an Ashikabi gets stronger the more powerful Sekirei he gets. This is why neither Homura nor Kazehana was reacting to Minato initialy, as he needed to wing some less powerful Sekirei to aquire the power to wing them. Its not too far fetched that Minato, having quite the strong harem, would be able to break some of the commonly accepted rules for winging Sekirei. Miya for that matter isn’t classified as a Sekirei as she unlike the rest was already a grown up instead of a foster when the alien ship was discovered, while the rest was somehow modified before growing up. So her dead husband was just that, not her Ashikabi. Miya is quite secretive and doesn’t want Minato to know about her yet, so we know little about her apart from the flashbacks.

      Znail
  4. oh well, lets sum it up…
    Miya can be brought ito the fray yet. If she enters combat I expect world-shattering awesomeness.
    Uzume either will die along with her Ashikabi or via awesome pimp powers of Minato will be joining his harem.
    Minatos sister will join him for a teamwork ince…ndiary effect 😛
    Thus we have most of single digit Sekirei, and 2 of the late series improved Sekirei (the loli and the shota).Ayone noticed numbers 100+ tend to be very strong too?.
    Question: was Mom secretly pulling strings to have her children win the contest?
    Question: what is exactly relation between Mom and Minaka (complete with her slapping him with paper fan)?
    Can we encounter a Vader moment?
    Minaka: I am your father, Minato! Join me and together we will rule all the Sekireis…
    Question:Will Kazehana try to defend her first love (Minaka) from the wrath of Homura (and worse, Miya)?
    Question: was the Izumo Inn designed as a base for rebellious Sekirei to challenge the S-plan? pretty probable…

    ewok40k
    1. I guess we can see it as the single digits was the most mature and thus strong because of that while the late numbers would incorporate lessons learned while tuning the earlier ones.
      Show Spoiler ▼

      Znail
      1. As far as we can tell, single digits simply have more raw power (in any way, not just strength as shown with Matsu, who is #02, but is definitely not a fighter type) than your “normal” Sekirei. Like Tsukiumi being able to effortlessly block normal electrical attacks by Hikari and Hibiki (even though water should conduct electricity o_O lol). Of course, even among single digits, there can be quite a difference in power/skill/etc like Kazehana being able to easily hold off Tsukiumi or, of course, Miya in general, lol.

        However, obviously, being a lower number doesn’t automatically make one weaker than a higher number as Benitsubasa and Haihane have shown (numbers 105 and 104 respectively) or the meek Kuno (#95).

        HalfDemonInuyasha
  5. Its interesting how nice Miya is towards Minato. It may seem like she is only a strict person, but she only shoos the Sekirei away when they are bothering Minato too much. She only intervened with their sleeping arrangement after it was obvious that Minato couldn’t sleep. She was perfectly fine with Minato and Musubi sharing a room from the start, so its not like she was against them being intimate if they so choose. But Minato doesn’t seem to want to do anything, so she helps him out by running interference. Its rather nice of her as he obviously have a hard time telling the girls when they are overdoing things.

    Minato did seem about to get things on when it was just Musubi, but its a lot more complicated with a harem. Him being innocent and having no actual experience with girls have a hard time. Its a bit daunting to try and go from virgin->orgy.

    Znail
  6. I am sure Minato is trying to control himself to avoid breaking up his team with jealusy. Plus, he really likes all the girls, and feels that going further with any of them will hurt the others feelings. I wonder will he be able to manage this balance until the end? And what about eventual choice of life partner after the end Sure Musubi seems to be closest to him, but I dont see Tsukiumi or Kazehana giving up on him.

    ewok40k

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