Summary:

Sabrac returns to Seireiden after having lost the previous battle, but Bel Peol doesn’t mind because the given objective was achieved. After Sabrac leaves because his job is complete, Bel Peol looks at the silver armor and suggests that the rest of them get started. Back in the human world, Keisaku tries to call someone, but he hangs up before he can finish dialing the number. When Margery catches him doing this, Keisaku explains that he’ll do anything to work for Outlaw, including using whatever or whomever it takes. Marchosias figures out that Keisaku is actually trying to contact the father that he hates and admires how Keisaku doesn’t give up. Seeing that her threats have had no effect, Margery just calls Keisaku an idiot. Meanwhile at school, Ike notices that everyone has changed in some way, especially Yuuji, and he decides that he has to change too. After class, Yuuji and Shana are heading home when they run into Yuuji’s father. He wants to speak with Yuuji privately, so the two take a walk.

Kantarou reveals that he came home this time because of urgent business related to Yuuji’s mother, and he cites that his motto has always been to lend an ear to anyone troubled. When Yuuji asks about what his mother is troubled by, Kantarou clarifies that he didn’t mean it in a bad way – Chigusa is merely troubled by how to explain something. The real reason Kantarou came back home was to get Yuuji’s consent to use the character for the number three in his little brother or little sister’s name. It takes Yuuji a moment to realize the implication that his mother is pregnant, but when he does, he’s quite shocked. Kantarou also explains that Chigusa is troubled because there’s something that she has to tell Yuuji. It goes back to how they got married young due to their baby, but her first childbirth hadn’t gone well, and the doctor told her that she couldn’t have another child. This of course turned out to be the wrong diagnosis, but for them at the time, only two children had been born – one who lived through birth and one who didn’t.

They had given Yuuji his name based on how he was the second child – the “ji” in his name – and on how they wanted Yuuji to have a life long enough for both him and the brother who didn’t make it – the “yuu” in his name. For their next child, they thus want to use “san” (three) in the name to show that the child came after Yuuji and his brother. Yuuji has no problem with this and thanks his father for talking to him about everything. On the way home, he thinks about his family, including the new life that is coming, and how he wants to protect the world. Shana meanwhile meets with Kazumi and immediately gets to the point by asking Kazumi to teach her how to make babies. She had heard about Chigusa’s pregnancy and had wanted to know how to do it, but no one will tell her. Kazumi explains that the reason for that is because asking about this topic in the presence of other people is more embarrassing than showing herself naked. Realizing what this means because of her firsthand experience with the latter, Shana stops asking about it.

Shana then tells Kazumi about how she feels that Yuuji is getting stronger and how he’s looking straight ahead. In light of this, she wants to settle things concerning him with Kazumi tomorrow – Christmas Eve. The plan is for the two of them to wait in different places and have Yuuji choose which of them to go to. Kazumi takes Shana to a shop for some stationary, and the two inform Yuuji via written letters that he’s to choose one of them by going to either the north or south exit of the train station. Afterwards, Kazumi is headed home when she happens to run into Ike at a crosswalk. Ike had earlier gone to Keisaku to talk about what he wanted to do, and Keisaku had urged him to do it. Thus, Ike now asks Kazumi to meet him tomorrow so that he can tell her how he feels about her, and he even agrees to do it earlier in the day so that it doesn’t conflict with what she and Shana have planned with Yuuji that night. This leaves Kazumi a little troubled because she never suspected Ike’s feelings, though her thoughts later that night eventually go back to the Hougu that Pheles gave her, and she wonders if she can use it for Yuuji or Shana’s sake even if Yuuji doesn’t end up choosing her.

The following day, Shana reveals to Wilhelmina that she’s going to tell Yuuji she loves him. When Wilhelmina voices her opposition to this because she foresees trouble if things don’t turn out well, she and Shana get into an argument that ends in Shana storming out. Afterwards, Tiamat helps Wilhelmina realize that her negative reaction is a projection of the fear that she had experienced in the past. Because of this, Wilhelmina pays a visit to Shana’s room to mend their relationship and to help Shana decide on what clothes to wear. That night, Ike meets with Kazumi and confesses his feelings. He lets her give him her answer by either walking towards him or going the other way, and after bowing, Kazumi heads the other way. As planned, she goes and waits at the south exit of the station while Shana waits at the north one, and Yuuji soon arrives there. Before he can make his decision though, a blue field surrounds him and Hecate suddenly appears to pull the Reiji Maigo out from inside of him. Hearing Yuuji’s scream, all the Flame Haze in the city realize that something is happening.

Preview:

For an episode that I had some doubts about coming into it, this didn’t turn out to be so bad – pretty good even. I was afraid that the writers might waste these final three episodes because there’s only so much that can be covered in that time span, but the appearance of Hecate and the stuff that hinted at in the beginning with Bel Peol and the silver armor show promise in terms of progressing the story. The scene with Yuuji’s father talking about Chigusa’s pregnancy and the origin of Yuuji’s name was also pretty enlightening, even if it probably doesn’t have much impact on the overall plot other than to motivate Yuuji to protect the world even more.

I do, however, wish that they’d stop with the Yuuji-having-to-decide-between-Kazumi-and-Shana stuff. After a while, it starts feeling like a rehash of the same things over and over, and given that he was interrupted by Hecate’s arrive, I doubt that he’ll have chosen either of them by the end of this series. I also suspect that Kazumi will end up using the Hougu that Pheles gave her, and that’ll probably just complicate things further. What this all means is that I think this series will very likely leave things open enough for a third series, but I guess we’ll see what happens.

73 Comments

  1. FUCK THIS SHIT. Where’s our motherfucking Sairei no Hebi Sakai Yuuji? REMOVING THE REIJI MAIGO KILLS THE MYSTES INSTANTLY WHAT IS WITH THIS PLOT HOLE. Seriously…JC Staff really is lq now, first Zero II now Shana II, it’s all fanservice moe moe trash now. Character development? We could have had better development with flashbacks like Margery’s, not wasted like eight episodes on playing volleyball and doing homework!!

    Dammit Japan, now I’ve lost it.

    Anonymous
  2. @bearzerger: Nein, I believe he’s Merihim, Wilhelmina’s love interest, who transformed into a skeli in season 1 and eventually got ganked by Shana. I hope that’s only a flashback… last we saw of him he was dying under a collapsing building.

    Ah well.. this being anime, they’re not deceased until you’ve reduced them to ashes, hucked it in 4 dimensions across space, and salted the earth they died on.

    Ekental
  3. :s why does stuff always happen when Shana’s about to confess to Yuji.

    Hmmm, I prefered the first season because some of the episodes in this one are … odd, to say the least.

    Neko-Saphira
  4. If Hecate could just show up and do that, what was the whole point of all those fighting?

    After the excellent Sabrac fighting sequences in the last two episode, this is depressing >_

    Ronin8317
  5. are you guys surprised? Really? We already knew it was not going to go as the novels when Yoshida got the item to be able to call Pheles if something happened. that is anime original!

    golthin
  6. I wouldn’t be surprised if the end went against the novels. From the beginning it was quite impossible that they would end it with Yuuji as a villain, because you can’t make such a cliffhanger the end of a season. So either they change it or they end it before it ever happens.

    bearzerger
  7. The part when Shana ask Yuji, Kasumi and the others about how to make a child was hilarious. The last scene was quite expected that won’t have the chance to choose and that part cant be a filler, like would there even be enough time to make a filler for 2 episode remaining? Besides Yuuji becoming Sairei no Hebi is in vol.16, this episode is in vol.14 people.

    setsuke
  8. I believe so mit, probably because hecate will try to fuse the Reiji Maigo with the Silver, and that SnH will blatently refuse such a pittoresque being and would rather go back to Yuji on his own. What I’m still wondering is what will happen to Johan?

    Arnaiyus
  9. but, but, but…. If Hecate pull out the Reiji Maigo from Yuji he’s going to disapear, because his power of existens won’t will itselfs up at midnight anymore!

    What sh*t is this going to be??

    virox
  10. u shouldn t jump onto the conclusion so fast. i’ll give u a 60% possible plot for the end of this season. if u grab some hints of the animation : like Bal Masque and kaikin Show Spoiler ▼

    With his kind of plot the animation stay close of the novels, and leave a big plot Show Spoiler ▼

    for possible movie or 3rd season.

    Ryo007
  11. breezy: People are blaming JC Staff for deviating too much from the novel material. Like this ‘pulling out the Reiji Maigo’ stuff. The thing about the Reiji maigo is that it supplies Yuuji with nearly limitless PoE at this point; without it he’s just a normal mystes, and will eventually ‘burn out’ and disappear.

    Myssa Rei
  12. I haven’t seen the raw but everyone’s saying Yuji should have died when Reiji Maigo was pulled out. Isn’t it because he has a crapload of the power of existence in him because of Hecate the reason he didn’t die immediately? I mean Hecate just took Reiji Maigo not all of his power of existence, right? Or did she?

    Lair
  13. No worries all, i’ll beat every1 who ever heard of this show with a bat to the face if SnH yuji don’t show, then we don’t have to live with the pain.T-T…I WANT MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Angry man,loving fan of SnS
  14. What if they’re just using this as delay tactic so that in the final parts of the finale, yuuji goes sairei no hebi on us? It’d make sense, wait for a while with a episode filler and leave with bang of a cliffhanger until the next season which would probably be after Zero no Tsukaima 3 or after the one after it. I mean if was the director, i’d find a way to keep their interest rather than blow the audience off with a random filler.

    By the way, is this really a filler? Cause i don’t read the novels so i don’t know what happens but that yoshida and ike thing was supposed to happen while it snows right? I know that’s supposed to happen in the novel. The blue fuzetsu interesting though.

    Kagekyuubi
  15. Er, what? Not only will he not instantly burn out, he’s not burning out anytime soon. Yuuji on his own has had the capacity of a Crimson Lord since the beginning of the season, so it’s going to take a while to go through that.

    Gamen
  16. So basically it looks like they are setting things up for Yuuji to be the villian in season 3? Thats whacked. How he gonna hook up with Shana if he the villian and she has to kill him?

    Splash
  17. This type of last minute twist is common amoung these type of animes. Just before “The Big Momnet” some thing always interups it and then for some reason the moment is forgotten. O.O

    -There have been a couple on animes that i’m viewing are doing the same thing…hopfully theres gonna be anothe season with this anime and the others i’m watching

    /rant

    NoOne
  18. I think its a good thing they’re slowing this season down, rather than cramming everything into the final episodes. The expected third season is shaping up to be pretty good, assuming they don’t fill the first half up with a bunch of filler again…

    funguy19
  19. >You people need to wait. It’s obviously gonna be season 3 or an OVA where you see your most awaited part. I’m dying to see an OVA or a season 3.

    You’re stupid because more isn’t going to come. If people want more Shana, they have to buy the DVDs, and if people are upset with the story they’re NOT going to buy the DVDs. And if they buy the DVDs, that just legitimizes JC Staff’s changes (encouragement to deviate more) so that’s never going to happen.

    Anonymous
  20. Wow, so we have an anonymous poster calling someone stupid, then they use the justification that no one will buy the DVDs because they deviate from the novels because it’ll encourage JC Staff to deviate from the novels even more?

    I didn’t realize everyone had the same train of thought.

    Pot, meet kettle.

  21. IMHO.

    I think from the way JC Staff is going, they purposely wanted to do a 3rd season of SnS.

    Judging that possibility from the first half of this season, I conclude that we’ve been lured to wait for a 3rd season from the very beginning.

    From THE VERY BEGINNING. Wait, LOL. LOLWUT? From the BEGINNING?

    And plus the extra final character not yet introduced as in the character index at the official site (thanks Slayer) I knew they were delaying the deployment of Sairei No Hebi Sakai Yuuji just to make an excuse for a third season.

    Which means there will be more waiting for us when we don’t want to wait, =P

  22. And, what? It’s an excuse to want to make more profit? Heh.

    People, please take your complaints to the complaint department. As much as anyone (including me) hope to see Sairei no Hebi, cursing J.C is uncalled for, unless you think you can do a better job.

    Anyway, looks somewhat intense. There’s a few flashbacks here, and even Sabrac’s appearance. Is he truly dead?

    Owaranai Destiny
  23. @Owaranai Destiny -no,he is in serei den,resting.

    @The Flame Wizard -yuup,same goes here.it would be better if they could atleast show yuji merging with snh and leave the fight with mergery and shana for the next season or ova,whatever.

    mit
  24. in my opinion it looks like they might leave it till the last episode for yuuji to become SnH.
    so everyone needs to calm down a little and wait for the last episode. if it comes down to it not happening, then you can curse JC staff. but untill then, keep the curseing down.

    im sure SnH Sakai Yuuji will come, it just too good to leave it out at the moment 🙂

    Master of Elements
  25. I think ep 24 final moments will be transformation…then a nice 2 year cliffhanger wait will follow…as much as it would hurt my nervous system, I would love it if they did

    game8910
  26. I think JC Staff fucked up beyond salvation. If they introduce Snake after this episode, it’ll seem chessy/forced/lame. If they don’t, it’ll just be a stupid inconclusive ending like the first season. Unnecessary bullshit.

    Snake of the Festival was HOLY SHIT, GAR! I mean, just to list off his powers and stuff…Show Spoiler ▼

    Anonymous
  27. It was obvious that Chisuga was pregnant having been “ill” and everything else. They could make stuff a bit less simple! I reckon Kazumi’ll use the necklace eventually to save Yuji/Shana and that’ll just leave YujixsShana and… hopefully no more choose-between’s.

    jez
  28. I wonder why Shana, in the first season, knows how to solve mathematical computations, gets a 100 mark in tests, and even correct mistakes of teachers yet doesn’t know how babies are made O_O

    kabayongtao
  29. Yuuji’s dad telling him that Chigusa is a bit dense when things are concerning herself must have been passed down to Yuuji himself considering the conflict between Shana and Yoshida.

    Cherubium
  30. @ kabayongtao: You’re talking math, this thing here she’s asking is Science, though I doubt she might have actually read word for word rather than understanding everything in a literal sense. XD Anyway, it serves yet again to tell us that despite how much Shana has changed courtesy of Yuuji and Kazumi, she’s still ignorant of certain things that require just common sense to normal people.

    Anyway, the “lame” love triangle looked certain to be resolved mostly because Shana knows her feelings well enough, and has decided to fight it out fair and square with Kazumi. I was anticipating Yuuji to at least make some sort of a choice but taking one step first towards the ‘North’, but Hecate was the one who spoilt it.

    Oh well…If he’s still half-assed about this, Hecate certainly saved his face. XD

    Owaranai Destiny
  31. I think SnH Yuji will show, Bel Poel will say somethin like welcome sliver and/or leader.
    Then he will end series with the line “Call me Sairei no Hebi Sakai Yuji!” and then a long wait for ova’s or a third season…Well there’s my guess. And i believe his greatest power is to reject Kazumi! Been waitin so long for that!

    Destiny

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