First Impressions / Nabari no Ou

「発動」 (Hatsudou)
“Invocation”

Episode at Glance:
Having brought Miharu and Yoite in, Yukimi casts off his actions as an attempt to make them repent and apologize for their actions, which Hattori accepts, but doesn’t seem to believe. During this time, Kouichi, Raimei, and Gau make their way to the Kairoushuu temple hideout as per Gau’s directions. Saraba and Sourou on the other hand tend to Yae, who insists on hurrying to help Miharu and points out that there’s something peculiar about Raikou. Thinking to herself, she recalls seeing his past and his sorrow, which she believe has lead to his resolution.

At the temple, Hattori tells Yukimi that Yoite is a being that should have never existed. He then goes on to explain how they saved Yoite when he was a kid, and found out that he wanted his existence erased because there was no one cared about him. At Ichiki’s suggestion, Hattori convinced Yoite that learning the Kira and serving under him will allow his wish to be fulfilled one day. Yukimi however feels that the Kairoushuu leader used Yoite’s desire against him, prompting Hattori to retort that he was used by Yoite. Outraged, Yukimi says that Yoite was just a child then, but Hattori says that it has no bearing on desires, claiming that Yoite’s desires rival his own. He adds that the awakening of the Shinrabanshou caused Yoite to sway from him, and that the hijutsu can be used to erase Yoite without a trace, but tells Yoite that his efforts were all in vain.

Meanwhile, Shiranui is informed that Yae’s been found, so he sends Hyou and Shigure out to fetch her. Before long, Saraba, Sourou, and Yae find themselves under attack, but are able to fend Hyou and Shigure off for the most part. Overlooking the temple, Kouichi, Raimei, and Gau make there way towards it, unaware that Gau set off a wire signal trap in the process. Off at a train station, Kumohira stumbles his way out of the gate, where Shijima riducules him a bit before telling him that Yoite doesn’t have much time left. While Kumohira is unsure of who she is, Kotarou appears before him and confirms with Shijima that she’s located the place. Kumohira tries to speak with the Fuuma leader, but Kotarou simply says he prays for his “great efforts” and righteous beliefs before vanishing.

Back at the temple, Raikou takes out a bunch of guards and finds Ichiki in one of buildings. Noticing Raikou’s presence, Ichiki makes a witty remark about him not having commited seppuku, before saying that he doesn’t understand Hattori’s feelings. She also blames people like him for causing Hattori hardships, but Raikou says that everyone’s suffering. Amused, Ichiki says that making comparisons is pointless and adds that Hattori is looking at the world at in a much broader sense, so Raikou retorts that he can’t imagine being allowed to ignore people’s hearts even if that were the case. Feeling that it’s no different than the lies they live in now, Ichiki gets fed up with the talk, just when Shiranui appears behind Raikou. Drawing his Shirogamon, Raikou clashes with the Tategami leader, who claims he fights for Hattori’s future. Reminded of his parents, Raikou is able to defeat Shiranui, but suffers a severe wound from the exchange.

In the outskirts of the temple, Kouichi, Raimei, and Gau run into Kagerou and subsequently, Kairoushuu reinforcements. During this time, Hattori comments on all the mayhem Yoite caused, but claims to have always valued his desire, so he offers Yoite the choice to die as a traitor or rejoin the Kairoushuu. Miharu however protests that Yoite’s desire isn’t for the Kairoushuu’s sake, so Hattori questions if he’s ever considered that Yoite may have deceived him. Raikou then appears, claiming that Hattori is trying to say that Yoite joined the Kairoushuu to die for him (which he clearly didn’t). While Yukimi is surprised to see him here and heavily wounded, Raikou bows down and politely asks Hattori to give up on his plans, making the the Kairoushuu leader feel that he’s being cajoled. Ordered to kill Raikou, Yukimi questions if Raikou’s serious about this and why him as well, so Raikou expresses how he felt that the Kairoushuu was meant to save people who had no where to go. Yukimi says that things in the Nabari world aren’t so sugarcoated, so Raikou asks what they’re fighting for if they throw away their whitewashing.

Claiming that he’s naive, Yukimi fights Raikou, but ends up wounded for his efforts. With Yukimi asking if he intends to go after Hattori next, Raikou says that it’s his duty as a samurai to rise up against a foolish leader. Hearing this, Ichiki holds Miharu hostage while Hattori unties Yoite, telling him to kill Raikou as his last duty, but Yoite decides to turn on Ichiki instead. Before Yoite can use his Kira though, Shiranui appears behind Raikou trying to take him by surprise, but ends up being killed for good this time. Forced to take things into his own hands, Hattori breaks Raikou’s sword and drives his hand into Raikou’s wound from earlier. Reminded of his sister and Gau, Raikou quietly calls out their names before dying. Outside, Raimei senses that her Kurogamon is crying and heads to the temple with Gau while Kouichi keeps Kagerou busy. She arrives to find Raikou dead and screams out for him. Ichiki then blames Yoite for all of this, but Miharu is so shocked/angered that the Shinrabanshou starts to awaken.

Using a whirlwind technique, Kouichi is able to finish off Kagerou, after which he along with everyone else, notice a dark storm cloud blanketing over the city. Off on a rooftop, Shijima tells Kumohira that the Shinrabanshou has started to act.

 

Next Episode:
「円月輪」 (Engetsurin)
“Engetsurin”

Impressions:
Plenty of casualties to go around with Hyou, Kagerou, and a bunch of unnamed Kairoushuu ninjas biting the dust. Most importantly though is that Raikou was killed by Hattori, who moved around like Gouki before breaking Raikou’s Shirogamon with his bare hand and finishing him off. As I mentioned last week, there were quite a few death flags for Raikou, but I didn’t gather that he would die so soon. His death appears to have awakened the Shinrabanshou, but judging from Miharu’s reaction, it’s hard to say whether or not he’ll go berserk first. The preview shows that he’s relatively together; however, these type of rash emotions seem to be just what the Shinrabanshou wants out of Miharu, so it’ll be interesting to see how this unfolds.

On a similar note, I’m curious as to whether the Shinrabanshou’s awakening is linked to Kouichi and Shijima’s powers. Shortly after the Shinrabanshou awakened, Kouichi’s eyes turned cat-like (as seen before) which coincided with the whirlwind technique that he used to defeat Kagerou. If this is all merely a coincidence, it makes me wonder why Kouichi never used these powers earlier. Anyway, I was happy to see Shijima again, but surprised to see her with Kotarou this time. I guess this means that the Fuuma leader is aware of both her and Kouichi’s true identities then. As for whether or not she’ll get involved again I’m not sure, but for now she just seems to be leading Kumohira in the right direction.

As for Yoite, they delved into his past a lot more this time, with Hattori explaining how he used Yoite’s desire to be erased to get him to learn the Kira and work under him. Interestingly enough, it was actually Ichiki’s idea, so it looks like she’s just as villainous as Hattori is. I think they’ve focused on Yoite’s past a fair bit already, and aside from some loose ends (i.e. why he fell/jumped off a roof), it’s been established well enough thus far. However, it was revealed to Yukimi for the very first time here, and surprisingly, didn’t sway him away from following Hattori’s orders to kill Raikou, even though he argued with Hattori about how he used Yoite when he was just a child.

Personally, I’ve been waiting to see the series take a turn with the awakening of the Shinrabanshou, so hopefully things will continue on in this direction for the last few episodes. I’m particularly interested in the next episode though, because it looks like Kumohira will use the Engetsurin, which is shrouded in so much mystery. We’ve already seen/heard about what the other kinjutsu do, but the Engetsurin has always stayed in the dark, so I can’t wait to see what the teacher has been hiding all this time.

 

Cast:
– Rokujou Miharu (六条 壬晴) / Kugimiya Rie (釘宮 理恵)
– Yoite (宵風) / Saiga Mitsuki (斎賀 みつき)
– Kumohira Thobari Durandal (雲平・帷・デュランダル) / Namikawa Daisuke (浪川 大輔)
– Aizawa Kouichi (相澤 虹一) / Hino Satoshi (日野 聡)
– Shimizu Raimei (清水 雷鳴) / Fujimura Ayumi (藤村 歩)
– Yukimi Kazuhiko (雪見 和彦) / Tsuda Kenjirou (津田 健次郎)
– Oda Yae (織田 八重) / Yukino Satsuki (雪野 五月)
– Fuuma Kotarou (風魔 小太郎) / Okiayu Ryoutarou (置鮎 龍太郎)
– Saraba (サラバ) / Watanabe Akeno (渡辺 明乃)
– Katou Sourou (加藤 候) / Kakihara Tetsuya (柿原 徹也)
– Kurookano Shijima (黒岡野 しじま) / Shindou Kei (真堂 圭)
– Shinrabanshou (森羅万象) / Tamura Yukari (田村 ゆかり)
– Shimizu Raikou (清水 雷光) / Suwabe Junichi (諏訪部 順一)
– Meguro Gau (目黒 俄雨) / Okamoto Nobuhiko (岡本 信彦)
– Hattori Toujuurou (服部 柊十郎) / Nakata Jouji (中田 譲治)
– Ichiki (一季) / Amano Yuri (天野 由梨)
– Hyou (雹) / Suyama Akio (陶山 章央)
– Shigure (時雨) / Mizuno Risa (水野 理沙)
– Kagerou (陽炎) / Sakaguchi Shuuhei (阪口 周平)
– Shiranui (不知火) / Egawa Hisao (江川 央生)
– Shimizu Kourin (清水 光輪) / Tsuda Shouko (津田 匠子)
– Shimizu Iroku (清水 伊肋) / Take Tora (武 虎)

24 Comments

  4. The drama has really gone far now. I hate Hattori even more now, he just… Ugh. It’s obvious that Yoite is near his end too, which is really sad. And holy– Raikou died?! I was… Not expecting that. At all. ._.

    Liwei
    Reply

  7. Nooo….Raikou dies! It’s just too soon. And Yukimi…how could he let this happen. I just hope they don’t kill Yoite too. Darn, isn’t it about time Kumohira did something! I want to see Shijima kick Ichiki’s ass though.

    Browniekat
    Reply

  10. zalem:
    I omitted some screenshots of Raikou’s flashbacks about Raimei and Gau prior to his death, him mumbling their names, plus some reactions from Yukimi, Miharu, and Yoite, which made it pretty clear that he died. I’ve since added them, so if use a force refresh (Ctrl+F5), you should be able to see them now.

    divine
    Reply

  12. Oh, you’re here! thank heaven! I’ve been waiting with held breath since yesterday for you to post this =)

    Yeah, things look bad for our ninja kids… can you tell exactly how badly injured Yukimi is? I know what happens in the manga, but it didn’t look quite that drastic here.

    angelynx-prime
    Reply

  13. Twirble, I think they laid at least some groundwork for goodwill between Miharu and Raikou with their sympathetic conversation early in the Daya arc (the one where Raikou asks about his friendship with Yoite). Plus, of course, he’s Raimei’s brother, and I’m sure Miharu still counts her as a friend.

    angelynx-prime
    Reply

  16. Angelynx Yeah but it still seems false to me…well Yoite is hurting too so perhaps Raiku’s dying just threw him over the edge.

    I look forward to the next episode… without saying to much I wonder how different the ending will be from the manga now. (will they have any more of the manga at all?)

    Twirble
    Reply

  17. I’m very interested to see what the Engetsurin will do. Considering that the anime has no manga source material to borrow from for its abilities, I’m especially eager to see what they come up with. I liked this episode and am definitely very excited for the last few, since everything seems to have really started moving now.

    YAY for Shijima reappearing! I love her so much. XD She definitely deserves some more screentime. Kouichi showcasing his abilities was absolutely amazing, as well, even though the scene was very brief.

    I feel so sorry for Raimei and Gau.

    I think the fight between Yukimi and Raikou was one of my favorite parts. The animation was lovely. It was also a very cool contrast from the manga version where… (behold my attempt at spoiler tags! Please delete this post if they don’t work, as I don’t want to spoil anyone. o_o)

    Show Spoiler ▼

    I like how the anime is still able to preserve the original personalities even though it’s putting the characters in vastly different situations.

    And umm… yeah, I’ll stop talking now. XDD

    Alaena
    Reply

  18. thanks 4 the summary now that I’ve read it Hattori’s dealing with Yoite’s betrayal was fleshed out surprisingly better than expected
    now what’s left is Kotarou’s grand hidden plan, if it still exists

    ZOL
    Reply

  20. Honestly, it’s going to be very interesting to see how the wrap up this series in just 3 more episodes. For those of you who follow the manga, I’m sure you understand why.

    If they’re attempting to keep a similar plot to the manga, I don’t see how they can possibly finish it in just 26 episodes in it’s current state when the manga isn’t even done yet.

    We’ll have to see, I suppose.

    With that being said, your work in writing these summaries is highly appreciated. <3

    Norikumi
    Reply

  22. Oh my god – they really killed Raikou! (I know I thought this might happen) But bloody hell! I was shocked. This episode is just screaming for subtitles.

    And Yoite. We finally found out why he wants to be erased, poor Yoite, not feeling that he is loved. But it kinda makes sence now, why he would want to jump off a building, (I’m assuming he did.)And Hattori, manipulating a little kid. I know politicians are crooked but that’s just low- convincing a kid to die.

    What a cracking episode. Can’t wait for the next one.

    @ divine – Thanks once again. My jaw dropped when I read your review this time. (Not a lot of people can do that.)

    MangaGirls
    Reply

  23. Ok I did not expect that… O_O R.I.P. Raikou… I always loved your (lacking) driving skills (that rivaled my own XD)

    and now I’m in a nerve-wrecking mess this:

    is making me think that Sora-chan a.k.a. Yoite won’t make it either T^T I knew this would happen but still, now I feel even sadder.

    On a bright note we’ll see some Miharu-rampage next epi… I just hope, that crazed Miharu finish Hattori (and Ichiki while at it) off

    Ru
    Reply

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