「壊れた絆 törött kötés」 (Kowareta Kizuna)
“Broken Bonds”

They sure know how to pick up the pace by having all hell break loose this week. The sight of Saiko’s lifeless body enrages Takahisa beyond the point of no return, and Misuzu finds herself powerless before Superbia’s true identity — the legendary Kusakabe Misao. The truth behind the Black Knights is revealed, but Kakeru and the others are battered and demoralized. The only one able to smile through all this is Yuka with her messed up thinking.

I don’t think you can write “we’re screwed” any better than that. Things pick up immediately from the nurse’s office last time, with Takahisa in complete disbelief that Saiko’s dead. Yukiko holds off Superbia for a while, before Takahisa starts chasing her and attacking relentlessly. He completely destroys most of the town in the process, unaware that this Superbia is merely a decoy to get him to do so. Back at Misuzu’s estate, Shiori tests Kakeru’s abilities by attacking him and is pleased with the results, then tells him he’s the one who awakened the demons but is their “hope” in defeating them too. The real Superbia arrives outside not long after and reveals to Kakeru that they can exist in both worlds by using up their life force. Misuzu, who’s learned of the situation with Takahisa and Saiko, returns home with Kukuri after sensing Superbia’s enormous Ki. She arrives in time to help Kakeru by handing him Raikiri, but Superbia summons copies of the previously defeated Black Knights so that she can fight Misuzu alone. She also reveals her human form to her — Kusakabe Misao — and explains that she became a Black Knight to resist destruction and to protect Avaritia. Misuzu tries to take Misao head-on but quickly realizes their difference in power, backs off, and finds herself too afraid to move.

Meanwhile, Yukiko catches up to Takahisa and tries to convince him to stop attacking the Superbia illusion appearing before him. However, he finds himself unable to stop his killing urges and asks Yukiko to kill him before the fire demon within him takes over. Getting attacked herself and left with no options, Yukiko takes off her glasses and tries to stop him just as the Red Night starts. During this time, Shiori is surprised to see Kukuri and questions why she still exists, before heading inside to get Yuka to let Kakeru fight the Black Knights on his own. She guarantees that he’ll win even though the others’ safety is questionable, which Yuka’s messed up self is okay with. While the two of them sit down for some tea and discuss Yuka’s desire to have a fairy tale ending with Kakeru, the man himself is outside defeating each of the Black Knight copies. Misuzu on the hand is still unable to move before Misao, but manages to pull off an all-out attack when Kukuri arrives to help out. However, her chance quickly turns into more fear when Misao easily shatters both her Kashagiri Hiromitsu and Kannagiri Nagamitsu katanas, forcing Kakeru to jump in and protect her. Misao retreats after realizing that Kakeru’s drank Misuzu’s blood, but is content about destroying their “for friends and the future” bond.

The Red Night disperses and Shiori later explains how she’s a magician dispatched from the Index Librorum Prohibitorum organization, whose purpose is to destroy/seal away magic that brings calamity upon the world. Much to everyone’s surprise though, she reveals that the Black Knights are previously dispatched magicians from the same organization. Shiori adds that Misuzu should know more about Superbia, but she’s still trembling in fear over their enormous difference in power. Yukiko then walks in with blood all over and tells everyone that she killed Takahisa. Hearing this, Kakeru quickly realizes what Misao meant by destroying their bonds.

 

Yes you read that right, Yukiko tells everyone that she KILLED Takahisa. First Saiko, now Takahisa? We’re at a rate of a casualty per episode if this keeps up. If that’s not indication of the story nearing its climax, then I don’t know what is. With the revelation of the Black Knights as ex-Index Librorum Prohibitorum magicians, the question now is who Avaritia is in all this. As the leader of the Black Knights, his goal and the truth behind the Red Night undoubtedly coincide with one another.

That said, they have yet to clarify on the whole “fragment” business and how Kakeru’s Eye of Aeon is the catalyst in all this, but I’m pretty enthralled by everything they did reveal this episode. I’m sure they’ll revisit the matter on Kukuri’s forgotten past and her relation to Kakeru too, but I’m actually more interested in how Misuzu’s character has changed from strong and confident to frightened and powerless at this point. In contrast to this, Kakeru’s huge swing in power seems a bit sudden, as he took out all the Black Knight copies himself. Given how we’re quickly approaching the end of this 12 episode series though, I’m actually okay with this quick turnaround in his abilities. We just have to assume that the Kusakabe blood works really well, so if there’s a sign-up sheet to suck on Misuzu for a while… … >_>

Anyway, I’m a bit surprised Superbia can single-handedly disrupt the entire group this much after they finally formed their bonds. The deaths of Saiko and Takahisa probably shook their morale the hardest, but I imagine seeing their leader Misuzu trembling in fear doesn’t help either. I can just picture how things would’ve unfolded if they were faced with Superbia from the very beginning. We probably wouldn’t have had much of a story because everyone would’ve been killed already. In any case, I’d say all signs point to Kakeru taking charge of things now and leading like the male protagonist that he is.

 

Preview

24 Comments

  1. Man, the only one who can hold a finger to Misao is Kakeru – needless to say, they would have been fucked if they’d faced her before. Why do things have to go like that anyway. Why couldn’t Superbia ate them for lunch in the first place, was she trying to make things interesting or something, hmmm.

    Oh yeah, there wouldn’t have been much of a story if she did took the ring first. That has to be it 😛 Now the only thing this show is missing is a major plot twist. I’m sure the “who is the real enemy” route will give pace to that as well. Bah, even a mediocre anime like this can get exciting when shit starts to hit the fan.

    Megas
  2. 2st 😀 thought i was first haha
    anyhow..
    thanks for the review 😀
    still cant wait to watch the subbed version.
    i watched the raw and i didnt understand what theyre saying. haha
    than i rushed here if theres an update already hahha.
    thanks again 😀

    Spec
  3. I’m here again with another title
    With “Törött kötés” they most likely meant “Broken bond”
    For the story… No surprise with the “Black knights is the good guys” revelation.
    Takahisa’s death… no comment.
    And I actually liked better the fight between Mikako and Eishirou in Soraoto 08.
    Well, I’ve been rather negative about this show now, but I’m still courious about who is that Avaritia guy.
    Ps.: Yuka still creeps me out.

    Linzermaster
  4. Yeah! I agree with Linzermaster about Yuka and how she is giving me the creeps. Especially with that tea scene and at the end where Yukiko tells everyone that she killed Takahisa and Yuka is all smiles, off in her own little dream world. It’s just so creepy how she was smiling, I would’ve been shocked at least.

    Phoenix
  5. That’s why I deleted my fire mage from WoW. They always bit the dust first 🙁

    Well the bad guys are good guy cool ‘cos Misao is nice in her human form and kick a$$. Hopefully her next kill is Yuka; which can be a nice villain now that she is in the border line of loco land

    Island esper
  6. I bet this is one of those great-but-short anime series. Japan has begun cutting costs this year. And in what language is the subtext for the episodes? I bet Latin perhaps.

    I believe the reason for Yuka’s messed up thinking can be linked to a few episodes back when…

    Show Spoiler ▼

    I mean, Yuka didn’t even flinch when explosions were going off around the mansion. But I wouldn’t call that ‘messed up’. I believe the term ‘mentally unstable’ is more appropriate if you guys don’t get my drift XD.

    Although I’m very curious about the girl in the crystal. My wild guess is she’s the real enemy. But it’s only a wild guess.

    razgriz
  7. razgriz:
    It’s Hungarian, as several people have mentioned here before. Linzermaster is always quick to point out how it’s pretty bad Hungarian too. =)

    As for Yuka, I meant just that — she’s messed up in the head after misunderstanding the situation between Kakeru and Misuzu.

    Lately, I actually prefer 1 cour series (12-13 eps) if they’re done well. A lot of 2 cour ones seem needlessly drawn out.

  8. I’m wondering if someone is possessing Yuka or if she is actually the demon we keep hearing about. I think she is gonna play a major part here soon and not just be the loopy girl thats in love with the hero.

    Splash
  9. I have controversial feelings for this ep, Yukiko killing Takahisa was quite interesting, I’m glad that the power of love can’t defeat everything finally ^^ I wonder why the police and the military didn’t try to stop him in destroying the whole city though 😛
    However I’m very disappointed to see that Misuzu is trembling in fear just because she met someone far stronger than her. I’d say it would be okay if she couldn’t lay a hand on her admired idol, but that’s not the case, she was ready to kill Misao. Also, I’m puzzled over two things regarding this fight:
    1. Why is Misao so much stronger than any of the Black Knights we’ve seen? And if she’s this strong, I guess Avaritia is even stronger?
    2. Why did Kukuri only tie up Misao instead of attacking her for real? She can read Misuzu’s mind, or what? 😛

    Finally, why does the animation suck so bad? 😛 I mean look at how Kakeru is jumping around when he is attacked by Shori or Acedia.

    Jurkasz
  10. If I have to say something, I did say i’m horrified of Misuzu’s frightened expression. And it surely doesn’t suit her. As for Yuka, I seriously don’t get what’s wrong with her, but I sort of got used to her insane expression. I think she should play an important role in all of this soon, if I remembered correctly, the true nature of her powers are not awaken yet.

    ZeroYuki
  11. I’d guess the girl in the crystal is the witch that tricked the old king with the eye of aeon. They’ve shown her in a few flashbacks and I don’t know why they would if the 2 weren’t connected at this point. I’d also guess that somehow the main black knight is the old holder of the eye who lost his kingdom…..it’s a short anime and it’s a bit late at this point to not have some sort of connection between the past and present.

    Kev

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