OP2 Sequence

OP2: 「Serment」 by 川田まみ (Kawada Mami)
Watch the 2nd OP!: Streaming ▼

「大命宣布」 (Taimei Senpu)
“Declaration of Ambition”

Even though everyone’s making it seem like Sairei no Hebi’s return will bring catastrophe to the world, I found myself strangely siding with Yuuji. While I still don’t agree with his decision to keep everyone in the dark, I thought that his goal of creating a mirror world where the Tomogara could live in peace and away from Flame Haze and normal humans alike, was very noble. However, just as the Flame Haze who originally sealed Sairei no Hebi believed, there has to be some sort of repercussion for creating something as vast as the earth itself.

Seeing how it’s been a while since the concept was introduced during season one, I think now is a great time for a quick review about what Power of Existence is. A power that all things have, it is sought after by Flame Haze and Tomogara alike. The former uses it to power their unrestricted spells while the latter need it to exist. However, it’s normally only the Tomogara who hunt humans for their Power of Existence and unfortunately change the balance of the world when they do so. In order to prevent the balance of the world from shifting, the Flame Haze or human’s who have contracted with a Tomogara, roam the world and attempt to prevent (fight) or at least lessen the effect (create torches) when the balance of the world is changed.

All in all, it sounds like a pretty rough job from a Flame Haze doesn’t it? With this thought in my head as Yuuji started to rant about his master plan, I started to slowly started to become attached to his ideals. Ignoring the blatant problem about where he’d obtain the sheer amount of power it would require to create a copy of the earth and how he would supply it with even more, it sounds like a deal where both sides effectively win. However, I couldn’t find any rational explanation behind the response that the Flame Haze army replied with. Instead of following through with their nearly successful retreat, I couldn’t believe it when they all began to drop their weapons and just ran straight into the enemies’ weapons. Besides acting foolish, there’s not even a guarantee that Yuuji’s plan will succeed!

Judging from next week’s preview, it looks like Sydonay is going to unleash his fury on the battered Flame Haze army. At this point, I can only hope that someone like Sophie gets the chance to show off their skills and smash some sense back into this faltering Flame Haze army! If not, it’d be cool if these two Flame Hazes get the chance to finally be introduced and show off their stuff!

* Even though the episode once again skipped the ending sequence, there was a new song playing if you didn’t catch it. Its title is ONE and it is sung by the none other than ALTIMA.
* Shana<3

 

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53 Comments

  1. Deus Ex Machina 😉 Provide a win-win solution…

    But… the question now is… how the heck will the romance proceed?

    If the Yuuji makes this “perfect Tomogara world”, his efforts would go in vain if he himself, a “god of Guze” would stay in the human world… hmm…

    Ddadain
      1. I’m pretty sure that Yuji merged with The Snake of the Festival… which tells us that either:

        1.) He goes to Xanadu, and Shana doesn’t
        2.) He goes to Xanadu, and Shana does too
        3.) He doesn’t go to Xanadu (which will still lead to an imbalance…)
        4.) Somehow gets revived (a separation of Yuji Sakai and The Snake of the Festival) after disappearing, which would be another deus ex machina… a sudden and very fortunate solution to a seemingly unsolvable problem…

        I’m not saying this is all the possible outcomes… but, with the given information, without spoilers from the light novels… (._.)

        Ddadain
      2. You are taking too many liberties when talking about Deus Ex Machina. Not every solution for a conflict is a Deus Ex Machina, you know. Only one that came totally out of the blue, mostly without good build up or consistency. And since we don’t know if it is impossible for Yuuji and Snake to seperate, it’s not a Deus Ex Machina if they do until we know.
        Nagato awaking all the people he killed in Naruto was a Deus Ex Machina. Snake returning to fullfill his ambition is not.

        Anon
  2. The Flame Hazes dropped their weapons because he just declared that after his plan succeeds, they have no reason d’etre anymore. You explained it perfectly, Flame Hazes are there to keep the status quo, if he changes that, they lose their reason. And just like Margery, almost all the Flame Haze (except for Shana) made their contract out of revenge or other reasons.

    virox
    1. Well, I understand if they lose the will to fight, drop the weapons and just sit there in despair. But running away in panic because they feel they lose their reason for existence? I find it quite hard to grasp.

      Serapita
  3. This is what happened when you lose your raison d’etre, like the all of the flame haze in this episode.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84i_dkQuVsE

    Also, I think the Reiji Maigo within Yuuji will provide all the Power of Existence that Sairei no Hebi needs to create the new world. He just needs to do it little by little, giving him a chance to recharge at midnight of every day so that he doesn’t disappear.

    Dusk
  4. Putting yourself into the mindset of the Flame Haze mooks- You’re exhausted, covered with wounds, you’ve just saw countless of your comrades and friends get slaughtered, all your efforts have been for nothing as the Enemy’s BIG BOSS still arrived.

    The Named Flame Hazes may have stronger mentality, but for the average soldier at this point they’re probably at their limits already. And once the army has been demoralized and lost the will the fight, it’s game over.

    Chaos2Frozen
  5. I found Yuuji’s Grand Order to be perfectly reasonable. I was very confused as to why the main Flame Hazes were opposed to it. The only drawback was possibly that the new world could be used as a staging area for attacks on Earth. That’s all I can think of.

    As for the chaos that ensued, I thought of it as all the Flame Hazes reacted like how Margery did when her raison d’etre was refuted. I think if Yuuji wanted to really play the nice guy act, he should call off the Tomogara attack. Technically, the Tomogara have pretty much achieved their raison d’etre and should have no reason to fight besides the joy of slaughtering the helpless Flame Haze. Of course, that would be too easy.

    Ptolemaios00
    1. it’s a too good to be true plan though. he’s going to make a new world that will have enough power of existence for the tomogara? the toughest pill to swallow is how is he going to get enough power of existence that the denizens won’t ever have to go to the human world to get it? he’s trying to say it’s possible WITHOUT any adverse impact to the universe?

      sure he’s the god of creation but is it really that simple? plus what’s with letting his minions slaughter the flame hazes that dropped their weapons down after the mind fuck? i could see why he’d allow his guys to fight the resisting flame hazes, but yeah he’s not the snake of the festival for no reason.

      RickyMack
    2. I think Yuuji isn’t that stupid to undermine his authority so quickly by forbidding his minions from wanting to kill their sworn enemies.

      It’s already quite a feat that he has restrained them from harming Shana while she was captive, and soon he’ll do something similar to protect his fellow humans from his minions.

      Kinny Riddle
  6. Yuuji’s plan was somewhat expected. He had always been somewhat a utilitarian with little regard to his own well-being, so it’s not too surprising that he wants to carry out Snake of the Festival’s plans. In fact, they are made quite for each other.

    suff
  7. The only thing I don’t understand is that Yuuji stated in his speech that the Flame Hazes could go to this world too, right? And one of his reasons (besides Shana) to agree with this plan was because he hated that all of the torches and Flame Hazes would simply “not exist” after they’re killed. And then after saying that, all the Flame Haze’s loose the will to fight and freak out and, wait for it, are slaughtered by the Tomogara. I thought he said he didn’t want to fight. I thought that he, you know, would stop them since killing them WILL make them seem as if they never existed, so WTF? I’m a bit confused >_<

    Maximum Dusk
    1. @Maximum Dusk
      Ever played any war games? When you see the enemy turning their backs and run away, the same enemy that had tried to kill you and your comrades earlier, what do you do? Let them go?

      No, you cut them down like animals and make sure they never dare get back up again.

      It’s not like both parties agree to a ceasefire, the flame hazes just dropped and run so they essentially became free frags.

      Chaos2Frozen
  8. so in this episode, the tomogaras are the one who are abused by flame hazes… now that tomogaras decided to live in peace, the flame hazes jumped for their death because there’s no reason for them to live? so technically flame haze live fighting tomogara… bu heck, that’s idiocy.

    Ajax
    1. It’s call ‘panic’; now that the enemy’s big boss is here they’ve pretty much lost the will the fight, then all it took was for one person to freak out and panic quickly spreads to the rest of the group.

      Chaos2Frozen
    2. Seriously? Flame Haze were created because Tomogara were eating away humans without a care in the world. Who’s the bad guy? All the people mindlessly cheering for SnH and the Tomogara don’t seem to understand the situation both groups are in, and it’s damn annoying.
      Yuuji might have great amibitions for all of you, but you can’t expect the Flame Haze to mindlessly accept his ideals, coming from the leader of those people who are the reason for their existance in the first place.
      Maybe you should rewatch the series. Aside from Shana there was basically NO Flame Haze who didn’t have a reason (most likely revenge because a Tomogara took away loved ones) to become one. They all live to fight those who threaten the world, and now Yuuji told them that they are no longer needed, that their amibitions are futile.
      You can’t lable the Flame Hazes as the bad guys, it’s not even like they didn’t believe what Yuuji said, they did believe and that made them disband into all directions, while being slaughtered from behind.

      And then there are the Tomogara, and while people say they only want to live, which is true for a bunch of them for sure, there were also a whole lot of them who didn’t care at all how many humans they ate for whatever creepy plans they had. It’s like you forgot all about Friagne or the incest twins. Tomogara like this should give you the impression at least that Flame Haze aren’t “bad guys”.
      Of course, there were also Tomogara like the guy Shana killed in the first season, who she had to cut down into very small pieces to kill him, because he kept going on and on “I want to eat, I want to eat.” This guy would have probably died anyway if he didn’t get Power of Existance, and Tomogara like this are proof that the Tomogara aren’t necessarily the bad guys either.

      Now, who is the bad guy, those who want to keep the status quo to protect the world’s balance or those who are willing to sacrifice a LOT of Power of Existance to change the status forever.

      There is no good nor bad and I’ve had it with all the people getting pissed at the Flame Hazes. You probably didn’t even bother to read up to this point.

      virox
      1. You are right, up to this point is hard to tell wich side stands for what is right, the God of Creaction ambitions an utopia to save their their kind and stop The Eternal War. Up until now you cloud´ve considered the Flame Hazes as the good guys because the tomogaras ate humans and destroy the balance of both the mortal world and Guze; if what Sarei no Hebi said is true then this is the final solution for the tomogaras who insist to live on Earth and would elplain why Yuuji sided with god in the first place, it´s the only way Shana and all other Flame Hazes from certain death.

        haseo0408
  9. And I saw before the Great Serpent that gnaws in the abysms within the root of the tree of the world, and the goblet that held the flame of my wrath and determination spilt forth unto to the ground and it cried to me and brought me despair—the Grand Order will be fulfilled.

    Gaze of Providence
  10. What started off as an evenly-matched battle became a defeat, what started off as an orderly retreat became a rout.

    After mind-raping poor Margery, Yuuji/Snake shows that they’re quite proficient of mind-raping in the thousands.

    It seems his girlfriend would not be too pleased with this, even after he has declared his seemingly noble intentions.

    Kinny Riddle
  11. “Even though the episode once again skipped the ending sequence, there was a new song playing if you didn’t catch it. Its title is ONE and it is sung by the same person who sang the first opening — ALTIMA.”

    Don’t you mean ending?

    teri
  12. A masterstroke… defeating enemy’s very REASON TO FIGHT!
    Sun Tzu and von Clausewitz approve!
    With FH army in disarray I wonder what comeback strategy could Shana organize?
    Also, hats off to Samuel, his ability to orchestrate powers of multiple FH is quite powerful. Too bad his troops are in the rout right now.

    ewok40k
  13. Watching it, I was struck by a few things.

    1) The Snake of the Festival is a very nice god. According to him, he was sealed away specifically by Flame Hazes who he invited to watch the creation of a new world. They took advantage of his hospitality and stabbed him in the back. Despite that, he seems completely unconcerned with revenge except insofar as it gets them out of the way; he was summoned to grant a wish, and damn it, he’s going to grant that wish.

    2) The Flame Hazes aren’t actually arguing with him or even amongst themselves, they’re just fighting blindly. That does not do good things to their odds of remaining “the good guys” in this story.

    (This made Takemikazuchi’s line at the end particularly frustrating to hear. It’s an ‘ingenious strategy’ to destroy your enemy’s will to fight by telling them how you’re planning to make the world a better place once they get out of your way? Really? At least *talk* to him instead of automatically assuming he’s lying! He’s called the frigging God of Creation, so presumably he knows how to create better than you do!)

    3) I’ve been cheering for Yuji all along, based on instinct and my reading of the situation, so while I’m biased, it’s particularly satisfying to watch Bal Masque rally in the last couple of episodes. Fecor’s death is pretty heartwarmingly badass when you think of him as one of the good guys.

    Ein
    1. In reply to Ein’s first point, back then Snake did indeed invited those ancient Flame Haze (of which Khamsin was one of them) to his intended ceremony of creating a new world.

      However, in order to power such an enormous spell, a tremendous amount of Powers of Existence was required, as such, plenty of human sacrifice was needed. Needless to say, the Flame Haze would have none of that and promptly shoved Snake into the God’s Gate, where he remained imprisoned until now.

      For millenia, Snake slowly reworked his plans, biding his time. He maintained his correspondence with events in our world via Bel-Peol’s eye. When he heard about Pheles’ amazing invention – the Reiji Maigo, Snake instantly knew the solution that would significantly weaken the Flame Haze’s resistance to his plan, as the Reiji Maigo is self-replenishing and does not feed on humans at all.

      Kinny Riddle
    1. At least FH CINC (Sophie) doesnt want the army to hold the line at all costs but to retreat into defensible position…
      Still the situation might be not as bad as it seems. Many of the strongest tomogara died, and the body of the Snake is still a bit… unstable?
      What the FH side needs now is a charismatic leader to rally the troops, and a sound cause to rally around. Shana, here is your homework for today!

      ewok40k
      1. ur right about that… at least she has the mental capacity to call the retreat. unlike some bohemian coporal we all know.

        most probably a FH general from the african desert would come and try to turn the tide or at least bring back order to the routed FH army… who knows

        c2710
  14. Takaii. Its kinda like Margery losing her mind over the fact that her life would mean nothing with Gin’s revelation.

    Even if its a possible solution that needs to be worked on, I’m guessing not a single “grunt” knew about this. A lot of them have lived for hundreds of years on blind hate or vengeance alone, like Margery. Many would probably be like her “for what reason did I become a Flame Haze”. For the weak minded ones, it would crush them like it did for Margery.

    Basically, post traumatic stress would’ve kicked in. Who knows what these people have gone through in their lives. Its actually quite sad and depressing.

    Though, it would be even better if even something kick started that thought process, instead of us having to piece it together.

    With this, it almost makes the Flame Haze the bad guys really… Kinda weird.

    Kageho
  15. The new op is awsome and the scene with Shana and Yuji holding is something I´ve waiting for years. I expect to see Ciara and Sale in the ed next week and the same could be said for the remaining Gods of the Earth, it´s to belive they won´t do anything after that´s happened so far and the preview indicates Centerhill wil join the battle to buy time for the retreating Flame Haze Army.

    haseo0408

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