First Impressions / Zetsuen no Tempest

OP2 Sequence

OP2: 「大好きなのに」 (Daisuki nano ni) by Kylee

「あけましておめでとう」 (Akemashite Omedetou)
“Happy New Year”

Following last week’s transitional episode, Zetsuen’s second half begins in earnest with the reveal of the new OP. Sung by one of my favorite artists in Kylee (Can you believe she’s still only a teenager!? She’s younger than me!), this was a theme I looked forward to the second I heard she was doing it, and she doesn’t disappoint. Her debut themes for Bounen no Zamned (Xam’d: Lost Memories) were just superb (filled with strong vocals and great lyrics) and it’s just nice seeing her get more roles to shine with.

Shifting back to the the episode itself, The New Year takes focus this time around—bringing with it a drastically different world. We get confirmation that the Tree of Genesis did indeed cause the creation of a peaceful world, but at the cost of large scale destruction. However, due to Hakaze’s intervention, neither the Tree of Genesis or Tree of Zetsuen are destroyed, and the world is pretty much caught in what one can only describe as a “calm before the storm.” Looking around, the world’s definitely at a point where the chaos caused in the previous episodes has dissipated, but the fact remains that the overall problem hasn’t been solved. In ways, one could argue the situation’s even more complicated before, as even Hakaze herself finds herself fearing the Tree of Genesis and unsure whether or not it’s really the correct side in this conflict.

Notably though, Samon and his new, rather strange group of “merry” cohorts have realized the same thing, along with the fact that Hakaze’s falling for Yoshino pretty much puts the fate of the world in his hands. To that end, Yoshino could theoretically be a bigger threat to the world than Samon ever was, which leads to Samon’s theory that Yoshino could be the Mage of Exodus. Of course, with the reveal of Hanemura Megumu and his powers which stem from the Tree of Zetsuen, that idea’s shot down for now… but at the same time, the fact that Megumu only realized he had this power recently doesn’t leave Yoshino off the hook. It just feels too easy that the Mage of Exodus merely stumbles upon Hakaze and Yoshino, and there’s just definitely more than meets the eye here.

Suffice to say, this episode brings in a lot of questions, and the 2nd half of Zetsuen’s really laying thick the foundations for (if the OP hints at anything) a climactic ending. Interestingly enough, we got a small taste of that with Hakaze and Megumu sparring toward the end of the episode… and it was quite a treat to watch. Bones definitely ain’t letting up with the animation with this series, and despite the fact I haven’t read the source material up until this point, I can’t help but feel they’re doing a good job giving this series justice.

Finally, I gotta say, I enjoyed the return of the well done comedic moments, which were interlaced throughout the episode. There haven’t been much opportunities lately to put them in lately, so it was nice to see the series didn’t lose its touch despite this long layoff. The whole “waving your spear around will cause trouble” comment from Mahiro, the jump kick Hakaze does on Megumu despite not knowing who he is, Hakaze’s comment about Aika’s boyfriend being an idiot… some nice ones inserted here.

Ultimately, it’s just another week’s work for Zetsuen no Tempest, and it’s just nice to see this series keep churning on without really dropping in quality at all.

Some random additional points:

  • Didn’t get to really fit this in above, but I found the comment from Hakaze about how the world pretty much returned to normal within a week to be some pretty powerful stuff. It feels like a bit of commentary on human nature in general, and was a nice touch to the scenes of Hakaze visiting areas affected by the Tree of Genesis.
  • Another notable thing was how Samon identifies Yoshino as someone who wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice people around him. I’d hesitate to say this was completely true, but the fact remains that I wouldn’t put it beyond Yoshino to do that if necessary, and it really just emphasizes how big of a wild card (and enigma) he is.

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    Preview

    59 Comments

        1. ohh. What’s this? anti-Stilts fans brewing for no apparent reasons?

          Stilts, you’ve officially made it. Attaboy! It’s no fame if it’s without haters. You’re now the “establishment” at RC.

          deathtogenericshows
          Reply

    4. That flying armored figure in the OP looks like an avatar straight out Accel World. Kind of out of place based on the manifestations of magic we’ve seen so far.

      I like how this series continues to not provide a clear villain but rather just people representing competing (yet sometimes mutual) interests and who don’t know what the right course of action is.

      Absaroka
      Reply

    5. If I remember correctly there was no clear explanation given as to how the Trees choose their mages, was there? Initially I believed the Trees chose people whose ideals/philosophies match the Tree’s, so that they would support their respective Trees faithfully(Hakaze’s blind faith in the Tree of Genesis, earlier, can be attributed to that), but that theory doesn’t work out for the current situation seeing as Hanemura Megumu is anything but destructive – and he doesn’t seem to be faking it.At this point I’m wondering if the current descriptions of Trees themselves are accurate.

      shadowalker
      Reply

      1. Also it was mentioned in this ep and previous ones that the Tree of Genesis could be responsible for Aika’s death so that Yoshino and Mahiro would help Hakaze, but if the Tree of Genesis is capable of something like that, why didn’t it just kill Samon instead?
        Can someone explain?

        shadowalker
        Reply

    6. *Kicks a stranger in the face* “Who is this?” I look forward to Hakaze meeting more new people lol. Great episode! Of course it brought up a billion more questions as usual but the unpredictability is one of my favorite things about this show. Can’t wait for more ^^

      Kira526
      Reply

      1. That is a good point, especially when Mahiro is motivated by this sort of revenge.

        I think the main thing is that we don’t actually know how much Yoshino knows, and what he can do. I don’t put it past him to pull an aizen and screw everyone over for Aika (however out of character that may be for him). He could also be as innocent as he looks, in which case it’s not very interesting.

        shinigami99
        Reply

      3. Like shadowstalker and some others before, Yoshino is scary by the fact that when he wants something, he carefully and meticulously bring his plans to fruition without any regrets. Mashiro wants revenge and is very clear about it on the front. Yoshino is the “good” guy on the front but the one that’s very dangerous on the back. He does not necessary stabs people in the back since he’s not that type. He however is they type to set up “traps” all over the place that are all carefully planned ahead to help him reach his goal.

        Think about Aika. She’s highly intelligent and dangerous in a way but Yoshino is not a normal guy either if someone likes Aika ends up loving him.

        Silver
        Reply

    9. Logic would imply that the tree of exodus’s mage would have a destructive personality, but as they describe, the tree of exodus exceeds logic itself. This means that you cannot rule out Megumu nor Yoshino as the mage of exodus. However, i’m more prone to believe that somehow Aika is the mage of exodus and is somehow behind all of this.

      Superscooper
      Reply

      1. That’s good point, but I would at least assume the Tree of Exodus isn’t self-destructive(although that isn’t beyond the realm of possibility), because choosing a mage who doesn’t support the Tree means exactly that.

        shadowalker
        Reply

    11. [QUOTE=ars89;4516634]I wonder if the power of the mage of exodus can be transferred. The reason being Hanemura said it was a year ago that his power first emerged. It was also a year a go that Aika was killed, and my guess has always been that Aika was the mage of exodus.[/QUOTE]

      I always thought that too, even thinking she was still alive, and that her death was just a trick, however, now I’m actually partial to Samon’s idea that Yoshino might have been the mage of Exodus. He could have killed Aika, then transferred his power to Hanemura. I never mentioned it before(though I don’t post in this thread often (>.>) ), but I always thought the depiction of Aika’s death was strange; it didn’t look like someone killed her against her will. If she was killed in such a way, she would have been a mutilated corpse on the floor, eyes rolled into her head, body contorted awkwardly; but she looked peaceful, carefully sleeping on the chair, as if she accepted the reason for her death. I can only see this meaning that the one who killed her was someone she trusted wholeheartedly; enough to give her life away, and I can think of no other such person aside from Yoshino.

      It’s also possible that perhaps Aika really was the mage of Exodus, and commanded Yoshino to kill her. Well, commanded is prob too strong a word, maybe asked him to do it if he ‘believes in her’. Aika, from Yoshino’s point of view, seemed privy to subtly reveal the events that previously took place with the tree(if only in regards to “The Tempest”), so it’s possible that knowing of the inevitable events that would take place, she had Yoshino murder her and erased Yoshino’s memory of the event using her power.

      frubam
      Reply

    14. This is the only anime in which you can stumble on a critically important person in the middle of nowhere and have nobody be skeptical of it.

      Also while Hakaze instantly matched it with Samon’s rituals the timing of his powers is also the same as Aika’s death. Since it doesn’t seem like new guy did it I’m wondering if there isn’t a group of people as Exodus mages with either Aika or her killer being among them.

      HakumeiJin
      Reply

    15. There was some interesting talk about hearts in this ep. How Yoshino stole Hakaze’s heart and she started doubting the Tree of Logic, but also that Megumu doesn’t have the heart of Chaos and therefore cannot kill. I bet it’s because his girlfriend stole it, LOL. Who knows, maybe she will provide the missing bit of the puzzle when she shows up in the next ep?

      j4c06
      Reply

    16. Kinda funny how this show keeps throwing you for a loop. At the end of the discussion before the break, you felt like you finally had some kind of evil face to hate – the nefarious Mage of Exodus! But nope, they meet him and he’s a wimp with some fancy powers. No killer instinct at all. And thus, they still know nothing about Aika’s killer (if she was ever killed at all). Let the mindgames begin!

      Their meeting was anything but a coincidence though – if this show has taught us anything, it’s that humans are mere playthings in this fight between those trees, and I have no doubt that either the tree of Exodus or the tree of Genesis were behind it. We’ll probably see the reasons behind their meeting soon enough. As for Yoshino, that’s quite the role he got pushed onto him. Given that the tree hasn’t made any other attempts to get rid of him, I wonder if there’s some other purpose he has to play. The situation surrounding Aika is also something that is just a barrel of gunpowder waiting to be lit.

      Can’t wait to see how this will all come together later, anyway.

      Dvalinn
      Reply

    17. I’ve been wondering, everybody in the show seems to assume there is only one Mage of Exodus. Considering that the Tree of Genesis has an entire clan dedicated to it, is it not possible that the Tree of Exodus could also have a clan that has arisen?

      MercurialWit
      Reply

      2. Hakaze mentions this in the manga, that a clan wouldn’t be possible due to how the Zetsuen tree lost the last fight. It shouldn’t have enough power to make more than one mage.

        Xacual
        Reply

    18. Mostly (if not all) of the major characters in casual attire really feel refreshing.

      Also, is there any other shows out there that make “GIRLFRIEND” such a meaningful and
      powerful word?

      runner
      Reply

    19. I couldn’t stop laughing throughout the whole episode thanks to seeing everything Samon thought off going down the drain from the beginning till the end of the episode. Actually, thanks to last week’s preview, we knew he was wrong from the very beginning. Man that was hilarious.

      bakakubi
      Reply

      3. I think that’s the point; if you look at it from a perspective of ‘the Tree of Beginnings defines the reality of the world,’ then asking it for magic is asking it to redefine reality to your specifics. If the Mage of Exodus and the Tree ‘defy logic,’ that means they’re rewriting reality without the permission of the thing that CREATED reality.

        Quite weird.

        EG
        Reply

    23. In all honesty I don’t like the change of events. Tempest was a hidden gem for me, it had that ‘awe’ factor in check week after week with amazing scripture and famous lines that were cleverly used. And that’s what I loved about it. Tempest was more like a drama, thrilling type of series, never in my life would I imagine it being ‘comical’. But after seeing the OP, a whole lot of childish acts, it dropped that ‘awesome’ mature vibe that the show gave me quite a few points. Also the production value dropped as well.

      Is it the production team, is it on purpose, but is Yoshino wearing TIGHT skinny jeans? I couldn’t stop staring. In all seriousness, omg. Look at those chicken legs. . Also Hakaze dropped a lot of points too. I knew she had a cocky side to her but she proved to be intelligent in the Island, but here in this time frame, she’s coming off as a snotty spoiled brat. A direct kick to a strangers face out of the blue just because you felt ‘uneasy’? Really? And for some reason the episode revolve a lot around food. Yes. Food.

      “Come meet my now new allies, while we eat food” clearly we miss quite a bit while they were under a coma in the last episode but it feels weird to make a sudden jump from “I’m fighting you to the end” to “lets have food and become a group” Looking for the Exodus Mage came rather quickly and rush, out of the blue a guy comes up to you and tells you he may be the mage, and of course food again. Cause when shit goes down we must eat Micky Ds.

      I don’t know why 22 mins were wasted on repitive lines like “Yoshino may have the power to change the world now that Hakaze has fallen for him”, “So basiclaly Yoshino has the fate in his hands. Because Hakaze is in love with him and what he says matters.” I’m not hating, but guys seriously… What happen to Zetsuen no Tempest?

      What happen to clever lines and amazing developments along the way that made you sit at the edge of your seat with a simple line of “Boyfriend”. To the way of directing it from previous episodes that kept making you say “oh shit”, that just made you be in awe of show a show? I’m seeing some lazy comical series now. Am I the only one who feels that way? :<

      Did I miss something?
      Reply

      1. Maybe those things stem from the fact that in the earlier episodes all the characters had a purposes/end goals they were aiming at, now all the characters in the show(excluding Mahiro – he’s goal doesn’t seem to have changed) don’t know what to do next.It’s like they’re all looking for answers even though they’re not sure what the questions are yet.So I can understand why no ones started fighting(not necessarily in a physical sense) yet.

        On a side note, did anyone feel like Samon did more good than evil, in the end?

        Samon’s focus on Yoshino is somewhat understandable seeing as he’s always a cautions person(although it felted like it was forced to be more dramatic) and he probably wants to know more about Yoshino, in case something goes wrong.

        Hakaze’s case can be explained by what Samon said about her having a sheltered life – she maybe clever when it comes to mages and magic, but it seems she doesn’t have much experience in the outside world.Not to mention, her faith in the Tree of Genesis has been shattered, something she had all her life, so it’s not far fetched to think she would turn to the only person whom she can call her ally at the moment(Yoshino in this case).And I also got the vibe that the weight of the responsibility of being the mage of Genesis didn’t really sink into her until now.

        As for the mage of Exodus just showing up, well, I’m hoping there will be some explanation in the next few episodes.

        Food and jeans? didn’t a take particular note of them.But like Zephyr said it’s the ‘calm before the storm’.

        shadowalker
        Reply

      2. Lol. Hakaze just about plummeted to the bottom of my “likeable characters” list after this ep. Even in the grand scheme of things, excluding this episode, Samon is the more sympathetic character – his words have more sense in them than Hakaze’s does, which is ironic since she supposedly embodies the logic of the world. But there’s quite a lot of gaps in her thinking process, which wasn’t that apparent until now. Sparring a mage thinking he would be able to beat her if he really was the Mage of Exodus? It strikes me as odd that she would be able to discern that upon seeing Hanemura – raw power aside, he’s clearly an amateur that has no real experience wielding his power while she’s a veteran that has presumably been taught all her life exactly how to wield her magic. It’s illogical to assume he can even land a hit on Hakaze when there’s such a huge gap in pure skill level.

        It also doesn’t really help she was far more interesting when she was stuck on the island. She came off as a far more dynamic and entertaining character when she wasn’t kicking random strangers based off of intuition. Guess her spidey senses were tingling.

        BakaMochi
        Reply

        1. Good to know someone else feels the same way about Samon and Hakaze.I wouldn’t say “plummeted to the bottom of my “likeable characters” list”, but after the revelations on the Tree of Genesis, it seems like Samon is being more reasonable than Hakaze.While all of Samon’s actions are well thought out(not to mention he also makes preparations for the eventuality if he turns out to be wrong – a great trait in any character) and planned, Hakaze’s actions up until now seem to stem from her blind faith in the Tree of Genesis than anything else – which is where I agree with Samon when he said that the Tree chose a human who would follow it blindly.

          Although I disagree with you when it comes to the fight with Hanemura – Hakaze wasn’t trying just to test his skills, but to confirm if he had the heart of the Exodus mage(I take that to mean, the will to kill or destroy).

          Btw, in context of the whole story it kind of makes sense now why Samon and the rest of the clan betrayed Hakaze in the first place(can’t say I blame them that much).

          shadowalker
          Reply

        2. BakaMochi, I think we see eye to eye on some things. 8D Seriously I hope Hakaze becomes ‘better’ next coming episodes besides this unholymess that I have just witness. If she’s going to be like this or worst staying in the Island wasn’t such a bad idea. P:

          Solara
          Reply

    24. Idiot plot lampshaded, and avoided with style.

      The whole Yoshino being the exodus mage while the duo had already found the REAL mage would have been facepalm worthy, but they played it out well. Very happy with that ^^

      Geoff
      Reply

    27. Just a thought that I came up with, perhaps the reason why Megumu appeared so conveniently was an act on the tree of exodus, to protect Yoshino from accusations for the time being that he is actually the Mage of Exodus?

      AzureNova
      Reply

    30. I dint like this episode so much. It wasn’t as good as the others. I have been reading this comics and like it very much, but this episode wasn’t very interesting. I also find it strange that exodus magic doesn’t require any sacrifices or offerings.

      Hughes Aaliyah
      Reply

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