Subculture Anime Blog

LOVE POWER! YEA!!! My final impression is included!

Summary:

Minato despairs at his loss of Musubi, as Benitsubasa continues to torment him and the others. Haihane attacks Kuno, but Haruna stands in his way. Seeing the damage her Ashikabi has taken, Kuno finally takes the chance to be winged by him. With this, she unleashes the true strength of her voice. This weakens Haihane and Benitsubasa, but Kuno damages herself in the process afterwards. Continuing to be annoyed by Minato’s unwillingness to give up, Benitsubasa moves in to assault him. Tsukiumi appears just in time to stop this, then using her powers to fight against both disciplinary squad members. Uzume almost moves in to help her friends, but Kazehana advises her against it. Having come closer to the scene, she expresses her wish to see something from Minato. Traveling throughout the torn city, Shiina believes that there is no mistake that Kusano is in the area. He and Yukari barely miss Kusano as she rides off with Matsu, however. Hayato and his Sekirei intercept the two afterwards, as Hayato quickly expresses his wish to have Shiina for himself. Shortly after defending Yukari from one of Mutsu’s attacks, Shiina finally shares a kiss with her. With his wings now in place, he unleashes a devastating attack against his pursuers.

Minato and the others are meanwhile shocked when Musubi seemingly revives. The person inhabiting Musubi’s body is actually Yume, as she introduces herself as a previous disciplinary squad member and the 8th Sekirei. Unpleased with Benitsubasa and Haihane’s actions, she easily defeats them with a large attack. She expresses her delight with the amount of love around afterwards, especially with Minato’s feelings towards Musubi. This is interrupted by Karasuba, delighted herself at the chance to fight Yume again. Yume expresses that she should not be fighting her at the moment, however, and Musubi’s conscious is brought back before she can make contact. Minato is overjoyed at Musubi’s return, but the group does not have much time to think about this when large attacks are sent towards the bridge they are on. Haruna and Kuno fall off with part of the bridge, but they are assisted to the other side by Uzume and Kazehana. Haruna asks again if Minato would leave with them, but he replies with his belief that he still has many things to do in the city. With this, Haruna and Kuno escape with wishes to meet the others again one day.

ED: Life goes on as usual, with several hints towards future development. At the end, the series promises to continue.

Impression:

I’m actually suppose to be studying for a Physics test coming up here in a few hours, but I was far too excited about this episode to let it pass up. The effect used during Kuno’s singing was a bit cheesy, and the pacing might have been a bit fast, but this episode was pure win from start to finish otherwise. Tsukiumi’s fight was just awesome, as was Yume’s against the several disciplinary squad members. I also have to mention that Benitsubasa’s “boku” made me explode a little inside. Hayato’s going in for a kiss with Shiina was kind of disturbing, but looking at his main Sekirei, I guess it wasn’t to be unexpected. Yukari’s kiss with Shiina seemed a little forced in the anime, but it wasn’t that less satisfying. This would make them the “most evil duo” for the rest of the series. It’s a really fitting name, especially with Yukari’s ruthless kicking of the nuts shown later in the episode. I will admit that I do feel like it would be better if the second season had continued right after this point, but there’s just no way the manga would have enough material to span 12-13 episodes at the moment. I do find it amusing how Homura’s transformation is being made so obvious though. On a more random note, Uzume helping Kuno and Haruna at the end reminded me of Wilhelmina from Shana.

Final Impression:

Sekirei is one of those shows that I instantly take a liking to after picking it up. Looking into the manga with the intention of simply sampling it before the season started, I was instantly hooked. Even after reading all the way to current chapters, watching the animation did not feel repetitive or slow at all. Seven Arcs did a wonderful job with the adaption, staying true to the original story from start to finish. One of the most appealing aspects of the anime adaption would be its huge cast, full of several of my favorite voice actors. It is actually hard to list out the amount of seiyu that were included in this show, as practically all of them are notable for their great work. Of course, to fuel this budget of great production, 7arcs probably already expected the large amount of dvd sales that this show would be getting (Boobs anyone?). It may not seem like I have much to say for a final impression, but from here on, I can only be excited about the second season whenever it decides to show up. For now, reading the manga is satisfying me just as much. It will probably be awhile before Sekirei actually ends, so this is just the beginning.