Sea Slugs! Anime Blog

Mai is having a hard time when suddenly Mikoto arrives to save her. Mikoto is pissed that Mai is hurt, and her amulet grows purple while Miroku’s red eyes suddenly appear on the base of the blade. She launches a deadly (but insanely slow) attack at the mystery-HiME, but Mai convinces Mikoto to back off. Mikoto later has a flashback dream, where her amulet-wearing Ani-ue tells her not to hesitate when fighting those who are enemies. Elsewhere, Akira tells a ninja in the shadows that she will do as Father requests, and will fight to win. The next day, Midori gathers the HiME rangers up and tells Nao not to do anything foolish. Nao is no dummy, though, and makes an excellent point in exposing the danger that Mai poses. After all, Little Miss Cheap Bracelets has already killed Alyssa’s CHILD and thus eliminated one HiME. Nao warns the rest of the HiME’s about Mai’s monstrously powerful CHILD and suggests that Mai may turn into a backstabber if they are not careful. Yukino is totally freaked out by this, and Midori realizes that she has to take action. Natsuki is rather nonchalant about the whole thing, proclaiming that she has no most important person (MIP). In an interesting aside, we see Ishigami approach Sakomizu (aka Afro-sensei) and chide him for leaking information to a HiME. Sakomizu, however, isn’t concerned because apparently Ishigami is breaking even more rules (like, I don’t know, drugging and seducing nuns).

All the boring talks are finally broken up when Sister Yukariko lets out a shriek in the forest and blames Nao. As it turns out, Nao was simply sitting in the forest playing with a leaf like a peaceful panda, when a bullet hits the tree near her head. Someone is baiting the HiME’s and Nao and Natsuki both suspect each other. Natsuki gets the upper hand, and Nao is forced to retreat, a sad, one-eyed panda now. Our suspicions are confirmed when we see Ishigami getting all hot and heavy with Sister Yukariko, mentioning that he made her lie. In between trying to force her to make out with him, Ishigami even declares that he will have the power of the star. Episode 18 also ends on a cliffhanger, as Midori finally confronts Mashiro. In the Fuka Reports, there is mention of a young girl named Kazahana Mashiro who died in an excavation accident. Mashiro is unruffled, and merely states that although she wiped out all public records, Midori must have gotten ahold of a private record. Midori decides that picking on the handicapped is perfectly OK when the ends justify the means, but shockingly Fumi busts out a scythe and intervenes!

Wow, what a development. The scythe scene was so unexpected and cool that I even tediously capped a slew of frames to make an animated gif. The story has really come a long way from the happy cheesiness of the early episodes to the fearful dysfunction we see now. Even the “bad guys” can’t get along, as we see Nagi taunt Mashiro for not knowing the identity of Lord Kokuyou. Then there’s poor Nao… We’re not even talking “I lost my eye, but got this sweet Sharingan” or “Call me King Brady, I have the Ultimate Eye” here. No, Nao gets completely screwed and receives the “My CHILD broke her phallus, and all I got was this stupid eyepatch” treatment. She probably should have put a codpiece on that thing when she had a chance. Too bad, cause I was really happy when she called Mai out.

And then there’s the whole Sakomizu travesty. Do not believe Moyism when he tells you that Sakomizu could be Natsuki’s father!!! This cannot, and must not happen! I can’t get over the feeling that he is much more evil than he appears, however. Remember that freaky gas mask he had?!