Sea Slugs! Anime Blog

Natsuki stands in the rain watching ninjas carry off Akira while Sakomizu tells her that soon they won’t have to conceal these incidents anymore. As the two are talking, Natsuki is approached by the chief of the SEARRS Foundation’s fourth publicity sector, John Smith (nice original name). Turns out that John Smith was the source that wanted to trade information; Smith offers Natsuki the truth about Dr. Kuga’s death in return for the location of Miyu Glear’s remains. Natsuki tells them about the ice blossom in the mountain lake, but it turns out that the body is not there. Still, since Natsuki was being honest, Smith repays her by telling her that Dr. Kuga had tried to sell Natsuki to SEARRS as a research speciman. Apparently the number around the stuffed dog’s collar was an account number and when you follow the major flow of money you find two names: Iwasaka Pharmaceutical and SEARRS Foundation. Dr. Kuga’s conspiracy was discovered and she was eliminated, and Smith remarks that it was a shame since he had already paid her. Natsuki is upset that she had almost been sold to SEARRS and races off on her motorbike. As if the hydroplaning wasn’t bad enough, Natsuki hits a string trap laid by Nao and is captured.

With her rival tied up, Nao tries to get a reaction out of the depressed Natsuki, but it’s no go. Drawn by the rumors of hot Natsuki S&M, Shizuru shows up at the last second and saves Natsuki. Just to make her HiME status official, Shizuru owns Nao and Julia by calling Kiyohime to beat up Julia, destroying the cliff edge to dump Nao onto some rocks below, and then stepping on Nao’s cell phone. Shizuru takes Natsuki to a remote house and tends to her. When Shizuru tells Natsuki of her love, Natsuki responds in kind but Shizuru knows that Natsuki’s love is not the same as her own. Elsewhere, Reito butters up Mai with some brandy and advice. However, he is very much the gentleman, as he tells Nagi that, “having her body wouldn’t make her mine.”

Finally, back at the school Mashiro is meeting with Midori. After generating a rainbow barrier to block out Nagi, Mashiro reveals the secret of the Ikusahime carnival. Mashiro is actually the Suishou (crystal) Princess and wants to follow Midori’s advice about trying to change destiny with willpower and emotion. It seems that Reito, the Kokuyou (obsidian) Lord has discovered the Kokuyouguu and has issued a challenge to Mashiro. Reito has regained all his memories, thanks to Nagi keeping the identity of Lord Kokuyou a secret. Mashiro also mentions that by defeating Lord Kokuyou, they can avert disaster and not have to kill each other’s CHILD’s. It sounds kinda cheesy, but since the winner of the HiME challenge gets tremendous powers, perhaps it is just a twist on the same conclusion (I am guessing Reito is now so powerful that it will take an uber-HiME to take him down). Even though she knows it’s a trap, Mashiro accepts the challenge and leaves Midori with a key to the facility restoring Miyu. This explains why no one was able to find Miyu’s remains, and now puts the decision of whether to revive Miyu in Midori’s hands. When Mashiro reaches the underground facility, she reveals that she once really loved Lord Kokuyou and even refers to him as “Onii-sama”. When Fumi attempts to attack Reito, she is blocked by Mikoto. Mashiro is shocked that Lord Kokuyou has pulled the same scam again and changes into her true form. She’s got horns and a double sword with blue eyes on it, and when Mikoto engages her, Miroku breaks out red eyes and even some pink lightning/static. Flashing forward, however, we see that Reito’s forces were victorious as he holds a sword and the camera pans up to a figure hanging above.

This was another strong episode with lots of twists and unreciprocated love. I wonder if the writers will let us in on why Shizuru loves Natsuki so much, like what they did with Haruka and Yukino. Maybe they will if they ever get tired of dumping on poor Nao. The final scene was especially interesting, as the figure hanging up seems to be a doll. It seems to suggest that Mashiro has been defeated, but judging from past Mashiro-kawarimi I am guessing that Mashiro and Fumi were beaten but that Mashiro at least has escaped. The doll looks like a cross between older and younger Mashiro and lacks horns (and clothes). I also want to know what’s going on with Lord Kokuyou’s sister scam. Every 300 years he puts an amulet on a girl to make her think she’s his sister? Mashiro’s older form was cool with purple eyeshadow and lipstick. Her demonic horns and nails combined with the monk beads gave the design a nice touch as well. It’s also interesting that her top had a yellow logo reminiscent of Mai’s element (whenever Mai uses it to block attacks).

Oh yeah, the Miyu twist was not that surprising. Uber HiME-fighting machines shouldn’t be destroyed because of immersion in freezing water! The whole thing reminds me of those watches that can only be used in water up to certain depths.