Sea Slugs! Anime Blog

Midori finally lets Mai in about the alternative solution (beat down Lord Kokuyou), but Mai is still upset and just silently clutches Takumi’s old medicine box. Tate is worried about Mai, but when he asks Reito about her, Reito slying replies, “Didn’t you choose Shiho-chan… over kendo and Mai-san?” Tate runs all around and eventually finds Mai on the remains of the bridge that Alyssa blasted. Mai is ambushed once more by the ghostly HiME and crow CHILD, but when Tate appears, the ghostly HiME is surprised and retreats. Mai informs Tate that Takumi is gone and that she killed Mikoto and Alyssa; Mai feels terribly guilty because she has stolen the loved ones of others. Speaking of stealing, it is next revealed that Reito has stolen Mashiro’s maid (his evil knows no bounds!), as Fumi now serves Lord Kokuyou in a black outfit and with a blank expression. Now that he has meido and a massive jumbotron, John Smith has no choice but to try to get on Reito’s good side. Smith offers the warning of a potential snag (which I assume to be Miyu) and declares that SEARRS wants peace with Lord Kokuyou, but Reito secretly feels that SEARRS deserves no part in the world he will create. Reito’s lackeys are then dispatched, as Mikoto goes to search for Miyu and Nagi pays Ishigami a visit. Reito also cleverly forces Yukino to tell Haruka where Shizuru is, just to stir up some shoujo-ai trouble.

Naturally, things are getting hot and heavy on the lovu-lovu fronts. Tate notices that Shiho has red eyes and she confesses to not sleeping well. Without Tate to sleep with her, Shiho has been having horrible dreams. Shiho’s not the only one who’s been having bad dreams, as Natsuki dreams that Shizuru is wearing awful makeup and trying to kiss her. Not only that, but even though she called out to Duran in her heart (when she was captured by Nao), he never came. From their vantage point behind the bushes, Yukino and Haruka spied Shizuru stealing a kiss from a napping Natsuki, and Haruka is not about to let it go. Haruka had always wanted to be recognized as a rival by Shizuru and Yukino attempts to blackmail Shizuru into coming back by revealing that she has seen Shizuru stripping naked to sleep next to the conked out Natsuki! Shizuru fires back that Yukino is a voyeur and Haruka slaps Shizuru before ranting that Shizuru and Natsuki are sickos for their forbidden yuri love. Shizuru can’t stand to hear Natsuki badmouthed, however, and slaps back before declaring that Natsuki had no knowledge of what was happening.

Back at the school, Midori comes to the decision to awaken Miyu because she believes the carnival to be the worst thing in the world. She also confesses to Yukariko that her MIP is that old scholar who’s been sending her reports; unfortunately, he is consumed with his research and doesn’t even realize she loves him (she should become Hokage to make him recognize her). Before leaving, Midori leaves her friend Youko a package to hold on to. She then takes a visit to Mashiro’s place, unaware that Mikoto is following her. While Midori is being tailed, Nagi pays a quick visit to Ishigami and generously offers to possibly not kill him if Ishigami will do him a favor. Nagi is later visited by Mai and he agrees to let Mai meet Lord Kokuyou if she will show how serious she is. The building behind Nagi then explodes (I guess Midori realized Mikoto was following her), and Nagi tells Mai to go check it out.

I actually liked this episode better than some of the more action-packed episodes, simply because the villains and pseudo-villains are all so clever and twisted. Reito clearly knows what he’s doing and plays his enemies off each other like a veteran with over 300 years of experience. Sending Haruka and Yukino to stalk Shizuru and sending Mai to check on Midori (boy that’s going to be a surprise) splinters the friendship and emotional stability of the HiME group without him even having to lift a finger. The Shizuru storyline is pretty cool as well, and it looks like it’s going to be on Orochi-style next episode. Shizuru’s monstrous CHILD made me wonder if the shape and size of the CHILD depended on the HiME. Earlier in the series, Nagi mentioned that the CHILD represents the twisted love that the HiME has for her MIP. While HiME’s like Midori, Akane, and AKira have fairly normal looking animal-CHILDs, HiME’s like Shizuru, Mai, and Mikoto have monstrous CHILDs (although to be fair, Kagutsuchi tries to look cute and cuddly once in a while). I’m not sure if all the evidence backs up this conclusion, but it just seems odd that some CHILDs are gross or scary, while others look like your standard sentai beasts. I’m also starting to get confused about the role of the MIP. If you don’t have an MIP do you lose the power to summon your CHILD? Why can’t Mikoto summon her CHILD until she meets Reito, and why did Natsuki lose touch with Duran? Is there like a true love threshold? Hopefully all these questions will be answered before the series comes to a close!