Kita ze Inbou! - キタぜ陰謀!

[Episode 2: Awakening of the Devil King]

[Enjoyment Value: 8.5/10]

A lot of things were shown in this episode. Among them all includes a narration at the beginning that reviews all of the schools and also highlights Hakufu, Ryuubi, and Sousou. We also get a lot more fanservice (semi-topless Kan-u FTW!). Oh and there’s yet more ‘mysterious’ interactions shown between Bunwa and Houkou (read: she rides him). I have to wonder just how they’re going to redo some of these scenes for the DVDs…. Anyway, the series is progressing nicely so far and this episode more or less shows it.

So I hope you’re ready for some blood (that refers to both in the episode and your own), the usual fanservice, and some monks getting owned.

[Summary]

[OP Sequence]

Aside from the narration that introduces us to each of the opposing schools and their three most notable Toushi: Hakufu, Sousou, and Ryuubi, the episode officially opens in a raining area of the city where it seems that Sousou had just participated in a deadly fight and is wounded but has a friend, Kakouton, nearby. A quick flashback is shown before Sousou and Kakouton encounter a young jade-haired girl, Ko Shaji, who tries to kill them. She proceeds to take down Sousou’s buddy with a needle to the eye. Sousou’s dragon then awakens and he defeats her easily and proceeds to smash her head into a nearby wall.

The rest of the episode is pretty much a Kan-u awesome-fest. Already, assassins are being sent to take Ryuubi’s life and they arrive in the form of monks. Of course, Kan-u isn’t about to allow that to happen. She quickly takes out the lackeys (seemingly killed) and then the leader of the group appears and launches a sneak attack that only manages to shred Kan-u’s top off (sadly, her hair covers her nipples >_<). After a few minutes of them fighting Kan-u decides to get serious after the leader monk decides to rush her with a powerful attack. She stops him in his tracks completely, breaking his weapon and reveals some of the true power of her weapon: the legendary Blue Dragon Crescent Blade. Kan-u defeats the monk and she, along with Ryuubi go to meet up with Chouhi who was busy preventing thugs from climbing up to where they were. We’re given a cliffhanger in the form of Ryomou appearing before the girls.

[Thoughts]

The opening theme is really good! As the title of the song suggests, Heart&Soul, it is really upbeat. I felt ready to rush into the episode after hearing it start to play. Like with IORI and the ending theme, I’m not sure if I’ve listened to anything else from Gantou Mai but this song does impress. I’ll probably be grabbing the single as soon as it’s released. The OP was also quite Hakufu-filled as opposed to the ED being Kan-u-centric. Just something that I thought was interesting.

Holy crap, Kan-u completely stole the show in this episode! This girl can fight and it scares me to think of what she can do if the dragon possessed her instead of someone like Ryuubi. I don’t dislike Ryuubi but she just isn’t doing anything for me at the moment but figure that her dragon will awaken sooner rather than later (actually in the next episode lol). Chouhi was pretty good in this episode as well though she did get a bit beaten up. I still can’t recover from Kan-u’s performance though. I admit the monks were quite lame and didn’t have a chance against her to begin so I can’t wait for Kan-u to battle with someone worthy enough for her to use her true power.

Next Episode: #3
> Ryuubi awakens!