[ Episode 1: Path of Light ]

Oh My God! New big-boobed Shikabane Hime!

Whoa! Half a year has passed since the end of the first season? That was a surprise. Makina was still bound for much of the episode and Oori was busy training. That pretty much left the other characters to carry the episode which was pretty well-executed. Another surprise was the new Shikabane Hime who has already become apart of the boob-gags. My assumption my not be 100% correct but she seems to be a female American otaku and her way of speaking doesn’t help her much in that regard. Anyway, one of the more important things that are revealed in this episode is that Makina might be a ’special’ Shikabane Hime. I have no idea what that means but it does seem to be connected with the Shichisei somehow. Speaking of the Shichisei, Hokuto is still so cuuute. She’s a pretty deadly cutie though, since touching her pretty much guarantees something on you is going to be broken.

Looking back to Oori, I’m still wondering how far he has made it as a priest after half a year. Is it enough to help him handle Makina’s demand for Run and enough to get him instated as the priest for the area Keisei was once in control of? That remains to be seen but I’m guessing that we may just see those results in the next episode. One thing that I wanted to see done differently though was the OP and ED sequences. I thought that they would’ve been slightly edited to reflect the changes that happened in the first season but they remained the same. Perhaps there is still a chance for it to change slightly as the episodes go by? Eh, it’s not that big of a deal. I’m just pretty much excited to see where the second season will take Makina, Oori, and everyone else. Here’s hoping for loads more action!

[ Episode 13: Funeral for a Contracted Priest ]

I want my own Shikabane Hime too!

Normally, flashback episodes can be annoying. This episode pretty much revolved around flashbacks. However, they were used more effectively than usual. Through them, Oori (and myself) learned a bit more about the entire Shikabane Hime and Corpse situation. A lot of it was stuff that we already knew about such as the goal of 108 corpses being killed will grant a Shikabane Hime access to heaven but we learned new things such as the name of the energy Shikabane Hime absorb from their contracted priest (called Run) and that the bond they share is called En. I could’ve sworn I’ve seen that last word somewhere before but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

Strangely enough, Makina was only shown once in the entire episode. What is even stranger is that she was bound in some sort of cavern. The only reason for that could be that they are anticipating Oori to break his contract with Makina and will need to restrain her. That has a fat chance of happening though since Oori has already decided to become a contracted priest. I look forward to seeing just how he does that as well. The end of the episode was pretty much what I’d call a calm cliffhanger. There is even a next episode preview at the end which makes this episode feel less as a finale and more as a connecting bridge to Kuro. I can hardly wait to see what Shikabane Hime Kuro has in store as I have already noticed what seems to be a new character (Shikabane Hime?) in the preview.

So overall, Shikabane Hime: Aka was been a wonderful ride. Thankfully I wasn’t quick to judge it as just another monster-of-the-week show, especially since it turned out to be more than that. The ride, however, was just a taste of what is to come and I hope Kuro transcends the first season. The animation was great and the soundtrack a pleasure to the ears. The characters were well-developed and I can only see further development for them coming in Kuro, especially Makina and Oori. If you haven’t seen Aka yet, then by all means go and watch it now and then jump right into the currently airing (as of this date) Kuro.

[ Episode 12: Dawn ]

I wonder where Makina gets all of her uniforms from…?

With this episode, Keisei has passed away and transferred his contract with Makina to Oori. It was a pretty sad event but at least he went out with a bang and had no attachments left in the world. Gotta give it to the guy for accepting his fate and using his last moments to protect those two he cared about most. Overall, the episode was pretty damn awesome. Makina’s fight was one of the best of the season, especially the latter half where she was pretty much sucking as much energy as she could out of Oori. Still though, that was a bit dangerous since he hasn’t had any training yet to prepare him for such things. I can’t wait to see him in his priest gear.

The second season promises a lot more Oori/Makina and I can hardly wait to see how their relationship will develop from here. Oori has pretty much matured rapidly throughout the first season and realizes that he himself must now protect those that he loves and also be by Makina’s side. I can’t imagine what will happen in the next and final episode of the first season but I’d guess that it would probably be a cliffhanger. Though I suppose it could end on a lighter note as well. I do know that we are at least going to see the reactions to Keisei’s death and how his colleagues recover from it all, Makina and Oori in particular.

[ Episode 11: One Night ]

Never walk around with sharp objects in the middle of the night while drunk.

Damn. I knew Keisei’s death was being hinted at but I didn’t expect Oori to stab him at the end. Granted Oori isn’t in control of himself but it still is a shocker. Heh, and it all had to happen in the same episode Keisei got a bit of background. Interestingly enough he grew up with the betrayer priest and the auditor as priests and seemed to be the last one out of the three to get a Shikabane Hime. Makina is now fighting one of the Corpses she’s been after but he seems to be pretty powerful, especially considering he was a priest before being a Corpse. So will she be able to kill him or will someone have to come and save the day?

So, what exactly is Oori? What makes him so special? Where was he before coming to the temple? There are so many questions involving him that haven’t been answered yet and I doubt we’ll get all the answers in the final two episodes. It seems like most if not all of them will carry over into the second season though I’m hoping for at least a glimpse. He really hasn’t shown any special kind of power throughout the entire season either. Well, then again that cat might be a sample of it.

[ Episode 10: Stars to the Earth ]

Oh my. Hokuto is a cutie!

So with this episode the major antagonists are introduced and it is revealed that they also are responsible for Makina’s death (and her family’s). They seem like a rather powerful bunch though the strongest of them doesn’t look it at all. Hokuto supposedly represents all of the evil in the world though I’m not sure what that means yet. I find it interesting that she was staring at Oori as well. It might not mean a thing but there’s a chance that she noticed something despite seemingly not being able hold a conversation.

Seeing as the second season is right around the corner, I’m sure that the last two episodes are going to end things on a high note. Someone is going to die and it’s very likely to be Keisei. The clues have been dropping for the past few episodes now and the current ED sequence supports it even further. That leaves Makina to be his Shikabane Hime (unless they really drop a surprise, which I don’t see happening). It’s going to be interesting to see what happens in the last two episodes and also seeing how Oori will handle everything that will occur.

[ Episode 9: Make my chest flutter ]

What the…where did she come from?

This was a pretty quiet episode and also a very weird one. I say weird because one of the recurring characters was a female that fell for Makina because she saw her killing a Corpse. Yeah, that’s…pretty odd if you ask me. Particularly because she kind of started to stalk her and then approached Oori about not going near her anymore (and then proceeded to get her boobs fondled LOL). That bit was fun while it lasted. The real meat of this episode revealed more about Oori though. As a kid he was a pretty blank slate. He didn’t know how to eat, wear clothes, or communicate with others properly until he met the cat that follows him everywhere. The thing is that the cat died a long time ago and returned as a spirit (the part where all of those eyes appeared on its body freaked me out a little). What exactly is that cat? It says that “I am you” which doesn’t help matters much since, well, how can the cat be Oori? Unless it means that he is a product of his imagination. But even that can’t be true because others such as Makina and priests can see it.

Lastly, the ED sequence contained some pretty interesting stuff. It showed Oori clothed in priest robes. Does this mean Keisei will actually die then and leave him to become Makina’s new contractor? I can’t wait to find out more.