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(Yozora no Betsuri Mono)
“Parting Under the Night Sky”
Explanations
Milton – Hyogonosuke Yokomichi
Mary’s friend bird Milton mentions that he was once Hyogonosuke Yokomichi, one of the Ten Brave Amago Warriors. For more on him, I’ll lazily point you towards something I found on the interwebs, and hope it’s accurate. Next!
Inadequate HQ
The command area aboard Musashi for the Battle of the Spanish Armada is called “Inadequate HQ.” Why? It’s some kind of self-deprecating joke on Adele’s part. Her chat screen name is Inadequate Retainer (also sometimes translated as Flat Retainer), referring to her chest, so with that + the HQ name she’s either poking fun at herself, or Musashi-sama is poking fun at her and Adele isn’t complaining too loudly.
Plymouth, Portland, Calais, and…?
Once the battle commences, Felipe calls out the names of several “minor” battles. During the historical event, England and Spain actually met and fought in four different places, which were: Plymouth, Portland, Calais, and Gravelines (in that order). On Horizon’s Earth, they’ve just finished up the Battle of Plymouth, so there are three more to go.
Why did Felipe act like Juana wasn’t the half-elf girl he saved?
Refer to the explanations in Episode 7 for more on half-elven maturity levels, which explains why half-elves are discriminated against. Regardless of the details though, the simple fact is that half-elves are discriminated against in Tres Espaa. By admitting that she was that girl, she risked losing her permission and getting tossed into some slum. That’s why Felipe chose to act like she was lying in order to stop him from getting himself killed.
Impressions:
You’ll have to excuse me for going light on the explanations this episode, because while there was a lot going on, it was short on the technobabble and heavy on the awesome. The epic battles, the raw feelings, the determination to have everything through strength and strategy and the power of your loyal friends…this episode exemplifies exactly why I love Kyoukaisen. Let’s get into it.
Malga, Magot, and Kimi-nee
For the guy covering Rinne no Lagrange (and Saki Achiga before it), you’d think I would be all over The Kiss. Not so. Malga and Margot’s relationship is the sort I absolutely love in fiction, both for its rarity and just for all it is. There is no fangirling for them because they’re both girls, no giddiness for the yuri. Like Shirojiro x Heidi, Muneshige x Gin, and several others besides, theirs is a comfortable old relationship, where they both clearly love and care for one another, and the drama is in their trials and tribulations together, not that minor matter of them getting together at all.
So, it was not Kimi-nee’s kiss that got my attention, but her words. Okay, so her hurricane slap was hilarious too – when Kimi-nee goes in for a lecture, she does not screw around! – but it really was what she said. Malga said she wanted to fight, and she was willing to sacrifice her life for Margot if the need arose…but what person wants their beloved to sacrifice themselves for them? The point is to live on together! Never sacrifice yourself, not unless it is the most dire of situations and there is absolutely no other possible choice. Instead, choose to live, so you can save your love and live on with them. Kimi-nee called Malga out on her stupid, childish, selfish desire to die for her own silly self-worth, and then slapped some sense back into her. The kiss and the bite were just to shock Malga enough to get her to listen…and perhaps just because that’s Kimi-nee’s style. Well, it worked!
Tenzou, Horizon, and Mary
I mentioned last episode what the criteria for rescuing Mary was (as outlined by Toori): first, “someone has to fall in love with her [Mary], and then get Horizon to understand what love means.” We all knew this would be Tenzou on both counts, and he did not disappoint.
As an automated doll, Horizon has to be strictly logical. This gives her a bit of trouble with emotions, since logical they are not. Plus, she can’t factor in her own emotions because she has trouble feeling them (if she does at all), so she can’t put any worth on them. They do not factor into her decision-making progress.
This is not so about other people’s emotions. Though Mary says that she wants to die, Tenzou says that he would be sad if she did. Horizon then hears that everyone would have been sad, had she died back in Season 1. This, she can factor into her calculations. To avoid making those she cares about sad – and she does care about them, her classmates and her friends, emotions or not – and perhaps even to make them happy, she will go along with Toori as he conquers the world, and save it from the apocalypse along the way.
As for Mary, though she has prepared herself for death, she clearly does not want to die, for she’s thinking about Tenzou even now. Yet, now that she knows he is coming, I imagine she’ll be like Margot – worried, that her beloved will sacrifice himself in the attempt of saving her. She would prefer to die if it meant that Tenzou could live…but like Malga, she’s got it all wrong. It’s up to you, Tenzou! Kimi-nee can’t take care of this one, so you’d better stay alive, get to her, and bring her to freedom. Only then can you both be happy, as she scars you as deeply as she likes.
Felipe and Juana
Speaking of love, oh my goodness these two. Perhaps it’s not a romantic love they share – perhaps it’s more of debt and kindness, of Juana wanting to give back while Felipe wants her to be happy, as he always has – but the feelings of those two were out for everyone to see, like a live wire thrashing on the rain-slicked ground. I have suspected since back in Episode 2 that the half-elf girl Felipe rescued at Lepanto was a younger Juana, and that turned out to be right on the money. I have no idea how she has hid her half-elf heritage for so long – though having Velasquez help couldn’t have hurt – but it broke my heart a little to hear her break down and call out “Ojii-san!!” Poor Juana…
You know, if I were less lazy I’d go back through and re-write this post under the theme of “well-meaning sacrifices, when loved ones would prefer you didn’t”…though that’s rather wordy, so maybe it’s for the best. Regardless, Felipe is doing the same thing as Malga was willing to and Mary probably fears, except he’s going full-blast and with no intention of turning back. I understand that people were going to die regardless, and I get that if someone has to die, he’d prefer it be him than anyone else, but once you’ve not only accepted death, but are actively seeking it, you won’t do everything you can to live, and end up wounding those who care for you. It’s one thing if you’re bedridden and your life is quickly bleeding away, but for a man like Felipe who can still do so much….geeeeeh!! Find a way to let him live, Musashi! You just might find you have a friend in very high places if you can return him to Juana safely.
Captain Adele and the Battle
Let me just say that I was ecstatic to see that the one commanding Musashi in the battle was none other than our Inadequate Retainer, Adele. Now, the battle itself, when the music started flowing and the ships surrounded Musashi, and it looked like they were totally screwed – yeah, good stuff. I’m simply a sucker for a big battle like this, so to say I enjoyed it is not adequately reflected in the pictures I chose to include in this post. I’m going to keep this one short, save to say that it’s these kinds of battles that make all the other ones that people claim are “epic” look small and petty in comparison. Ohandalso, I find it kind of amusing that in this reenactment, it’s England (via their mercenaries Musashi) that have the big, maneuverable ships, while Spain (Tres Espaa) is flitting about in the smaller, maneuverable ones. So much for historical accuracy!
Looking Forward – Rematch Time!
It looks like next week we’ll be seeing some rematches from those duels we saw back in Episode 5 and Episode 6. Other than Tenzou and Malga fighting together, the one that excites me the most is Neshinbara vs Shakespeare-chan. Toori is a good king to get him back up and believing in himself, even when he couldn’t get close to Neshinbara himself. Oh, and Seijun…you should have seen this coming. Good luck! You’ll need it, because it looks like you’re aaaall alone this time…
tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – The battle is joined, & lives are on the line as people are ready to sacrifice themselves for those they love #Kyoukaisen
Random thoughts:
- A DBZ reference, in my Kyoukaisen? I’ll admit it, I laughed.
- I loved all of the girl’s judgment of Tenzou. He’s such a reliable guy, where’s the love?? They’re probably just making sure he doesn’t get a big head, because, you know Mary. Erh…a big head figuratively speaking, you perverts!
- Yes, the events of this episode mean that Musashi is simultaneously fighting for and against England. That’s politics for you.
- Gendo Adele! I would totally follow her down into Terminal Dogma, if you know what I mean. Erh, wait…that made a little too much sense >_<
- Musashi’s awesome drifting reminds me of Overdrift. If you haven’t seen that before, you’re welcome.
- Ten bucks says that Shakespeare-chan ends up using King Lear, while Neshinbara goes with his own debut novel. By the way, that’s ten imaginary bucks. I’m not made of money or anything!
- The cast assembles. Gods, I love this show.
Full-length images: 14, 15, 17, 18, 30, 32, 45.
Preview
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My post isn’t up quite yet, but I focused heavily on the Margot/Malga situation. Kimi certainly doesn’t do things by halves, does she? Imagine if she actually got mad at someone? The mind quails at the thought.The rest was pretty good as well, and thankfully not nearly as complex as the last few episodes.
I don’t mind the complexity – I really think it’s interesting! – but it certainly was a nice break, blogging-wise. This one only took me like ~4-5 hours, instead of nearly 8 for some of the bigger ones =X Though I probably coulda done it in under 3 if I weren’t so tiiiiir–*falls asleep on his desk*
Futayo: scoldedAsama: embarrasedNeito: embarrasedNaruse: scoldedOh Kimi, queen of sweet punishment, who will be your next target?
Like that mirror scene with Mary trying to copy Tenzou’s style.
So the priorities of Musashi are pretty much in this order:1.-Recover all of Horizon emotions, saving her soul in the process.2.-While they are at it conquer the world fighting all the major overpowered military countries with a minimal amount of troops.3.-Just if there is time left save the world form an uncoming apocalipse which they have no clue what its about or how to prevent it.Oh so nice, I love how Tooris mind work! I wonder if he is such a brillant mastermind to take care of all of this or hes just going to improvise as things develop.
hey weird thing .. the scene with gin and juana in the ramen shop looks like ichiraku from naruto xD
It’s Dragon Quest, not Dragon Ball. Same artist, so the hairstyle of both protagonists are the same. The clincher is the cover of Neshinbara’s doujin, which is a DQ game reference.
It has both dragon ball and dragon quest references, you can clearly see Goku going super saiyan or the flying nimbus.
I only caught the DBZ part. I’ve never played and Dragon Quest game.
Sending the Musashi into battle really reminds me of Macross, a ship that contains a city fighting a battle.Poor Masazumi, against that hilarious skeleton guy.
Next week seems can’t come fast enough.
It amazes me how almost no one on Musashi bats an eyelid anymore when Toori prances around in his birthday suit. I guess everyone’s just gotten used to it after all the time he’s done it. Although he did use his nakedness to great effect in the last episode when he diffused the poisonous atmosphere in the air during England’s dinner party.At first, when Felipe sprang that unexpected move on Musashi concerning what the ‘real’ Grande y Felicisima Armada was and his “Rolling Wheel” formation, Adele was seen to be flustered and agitated at the surprise move, and I wondered why she was made the commanding officer in the first place. I’m not trying to be mean here, but she hasn’t actually showed us any proof that behind her ‘inadequate’ body lies the mind of a military genius. But then I remembered that this battle is just a re-enactment of history, and the result, of England’s – and by default, Musashi’s – victory was already assured, so having a capable, if not exactly amazing commanding officer would have been more than sufficient. Of course, I’d be more than happy if she does show of her tactical prowess in the next three battles and reveal a few of the tricks up her sleeves (and I’m hoping for a lot, judging by the size of those sleeves).On the other hand, I was surprised to see Elizabeth looking so incensed when Seijun nonchalantly called her to to say they’re going to rescue Mary and declare war on England by phone. I remembered your analysis from last episode, Stilts that she probably felt a lot of guilt for her sister’s upcoming ‘execution’, and was probably secretly hoping for Musashi to save her somehow. But then, I realized that the whole affair is being monitored by the Testament Union, so she had to act furious, and to look like she’s doing her utmost to stop Musashi’s intentions. Can anyone clarify though why England isn’t sending any troops at all in this first battle? I know that Musashi, acting as a mercenary unit, is representing England for this round of history re-enactment, but aren’t they even gonna send even one of their own ships? Or are they reserving their troops for the final battle, the Battle of the Gravelines, and let Musashi suffer the brunt of the losses, while minimizing their own? Because I think it’ll be a big shame if we never get to see Grace O’Malley and England’s naval forces in action.As for next episode, I’m definitely looking forward to the rematch of Neito vs Walshingham and Neshinbara vs Shakespeare-chan the most. In their first match, Neito was mostly second-best, and only through the skin of her teeth did she manage a draw. While Neshinbara was comprehensively beaten by Shakespeare-chan, so I’m highly anticipating their rematch and see how he’s gonna achieve victory.
England was historically notorious for using mercenaries before their own troops. For a drama reenactment with Mel Gibson see Braveheart.
Toori’s nakedness is actually a metaphor for the dangerous nature of porn. The more you see a naked body, the more desensitized you become to it, until eventually it gives no reaction (whether that reaction is arousal or merely shocked surprise). Put those ero-doujins down people, you’re walking down a dark path!!*coughs* Ahem. Anyway, I am withholding my judgment on Adele’s command skills for now. She hasn’t gotten a chance to really show us what she can do yet. Yes, she was taken aback when Felipe sprung his surprise, but that’s more a marker of her lack of experience than her tactical ability….she is a high school aged girl, after all. Masazumi is good at debate partially because of skill, and partially because she’s been through the crucible a few times already. Adele needs command experience during a real battle to fully realize her potential, however much she has.On England sending their own troops into battle, I think they will shortly (probably at or right before Gravelines, as you said), but they want Musashi to take the brunt of the damage before they storm in. This was actually mentioned as the reason that first Toshiie and now Musashi were going to be involved in the battle. England still has to win the battle properly, though, so they pretty much have to wade in eventually…unless Musashi gets just way too awesome for their bilge masts, if you get what I mean.
I guess probably Adele is replacing Nenshinbara until he returns. Adele must be excelling something about her armored suit, just until now she has been more a supportive/comical character. Probably the lolicon guy also is like that, I wouldn’t be surprised if he is Musashi’s pre final boss (Kimi is the final boss, no discussion)And Torii is sexy.
Hmm, fighting on two sides at once is disadvantageous for musashi…And where are persona-kun (that big guy with the helmet) and Nenjou? Since the last ep of season 1, i haven’t seen that red slime while i can’t remember seeing any of those two in season 2.
As for “damrod’s” question, Nenji, the slime, will make some commotion along with that Incubus in the next few episodes. My “guts” is telling me that. It’s time for the slime to have some serious action.Agenda: Milton the Crow/ Former Amago Warrior I was wondering, if Milton is going to help to save Mary, is he able to transform back to his original form?Second Agenda: Tenzou and Mary, how will they pull out the Excalibur Caliburn after he successfully rescued her?
Tenjou had demonstrated to Mary in a few episodes back in which he pulled out swords by forcing it into the ground deeper to create much more space between the sword and the earth then pulling it out…remember?
That doesn’t necessarily mean that’s how it will be done. That’s a wee bit too easy to my eyes, being that it’s a trick anyone who has ever used a shovel could figure out. We’ll just have to wait and see how they do it…and if they do it, of course!
Well, I’m pretty sure if it was about physical strength then somebody would did it long time ago. But it might be more creative application of that trick from ep.3. Say, Excalibur Caliburn power seems to be a long range projected blade-like beam, not unlike that of gravity blade. But does anybody ever thought about activating it in the direction downward?
The music accompanying mission launch was perfect. Though I wanted to see England’s wooden wall but hey, Musashi against the remanants of Lepanto ain’t that bad either. I teared up a bit when Filipe said his parting words…
I never expected Felipe to be the tender character, I was expecting him to be more like Motonobu, threading some plot behind.By the way, why the call him always Segundo? It’s true it’s Philip the 2nd (Felipe II, Felipe segundo) but his real surname is Habsburg. I don’t think they should adress him as “Segundo”, at least they should say his entire name always.
Really? Felipe was broadcasting his personality for a long time. I never once suspected that he was secretly a schemer…he wore his feelings on his sleeve, for all to see.And they call him Felipe Segundo because that’s his name. Think of him like Shakespeare-chan (that is, Thomas Shakespeare)…he represents the historical person, but his name is exactly the same as that of his namesake. Everyone gets the idea though, so I don’t much think it matters.
Nah, probably is just lately in anime almost all the people who have a smile on their face by default are manipulative bastards a la Xelloss or worse (the blonde servant of Lan, for example). Sometimes the scripwriters are clever enough to mantain the status quo of this characters long enough, so I thought this was Felipe’s case. And I’m not sure even now.About the surname, I was saying that also because they call Mary with her own surnames but not Felipe. Not something important, just I found it strange.
Go Tenzou, Go!Can’t wait for the next episodes to see what happens to everybody. Horizon is easily one of my fav. series of all time, lol, thanks to how great the plot is.
This episode is so full of Win!mercenaries declaring a war on their own employers, while fighting their contract enemies menawhiletalk about diplomatic confusionFelipe just raised his own death flag proudly: Hoist the colors! Poor Juana…Go Tenzo! Save Mary! And Go Malga, get your self-respect back!Ah btw, Kimi, did anyone mention you have a little rough kissing technique?
I just started watching Horizon and I am really enjoying it. Thank you Stilts for the recommendation!Anyway, may I ask what it is about what happened with Margot and Malga and her father? Was it in the previous episodes and have I missed it? Thanks.
not something you miss. most likely address in s3 if we ever get it.
This is one of the Best Anime Series of 2012. I want to see Neito Revenge
The only tragedy I see is Asama is back in her original clothes ;-; I miss her in that pink
So I’m all pumped up ready for battle Musashi style agiants the whole world!!! Then the Juana scene came. Manly tears flowed and left me really upset. There are no winners in war only broken hearts. This is so well shown inside all the epicness of the battle. We have a three way war and yet, at least me, I can’t relate to any side, becuase there is no clear evil guy we can hate. We have all these good character forced to re-enact history without a way to escape their fate. Toori fix this I want happiness !!
Finally I understand what the ‘history reenactment’ means.. After one and a half seasons..Now time to understand the rest.. How can I pick up what’s going on as fast as you guys??
All of my posts should do the trick, especially Part 1 and Part 2 of my Season 1 Retrospective. There are plenty of explanations for as much as I could explain about.Hope that helps : )
Ohhh thanks! I read most of your weekly posts but I didn’t check out that 2-part post 🙂 I’ll go read it to connect the dots 😀
“I have suspected since back in Episode 2 that the half-elf girl Felipe rescued at Lepanto was a younger Juana…”Eh? I thought you also knew for sure. ^^
I was so very close to crying uncontrollably during Felipe’s Speech. T-T Its just so much to take.
http://i.imgur.com/0AtTZ.jpgI find it amusing that the QWERTY keyboard is still in use some thousands of years after it was developed, despite its inefficiency.
The cost of changing the standard far outweigh any benefit alternative layout can give, which is kinda dubious in the first place. At any rate this is not exactly our world so keyboard layouts may just have different history.
Just a quick question, how do you capture those images in such high quality?
Late but want comment on “Inadequate HQ”It was actually lead by Futayo and Adele with Futayo responsible defense while Adele responsible for attack, which was opposite of their normal duty. The HQ wasn’t really called “Inadequate HQ” exactly, but “partial heaven and earth”, which reflect this Yin-Yang-ish relationship.