Nabari no Ou Episode 15

Whoa, did somebody say siscon?

So, admittedly, some little evil part of me wanted him to kiss her, but then I remembered that they’re brother and sister, but then I remembered I didn’t care… but then I also remembered all the RaikouxGau stuff I found on 4ch, so, I ultimately was a ‘no’ vote on that one.

*coughs* Anyway, enough about my depravity, this time around I’m doing a bullet-point style summary since my laptop overheated thrice while I was watching the episode itself, and is once again getting far too warm – it’s summer, I don’t have AC, so it goes.

To recap:

• Kumohira goes into useless, semi-catatonic stage when Kouichi collapses against him, appearing to die, but the whole building shudders and a strong wind comes from the basement, so he runs downstairs
• in the cellar, Miharu is going all Shinrabanshou in his wish to help Yoite; the seitokai tries to stop him, and get knocked back
• Kumohira tries to stop Miharu, and gets blasted away
• the Shinrabanshou questions whether Miharu wants to grant Yoite’s wish by erasing him, or if he wants to grant his own by saving him
• Kumohira tackles Miharu, ignoring Miharu’s accusation that he isn’t doing it because he cares about Miharu, and Miharu loses consciousness as the Shinrabanshou slips away
• the group confronts the seitokai about the Daya, but then they all get locked in by the Captain Herlock escapee Kannuki
• Raimei learns that Kouichi has apparently died and gets upset, although Raikou manages to calm her down
• off in the corner, Catalina and Subaru are stewing in their own juices, with Subaru tearing up as she thinks about the fact that Kannuki is now doubtlessly threatening the headmaster
• oh, hey, she’s right – Kannuki first threatens to shoot the headmaster, and then threatens to gas the everyone in the cellar if he doesn’t hand over the Daya… but the headmaster doesn’t have it any more
• so, Kannuki is about to shoot him, but zombie-Kouichi not-dead-Kouichi bursts into the room, kills everyone, and we find out that he’s immortal
• in the cellar, everyone is bumming out, but then Kouichi opens the door, to the shock of everyone who saw him get shot
• upstairs, Catalina and Subaru rush over to the dying headmaster while Shijima has an internal monologue about people caring about one another, and that she has had some question answered in watching it all
• Juuji tells the headmaster that he needs to get to a good hospital, but he says that he is old and ill, so it’s ok if he passes away
• Subaru, however, begs him for the scroll to save him, and then holds Juuji hostage to try to blackmail it out of him, but he again repeats that he has entrusted it to another and no longer has it
• Yukimi shoots way the knife Subaru is holding, and Catalina smacks her across the face and tells her that they were the ones making the headmaster the saddest with their actions
• the next day, the group is standing around, getting ready to part ways, when Shijima approaches Miharu with the Daya; the headmaster had entrusted it to her
• Shijima explains that Alya Private Academy is now getting a new headmaster, and that the ninja-only classes are being dissolved, as was decreed in the headmaster’s will; the will also says that Shijima is to pass on the Daya to whomever she sees fit once he has died
• Shijima also reveals that the person who truly triggered the whole event was the Fuuma head, Kotarou
• as she walks away, Yukimi asks Shijima who she really is, but she just tells him her name once again with a smile
• after Shijima leaves, Miharu tells the other Kairoushuu that they should get going (by the way, Yoite has been unconscious in Raikou’s arms this entire time)
• Kumohira yells after Miharu that he cannot use the Shinrabanshou to save someone (huh, sounds a bit like Raikou and Raimei’s mum), and that he’ll never forgive him if he uses it; Miharu covers his ears and simply walks away

Impressions:

Wow, that was some damn good animation in this episode – particularly when Miharu was walking at the beginning of the episode while under the Shinrabanshou’s sway, and then later when Subaru began to cry while they were all trapped in the cellar. Those moments were both incredidly impressive on the animation front.

Anyway, I’d say that not only is Shijima probably Miharu’s cat (which I’ve said before), I’m pretty sure she is, like Kouichi, immortal, since they kept giving us shots that seemed to imply as much. This would make sense, I suppose, given how much she seems to know about everything. For a little while, I wondered a bit if all three of the seitokai were immortal and somehow bound to the school, based on some of the stuff the headmaster said – I got sort of shades if the Shadow Play Girls from Revolutionary Girl Utena, honestly, but I’m fairly certain that only Shijima is immortal.

As for other parts of the seitokai, I think Catalina was, in the end, fairly underdeveloped as a character, although I guess that isn’t terribly shocking. I really think that Subaru, ultimately, was in love with the headmaster, which is a bit strange since he was so much older than her, but it definitely came across that way. I liked the seitokai a lot.

Next week we get some more BL-looking stuff – I’ll save some comments on the YoitexMiharu dynamic thing for then. And it wasn’t shown, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Kouichi’s secret of immortality is revealed to the rest of the Banten. I’m pretty sure Kumohira gets it now, though.

If you want a better summary, click here to read the write-up over on Subculture Anime Blog.