That was a rather creepy and bloody way to start the episode, but I was overall very pleased with how this story is developing, particularly the last scene when Huang finds out he’s responsible for getting Shihoko captured. In fact, with Huang usually being so gruff and serious, it was fun to see him with a wider range of emotions like that expression on his face when Shihoko kissed him. As for Shihoko, the main question I have is why she had to kill Isozaki. Was she was ordered by the Organization to do it so that they could recruit Huang or did the Organization want Isozaki dead for some reason? Huang of course has shown that he still cares for her, but it seems unlikely to me that she’ll have a happy ending.
And then there’s Alma, who I suspect is related to the old lady in the photograph somehow or even is the old lady and uses her powers to look young again. At the very least, she didn’t seem to care about dying to Hei and instead sounded tired to me. More importantly though, she’s connected to Amagiri and EPR (evening primrose) and appears to be collecting Dolls for them. We learned in the last arc that there was a black market for them, but it’s not entirely clear whether the religious organization is buying or creating them somehow. Hopefully some of these questions will get answered next week.
“Dreaming a Shallow Dream, Without Even being Drunk… (Part 1)”
“Asaki Yumemishi, Yoi mo Sezu…(Zenpen)” (あさき夢見し、酔いもせず…(前編))This episode is actually a lot better than what I initially suspected. The revelation of a few snapshots of Huang’s former life proved to be far more interesting and impacting than I though. I never believed I would like the guy, though this episode has certainly pushed me more towards his favour. The last scene where Huang learns of his foolish interference causing the capture of his old friend Shihoko is quite significant as well. Not only that, it seems like this arc is continuing the Primrose arc somewhat, although Amber has yet to make another appearance (which I am slower dying for).
“I’ll Sing a Love Song at the Garbage Dump… (Part 2)”
“Hakidame de Rabu Songu o Utau… (Kōhen)” (掃きだめでラブソングを歌う…(後編))
Well, they ended this arc on a fairly feel-good note with both Kenji and the Doll alive and well even though Hitotsubashi got killed. They didn’t reveal quite as much about Dolls as I had hoped they would - like how Dolls are created in the first place - but they did manage to show again that Dolls can have emotions. Yin also played enough of a role in this for me to think again that she and Hei have a special connection of some sort - or at the very least, she’s quite observant of how he acts. It’s probably not too far of a stretch to think that either the two of them will be close partners for the final arc or Hei will have to save her or something. The latter of those stems partly from how much emphasis they’re giving to the theme of having something or someone to protect, and I could see Yin being that someone for Hei.
Overall, I thought that this episode and this arc weren’t bad, but also nothing particularly special. My favorite part of this week’s episode was the Misaki and Kanami scene with all the MisakiXHei insinuations and humor, though I highly doubt that that’s a relationship that will come to pass. I’m looking more forward to next week where it seems like we’ll be finally getting into Huang’s background, and the preview shows that at least one member of evening primrose - Amagiri - will be making an appearance.
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