(L+CR) Toji no Miko

[Rimbo99]

The girl that admires Kanami is quite nice. Its good that Kanami has her own fanbase after all the hard work she did. It also reminds us how it all started. Kanami wanted to have a duel. But it also begs a question as Sayaka has wondered.

Sayaka has become quite distant not from Mai or Kaoru or Ellen or possibly Hiyori but from Kanami. Sayaka provided an interesting question. Should conflict ever ceased, can Kanami ever stop fighting? And I think this scares Sayaka cause we have seen how far those would go to become the strongest, even using black magic such as Aradama. Sayaka fears for Kanami that she has a lot in common with the Elite than she realized.

Kanami's reaction to when Sayaka said that really hurts. Kanami had Mai who is too kind to speak down to Kanami. I think Sayaka was like speaking on Mai's behalf. Kanami is saddened that for all her might, she couldn't stop herself from isolating herself from her friends.

Hiyori's time is also another thing to take into consideration. Its true that Hiyori took every consideration about the consequences in taking own Yukari Origami but when she sees first hand on the devastation from the aftermath of said defeat, she wonders if she make the same mistakes as her mother did.

[Jimmy C]

Originally Posted by Rimbo99

Sayaka provided an interesting question. Should conflict ever ceased, can Kanami ever stop fighting? And I think this scares Sayaka cause we have seen how far those would go to become the strongest, even using black magic such as Aradama. Sayaka fears for Kanami that she has a lot in common with the Elite than she realized.

If you looked at Kanami, for all that she strives to improve her sword skills, she does not give the impression of wanting to be the "best" or the "strongest". So, pending further reveals, I am not worried about her going down a dark path to become the strongest.

Worry more about Sayaka who appears to be concerned that she isn't the best.

[Marina2]

The latest ep. set up many plots for the second half.

'Mysterious' organization is collecting Noro again - It is logical to think that Yukina and Ayanokouji's preseident are the one behind this but we will see. If the masked person is really Maki, I can't think of reason why would she help them. Yomi is still being Yukina's slave.....really feel sorry for her.

Sayaka's feeling inferior - Now, this made me worry. I hope she won't think about go back to depend on Aradama's power in order to become stronger. This plot might be possible since anime still let Yukina running around. (why???)

New character, Ayumu - She turns out to be Kanami's fan girl lol. Look like she won't enter the main casts right away. The fact that she's student at Ayanokouji, which its president is plotting something, means she will get drag into the plot soon. I'm actually surprised to see that Ayumu's friend is in the ED too.

Then, we also have this from OP......

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[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Marina2

Then, we also have this from OP......

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Yes... I found that highly disturbing. Hopefully it doesn't mean Hiyori herself is going to be corrupted in some way...

[Marina2]

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

Yes... I found that highly disturbing. Hopefully it doesn't mean Hiyori herself is going to be corrupted in some way...

What if that's corrupted Hiyori's mother.

[Norn]

Originally Posted by Rimbo99

Sayaka has become quite distant not from Mai or Kaoru or Ellen or possibly Hiyori but from Kanami. Sayaka provided an interesting question. Should conflict ever ceased, can Kanami ever stop fighting? And I think this scares Sayaka cause we have seen how far those would go to become the strongest, even using black magic such as Aradama. Sayaka fears for Kanami that she has a lot in common with the Elite than she realized.

Kanami's reaction to when Sayaka said that really hurts. Kanami had Mai who is too kind to speak down to Kanami. I think Sayaka was like speaking on Mai's behalf. Kanami is saddened that for all her might, she couldn't stop herself from isolating herself from her friends.

Hiyori's time is also another thing to take into consideration. Its true that Hiyori took every consideration about the consequences in taking own Yukari Origami but when she sees first hand on the devastation from the aftermath of said defeat, she wonders if she make the same mistakes as her mother did.

I don't think it's fair to compare Kanami to the Elite Guard. Kanami is a genuine sword fanatic who will seek to spar with anyone, regardless of their skill. She has a genuine interest. There's no real desire to get stronger, unlike Yume who had her own reasons and that other Elite Guard who basically succumbed to her own desire to get stronger at any cost. What also should be looked at, is who is saying this. To Sayaka, someone like Kanami is basically an alien when you consider Sayaka's past. In this case, it becomes hard to consider the question without also considering the one who made the statement.

A statement like that will always hurt if you're genuinely good at something. This kind of reminds me of Sakurasou, where they made the point that talent can be very cruel and can crush others. At the same time this answers the question in a way: If Kanami was really that similar to the Elite Guard and willing to go Aradama route, she wouldn't be that bothered by the remark. I don't think that Sayaka was speaking on Mai's behalf. Especially when the current Mai keeps making progress and affirming herself as a very capable Toji, with the ability to lead people. It's more likely that Sayaka is projecting her fears, rather than her fearing for Kanami.

But, it does make a rather interesting plot point. Would things evolve to such a situation?


Hiyori's an interesting case. Her drive was gone when she felt that her task was done, but she still wondered if she has to continue being a toji to follow in her mother's steps. I think the next few episodes will bring a lot of personal growth for her.

Originally Posted by Marina2

New character, Ayumu - She turns out to be Kanami's fan girl lol. Look like she won't enter the main casts right away. The fact that she's student at Ayanokouji, which its president is plotting something, means she will get drag into the plot soon. I'm actually surprised to see that Ayumu's friend is in the ED too.

Then, we also have this from OP......

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I think that Ayumu will receive the augmentation. Maybe even willingly, out of the desire to stand close to Kanami.


As for the image... I'd say that a piece from her soul, that could've been lost upon using that extreme jin'i, might have fused with parts of Tagitsuhime.

[serenade_beta]

So much movement in the new OP, I almost thought I was watching a slice-of-life anime.

[Lukes YGO & WS on YT]

Spoiler for Episode 13 Comments/Feedback:

Nice new opening for the 2nd half of this show.

By the looks of it there are multiple Toji being possessed by Aradama, could be former elite guard members.

Also looks like this new girl Ayumu could have a decent role to play, she really looks up to Kanami.

Oh no it's Yukina again, looks like she up to no good as usual.

Yeah I didn't think Hiyori would be retired for long, even if she didn't come back now she probably would have gotten dragged into all of this at some point anyway.

Pretty good start to this new arc of the anime.

[Marcus H.]

Most of my speculations were off-the-mark due to the four-month timeskip.

There wasn't a power vacuum since Sana has assumed leadership of the Bureau, although the inner political situation is unstable because of the scapegoating running around. It also seems like Osafune, Minoseki and Heijou are reinstated, and the full brunt of the entire story arc was shouldered by Akane. It also seems like Ayanokouji and Renpu (or at least their presidents) are in cahoots, although Yuzuki seemed cold towards her mad scientist former classmate.

Next episode seems like a breather, but don't expect that it won't have any story attached to it. If anything, the "family" episode will allow us to explore the family background of some of the main cast, especially Jacqueline Anne and Kimitaka Kohagura, Ellen's parents, and the impact of the recent events in the family.

[Rimbo99]

Speaking of power vacuum, all agreed that Tatsugahime's forces are split and are having a civil war of sorts on who will be the new leader of the Aradama?

[Marcus H.]

We can't say yet. The other side hasn't been established after all.

[Triple_R]

On the Sayaka/Kanami discussion...

I think it might prove helpful to look back at something Sayaka said in Episode 8.

"What should I do now?" - Sayaka, to Mai.

"What? Just act normal." - Mai

"I can't do anything except fight, but I want to be useful to everyone." - Sayaka


Sayaka's whole sense of self-worth is based on her being a strong fighter. At least some of this is probably the lingering impact of Yukina's manipulations of Sayaka, but some of it could just be Sayaka's own personality. Either way, Sayaka wants to feel useful, but she also feels like she can't do anything except fight.

So, given that, what happens if somebody comes along and is better at fighting aradama than Sayaka is? Remember that this wasn't always the case. There's in fact an interesting parallel being the start of Episode 13 and the start of Episode 1. The main difference between them is Kanami's presence in the opening scene in Episode 13, and that makes a big difference to Sayaka's role.

Sayaka was once the top miko for officially dealing with aradamas and having a good mission success rate. Yukina hinted at this early in cour 1. But now Kanami appears to have taken over that role. And what probably makes this even more painful to Sayaka is how Kanami is doing this while also having an easier time socializing and making friends than Sayaka does.

So yeah, it's left Sayaka feeling painfully inferior, and perhaps even worse, it's left Sayaka feeling kinda redundant with Kanami around.

Kanami likes improving as a sword-fighter, and she kinda likes positive attention just like most people do, but she's doing this out of basic enjoyment and love of sword-fighting as an activity (well that, plus probably a general sense of heroism). Kanami really is a nerd when it comes to this, like Kaoru said. So Kanami doesn't particularly care about being the best or the strongest. And nor is her whole sense of self-worth tied up in this, partly due to the good friendships she's enjoyed throughout her life. So Kanami is (or at least was) oblivious to the impact she was having on Sayaka here.

The other major heroines all have their own stuff going on, so they also aren't facing the sort of issues that Sayaka is here. I feel sorry for Sayaka, and I hope her psychological issues here get addressed one way or another.


On the whole, very nice Episode 13!

[Marcus H.]

There's also Akane, who intelligently created a story to the public about her older sister. Since the public knows near to nothing about the events of the siege, Akane can just say that Yukari is recuperating from fighting with Kanami and the others by her side against Tagitsuhime. There's no need for the commonfolk to know about Yukari's deal with the Aradama anyway.

Her actions minimized the damage caused by the incident to the Toji system and basically saved Japan by preventing a politically-motivated shutdown of the Toji system, an action that would have caused an apocalyptic scenario in the country.

Too bad about the centipede combat scene though. Looks like they got the same centipede to show up and get sliced... all for the glory of Kanami-chan.

[Liddo-kun]

Originally Posted by Marina2

Sayaka's feeling inferior - Now, this made me worry. I hope she won't think about go back to depend on Aradama's power in order to become stronger. This plot might be possible since anime still let Yukina running around. (why???)

I'm surprised Yukina has not been arrested yet by the police. They should have sufficient evidence by now. Or maybe she's in hiding, while still doing inhumane experiments.

[Norn]

Originally Posted by Liddo-kun

I'm surprised Yukina has not been arrested yet by the police. They should have sufficient evidence by now. Or maybe she's in hiding, while still doing inhumane experiments.

Yukina has been gathering influence whilst under Yukari. At the very least, her influence is bigger than that of the other headmasters. Now that Yukari left, a lot of the organization is having a tough time reorganizing. What currently seems to happen, based on Minoseki's headmaster, is that internally people are trying to pass the blame on the each other. This makes it very easy for Yukina and her faction to escape, which also causes a power vacuum.

That and Akane is tangled up with politicians, so there's not much that can be done at the moment.

[Rimbo99]

Toji no Miko MAD OP - The Katana Wielding Heroes, Rescue Miko

YouTube

https://youtu.be/1aDTaMdz2zs

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[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Liddo-kun

I'm surprised Yukina has not been arrested yet by the police. They should have sufficient evidence by now. Or maybe she's in hiding, while still doing inhumane experiments.

Should have just killed her.

[Rimbo99]

I appreciate the staff to do an episode where the girl are not with their main partners. We have Kanami, Kaoru and Sayaka together while Mai, Ellen and Hiyori are separated from them for a while.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Norn

As for the image... I'd say that a piece from her soul, that could've been lost upon using that extreme jin'i, might have fused with parts of Tagitsuhime.

If she lost a part of her soul that would affect her life-span and her powers, so I think it's unlikely.

[Rimbo99]

Anyone realize that the VAs for Kaoru and Nene are twin sisters?