Thoughts: Makina needs to let go of Keisei
Overall Rating: 7
I didn’t like the pace of this episode very much. However, it did give necessary buildup. We see that Makina and Oori are still adjusting to their new roles as partners. Makina must go into this special cave to get rid of her old rune from Keisei. She heads places her hand on the stone and the ritual begins. However, Makina’s constant thoughts of Keisei took form and kept her from finishing the ritual. She walked out and fought Saki in order to leave the cave after failing to remove the impurities from herself. She then heads to where Oori is.

Oori and the others relax at the hot springs. The girls talk about Sougi’s first meating with his shikabane hime. He didn’t even know what a shikabane hime was when he contracted her. Quite an odd turn of events there. Makina then shows up in front of Oori after Sougi leaves. She wants him to null the contract between them. Oori refuses to Makina’s request. Saki and her contracted priest show up to stop Makina’s obsession from controling her.

Overall, the episode was a bit slow. I’m hoping the next episode will be a little more interesting. Oori needs to still work on his training and learn some spells. It’d be nice if Makina could also accept Oori fully and get those remaining thoughts of Keisei out of her mind. We’ll be at the end of this series before we know it, and I’m worried we won’t get the character development that’s needed.

Thoughts: Shichisei makes their move against Makina and Oori.
Overall Rating: 9
This episode had much more plot development than the previous one. I was getting a little scared that we might not see too much happen. I think the graphics slightly were improved too, as they had more depth. I do get a little tired of the quick Keisei flashbacks, since more important scenes could be inserted in their place.

Akasha transports the Shichisei members to Oori and Makina’s location. They get trapped in some kind of barrier that hides their presence.  Makina is battered around and Oori isn’t too skilled at the moment to do anything. I do hope he grows up to be a much stronger person that will be able to help in the battle. Makina is able to overcome their grip on her and unleashes her barrage of bullets. Hokuto approaches Makina and sees her as a mirror for a moment. I don’t really know what this means, but maybe they’re somehow related to each other.

The other contracted priests break through the barrier to help Oori and Makina. Shichisei decides to take their leave. A few other members of Shichisei were introduced, but we still know nothing of their abilities. I still wonder why Oori’s cat does not help him when he needs it, since he also was contracted. I have been really anticipating that cat having a huge impact on future episodes. Overall, it was a good episode, and I liked how Makina picked herself back up near the end. The next episode will probably contain less fighting and more conversations I assume.

Thoughts: Some in the cult want to get rid of Makina
Overall Rating: 8
Oori is training to become a contracted priest in order to save Makina. His training consists of catching a rabbit at this point. The purpose is to help him sense the bond he shares with his own shikabane hime. The thing I didn’t like was when he bumped into another shikabane hime and grabbed her boobs by accident. It appears that her contracted priest contracted her while she was on her way to Akihabara, which would explain her cosplay outfit.

I really am interested in what Hokuto actually is. She’s obviously not a normal corpse. I don’t know how she became so powerful and what keeps her around the other corpses. It could be that they messed with her originally or something after she turned into a corpse. Anyways, we learn what most of their goals are this episode at least. I just wonder why they chose Makina to turn into a corpse.

We later see that Makina is drawing evil spirits, since her rune is rotting after Keisei’s death. She didn’t want to forget about Keisei and kept his rune, instead of just accepting Oori’s rune. This episode was a bit of a disappointment since it was more slow than you’d expect. It was just getting viewers ready for the new season in a sense I guess.