Impression:

Things are really starting to come together in this series. The tone has started to change into something that is a lot more serious and I am a big fan of that. The various forces that are fighting over Japan are putting things into motion and this episode features a group that is for the expulsion of the foreigners that are currently residing in Japan. Even though they have been obtaining a large amount of weaponry recently, their leader is taken out by Okuni. Unfortunately, Roman cannot bring himself to believe that Okuni is up to no good and leaves himself vulnerable around her. I guess love will make people blind to everything. Being Catwoman doesn’t make you bad if you are beautiful in Bakumatsu. Although, it isn’t like Batman did that great of a job at demonizing her. The kicker was finding out that Okuni is actually Otsu. Now, some of you may be saying that the connection was completely obvious, but I honestly did not see that coming. Call me an idiot now and get it over with. Caught your breath yet? Good, now let’s focus on the important thing which is the fact that Roman got fucked up at the end of this episode. Abdominal wounds, poison, mental trauma, and all of this is followed by almost drowning. Obviously Roman will not be able to just bounce back from this and the preview reinforces the classic soul-searching step that will follow this experience. I don’t mind this because I felt that this episode had a lot of real impact.

The odd technology in this series never ceases to amaze me.

Current Opinion of the Show:

I am starting to get a lot more interested in this series. The story has a lot of potential with the various entities that are fighting over Japan which is finally starting to pick up steam. Okuni turning out to be Otsu really got to me because it makes one infer a horrific back story that would definitely warrant an anti-Japan mentality. Overall, this episode got a lot of things going and I am really excited to see things develop. I feel that we have had a lack of Suzuki in recent episodes, so we will hopefully be seeing him soon.