Plenty of story and action as the series starts to wrap things up, which just makes the fanservice and nudity we get along with it seem that much more out place (yet welcome).
The episode begins and ends with censored nudity, both times for the villain who calls herself ‘Isuca.’ The first scene shows her naked in a cylindrical glass chamber that is regenerating her lost arm. ARMS has been careless with their censorship most of this series, and this episode continues the trend:
Meanwhile, Sakuya provides some casual fanservice after a spirited archery session.
We get to meet Sakuya’s grandmother Nami, who apparently has a lot of authority within Isuca’s family power structure. She doesn’t look anything like a granny at all, and we later find out the reason why. Nami kinda/sorta resembles Rie Petoriyacowa from the Agent Aika series and shares the same voice actress.
Of course, they couldn’t let her go without delivering a panty flash:
Villain Isuca springs a trap, seemingly kills Nami, and all hell breaks loose. You know an anime like this wouldn’t kill a character off lightly, so it’s not long before we find out she’s okay. Anyway, we get a fairly lengthy battle with some light Tamako service.
After this, we get a showdown between the two Isuca’s. Naturally, the first attack to successfully land destroys…
(Couldn’t find anything here in photoshop, but it will of course deliver on BD.)
ARMS is not exactly known for being tasteful and even in what is supposed to be the climax of this anime, they are still going for combat nudity. I think it’s odd they ended up going this direction, as the manga has far more nudity than the anime and almost none of it comes from battles.
The episode ends with a nice bit of art for granny Nami.
Overall, this episode was brisk in terms of pacing, and like Seikoku no Dragonar and Gokukoku no Brynhildr the attempt at a way-to-soon ending feels rushed and contrived. Nobody really likes fake endings in anime, but even less so if they are handled wrong and don’t sit right. Those anime had no business ending as soon as they did from a story progression standpoint, and neither does Isuca .
But hey, it’s the nature of the business when studios are so tight for money that even a 12 episode anime feels like a luxury. It is what it is.
On the plus side, the artwork and production quality in this episode was easily the best of the series. I might go as far as to say the art quality in this episode was industry average.
I know there is still and OVA coming after the series ‘ends’ at episode 10, but I hope that doesn’t stop ARMS from being very aggressive for fanservice in the last episode. The amount of bathing / changing clothes type nudity in the anime is nowhere near frequent enough to compare with the manga. And certain characters, such as Nadeshiko, have yet to be nude at all, despite having some of the most glorious nude scenes from the manga.
Anyway, Isuca’s first BD comes out next week. Complaints aside, it should be fun to see the uncensored version of the first two episodes.
