Hotspring time.
Much like the previous episode this one is filled with nudity as everyone goes to a hotspring. The one downside though is that there are less characters used this time compared to the previous episode. However the fact that everyone actually gets naked this time around and for much longer periods instead of just having their clothes go invisible kind of balances it out along with th inclusion of things such as breast grabbing being present in this episode.
Picking up from the end of the previous episode Yumi meets with Asuka whom tells her not to enter the Shiobi Masters competition before fighting her. During this part we get some nudity from the transformation sequences however the sequences are just copy and paste from the previous episodes using the exact same sequence. So it looks like the transformation parts will probably not change for each girl with them just reusing the same one each time. So far we have only gotten a few of them so it’s not too much of an issue yet as we still have plenty of characters left but once we have seen everyone’s we might not have anything to look forward to for transformation parts after that.
After the fight Yumi is injured and sees that Asuka has used the mess from their fight to escape. Yumi returns to the others whom talk about how they are going to enter the competition so that they can save the others. They also notice Yumi looking depressed as they try to cheer her up with various things such as the manga that Murakumo wrote.
Back at Hebijo, Miyabi and her group are telling Rin about the competition and if she knows anything about it. Rin is unaware of it and is suspicious about it as well but after they discuss it Rin grants them permission to enter since she too is curious about the entire thing and what those behind it are after. This is also our first sighting of Rin even though she was not in the end credits so hopefully she has another role later on so we can get service opportunities from her also. Since she is in we can assume Daidoji will probably appear later on down the line as well.
Yumi goes to Asuka’s grandfather’s house to ask him if he knows anything about what is going on with her only to see he isn’t there and discovers that Homura had the same idea as well. They spend time talking about Asuka with Homura telling Yumi she will enter the competition as well and we see a flashback to Burst when Homura and Asuka fought. Homura then notices the injury Yumi got from when she fought Asuka earlier and suggests they head to a hotspring so she can heal up from it before the competition. We also see Fubuki meeting something late at night which is obviously going to be important later.
Everyone is at the hotsprings in order to be in the best condition before the competition begins. During this time we get a bunch of nudity from everyone as well as the usual hotsprings type of activity such as girls wanting to play with each other’s breasts. Also I really hate the steam effect shows do and I have no idea why they use it when they know it will just make the nudity that people want to see less clear. There are plenty of times here in which steam is making the image fogged up that you can barely see though it. If you’re going to have steam then just have it be behind or next to the characters not in front of their chests.
For the first time in the show we get to see the Mikagura sisters and Kagura other then when we saw them in the ED. Those that have not played the games probably will be lost not knowing who everyone here is though. Fubuki shows up causing everyone to be on high alert not knowing who she is. Kagura agrees to speak with her as she tells them about the Shinobi Masters competition and invites them to join. When they ask why they should care she tells them the winner will be allowed to fight the strongest youma knowing that will interest Kagura.
We get some more hotspring stuff till Homura senses Asuka and heads outside to find her. After seeing Asuka on the roof she tells Homura not to enter just like she told Yumi before. Homura then decides they will settle it with a fight as she transforms to battle. We then get a number of scenes of clothing destruction for Asuka during this fight.
During the fight Asuka is able to win after using a bomb and other tricks as Homura lays on the ground beaten. All the clothing destruction parts were focused on Asuka though instead of Homura so we don’t get anything from her taking damage.
Yumi begins to sense something is wrong and worries about Asuka as the episode ends.
So we have now got our hotspring episode after only 3 episodes and with it we got more nudity of the characters and with much better angles in some cases. In particular this episode seemed to be best for Mirai, Haruka, and Murakumo fans. The only sad thing is that Miyabi’s group wasn’t involved in the hotspring part resulting in us missing a bathing opportunity with them. However I wouldn’t be surprised if this isn’t the only bathing segment we get. I’m assuming we will either get more all group baths later on or maybe individual group baths focused on just one group at a time. Asuka’s group and Miyabi’s still need a bath segment and we also have Kagura and the others with her so chances are they should hopefully give more bathing scenes later on for them.
Storywise they still are keeping it mainly minimal while also using it as a way to work it into giving us service such as the need to go to the hotsprings because of Yumi’s injury. Would be nice if this ends up being the theme for the whole show with only a few serious moments mixed inbetween the main service parts. The battles so far have been relatively quick as well so they don’t seem like they will be able to drag things out with long complicated battles so perhaps they will use that time to come up with different forms of service. We also got the rest of the characters introduced that will be appearing including that the show hasn’t forgotten Rin (and hopefully won’t forget to give her service).
Next episode is apparently the start of the competition based on the preview but it almost seems to be portraying it lightheartedly. So perhaps the competition will end up consisting of events other than battles and these events might be how we get service in the future episodes. Unlike the preview for this episode and the previous one the preview for the next doesn’t present any major service parts so it is hard to tell what to expect. It might not be on the same level as these past two episodes but who knows they could surprise us with something we don’t expect.
They would never do this but I really wish we would get Haruka service in the form of her using her dolls she can control for lewd purposes. Seeing her humping one of them in her spare time probably would be out of place for the show but that won’t stop me from wanting it. Or alternatively she lends her dolls to everyone else to do lewd things with as a means to relive stress before the battles. Actually wait that could work. Give us an episode in which to clear their mind and any sexual frustrations so they can be fully prepared for battle; Haruka gives everyone one of her dolls to use to satisfy themselves. I would make for the perfect anime director.
