灼眼のシャナ II Episode 11

SPOILER Summary: Yuuji’s parents Chigusa-san and Kantarou-san have a quite breakfast together as Yuuji has gone to school early and will be spending the night there to help with the preparations for the school festival. As the work goes on at school, Tanaka and Yuuji are carrying blankets to a location and Tanaka notes that something is wrong with Yuuji. He denies it, but in truth, he’s concerned over the silver flame in his Fuzetsu. Tanaka meets up with Sato and wonders if Margery Daw will come to the festival. Considering there won’t be any alcohol served at the festival, they decide she likely won’t show.

Nakamura finishes sewing Tanaka’s lion costume (Wizard of Oz) for the parade and he shows up at that very moment. Nakamura gets Tanaka to try it on and when Ogata is asked her opinion, she gets flustered because she finds him cute in it. As such, she makes a hasty retreat out of the classroom, but the sounds of her crashing into people/things can be heard. When the group of friends gather for lunch, Ike-kun is worn out. Yoshida offers him a sandwich and the grateful Ike tries to get one, but Fujita-san arrives, needing help. Apparently, she’s been working him ragged (saying she doesn’t want to be a burden to him) with all the things that have to be done to get the festival started successfully.

That night, Konoe-san leaves and while she wants to stay with her friends, her butler tells them that her health is not good enough to allow this. The girls get told that the shower is open for them now, so they go to take a shower. Nakamura first decides to give Yoshida a breast check before moving to Shana. That night as the girls sleep, Yoshida and Shana talk about things regarding Yuuji. Yoshida thanks Shana for her role in ensuring Yuuji kept the role of Romeo to Yoshida’s Juliet. While both promise they won’t lose to the other, they are no longer bitter rivals but good friends.

The following day, Shana is posting pictures on the different points of interest display for Misaki City. She’s thinking of her conversation with Yoshida on how Shana and Yuuji are always are fighting together. Yuuji arrives to give her a hand and as each image is posted, she recalls an event that she and Yuuji went through together. Meanwhile inside the classroom, Yoshida’s dress is finished and as they try to convince her to try it on, Konoe begins quoting (in Japanese) from Romeo and Juliet Act II, Scene VI.

That evening on the roof of the school, Alastor confirms what Yuuji’s parents had told Shana and states that a Flame Haze can love a human. They discuss the silver flame which is something Alastor has never heard of a Tomogara having and something he wants to ensure she understands the meaning of that. Wilhelmina arrives on scene with information from her investigation of the Keeper spell on Reiji Maigo. As such, Shana gets Yuuji so that Wilhelmina can brief them both as well as Alastor. The Reiji Maigo is a Hougu that was created by the female Tomogara Lord Pheles. She had fallen in love with a Mystes known as Johan and the Reiji Maigo kept him alive (as it does Yuuji now). The two of them were known as “The Promised Couple” and the “Engaged Link.” The Keeper spell was placed on the Reiji Maigo to prevent others from touching the Hougu. However, the two of them were in a battle and lost, leading to the Reiji Maigo coming into Yuuji’s possession. Wilhelmina has learned that Pheles is still alive and that since the Reiji Maigo is a symbol of her and Johan’s love, she’ll eventually come to claim the Hougu. Yuuji asks if the silver flame is connected to that. Both Wilhelmina and Tiamat think he’s joking until Shana confirms Yuuji having a silver flame when he cast a Fuzetsu. Alastor determines that the silver flame and Pheles are not linked, so Wilhelmina promises to investigate the silver flame. However, since Pheles is so strong, she warns Shana and Yuuji to be on their guard. Shana agrees but feels there’s more to the story than Wilhelmina has let on.

Preparations for the school festival are nearly complete with the festival being the following day. Ike-kun is still being run ragged by Fujita-san, even as everyone else is going home for the night. Shana and Yuuji walk home together and Shana makes Yuuji promise her that he’ll make a choice and then fight for it. Yuuji promises to do just that and to fight which makes Shana feel better. They continue to walk home, observed by Wilhelmina, who’s on top of small (water?) tower. Wilhelmina hopes that Pheles doesn’t come because she doesn’t want to fight her.

Thoughts: Well, we have the obligatory school festival stuff that most anime titles with high school characters have. This one is going to last a tad longer than most though since its going into a 2nd episode. But, none of this is really going to waste. The episodes that seemingly have not progressed the main story in fact have been laying the groundwork for the Pheles arc. The interesting thing is that the silver flame is apparently a separate issue from Pheles looking for the Hougu she created for Johan. That suggests to me that the silver flame, in addition to being tied to Margery Daw, is also tied to whatever plot the Ball Masqué have for Yuuji (I still say Konoe is Hecate or tied to her in some way).

Anyway, I don’t think we’ll have some huge rumble happen here, but at the very least, it looks like we’ll have a battle with Shana, Wilhelmina, and Yuuji against Pheles.