Wakaba and Daitengu

Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter Episode 8 probably would have been a really cool episode had I not been watching it in 480p quality. Unfortunately, it wasn’t uploaded to the site I normally watch it on, and I simply don’t have time to wait around for it.

So, that means I got to watch all the action of this episode without actually being able to tell what was happening. I know Yuna punched a lot of Vertex and Wakaba sliced some down as well. But I didn’t get a good look.

What makes that so unfortunate for this episode, in particular, is that we actually got to see (or, you did, hopefully) Wakaba’s contracted spirit. I really had my doubts that it was going to be revealed, as I detailed in my review of Episode 7.

The spirit Wakaba summons is Daitengu, which is just the greatest of the tengu. As far as I know, Daitengu isn’t a specific yokai in the way that Shuten-douji is. It’s more of a title or class of yokai.

So, what is a Daitengu or tengu? Are you familiar with those red Japanese masks with long noses? That’s a tengu mask. If you’ve seen Demon Slayer, Sakonji Urokodaki, Tanjirou’s master, wears a tengu mask. But, anyway, they’re effectively mountain spirits, with the Daitengu being the strongest.

Now, because of the quality I watched the episode in, I couldn’t tell if the spirit we saw behind Wakaba had the stereotypical tengu nose. But, what I did notice was that Wakaba had wings as a prominent part of her Daitengu-fused design.

I looked into it, and it turns out that wings are actually a common trait of tengu. I never knew that, so thanks for teaching me something, Yuki Yuna.

Yuna’s Soul Lives On

In a development that wasn’t very surprising, while Yuna Yuki isn’t the descendant of Yuna Takashima, she is the reincarnation of her. I really don’t know anything about Shintoism, as I’ve said in previous reviews, so I’m not sure how much reincarnation plays a role in it.

But, I do know reincarnation is a big part of Buddhism, which is also a popular religion in Japan. So even if reincarnation isn’t a main part of Shintoism, it does still make sense for it to be included in this series that’s based on Japanese religion and mythology.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I like it. Even though Naruto is one of my favorite anime, I wasn’t a fan of the whole reincarnation concept in that one either. And I have to say Yuki Yuna did it worse. I mean, Yuna Yuki and Yuna Takashima look identical.

But, despite how cheesy I think this whole reincarnation thing is, we learned quite a bit about how this world and the gods work. For example, Yuna Takashima was able to reincarnate over the generations simply by declaring that she would. That’s pretty wild.

More importantly, we learned that after doing this (and dying), the Divine Tree actually allowed Yuna’s soul to be incorporated into it. And in case it wasn’t made clear, the Divine Tree is basically a combination of all the various gods.

That’s pretty interesting that the gods would invite Yuna’s soul to join them like that. However, it’s not as interesting, to me, as learning that the gods cursed Yuna Yuki for saving Togo. Remember how I’ve been saying that the gods aren’t on the side of the Heroes for the past few weeks?

It seems pretty obvious now that I’m right. But, I’m always right, so that’s to be expected.

The Sentinel’s Final Battle

Toward the end of the episode, it’s confirmed that the events of Wakaba’s journal do take place 300 years before the present timeline of the story. And, it’s revealed that after the first generation of heroes, there was a significant gap until a second generation was needed.

I don’t know if Sonoko’s hero group was the second generation or if there had been others before. But, in any event, it had been a while before a new batch of heroes was needed because the Taisha took the perfectly reasonable route of human sacrifice to appease the gods instead.

Why sacrificing Miko to the gods is a valid way to save the world is unknown to me. Maybe by sacrificing them, the Divine Tree gains a power boost and can fend for itself for a bit? I have no idea.

But, once again, this all makes the gods being against the heroes, at least to an extent, even more confusing. The heroes are literally the ones protecting the Divine Tree, and therefore the gods, from eradication. So why are they also being punished by the gods?

As far as I understand it, this is how everything works. The gods need protection, so they grant some of their power to the Heroes. Then, the gods punish the heroes for using that power. And when all the heroes have been punished (killed), the gods require the sacrifice of their devout followers to survive.

It seems to me like these gods just suck. Honestly, considering how little of the world still exists at this point in time, everyone might as well just decide to give up on the old gods. Stop worshipping them and allow the rest of the universe to be destroyed out of spite.

Conclusion

What do you think of Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter Episode 8? Were you able to watch it in higher quality than 480p? Do you prefer Shuten-douji or Daitengu? And, how do you feel about Yuna Yuki being the reincarnation of Yuna Takashima? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and Key Mochi~ for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika and Senpai tiers respectively this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 9 is available now.

Wakaba vs. Chikage

Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter Episode 7 was decent. The most disappointing part of the episode was the fight between Wakaba and Chikage at the start of the episode. If that had been good, I think I could have called the episode good as a whole.

Because it’s been a long time since the last Yuki Yuna season I watched, I don’t really remember what the animation was like prior to The Great Mankai Chapter. But the use of 3D animation for a lot of the fights isn’t something I like.

Does the 3D animation look bad? No. But the fact that I notice it at all is distracting. And, honestly, I think 3D animated movement in anime looks awkward 99% of the time. Unless rotoscoping is being used (which can still look odd), it’s going to look stiff.

The content of the fight wasn’t terrible, though. If it was better animated, it could have been a cool fight. Still, there are some things I felt were lacking from the fight. Most notably, we never got the name of Chikage’s contracted spirit.

When we first saw Chikage’s spirit in Episode 6, I was looking forward to when its name would be revealed. Now that she’s dead, I don’t see its name being mentioned. And the same goes for Anzu and Tamako, though we never even saw their spirits.

Now, the only one left whose spirit we don’t know, but that might be revealed, is Wakaba. I don’t have high expectations, though. She hasn’t used her spirit yet. And considering what she’s seen happen to her friends who use their spirits, I don’t blame her.

Chikage Kōri is a Hero

As I predicted last week, Chikage’s death was covered up by Taisha. Once she went rogue and attacked another one of the heroes, her fate was sealed. Never mind the fact that she also attacked unarmed civilians previously and was under house arrest for that crime.

Taisha claimed that Chikage was killed while fighting valiantly against the Vertex. Obviously, this was done to save face for the hero program and the Taisha organization at large. But, their actions didn’t match their words when it came to how Chikage was treated in death.

While they claimed that she died as a hero, Chikage wasn’t given a hero’s funeral. There was no grand ceremony to celebrate her life and sacrifice. Instead, her body was discretely sent to her family and her name was left off the hero memorial.

It was said that Taisha didn’t honor Chikage in the end because the Divine Tree had turned its back on her (do trees have backs?). But, I don’t think that’s actually true. As I’ve mentioned in previous reviews, I don’t think the heroes are as “divinely selected” as Taisha makes them out to be.

To me, it didn’t look like the Divine Tree cast Chikage aside. It looked like she simply ran out of life force due to her spirit summoning. When they do that, they literally have a countdown on their chests that shows their remaining power.

But, since this is the first generation of heroes we’re talking about, it’s very possible that they simply didn’t know how all of that works. After all, even if Chikage had used her spirit summoning to fight against the Vertex instead of Wakaba, the outcome would have been the same.

Are we to believe the Divine Tree turns its back on anyone who uses the power they’re given as a hero? It doesn’t make sense.

Two and a Half Heroes

At the end of the episode, what we’re left with are two heroes and a Miko, which I’ll say is basically half a hero. I don’t really understand the role of the Miko, but I think they’re just people who have a closer connection to the Divine Tree.

In this original group, there were the five heroes and then Hinata the Miko who isn’t a hero herself. In the modern hero group, I believe Togo is both a hero and a Miko. And I’m pretty sure it was a Miko who had to plant the Divine Tree seed during the Sentinel’s expedition.

This probably all makes more sense if you actually know anything about Shintoism. I don’t. All I know is that while Hinata is considered a member of the team, she’s not actually a hero and doesn’t go out on missions with the other girls.

My prediction for these remaining two and a half heroes is that they’re going to survive until the end of the flashback arc. Eventually, they’re going to die since this arc takes place about 300 years in the past as far as I understand it.

But, it doesn’t really make sense to me for them to die in battle or anything. This whole flashback comes from Wakaba’s diary, so we know she survives. And since Yuna Takashima is apparently connected to Yuna Yuki, I don’t see her dying either.

As for Hinata, she could still die during this arc. But what would that achieve? Would her death impact the story or other characters any more than the deaths of the other girls have? I don’t think so. I don’t see there being any benefit to killing her off from a writing perspective.

Conclusion

What do you think of Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter Episode 7? Did you like the fight between Wakaba and Chikage? Do you think Wakaba’s spirit will ever be revealed? And do you think the three remaining girls will survive? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button ❤️ down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and Key Mochi~ for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika and Senpai tiers respectively this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 8 is available now.

Heroes are Useless

Finally, Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter Episode 6 has revealed the true meaning behind the series. I always thought it was odd that the heroes are given divine smartphones, but now it’s obvious that it’s all just a metaphor for technological dependence.

These girls believe that their smartphones will save them, but in reality, all they need to do is put their phones down and live in the moment. Further, this week’s episode highlighted the toxic nature of social media, with Chikage falling prey to online commenters.

If she can’t handle anonymous people online telling her that the heroes are useless, she’ll never make it as a popular anime reviewer. Imagine if I stopped writing every time someone (incorrectly) says my opinions on who the best girl is are wrong.

Okay, in reality, I don’t think Yuki Yuna is trying to have some deep message about technology dependence or the dangers of social media. But, I mean, that’s kind of what’s happening, isn’t it? Especially with Chikage.

I do think this episode is very topical, though, with the way in which the people of Japan react to the heroes. They think that because bad things are still happening, the heroes are useless. But they can’t see that things would be much worse (they’d be dead) without the heroes.

Obviously, I don’t condone Chikage’s actions. She’s a hero so she should be able to put aside her personal feelings and protect everyone. Of course, I say that knowing full well that while I wouldn’t personally harm those girls, I’d probably look the other way if they were getting attacked by a Vertex.

Gun-chan has a Gamer Moment

There’s clearly more going on with Chikage than just the fact that online hate comments are getting to her (weak). As Wakaba mentions to her, using their powers can result in both severe physical and psychological damage that needs to be assessed by medical professionals.

Since Chikage hasn’t undergone a mental evaluation as far as we know, she’s probably suffering from something related to her hero powers that’s compounding with her other stress. She could really use a good workers’ compensation lawyer — but I doubt the Taisha need to carry insurance for that.

Also, let’s not forget that she’s a middle school student who witnessed the deaths of two of her friends. Even if she wasn’t receiving hate comments or suffering from hero-related mental anguish, that’s going to mess her up.

But, as we all know, Chikage snapping actually has nothing to do with all the stress she’s been under both before and after she became a hero. The real reason she snapped is simply that, as Yuna said, she’s a gamer. Gamers can’t help themselves from having “gamer moments.” It’s not her fault.

That can’t be a coincidence, though, right? For the gamer character to be the one to snap and smash her computer monitors? If that wasn’t intentional, then that actually makes it even better because of how perfect it is.

Anyway, Chikage’s meltdown really didn’t interest me at all throughout the majority of the episode. She gets mad at anonymous people online, refuses to get help for her issues, and then distances herself from who friends while also blaming them for “not understanding” her. She’s just annoying.

But, at the end of the episode, once it was revealed that Chikage is going full-on villain, I suddenly became interested. What happens when a hero turns her back on the divine tree?

The Fall of Chikage

Unfortunately, we don’t actually know what spirit it was that Chikage invoked at the end of the episode when she attacked Wakaba. We know Yuna’s spirit is Shuten Douji, but Chikage doesn’t call out her spirit’s name in the same way. We do get to see the spirit, though.

My best guess is that Chikage’s spirit is some kind of death god. It could be the grim reaper since her weapon is a scythe. But, the spirits (there were multiple) that appeared behind her didn’t look like grim reapers. They had spikes going through their heads — I’m guessing they’re some kind of Japanese yokai.

Also, notice how not only were there multiple spirits shown behind Chikage, but the ability she used directly afterward made copies of herself. This seems to be the true ability of her spirit, which again goes against the grim reaper theory.

How do you expect the fight between Wakaba and Chikage to go next week? Since the diary the current heroes are reading was Wakaba’s, that seems like solid evidence for Chikage not killing Wakaba here.

After all, if Chikage killed Wakaba, then how would Wakaba be able to write about their battle? Checkmate. But, Chikage’s fate is up in the air. I don’t see her getting a full-on redemption arc. So either she’s going to be killed by Wakaba here, or she’s going to be taken out of the picture in another way.

She might regret what she did after she’s defeated and comes back to her senses. But I can’t really see her going back to being one of the heroes. Maybe Taisha will imprison her since we already know she was placed under house arrest for attacking the schoolgirls. Regardless of what happens to her, I think the public statement will be that she valiantly died in battle as a hero.

We can’t have people knowing that one of the heroes went berserk. That would look bad.

Conclusion

What do you think of Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter Episode 6? Do you think Chikage is justified in her hatred of the general population? Were you interested in her character arc? And how do you think her fight against Wakaba is going to end? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button ❤️ down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and Key Mochi~ for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika and Senpai tiers respectively this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 7 is available now.

The Hero Annals

Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter Episode 5 is the best episode of the season so far. It didn’t have anything to do with the new characters I can’t keep track of. And in their place, we were introduced to the original heroes, who are way better than the Sentinels.

So how do we learn about the original heroes? Is this information members of Taisha share with the current heroes? Of course it’s not. Taisha would never willingly give important information about the true nature of the heroes to the heroes.

Instead, everything we learn in this episode comes from a book called the Hero Annals that has apparently been passed down in Sonoko Nogi’s family for hundreds of years. It was written by one of the original heroes, Wakaba Nogi.

It’s unclear exactly how Wakaba is related to Sonoko. We can be pretty sure Wakaba isn’t Nogi’s mother since it’s implied 300 years have passed between the first generation of heroes and the current generation.

The Vertex first appeared in 2015 AD, and the first generation of heroes was formed in 2018 AD. However, the present story takes place in 301 DE (Divine Era). I’m going to make the assumption that the Divine Era began with the creation of the first heroes.

It also seems fairly unlikely that Wakaba would have survived into adulthood considering the track record for heroes. We probably won’t ever get confirmation of this, but my bet is that Sonoko is simply a descendant of the same Nogi family as Wakaba — not Wakaba’s direct descendant.

It’s clear that they’re related based on their family name and appearance, though.

The Original Heroes

I’ve already gone over Wakaba, but what about the other four original heroes? They are Yuna Takashima, Tamako Doi, Anzu Iyojima, and Chikage Kori. What’s interesting about these other original heroes is that they too resemble the other current heroes.

Yuna resembles Yuna (what a surprise), Tamako resembles Karin, Anzu resembles Fuu and Itsuki, and Chikage resembles Mimori. But, despite their appearances, it’s not (yet) confirmed that there’s any relation between these original and current heroes.

Also, something important that’s mentioned is that both Tamako and Anzu died within a month of their first battle as heroes. That seems to definitively confirm that, at least those two, aren’t the direct ancestors of Karin and the Inubouzaki sisters respectively.

Let’s talk about Yuna Takashima next, because I think she’s the most interesting. It’s obvious to me that she’s Yuna Yuki’s ancestor despite not having the same family name — she looks exactly like her.

However, I did find it extremely weird that the current heroes picked up on this connection as well. They can’t see what the original heroes looked like as we can. So all they have to go on are the written names. And simply based on both Yuna Yuki and Yuna Takashima having the same given name, they’re assuming a connection.

Anyway, the reason Yuna Takashima is cool to me is that she invokes the spirit of Shuten Douji in battle, which I think is awesome. Shuten Douji is one of my favorite Fate characters, so I enjoy seeing other series reference that mythical character as well.

Chikage is the least interesting of the original heroes so far. She’s not directly tied to one of the current heroes like Wakaba is, she doesn’t invoke Shuten Douji as Yuna does, and she doesn’t die as Tamako and Anzu do. She just kind of exists.

What is Taisha Hiding?

It’s a bit odd that someone from Taisha was able to get their hands on the Hero Annals and censor parts of it. I mean, it was basically her personal diary despite being written with the express purpose of informing future heroes.

I guess once Wakaba eventually died, members of Taisha went through all of her belongings and found it. But, if that was the case, why would it still be in possession of the Nogi family, even in its censored state? Wouldn’t they want to outright destroy it?

Taisha’s questionable actions regarding the Hero Annals aside, they’re generally pretty good at hiding the truth. For example, they use the heroes like disposable tools and yet are able to convince new heroes that their position is an honor.

Obviously, the Taisha organization is hiding the true fate that will inevitably befall the girls selected to be heroes. But I think there’s more to it than that. I think they also know why the heroes are destined for that fate.

You see, there are a couple of things that don’t really add up when it comes to Taisha, the heroes, and whatever god(s) they follow. Have you noticed that the girls seem to be repeatedly punished by the gods for doing the thing the gods granted them the power to do?

Yuna Yuki mentioned this at the start of the episode. She used the power granted to her by the gods to save the world and her friends. But then she was punished by the gods for the side effect of using the power she borrowed from them.

To me, it seems like either this power isn’t really bestowed upon the heroes by a god. I can’t really see why else the girls would be punished in the ways they are for supposedly doing god’s work.

Conclusion

What do you think of Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter Episode 5? Do you prefer the original heroes or the modern Sentinels? Which original hero do you like the most? And do you think the heroes’ power actually comes from a god? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button ❤️ down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and Toma for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month, as well as Key Mochi~ for supporting at the Senpai tier. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 6 is available now.

Chopping Trees

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I think Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter Episode 4 was pretty bad. The only thing I’d say was good about it was the soundtrack at times. Other than that, it seemed to have a lot of flaws.

Before I get into some of the actual issues I had with the series, though, let’s look at some of the superficial ones. I’ve never been a huge fan of Yuki Yuna’s combination of Shinto religion and space/mecha stuff. But the tree chopping ceremony in this episode really made me notice it.

When the sapling was originally planted, I didn’t mind that there was a whole ceremony to go along with it. It’s a divine tree in a magical girl anime — whatever. But when the ceremony for removing the tree was to “pretend” to chop it down as part of a ceremony, I couldn’t take it seriously.

Also, it was never explained why the tree was dying, right? We were just told that it’s dying and so the Sentinels needed to bring the sapling back. But, considering how well the sapling seemed to have been doing, would leaving it not have been preferable?

I get that there’s a potential risk with doing that. If they leave the sapling where it is and the main tree dies, then everyone who lives in the world supported by the tree will be erased. But at the same time, I feel like the possibility of having two trees outweighs that risk.

It seems like a second tree would help to protect the first. And as it stands right now, humanity doesn’t have long anyway. If they don’t expand outward, they’re just going to fade away.

Miroku Who?

Now, onto some of my real complaints with the episode and season at large. So, we’re 4 episodes in and I still don’t really know the new characters aside from Mebuki. And a large part of why that is has to do with how the girls look and act as Sentinels.

I still don’t know which girl is which when they’re wearing their Sentinel outfits. Half the time Mebuki has red hair instead of black hair, all the blonde girls look the same, and Shizuku’s entire personality changes. That makes it a bit difficult to learn the new characters.

So when Miroku “died,” I honestly had no idea who she was. After the episode, I had to look up which one she was. And in case you’re wondering, yes, I had to look up the names of every other character I’ve mentioned or will mention in this review other than Mebuki.

But, why is this really a problem? Maybe you think it’s fine because by the end of the season I’ll know all of their names. Well, not knowing who a character is really makes their “death” scene a lot less impactful.

I had absolutely no emotional attachment to Miroku. However, as it turns out, she didn’t die after all. So I guess the fact that her “death” wasn’t impactful doesn’t matter at all in the end anyway.

The series is relying way too heavily on names to differentiate the characters. That would work if we were already very familiar with the characters. Like, if Yuna was a Sentinal, I’d recognize who Yuna was if they said her name. It’s not working right now, though.

Maybe it’s for the best Miroku didn’t die in this episode. Now they can save her death for when I know who she is (I now know she’s the rich girl, by the way).

“Yuki Yuna isn’t a Madoka Clone”

Something I’ve definitely said in the past is that Yuki Yuna is a Hero is just a rip-off or clone of Madoka Magica. Yuki Yuna fans always get very defensive about that, but I think deep down they know it’s kind of true.

Yeah, Yuki Yuna is different in a lot of ways, such as its focus on the Shinto religion and mech-like transformations. But it’s also a dark magical girl anime that came out in the aftermath of Madoka Magica.

Madoka Magica didn’t invent the dark magical girl genre, but it did cause an explosion of interest in it. So I view Yuki Yuna in much the same way I view a lot of the worse isekai anime that came out a few years after Re:Zero and KonoSuba blew that genre up as well.

Why am I bringing this all up, though? Am I just trying to trigger the Yuki Yuna fans? No. I’m bringing it up because of the sacrifice Togo chose to make in this episode. She agreed to sacrifice herself to save everyone else and opted to erase her existence from the world at the same time so her friends wouldn’t miss her.

If you’ve ever watched Madoka Magica, that should sound extremely familiar.

But, as with basically everything in Yuki Yuna, it does the “lite” version of what Madoka Magica did. Yuna notices Mebuki erased herself immediately and her friends all rush to her bedside in the hospital where she wakes up.

I’d still like to know how she got into the hospital, though. Wasn’t she sacrificed? Normally you don’t get taken to the hospital after you get sacrificed and have your existence wiped from the universe.

Conclusion

What do you think of Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter Episode 4? Did you like it more than I did? Was there anything else about the episode you didn’t like that I didn’t mention? And are you able to keep the characters straight? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button ❤️ down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and Toma for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month, as well as Key Mochi~ for supporting at the Senpai tier. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 5 is available now.