Katanagatari ~ Ep. 7 ~ Nisioisin, YYYYYYYY?!?!?! T_T

Well, to be honest, I wouldn’t have this story any other way than how the author has written it. Shichika was able to fight against the true “Japan’s Strongest Swordsman”, his sister, who was given a satisfying role and death while having one of the better, nicely balanced complexities in character over the entire cast. Still, it was sad to see her die, even though that made her happy…cuz Shichika lost his sis! How can I not be sad for him?! *cries for Shichika* TT___________TT

Getting back to more of that later, for me, this is undoubtedly the best episode of them all and it won’t be topped until probably the last one. The previous episodes I’m more than content with but episode 7 (argh, this number!) draws us back to the near-start of this sword hunt, piles some family drama and angst on it, and partially concludes the Yasuri-family business’s way of doing things with what else other than SIBLING FIGHT!! (omg, we actually got action in this one). …And then topped off with a sense of utter helplessness cuz “THIS IS HOW IT WAS DONE IN THE OLD DAYS, KIDS!” kind of deal.

Uargh. *sniff* I think I’m going to be a crying mess while referring back to that all throughout the post so mind as well start.

*sniff* T_T




Thoughts

First off, I had already gotten used to the style switch before the episode even aired so it really appeared as nothing but a slight shift of things in my eyes. One or two people I came across over the internet, however, are still thinking that the studio has got budget problems because of the animation and that the production is going to the dumps.




LOL YOU GUYS DIDN’T DO THEIR RESEARCH?! *OBNOXIOUS*




The animation is a one-episode thing because the 7th volume centered on Shichika and Nanami (7 for the seventh sword, 7 for the “7” in Shichika and Nanami’s names, 7 for them being the 7th generation in the Yasuri line, 7 for July, etc) so the art was drawn to closer resemble take’s illustrations of the series (and it’s a deserving special treatment, too!). We go back to the original style next month. And if ANN is right about DVD rankings, Katanagatari is continuing to rank high in both DVD and BluRay releases. So don’t diss this episode. *so sensitive* :P

Alright, while Shichika and Togame were off making snowmen with Konayuki (I wanted to see that~! *pouts* T3T), Nanami arrived at Shireizan, killed just about everyone who lived there and sort of released Akutou Bita from its shrine-prison to keep it for herself.

K, just to make things clear, I’ve always viewed Nanami as a swordsman or rather, a sword since that’s what the Kyoutouryuu are, but isn’t it oddly fitting how Bita (Poor, the Evil) seemed destined to fall into her hands despite the fact that Kyoutouryuu absolutely can’t use swords? At this moment, alarms should have gone off in my head cuz it was never told to us what would happen if a Kyoutouryuu did use it. That is, until we saw how Nanami ended up but that was due mostly to her weak body so it’s still up for discussion.

But her illness and identity aside, the description and function of Bita seemed like it was a sword made for Nanami like how all the other swords were for their previous owners. For one thing, look at its name. “Poor” and “evil”. All her life, people have viewed her as “poor thing” cuz she can neither live nor die. In other words, it’s a pitiful existence. Then there’s “evil” and we’ve seen how twisted and cruel Nanami can be over the course of 3 episodes.
Finally, I’d rather say this now than later when it’s revealed to Shichika and Togame, Bita is able to rejuvenate its owner via some black magic-like lightning charged into its blade, allowing Nanami to fight at full capacity without succumbing to her illness. The perfect weapon for Shichika’s most fearsome and toughest opponent.

This makes me wonder what order did Nisioisin go in while thinking up Kiki’s swords and if he made them according to the characters or the characters according to the swords. Cuz it sure would have been convenient if Bita so happens to line up with Nanami, who just so happens to need such an item in order to play the antagonist role.

This is why I love this series so much. C’mon, someone license it already so I can buy the novels over here. Plz? <3

At this part, I wonder how many people went “Whoa, what’s up with her eyes?” and thought if Bita was taking over Nanami or something. I was about to think the same thing but it’s probably because since she’s a “sword” as well, then it’s not that barbaric to think she can understand other swords. Kinda like how Shichika can sense the auras of other swords, y’know?

There’s also the case about her eyes that can absorb any technique and strength of the people she fights. While Bita is not technically her enemy, it’s also possible for her to take in knowledge of how Bita is supposed to be used through her eyes. After all, Kiki’s swords are like weapons with “souls”. Moreover, swords chose their owners. So if you believe that theory in Katanagatari, it kinda makes sense.

…I just hope what I’m talking about makes sense. ^^;

Ok, while I think Nanami is awesome in the wicked, evil way, who else felt bad for this poor dude she stomped the life out of?

I don’t know if this was the effect (or maybe poison?) of Bita or not to make her see him as some weed clamping onto her leg but even if he appeared human to her, she would have killed him in the same manner anyways.

God, Nanami is scary. o_O;

Gah, even more scarier when she just marches off a field of corpses, all happy that Shichika and Togame will definitely come to find her soon since the rumors of all the carnage she’s caused should have reached them by now.

Also, she just can’t wait to be killed by her own brother, could she?

o_O

On the way to Tosa, Mutsue and Migiri’s ghosts or some kind of memories of them through necromancy come back to try and haunt Nanami about how she should’ve just died instead of continuing to live. Ugh, doesn’t that just suck?

Well, if these really are Nanami’s memories, I think these ghosts that are surrounding her now aren’t her actual parents but somber representations of them based on all the negativity of her upbringing. Mutsue has always feared her because her power was “too exceptional” so he refused to train her and therefore, denied her existence as a Kyoutouryuu. Migiri has always pitied her and saw her as nothing but a failure of life, which is pretty hard to bear for a normal person, especially if it’s coming from the person who’s given birth to you.

Even Shichika, though well-intentioned, always babied her because of her fragility so she’s never had the chance to do anything with her own strength.

I don’t think Nanami bears any hatred towards her family but she probably holds quite an amount of bitterness because of the treatment she’s received from them. That may be one of the reasons why she has such a bleak and disdainful look on life and why she has no respect for the people she’s killed.

Pfft, I’m sorry to break the serious mood but seeing the Maniwa Insect Squad’s head among all those skeletons reminded me of those “Look for these ____!” games on the back of cereal boxes. And…yea…I know, I’m crazy. LOL XD;

Anyways, the good thing is Nanami doesn’t seem to let all those depressing remarks about her weigh her down and just accepts it as it is.

“Yea, I’m very miserable to you and I’m aware of it. Get lost.”

That doesn’t stop her from wanting to get some self-satisfaction out of her life, though, and the only way that can happen is if Shichika kills her, which we’ll get into at the near end of this post.

This is the reason why I think her character is so awesome and like I mentioned earlier, so well-balanced. She’s a sad figure but hardly emo. She is cold-blooded but not without understandable reasons as to why. She has a considerable amount of strength as an observer and a fighter but what point is there in having all that if her health prevents her from using them? That last one is especially important.

As much as it pained me to see Nanami go in this episode, her death was necessary. She is simply just too powerful. If Nisioisin allowed her to live, no matter how ficitional this story can get, her ability to make other people’s powers her own and defeat her opponents so easily would have been pushing it to the borderline of Canon Sue almost.

And let’s face it. Episode 4 was a total death flag for Nanami anyway. Characters with excessive powers don’t last long and a lot of them go off to seek their own deaths because it’s too damn lonely to stay at the top of the hill.

Tragic, yes, but I find how Nisioisin developed this situation for Nanami one of the best I’ve seen in a while. If not the best (or most impressive) so far since I liked her personality immensely as well.

So enough with the chitchat to go onto more chitchat, our two heroes are led to where Nanami is waiting for them by Emonzaemon and judging from the conversation he has with Togame here, they do not get along well. Even politely. lol

But wasn’t that to be expected? Togame is in opposition to Hitei-hime (whatever the case that is), and therefore, as Hitei’s loyal servant, he’d be against Togame.

Come to think of it, I think few will be able to stand Togame if they really met her upfront and in person. Sure, from the our side, she’s a character you just can’t help but like but dealing with her is a whole other issue. She’s so noisy, abusive, and rude that you’ll have to have enough patience to want to talk with her.

Shichika being one of those people, if not the only one, who are able. Then again, he’s special…and he’s in love with her. <P

Well, Shichika is kinda ticked off how his big sis is treating him like a little kid as always but that’s what big sisters do~ and hmm, he sounds quite confident that after getting stronger in these past six months that he might injure Nanami. Nanami laughs at his worries, tells him to take this duel seriously and orders him to kill her.

Cue the surprised “What did you say?!” face from him. And Nanami is not pleased.

Y’know, here’s how I think it is. Half a year ago before Togame came and took Shichika off on a journey, Nanami was probably sure that Shichika would kill her if she had asked him to. With some second thoughts before doing so, of course. But she probably held back because maybe one year after he killed their father would have been too soon for another family loss (besides, who would cook for Shichika if she’s gone, right? :P). And/or, the more likely case, she wanted Shichika to become stronger before killing her.

The latter came true for her but Shichika as a blade has “softened up” in her opinion. Well, since he went on this journey, he’s met a lot of people, learned many things and “expanded his humanity” when it otherwise wouldn’t have happened if he was still stuck on that island. So it was inevitable that he’d change in that aspect. Nanami just doesn’t approve of Shichika being more human and less like a sword and points the blame at Togame.

She then proceeds to prod Shichika into fighting her by reminding him that before he was a swordsman, he was a sword that served his owner. And his owner wants Kiki’s swords, one of them which is in her possession right now. Then she had to bring up some talk about their dad like this:

“Hey, Dad would be disappointed in you if you neglected your duty in order to spare my life.”

Ooohhh, Nanami, you’re bad. Shichika isn’t good with complicated matters but you have to guilt trip him into doing it, too? Such a mean Nee-chan! >3<

Shichika finally agrees at that last one but Nanami is able to dodge all his attacks no problem.

Did it occur to anyone that while Shichika is on the offensive, Nanami didn’t need to put up much of a defense nor move to retaliate Shichika’s attacks at all? I guess this shows the difference in strength of both siblings but I also think that Nanami is trying to size Shichika up on how much he’s improved since the last time they saw each other. She could easily defeat him with one blow if she wanted to but she didn’t.

Which makes me believe that while she said this was a “serious duel”, she’s not really going all out on her end. Right now, she’s testing him to see if he’s capable of killing her.

In all honesty, I don’t think he is or ever will be (the end is an exception) and Nanami knew that. Killing Mutsue was one thing since he was an old man and his life bound to end sooner or later so Shichika was obligated to fulfill the last wishes of his father. Killing Nanami, however, may have been close to impossible for Shichika if Nanami didn’t get him into rage mode. Shichika acknowledges that his sister has always been stronger than him but at the same time, they grew up together with Nanami serving as the maternal figure he probably didn’t have.

There’s also the fact that Shichika cares more about his older sister because of her illness so it would be hard for even Nanami to severe that attachment he has to her.

All this really just heightens Nanami’s worries. If Shichika couldn’t kill her, then she’d never be killed.

This overthrows my previous theory on whether Nanami was holding back or not on asking Shichika to kill her. I think she ok-ed him on leaving with Togame precisely because she wanted Shichika to become stronger through experiencing many battles, and thereby cutting off whatever emotions he’d feel when it comes to ending someone’s life.

*sigh* … Huu~ *sniff* T.T

Nanami finally reveals to Shichika about her eyes and we finally get a term for it!

Hidden technique: Migeika (Sight-training)

Hmm, I don’t know what to think about her ability at this point. In episode 4, I thought it was totally awesome but now, it’s too convenient and unrealistic. Copying people’s techniques is one thing but she can apparently steal their physical capacity as well. So all the battle experience Shichika’s gained in the past 6 months took only a glance for Nanami to transfer into herself.

That’s so unfair! >A<

Shichika does his ultimate move but Nanami just crapped him by the waist and flipped him up. This even makes Mon-kun shocked while Shichika is still wondering “Eh? How’d I get up here?”.

This would have been humorous, really, if it wasn’t followed up by…

Nanami admitting that she was the one who annihilated the whole Itezora clan. We already knew it was her but it’s natural for Shichika to be shocked that she alone was responsible for all those massacres. Poor Shichika. For all the 24 years he’s lived with her on that island, not once was he aware of this other side of Nanami. I mean, yea, they didn’t really have anyone to kill on their island but this just doubles the horror when the first thing Nanami did after she left the island was to…kill innocent people…

I’m going to have to do a word count on how many times “kill” was mentioned in this post. -.-;

This greatly upsets Shichika and he calls her out on all the murders. He seems most angry when he mentions Konayuki, who wouldn’t have become an orphan if it weren’t for Nanami going about on a whim.

The atmosphere is really tense at this part but I just can’t help but feel happy that Shichika shows some emotion over Konayuki’s loss. Dammit, somebody had to feel angry on her behalf! Konayuki~ ;___;

Nanami, however, shows no signs of guilt or shame cuz to her, all of them were just weeds.

“Weeding is my hobby, after all.”

But people are not weeds, Nanami!! ლ(OДOლ)

Nanami then turns to Togame and voices her regret on letting Shichika go with her since he’s turned out like this. But Togame delivers some firmness on her part: “Hey, if you’ve forgotten, he’s my sword so it’s really up to me on how I order him around.”

If Nanami wasn’t such a polite person, she’d probably respond like this: “Well, yea, but you used him the wrong way and now he’s so blunt.”

o_O;

Anyways, Nanami carries on to say that she’s absorbed all the power of everyone she’s defeated up to this point and says that since Shichika still hasn’t realized the weakness to his “ultimate technique”, he doesn’t stand a chance of winning against her.

She even throws more dirt at him with that “To fight someone at your level, all I need is this little finger” line (though this looked like a play of words on her part, I didn’t deem it funny since Nanami is…well, Nanami) and this pisses Shichika off enough to charge at her.

He fails against her hybrid technique (you can make hybrids? o.O;). Shichika, this was your fault this time. Don’t just charge without thinking. ^^;

Nanami’s strangely considerate, though, in adapting Ashigaru to lessen the impact of the blows so Shichika wouldn’t “be killed 272 times over” before hitting the floor. Well, THAT’S REASSURING TO KNOW, NANAMI! o_O;

I doubt she’d be willing to kill her own brother. Not just because he’s the only one who can kill her but for other reasons as well. But I don’t need to go into that. You just think on your own.

Of course, something doesn’t seem right as there’s no way Nanami would have the stamina to perform that technique.

Nanami’s like “Oh, right, I haven’t told you yet…”

“This handy little knife just so happens to be my new handicap aid.”

And just when I thought that Nanami looked so nice and comfortable in her monk clothes only to break that thought with “HOLY HELL, WHAT’S THAT STABBED IN YOUR CHEST?!?!? *SQUICK* >A_<!

*cough* So the battle between is paused for now and Shichika's in for some quality angsting time. Oh boy…

So we backtrack a little and…I really don’t know what I should say about this. If anything, they should have done this at the beginning cuz we already knew Mon-kun led them to the temple. How he explained that Nanami was the culprit behind the murders wasn’t so important that we had to spend like 3 minutes on this.

On the other hand, I laughed a little at how they made it look like a game sequence. Especially the part where Nanami is making her way through the temple grounds and cutting down everyone in her path. Then coming face to face with the big monk boss and…yea, if there is ever a game for this, I’d be screaming to get it, Japanese or not. XD;

Back to the story, Hitei-hime is waiting for Mon-kun’s return and we finally get a clear, full profile of her and dang, she’s got one helluva figure alright! lol xD;

Like I said back in episode 5, I really loved her design. She’s the western aristocratic version of a Japanese princess, to describe at best.

I’m also fond of her hair. It’s so curly and looks so fluffy…reminds me just a tiny bit of Lotte (or is spelled “Lotti”?) from “The Princess and the Frog” (I TRUCKIN’ LOVE LOTTE!! x3) but only as far as the hair goes. Haha.

Mon-kun reports to his master that all the rumors about Nanami were true. Naturally, this does not bode well for any of the parties involved in the search for Kiki’s swords, or all of Japan for that matter since there’s a monster on the loose. Made worse because she’s holding Akutou Bita.

Even Pengin says that Houou probably has no chance of standing against her and Houou seems to agree to let Togame handle Nanami so that they wouldn’t have to.

Hitei-hime questions what Mon-kun would do if he was forced to face Nanami in combat, to which he answers he’d stall enough time for Hitei-hime to get away. She seemed to have been expecting that response from him which perhaps hint a speck of confirmation on my theory about their possible history together. But looks like that’ll be saved for another day. Puu. =3=

The topic soon changes to how Togame’s doing and Mon-kun replies one-tonedly “She was noisy all the way to Gokenji. She pretended to trip and kicked me a few times.”

*pause*

Hitei-hime: “She can be pretty childish sometimes…”

xD;

You kinda wonder how she managed to climb all the way up to her current position without swallowing some of that childishness and taking out the rage on something when nobody’s looking. Her temper is what makes her intimidating, I suppose? lololol

Aww, poor Shichika. Even he doesn’t think he has a chance of winning against Nanami.

But I won’t have that! Stop moping around and stand up, Shichika! Where’s Togame when you need her? Togame! >A<

Meanwhile, Togame tries to see if they could avoid having the duel altogether since she doesn’t want to see them fight and Nanami points out again how Togame’s so kind in that respect, which was why she entrusted Shichika to her in the first place.

Except that she never expected Togame to treat Shichika “so humanely” and that’s why he’s so rusty now.

Um, so continuously insulting and beating someone up is considered “humane”? I don’t get the logic of this story anymore. @.@;

Anyways, Nanami intends to “break” Shichika (NOOOO!!!), whatever that’s supposed to mean unless Shichika can find a way to defeat her to prevent that…I guess? She’s being awfully vague when she talks like this.

K, since Plan A didn’t work, it’s time for Plan B. Go and snap Shichika out of his funk.

lol, it was so hilarious when Shichika was all “To-Togame…-san?”. Like he’s thinking “Oh god, she looks mad. Why is she mad? This is NOT good.” xDD;;

And here is the kick version of “Cheerio!”. Arguably the most used “attack” in the plot so far. lawl~

Togame yells at Shichika for wasting his time here, moping around, and he’s still “H-huh? What’s going on?”

Aww man, he really is out of it if he’s disheartened that much by his loss. *wants to hug Shichika out of his misery* <3

Better yet, I’d rather have Togame do it this way. Re-eduction time FTW~! xDD

Oh god, this is adorable. I don’t think we’ve seen Shichika sniff Togame’s hair since episode 2 so this is more adorable than usual. <3

Need I say how incredibly D’AWWWSOME~ it is when Shichika says he wanted to be Togame’s sword and didn’t tell her about how Nanami was stronger than him so she’d chose him instead. AWWWWW, Shichika~!!! I’d totally chose you regardless!

He’s so cute! Can I hug him, huh? Can I? Can I?! <33

Togame calls him an idiot, says the “might have”s don’t matter and that right now, he’s her sword because she chose him and has no intention of changing her mind.

She also adds an example of herself on how many defeats she suffered but even so, she never let it bring her down and pulled through many times because of that determination. Compared to her “thousands”, Shichika’s discouragement over this one loss is disgraceful.

AND THIS IS WHERE I DECLARE TOGAME AS AWESOME. I know I say she’s hard to deal with a lot because of that attitude and brash mouth of hers (only cuz it’s true, y’know) but it’s because she’s always so tough and unrelenting in her goals that makes her personality so great. You’d hardly see a timid person whip out harsh, but blatant truths so effectively.

It’s understandable that Shichika would get depressed about losing to the sister he was never able to beat and I, for one, think people should be allowed a certain period of time to be discouraged since that’s normal. As long as they get over it sooner or later and move forward, they’ll be fine.

And Shichika had just about enough time with his moping already so I’m glad Togame gave him some space before coming in to “comfort” him.

Though Shichika’s embarrassment over losing is still weighing him down which earns him this…

Woot! Nice wake-up slap!

And more lulz at how short Togame is when standing next to Shichika. She can’t even land properly because of their difference in height. Or maybe it’s just her “delicacy”? xD;

Agh, she’s so mad, she’s crying. But she’s so cute! So moe! A crying Togame is cute! Cute, I say! CYUUUUUTTTTEEEE~~~!!! x333

Well, this time, Togame’s not going to force Shichika to do anything and wants a straight answer out of him on whether he’ll fight Nanami or not.

And who can say no to such a cute, determined, crying face like that? x3

So, Shichika, will you?

“I will!”

YAY~! That’s my Shichika~! *huggles him* x333

Problem solved. It’s strategizing time!

And they great straight to the weakness of his ultimate technique: “Ryuuryoku Kakou” (the one used on Kanara).

I already figured out that “Shichika Hachiretsu” was a string of all of the Kyoutouryuu secret techniques when I saw “Rakka Rouzeki” in episode 2. It’s meant to be a hybrid of all those attacks at once but it isn’t. As Togame puts it, there’s also a “defensive hole” in the 4th technique that leaves Shichika vulnerable to attack so he’ll have to rethink a combination that’ll get rid of that weakness.

Also, the way Togame was imitating the moves to show Shichika what she meant was so amusing. Oh so amusing. lol XD;

Nanami even went so far as to hint at what the weakness was with her hybrid attack in their first duel. So I was kinda right. She was more concerned about Shichika realizing this setback so he can fight her properly later on.

I knew it! Nanami is a thoughtful Nee-chan after all~! <3

I wonder what's going through Shichika's head as this is told to him, though, besides their discussion on his ultimate technique. Is he possibly thinking about why Nanami would point out that weakness in the first place? I mean, besides his dad, Nanami is his mentor, too, y'know. So it's not far-fetched to think that was her intention, as his older sister and teacher.

Though I doubt this…”act of kindness”, we’ll call it for now, goes by Shichika unnoticed, he’s probably too preoccupied with reshuffling his techniques at the moment so we’ll just leave that aside for now.

As for the issues with her “Migeika” skill, good ol’ Togame already has a plan for that and she’s all smirky about it. Heh, so cute~

I think she was half-expecting a thanks from Shichika when she told him to say something for cheering him up and when he did, she got all surprised, embarrassed and a bit tsun~ over it. Togame is so moe~! x3

Now that that’s settled, she wonders why Nanami would go in a roundabout way to inform Shichika about the weakness in his technique. Moreover, she’s pitting her only family against her in a fight that can’t be won and Nanami hasn’t given her the real reason why.

So says Togame but she wasn’t aware of the nature behind the Yasuri family anyways. It seemed pretty obvious to me, though, but I’ve been theorizing storms for this show for the past few months so maybe that’s why I find Togame’s thoughts are behind a bit. :/

It appears that Nanami knows Shichika is back to training again for their next match and she hopes that he’ll kill her soon, just like how he killed Mutsue.

I still think it is too soon in this post to delve into why she wants to be killed so badly but I can confidently say that Nanami seems to value her own death more than her own life. Like I mentioned earlier, that will be her greatest self-satisfaction. As a Kyoutouryuu, as a sword, we’ll get to that later.

Damn, I just couldn’t hold in my squeals of happiness seeing Shichika so serious with his training. <3

And 5,202 combinations for "Shichika Hachirestu"? Wow, even if you narrow down to 700-something by starting with "Ryuuryoku Kakou" first, that's a lot. How can he remember all the ones he tried is beyond me. o_O;

It’s the day of the battle and Togame went to have a talk with Nanami first though what they were talking about before Nanami goes into the stuff about the Yasuri family is not made clear. Apparently, Nanami has accepted something from Togame.

Not sure if this is related or not but that line “Shichika says he doesn’t understand the point of a sword owning another sword” got me mixed up a bit. Are they referring to just Nanami or is this some kind of foreshadowing? [SPOILER!] Cuz Shichika does train with a (wooden) sword later though he doesn’t keep it. [/SPOILER!]

Whatever the case, Nanami tells her that Shichika will die.

And I’m like “WHAT?! NO! Y U SAY HE DIE?! D8”. But it’s not like she’s going to be the one to kill him so she’s probably talking about the next generation (if there will be any) carrying on the “tradition” or however it’s called since family members killing each other in the Yasuri household is the natural thing to do.

OMG, I spent so much time cropping and putting this huge screencap together. PRAISE ME, GODAMMIT! >A<

Which sheds some further light on another reason why Mutsue was exiled. He supposedly murdered his own wife, Migiri, who came from one of the 6 feudal lords’ families (Tetsubi).

If you put that crime before the surface reason of his banishment, the Shogunate was right in its decision to segregate him from society. Bringing down rebels is one thing but someone as powerful as him who would kill his own wife? What does that mean for everyone else, right?

On a side note, I’m not sure if Migiri was mentioned as much in the novels since I heard she first received a character design for the anime. Not saying that it’s not the same plot (I dunno, someone confirm it for me) but she doesn’t appear in my illustration book so I was wondering about her. In the series guidebook, however, she is shown. One design by take and another design for the anime, the one we’re currently looking at.

Ah~, Migiri looks very beautiful but the anime design makes her look more, er, sinister? Maybe it’s the face cuz she’s more slender in this version than take’s.

And wow, Shichika and Nanami are descended from nobility (I think). Wonder what would’ve happened if Mutsue did not kill his wife or was exiled. Then again, I’d probably ask a similar question if Nanami would’ve been a monster-prodigy as well. I smell an AU coming. Still, this makes me want to hear more about their past as children and how much Nanami can remember prior them being exiled to their island since she looked old enough to be aware of what was going on then.

…I know, that’s really just an excuse to squeal over chibi!Shichika and chibi!Nanami. Kyuuuu~! x3333

“The last doctor was like a bush, after all.”
(Translation note: Pun on “bush doctor” (yabuisha) = quack doctor)

Nanami and her fondness for puns. It’s Nisioisin’s self-insert!

For the curious, a quack doctor is an untrained person who pretends to be a physician.

And I thought for a second there that they threw the body in the bushes (where “the truth was hidden”). *couldn’t hear “isha” (doctor) in the raw* o.O;

Well, Nanami tells Togame to “bring it on!” in a sense but doubts any of her plans will work since nothing can get pass Nanami’s eyes without her knowing. Togame doesn’t back down, though the nervousness kinda shows cuz she looks a bit sweaty during this part, doesn’t she? She’s making eye contact after all so I wonder if Nanami is far-sighted if she’s trying her best not to give away her scheme.

Haha, when Togame told Nanami they were going to fight in front of the Buddha, Nanami’s tilt of the head was so cute.

” *tilts head* Hmm? Buddha?”

Kyaa~! xDDDDD

Togame…you remind me of my dad when you do that. (=∀=);

I have half a mind to think this is part of her scheme. To hide the rest of her strategy from Nanami…though she does it later, too, so maybe not. It’s just Togame being Togame. xD

So, uh, which Buddha is this one if it is even real? *not an active practitioner*

@.@?

Shichika tries to ask Nanami the same question he asked last time but her reply is still the same. If he wants the sword, he has to kill her to get it. She also mentions about the time Shichika killed their father and how she would’ve been happy if Mutsue had killed her since there’s no point in living for her. Hearing this, Shichika voices some shocked disagreement, leading me to believe that even as they stand there about to duel each other, he’s still not willing to go through with taking her life.

Nanami may not see any point in her living since she can’t live or die like a normal person but I think she was probably too occupied in her own lamentations to remember how much of an influence she was for Shichika. I dunno, Shichika sounded very hurt when he tried to say something against that but couldn’t, indicating just how important Nanami is to him.

I hope I’m not overflowing on sappiness over their relationship cuz it’s just me scrutinizing. Wait, that doesn’t make sense. It’s just that I think a lot about family values and even life and death for that matter and these two are in the midst of all three so I thought it wouldn’t be too out there or anything to discuss.

Togame signals for the fight to start and at that moment, all the candles in the room go out. What do you mean “at the same time”?! They went one right after the other! *detail freak* This way, Nanami’s “Migeika” can’t work in the dark and Shichika’s reformed attack…

Shichika Hachiretsu KAI is effective!

WOOT~!

I’d hate to be in Nanami’s shoes, though. That looks like it can hurt even if he was holding back. ^^;

True enough, he knocked her down without killing her. I knew it. As if Shichika would have the heart (or none, whatever) to kill his own sister. Winning the fight isn’t even part of the calculations. It’s simply too…to wrong to do that. T_T

The part where he pulled out Bita made me *SQUICK!*, though. *shudder* >A<

And lol, who would just toss a knife to someone like that? Even if Togame chickening off to the side to avoid it was funny…seriously, who'd do that? xD;

Just as they were about to call in a doctor, Nanami regains consciousness and the first thing she says is “I was naive.” Apparently, while Bita can forcibly heal her wounds, it does so at the expense of her strength so she’s less powerful when she is fighting. Her sight-training also served to weaken her further because her body is not able to fulfill the capacity of ALL the strengths she took from others.

And all this just so she could live a little longer while fighting seriously at the same time?

Wait, I’m confused. Please explain. *goes off to think for a moment* @.@;

…ok…ok, this is how I interpret it. Normally, without Bita, Nanami’s strength is great. Too great, in fact, that no one could beat her if they tried. The downside is she succumbs to her illness in a short time so there can be no serious match for her to take part in either way. Too strong that it becomes one-sided, too weak to have it continue. With Bita, however, that health problem is solved but her physical power decreased. In other words, she can’t go at her full potential which makes the fight seem “phony” (I think).

In short, what Nanami really wants is to fight someone on equal terms. Not as an overpowered sword with limited stamina but one that can sustain her frailty while she gives it her all. And Bita couldn’t give her that.

Minor setback as she’s still intent on getting killed. Now things are starting to look bad and Togame tries to persuade her to stop but…

OH SHI-

WHY’D YOU HAVE TO BURN IT, TOO?!?!? D8

“Your head will come off with the next one.”

WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS, NANAMIIII?!?!?!?! Dx

Shichika’s berserk button is finally set off. Not only did Nanami nearly kill Togame and plans on doing it again, she cut off her hair!

And this is seriously not a joke. Considering that Togame is the daughter of a feudal lord, appearance is almost everything for a woman of her status. For Togame, even more so, since her colorful clothing and such all serve as a reminder to her of who she is and what she must do as the inheritor of her father’s will. And hair, oh god, the hair. That’s a woman’s pride, y’know. Maybe even more so than her beauty.

Not to mention, Shichika can’t sniff or wrap himself around it anymore!

It’s gone! It’s burned and it’s gone! Dx

Nanami’s only making it worse by jabbing at Shichika’s preference for long-haired girls, likening him to Mutsue and that disgusts her.

…Is that…jealousy? No, no that kind! xP Siblings are allowed to be jealous of the object of their brother/sister’s affection given that they are close siblings. I’ve seen it and it’s not incest. *being cautious of the over-thinking* D/

Well, not too surprising if that’s the case. Other than maybe their father, I don’t think Nanami had a care for any other person in the world other than Shichika, who’s cared for her all his life and therefore, being the only person worth any importance. Then Togame came along and he left, leaving her lonesome on that island. It’s kind of hard not to hold a grudge against someone like that, even if you give them your approval and/or say otherwise about not holding any ill feelings.

Of course, this might all be part of her ploy to piss Shichika off even more so that he would fight her for real but I think there’s some truth to what I said. If anything, Shichika was the only one who never saw her as a monster/failure of life and treated her more humanely than their parents ever could, even when he was being over concerned and doing everything for her. That alone might have been enough to give her some sense of humanity, normalcy…but it wasn’t enough to stop her from wanting to get killed.

…btw, this is a total mood ruiner but Mai Nakahara delivered this line so well, it sent chills up my spine: “That’s why, rather than plucking grass, I’ll scatter you like a flower.” (It sounds better in Japanese :P)

Returned with an even more AWESOME execution of Shichika’s catchphrase by Yoshimasa Hosoya…

“TRY IT!
However, by that point you’ll be torn to pieces!”

OH. MY. GOD.

…I will remember this till the end of me. There’s so much burning rage (FFFFIIIIRRRRREEEE!!!), emotion…easily the best out of all of Shichika’s lines thus far (with AWESOME effects to boot!). Heck, I’d say this is the best for him out of the whole series.

TV Tropes, it’s time to update your Katanagatari page. xD

Also the best name-call exchange I have no idea what you call this before a fight EVAAARRRR!!!!

And the rest is just AWESOME that can’t be described or screencap to show the entirety of all its AWESOMENESS.

*_*

Oh god, my heart broke ten times over every time Shichika shouted “Nee-chan!”. Like it was him pleading with her not to do this because he still can’t bring himself to kill her. He can’t just watch her die like this. He just can’t.

But Nanami knows he will do it this time and smiles expectantly at him. Almost as if she’s telling him “Everything will be alright” in a big sisterly kind of way.

M-Mu…*BAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWSSSSSSSSSSSSS* ;AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA;

*sniff*…*sigh*

In the end, try as I might, I don’t think I can figure Nanami completely out after all. Why she’d use a sword when she shouldn’t. Why she copied other people’s strengths when it would only make her condition worse since her body can’t handle it. Why she’d make herself weaker in order to live longer and want to die anyway.

But I will say one last thing. It’s that Nanami finally got that satisfaction she was looking for when Shichika finally kills her. That satisfaction is knowing that she is also a sword, and a Kyoutouryuu above all. Since she has been denied training in her younger days, she learned all the techniques and skills of Kyoutouryuu by sight but at the same time, they were not truly hers as she did not make an effort to earn them. So she could not take the Kyoutouryuu name like Shichika, who’s trained 20 years in it, did. Without a school or discipline to go by, Nanami’s existence might have been made even more vague and looked meaningless.

That could be a possible reason why she took Bita in the first place. Kyoutouryuu can’t use swords cuz there will be consequences. She used one and she’s ended up like this.

But because of that, it confirmed she was one. And with Shichika ending her life, it sealed that fact. That is what I mean.

Dandelion… *starting to tear up again* T____T

Nanami’s last words and that of praise to Shichika: “Good job killing me.”

…One would wonder if that twisted smile was really her doing or not. Or is it just me?

I mean, I’m still thinking… there might be a chance that Nanami might be an actual monster born in human flesh. Coming from a story with supernatural elements like shape-shifting, “poisonous” swords, and the setting where beliefs in demons and spirits are common, it’s possible. She does have those unnatural eyes and all.

“Huh? Did I mess up my line?

;__________________________________;

…I’M SO GOING TO WRITE A FIC FOR THIS WHEN I’M DONE WITH THIS POST, DAMMIT!!

So it started out with “don’t use”, then “can’t use”, then “absolutely cannot use”.

;___; Shichika! Don’t you ever own a sword, no matter how good you might look with one! >A<

It’s over and Togame finally comes to the conclusion that all Nanami wanted was to be killed. All that talk about weaknesses, taking Bita, saying that Shichika will die were just an excuse to have a duel where Shichika would kill her.

Shichika thinks the reason why she was so weak was because she was too much of a prodigy, more or less restating things in a simpler way than I did.

This all still seemed pretty obvious to me from the beginning, though. *sigh* Whatever. I’m tired. I don’t want to think until the next episode. =_=

Even so, Shichika seems to have some lingering regrets (?) about it. I don’t know if Togame was trying to comfort him by saying Nanami probably loved their father as much as he did but their conversation has trailed off into the sadness of it all that it’s hard to follow altogether.

It’s nice to know that Shichika is still cutely obsessed with Togame’s hair though. I must say, she looks very cute with this style (Nanami needs no scissors for a quick clean cut, lol). And it’s going to be even more cute if Shichika can pet her head like this all the time. <3

Yea, yea. They’re both family-less now but like Togame said, they still have each other. AWWWWWW~! TOGAME~! Stay together forever, ok? <333

Woot, yea…I'm done…nearly. God, this was long. My longest Katanagatari post. Heck, I bet it's the longest post I've ever written even without the screencaps…which is like 158 or something. Oi, I'm hoping for a breather episode next month. @.@;




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“Mayoigo Sagashi” (迷い子さがし) by Mai Nakahara

My guess was correct and this is probably the song I like most out of all the other ending themes, with Togame’s following close second. I don’t really get the “tan tan tan” or “pon pon pon” but the lyrics reflect Nanami really well. It’s a tragic song and the singer is searching for death (“We’ll reach the open tragedy”), finally acheiving it (“At long last to the next world”) and finally laying to rest in the shrouding darkness.

The last line, “I was watching someone”, makes me wonder who she was referring to. Shichika first comes to mind. Whether that was what she saw before she died or after it, not sure.

I can’t wait to get the full version. In October, was it? :/




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




White Fox, I hate you, you sadist! ;A;

Setting this last part to music box, chibi!Shichika and Nanami together, Nanami smiling andandand Shichika being so cute and mumbling “Nee-chan…” in his sleep!

ARGH!!!! AKSJDKFLAJSLKFJSLFJLASKFJA

;_____________________________;




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Preview




Next episode, 8/13. Friday the 13th. Hah! Just great. My post for that one will still take a week to finish as always. /P

So we get some flashbacks of young Shichika (kyaa~! *glomps* x33) and Mutsue. They’re also finally back at the capital, Owari, and seems that Hitei-hime might have ordered them to come visit her. I expect mucho laughs on this one since there appears to be Gainaxing again :P.

Mon-kun seems to be out of town to fight Maniwa ninja, Umigame, though and if you want to spoil yourself, here’s the link to the third PV, which includes clippets of episode 9 (ha, people are going to look forward to this one *shuts up now* xD; ). He’s got some mysterious-looking dark powers which I’m rather excited to see.

There’s also more hugging and princess carry (YAY~!) in the next ep.

…And the robot…meh, I’m not a big fan of robots (and they call it a sword, lolwut?), so we’ll see how it turns out.

Yep, I’m going to bed now. This was an all-nighter. I still have other posts I have to do. Uuuuggghhhh.

K, look forward to the next one! Cheerio! ^^