Nabari no Ou - Episode 18

After already expounding at length on several occasions about Nabari no Ou's habit of mixing up episodes with plenty of action or plot progression with those that have nothing much of note at all - After a far bit of action last time around, you could bet your shirt on episode eighteen being as dull as dishwater and, what do you know, that's exactly how it turned out.


I'm not entirely sure why the writers of this series think that we need to be reminded over and over again about how anguished Yoite is, or how Miharu worries about him, or how Raikou blames himself for Gau's current state, because to be honest we've had it drilled into our head over and over again to the point where we can't possibly forget, and then had those thoughts stuffed into every other orifice just in case being told the same things repeatedly makes us brain-dead. Much as I've enjoyed some aspects of this series, the repetitive nature of some of its main plot points are really beginning to frustrate me (in case you haven't just noticed).

All of this "Yoite, Yoite, wherefore art thou Yoite?" running around and getting upset (the guy clearly just wanted to do some Christmas shopping) actually detracts from the two major plot points of this episode, with Gau brought out of his coma by Kira of all things (no, I'm not sure how that makes sense either) and Miharu suddenly realising that he needs to save Yoite rather than simply wiping out his existence as originally requested. Whether that means that Miharu is gay for Yoite is something I'll leave you to decide for yourselves, personally I like to think that they just have a close friendship.

So, I suppose what I'm saying is that all of this episode's plot progression could probably have been squeezed quite easily into five minutes, or perhaps ten if you were really being generous, which one again gets me wondering about whether Nabari no Ou would have worked much better as a thirteen part series. It's getting to the point where I almost wish Yoite would pop his clogs or something just to speed up the snail's pace at which the story is travelling - Still, I suppose this long, drawn-out instalment must surely mean that episode nineteen will be a non-stop rollercoaster of excellence?