Friday 3 October 2008

Nabari no Ou - Episode 23

At last, a truly action-packed episode of Nabari no Ou. After so many episodes of this series that have failed to live up to expectations, episode twenty-three at least brings us to a real blood and guts step towards the series finale.

After threatening to be some kind of Yoite flashback episode in its opening minutes (why the writers think we can't figure out his past by now is beyond me), things really start to swing into action, with Yukimi's loyalties torn, Raikou on the rampage as his new path becomes clear, while various other groups are also on their way to try and rescue the recaptured Miharu.


It's Raikou that gets the majority of the action, with a number of brief, pretty archetypical but still cool enough to be worth watching fight scenes, with the brief joust with Yukimi probably the best of the bunch. However, we do get to see Hattori's power as well, which shows just why he's in charge of the whole Kairoushuu affair, and the episode leaves us with a cliff-hanger that finally brings us towards that inevitable Shinrabanshou-related finale.

Thus, this was one of the better episodes this series has delivered so far - It wasn't too ponderous, and although it jumped about a bit it dealt with the various groups and individuals that make up this show relatively cleanly and concisely, and trust me "concise" isn't a word I was expecting to be able to use in conjunction with Nabari no Ou any time soon. Let's just hope it can keep that momentum going through the final triumverate of episodes to at least give us a solid ending to this series that has so often been all too ponderous.

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