anime dominion

Finally the end of Joran started with this episode and lets start with the summary first. Sawa went to meet Jin on the destined place that he mentioned before. Just before she went further, Elena approached her and tried to reasoning with her. Sawa said that she should take rest due to her giving birth but Elena dissagred. She didn't want Sawa to meet with Jin and fought him to dead because after all that Jin did, he still saved Asahi life and made sure that Elena could get away from Yoshinobu's grasp. Sawa argued that she wanted a free world in which little Asahi and Elena newborn baby could live in peace that why she hardened her resolve to finish his duel with Jin and overthrow the regime. As Sawa walked, she noticed that the town was already burned due to the anti governments riots. What made it different was, she didn't went to the place that Jin mentioned before. Instead, she went to Yoshinobu's castle and planned to kill him instead .As she arrived at Yoshinobu's palace, the castle guards pointing their weapon to her instantly. Just before they captured her, suddenly a whirlwind appeared and a crow masked creatures that impaled Tsukishiro just descending from the sky and took Sawa with him away from the palace's gate.

Jin let Sawa hurt him;knowing that it was his redemption

The crow changeling, who was revealed to be Jin all along, threw Sawa to the nearby shore. Jin Kusuhara took the blue pill before and turned himself into the half changeling with black crows as his main companion. He said that he had to took the pill in order to annihilate the one who threatened Sawa's life A.K.A the emperor himself. Sawa hated the interruption because she intended to kill Yoshinobu using her own hand. With Jin planned to exterminate the emperor and took Sawa out from her vengeance path, they prepared to duel for the last time. Jin turned into the black crows changeling while Sawa like usual asked the white crow and turned her into her battle form maiden. The battle didn't take long and Jin didn't seem to fight Sawa's aggression. Even when he managed to throw her, he gave her sword back and didn't even tried to evade her attack. Before the blade tip tore his body, Sawa stop her attack and wondering why he didn't even tried to repel. In fact, he just took Sawa's Katana and let it sliced his chest revealing his blue blood. At the final moment of their fight, Jin revealed that he planned to save Sawa's life and let her continue to live together with Asahi while he would be the one passing judgement to Yoshinobu. He also added that she loved her mother and from the day he saw little Sawa passing out due to his killing, he pledged to raise her and protect her as if she was his own daughter. He left Sawa afterward and head directly to Yoshinobu's castle.

Sleep tight Sawa..everything is going to be okay now

Jin decimated the platoons of the castle guard and got inside the room of Yoshinobu. While we expected to finally saw the man, it was disappointing that he was already a very frail old man..who might not even fight back. Even if he was begging for his life, Jin passed the judgement for all of his sin and killed the leader himself. As the castle was about to collapse due to the rioters below set the flame off, Jin didn't try to leave the scene and let himself got burned along with the castle remain. Sawa look helplessly as she could not try to stop Jin from going alone. As she was walking home, Rinko silently got closer to Sawa; stabbed her from back and left a deadly wound on her back. Sawa could not reacted and Rinko left the scene right away like any mysterious assailant. Using an inch of her strength left, she went back to the bookstore and met Asahi for the last time. Asahi was very happy that Sawa came back to the store yet she never knew that Sawa was already dying. In her last moment, Sawa listened to Asahi's talking about what she would do tomorrow. Bit by bit Sawa strength left her and she finally resting beside Asahi; who still didn't realize that her sister was finally got her eternal rest.

Why did she reminded me of Yukiko Amagi lol ..she had a look of Sawa with a Hime cut

Episode Review

Joran finally ended with a bittersweet ending that I predicted. I am not really surprised with the series direction as Sawa was finally passed away in her little sister side. The anime was not really original in my mind as I saw a similar premise from a J-drama who follow a story of a young lady struggle with her life. She was a promising teacher with a beauty as her plus but she got a very misfortune life which made her life turned more and more miserable. While Joran still look not that discouraging due to Sawa being able to stand and fight against her destiny, the premise of having a bad day and misfortune was quite similar with said drama. From the start of the series, she was already losing her family; she was trained by her family killer. She suffered despair after losing her brother again and when she thought that she finally found happiness, it was taken away abruptly from her. She lost the most important person in her life (Asahi) and while the show tried to redeem it with making her dead as a fake, it was short lived. Even the way Sawa's dead reminded me of the dead of Gai Yuki from Jetman as in the last episode, he was stabbed by a purse snatcher and he went to his friend's weeding holding on to his remaining life (very similar to Sawa's condition before meeting Asahi for her last time). Joran was not an original anime in all essence and the fighting part was not very spectacular either. Yet in the end, when I saw Asahi grew up to be the person who look exactly like Sawa and she also inherited her ability; I felt warm inside. I am glad that by the end of the story, Asahi finally can live in peace along with Elena's daughter. Who knows she might be the next protagonist of another princess of Snow and Blood :)

Time for the penultimate episode for Joran. With the finale got closer, I was wondering how the director gonna conserve the time limitation to made a satisfying ending. Enough with the speculation; lets start with the new episode summaries. After exposing the real identity of Jin, Sawa didn't instantly try to stab him because from the memo left by Tsukishiro, it was revealed that Yoshinobu himself was the one who ordered Jin to decimate the village of Karasumori. Sawa wondered about his motive because at the same time, Jin acted differently from what government agents should be. The fact that he didn't deliver Sawa to them was one of the obvious fact that he deviated from them. As they talked, suddenly an intruder alarm sound started to ring and Jin instantly told Sawa to leave the place or else she would be captured and her blood would be taken daily to make a weapon. Jin told her to meet him again at Shinabozu pond during midnight. As she flew from the building, several elite agent tried to capture her alive until the "deceased" Nue executioner saved her from their chase with her bow-gun. 

He was her family killer but also a protector in shadow ..in short it is complicated xD

Sawa was surprised that Elena was still alive and she told her that her survival was thanks to Jin covering to her escape. It had became clear that Jin was a real antihero and not a villain. He decided to betray Yoshinobu after knowing how vile his boss is. First, he saved Sawa back when he was about to be killed by Kotodama. Second, he hide both Sawa and Elena from the government's reach. And last, he always work in shadow while playing a double agent. One time he would be a government agent while in another, he would be plotting a scheme to hide some information from the big bad. As Sawa and Elena evaded the government special forces, They were cornered by Rinko; the new Nue agent that we just saw from the last two episode. The interesting part was Sawa could take care of Rinko in one on one battle; which means that her fighting power was way superior despite of how gruesome Rinko's skill is. As Rinko stormed Sawa with a blade, she simply side stepped on the incoming blade and broke it using her finger and each time she broke it, she sustained a damage. Sawa kept hurting Riko until blood poured from her eyes and just when Rinko unleashed all her blades, Sawa could evade all of them and gave one big falcon punch that drove her body flying hard. Sawa didn't finish her off though and let her alive that Elena even said how different Sawa was nowadays.

Career shattering punch!!

Sawa and Elena got back to the bookstore and Elena told that Jin made the bookstore as a secret place so they would be save from the time being. Elena last mission that Jin gave from the previous episode was actually to save Sawa back to the place so she already finished her last job. In their conversation, Elena told that the Dragon vein or Rumkyakuu was about to dry out leading to the power outage at some point. It also means that the Tokugawa regime was about to end with more and more rioting happened in Tokyo. In order to make them stay above the rioters, the Tokugawa used the military to suppress the rioters and they even made a curfew hour in when they would consider any person who break the curfew as a rioter. Elena told Sawa that she should not bother to take revenge on Jin again after all the revelation and she did say that as long as the person that matter the most for her was alive, taking revenge was not really needed. One of the biggest surprise was..just after Elenad saying that, Asahi opened the door and welcoming her home. She was still alive because Jin secretly fakes her dead just like how Sawa was deemed "dead" before. Just as Elena was about to leave them celebrating the reunion, she felt pain in her stomach. It seemed that her baby was about to born at that moment. As clumsy as Sawa dealing with helping pregnancy, along with Asahi's help, she managed to help Elena gave birth to a healthy baby girl. After giving birth, Elena was resting due to exhaustion with her baby in hand

From bitter rival into a friend. Sawa and Elena had put away their difference now

The last part of this episode was more or less the conversation between Sawa and Asahi. The little girl asked Sawa if she could help her teaching about a work that mother used to teach their daughter is. Sawa then opened a drawer and gave Asahi some book about school work. She intended to send Asahi to school so that she might had a better future. She also gave the little girl the diary that Sawa mother gave to little Sawa. The diary that had a speck of blue blood was never used before and it was like a treasured possession for Sawa and now it belong to her little siste; Asahi. She asked Asahi to take turn writing on the diary and filled the empty book with their memory starting from tomorrow. After Asahi fall asleep, Sawa was sharpening her Katana and all of sudden, a sudden brief of memory between her and Asahi just resurfaced on the Katana's blade..She dropped her Katana and cried one more times ..maybe she was reminded with the fact as she could not run away from her fate and sooner or later, she had to go to end everything. It was ended with Sawa leaving the bookstore and heading for her final battle.

Sawa was very relieved to see Asahi again

Episode review

It was another good episode with Asahi revealed to be alive. It seemed that Jin knew all along bout Tsukishiro's plan so he made a body double for Asahi and made an illusion as if the little girl was dead. Yet at one point, once more time we saw Sawa cried from her bottom heart. Did she cry because she knew she would not survive her last mission? It was another set up for the next tragedy to come? About Sawa went on one on one with Rinko, I never expected that Sawa's skill was way above Rinko especially after seeing what she was capable to do during the previous two episode. I am a bit sad that it was about to end soon. While I like most of the previous episodes, I admit that I am not a very big fan of Joran in general and I thought the battle could have been handled better. In addition, I still thought that so many thing had not cleared yet. For example, the female changeling that appeared in the first episode was never mentioned again as if she was just there for nothing. Also, I don't think I can get a very through ending with just one episode left unless they made the last episode like two hours special. Ok with the end game grew closer, I hope they could squeeze the last part so well so that we could get the most satisfying ending within a limited time slot.

We were getting closer to the ultimate episode of Joran and I did expect things going to escalate so quickly from now on. Yet, the episode started with flashback instead and it didn't continue like what we expected from the last episode ending. The episode began with the flashback from the time just after Tsuki was killed by the unknown changeling. As Jin got the notes from the person who inspected Tsuki remains,  he read the notes. The next time we knew, Jin was giving some money to the boy who acted as the regular book seller who like to visit Sawa's bookstore. Jin told the boy to give the money for his mother and he should forget everything he saw and leave the place immediately (meanwhile Jin was burning the remain of the notes). The person who saw Jin let the boy left told him that he should have killed the boy so there were no witnesses. However, in an instant Jin killed the person with a knife and told him that he knew too much and must be assassinated. Back to the present, Jin was waiting for someone while mumbling that in the end people will betray you either if it was a friend or a foe...Then someone opened the door; then the scene closed with Sawa Karasumori glaring with a hateful expression

He was not really a bad person actually. fate just like to play with him

Once again, we were going back to the past. A scene started inside a laboratory where Iori (Jin real name) was locked inside a cage and he was treated as a test subject. He was talking with the person who got locked above his cage about whether they should try to run away. The person who got imprisoned above him gave up his life and commit a suicide using a sharp piece of glass and Iori could see blood just pouring from the cage above; making him very frightened with the view. However, Iori had a strong will of survive; so after taking the glass of shard, he waited for any persons who take care of the lab object and killed them all using that glass. He ran away until he got cornered by the laboratory men until a man dressed in old monk attire complete with a straw hat (which made his face remain hidden) descended and show the guard a symbol in his hand. After he showed them the Nue's symbol, the guards left them alone. Immediately, Iori stole that mysterious man's sword and tried to attack him only for the man to retaliate and disarmed him. 

You can only choose one path serve to you

Iori was taken to the Shogun's mansion and in there, he first met with Yoshinobu Tokugawa. Kotodama introduced him to the shogun and he also explained that Iori had strong resistance against poison along with his strong will to survive and peak condition.  The shogun poured a whiskey down to the floor and Iori got a test to prove his loyalty by licking the wine till it was clean. After Iori finished licking the wine, he was given a new name; Jin Kusuhara. The new name representing the Shogun hope for the new member of the Nue to eradicate the shogun enemy. Jin asked about the man name yet he said that he had no name. Still, the mysterious man introduced himself as Kotodama and he told Iori that he was chosen by the Shogun to serve the Tokugawa. After that Kotodama trained Jin privately and shaped him into a sadistic executioner who worked in shadow to annihilate the Shogun enemy

Well Jin Kusuhara had similar fate to that of Leon Magnus

At one moment, Janome betrayed the government and became a fugitive after burning the laboratory. As he would be a constant threat in the future, Yoshinobu gave him a secret mission to protect the Karasumori clan. So, Jin worked in the shadow to make sure that the clan could live in their secret village while dispatching many assailants. At one point, when he was trying to defend himself against a wolf attack, a lady came and use the same Karasumori technique that similar to Sawa and transformed herself. She told Jin to stay calm and not hurting the wolf because the animal only trying to protect its baby wolves. Jin sheathed his katana back and right after, the lady tend to his injury. She introduced herself as Towa Karasumori and she befriended Jin (although their relationship was more like a hidden one). During the time, Jin would continue protecting the village while at times he also gave some presents such as flower or pinwheel to Towa.

Is this the girl that he mentioned before..did she look like someone

While looking at the villagers, Kotodama appeared behind Jin and told him about a new message from the shogun. The leader wanted Jin to eliminate the villagers because they were consent with peaceful life and they would not helping the government despite of having special power. He also added that Janome already started to make his move and he got closer to the village; so the best option (according to Yoshinobu) was to raze the village to the ground and kill all of the inhabitant. Kotodama also added that any defiance will be punished with dead so like it or not, Jin had no other choice but to comply. While preparing for his next move, Towa came and bring him some foods. She also thanked him for always protecting them as well as mentioning that she would love to have another son (referring to Jin). After Towa leaved, Jin ate the rice-ball as tears start flowing down to his cheek.

The episode answered the Karasumori clan's murderer..Janome have nothing to do with it (not that he was a saint either)

During the night, Jin started his move by first poisoning the nearby birds so that they would not alert the clans. Then, he started killing the older villagers one by one. In Towa house, Towa heard the sound of the white crow as if it wanted to tell her something. Towa was curious but before she could check her daughter asked her about the onigiri that she prepared. She told her daughter that it was the dinner for the guardian spirit of the village (Jin). Someone knocked the house and Towa opened the door only to be shocked that it was Jin who knocked the house. Towa saw the crying man and thought that he was just sad so she tried to comfort him by hugging. Suddenly, Jin stabbed her and he continued to start killing the family members one by one including the husband and Towa elder son. Just as he was about to kill the daughter, he remembered Towa's word that every parents just wanted his/her offspring to be safe and he stopped. The little girl was scared but she could not identify her family murderer at that time because he was wearing a mask that covering his mouth. he took the girl away and he told Kotodama that he wanted to train her as Nue executioner. Kotodama said that was not necessary and he planned to kill her at that moment only for Jin to slash him from the back and killed him instead. Later on, the little girl buried all of the villagers and Jin came closer to the girl telling her that he would help her achieving her revenge. That little girl was Sawa Karasumori.

Jin decided to screw fate an be a chaotic anti hero instead

Episode review

This episode was more or less Jin's complete character story arc. It was a good one and for once I feel sad for the character. He was more or less felt attraction to the villagers and to Sawa's mother to be exact. Out of sudden he was tasked to kill all of them while knowing that they were peace loving.This episode was great as I am now sympathized with Jin despite all of his cruelty. He was never given any chance since the moment he was captured and when he finally found the place where he was truly loved, he was immediately had to burn it to the ground. The time when he crying while eating the rice ball was heart wrenching because for once he had to kill the very person that he loved and treated him as a human. It's so ironic and sad. I felt  how conflicted it was in Jin position. Meanwhile Sawa was hot on killing him without knowing that Jin really wanted her to be alive. While he was a true killer of Sawa's family, he was merely a pawn for a more sinister being. The moment when he finally decided to kill Kotodama, was the very moment when he wanted to take the matter on his own hand and screwing destiny. After seeing this episode, I really can't hate the man and only felt bitter on what going happen to him in the near future. It was a great episode nonetheless.

The latest installment of Joran was already aired and it was a bit calmer than the episode earlier. It  started with Sawa waking up from her slept. As she went outside, she met again with Jin who offered her to help him again.  He also told Sawa how Tsuki already gave the blue blood pill to the anti government agitators and that he saw Tsuki already dead when he had arrived to the temple. Sawa didn't give reply whether she decided to follow him to Tokyo but when she opened her left hand's bandage, we could see a speck of blood in it. It indicated that someone took a blood sample of her when she laid unconsciously. Then came an unknown girl to the hut and she was actually Rinko; the same person who accepted Sawa and Asahi to the temple. And this drunken kunoichi-style Rinko was her real personality. She wore a ninja like clothes albeit without the mask and had a more vibrant personality. In addition, she was a heavy drinker to boot as well as a Nue's executioner agent as well, which means that unknowingly, Sawa and Asahi was still in the government's monitoring during their time in the temple.

Hello there! I am your so called "extra" suddenly got more screen time xD

Rinko asked Sawa about what was her next destination. She also added that she would join her on her journey. Sawa was still undecided about what her next destination until the white crow flew closer and sat on her hand. Sawa saw through the bird's eyes and she remembered her old hometown. After that, she decided to visit Karasumori village next along with Rinko (who insistently want to accompany her).The scene moved to another place in where Jin talked to an anti government man that he caught before. He asked the man to take the blue blood sample (possibly taken from Sawa). The man clearly rejected the offer; saying that it was the cause of the lost of humanity yet Jin threatened him about his brother's safety should he reject to take the blood sample. In the gondola train, one of the government's agents met Jin and gave him a message from the shogun that they already got the new drug. In addition, he also told Jin that he would lead the new invincible armies should the drug testing worked. Jin told the man that Sawa was still important to their cause but the man disappeared in a thin air.

Nom Nom Nom smell like ten spirit

Back on Sawa and Rinko party, they went to Sawa's deserted hometown. In there, Sawa prayed to the village graveyard that consisted only of a pile of stones stacked like a piramid. Sawa explained that below the stones, all of the dead villagers were buried together (including her parents). In addition, Sawa explained about the origin of Karasumori clan. For over 1600 years, Karasumori clan already lived in isolation because they didn't like to be involved in any conflict. She also added that the clan's people can channel the dragon vein to heightened their vitality. This alone made them a target for individuals who want to use their inherent ability as a weapon. Later on Sawa asked the white crow Nana should she wanted to accompany her in dead later. 

Every single day I am uttering a dying wish nowadays LMAO

It was not Joran without anyone killed in this episode so we have to see a bit of slash and dice moment and this time around Rinko took the spotlight. During their journey, their train was hijacked by an anti government movement and they demanded an army lieutenant general to step down in the next station and gave their demand to Tokugawa before they arrived in the last stop (Tokyo's station) or else they would executed the Deputy minister of foreign affair who happen to board the same train. Rinko asked Sawa to leave this matter to her and then..while still on drunk condition she took care of the hijackers alone. She had been implanted with many metals (razor sharp object) inside her and she could made the steel claw out of her body which she used to assassinate the men. It seemed that both Sawa and Rinko took a separate way after the accident and Sawa got back to the bookstore; in where she and Asahi used to live. While cleaning her bookstore, she noticed a particular book in the shelf.After opening the book, she saw a piece of paper that look like the paper Tsukishiro found before. Not long after, we can saw a horror in Sawa's face as if a big revelation was about to start soon. The episode closed with Sawa meeting Jin in Nue office..and out of nowhere Sawa slashed his uniform revealing a skin mark similar to Janome on his back..

Sawa's mind be like "naaah I've seen worse"

Episode review

This episode didn't feel as dramatic as previous episodes and there was just a bit of action during Sawa and Rinko journey to Tokyo. The middle part was not feel rushed and we got to know the relation between Karasumori clan and the Rumryaku material which from it sounds didn't look like a visible objects. I just got extremely surprised by the end revelation that Jin was the very person responsible for Sawa parents' death. It was out of nowhere because we thought that Janome was the culprit and Sawa's quest of revenge was over from earlier episode. It was not over yet because Janome was actually a decoy villain. Tsukishiro turned into a villain was flabbergasting yet..suddenly Jin was exposed as the very person responsible for Sawa's village massacre was like a sudden punch in the gut. All this time, the writer play a magician trick on us. They showed Jin in every episode telling us how he supported Sawa and acted like a responsible guardian only to be exposed as the evil man behind everything. The ending was made as a big cliffhanger to make us interested watching the next episode and it got me lol. In my opinion, the episode was a bit stale at the beginning but it managed to created a big surprise by the end making me want to see the next episode right away xD

The last episode of Joran was ended with a big cliffhanger of the upcoming battle between Sawa and Tsukishiro. And now here we are with the conclusion of the said battle. There was not much I can say because the first part dealing mostly with hack and slash between the two blue blood sub-human. The fight itself was intense with Sawa now going into a full killing mode and it seems that Tsuki was strong enough to repel her attack. On one occasion, Tsuki even made Sawa lose her blade and hold her in the ground until she managed to kick her off. After exchanging a deadly blow, finally Sawa beat Tsuki and left a slash mark on her right shoulder. Tsuki plead her to finish her yet, even though Sawa hated Tsukishiro for her killing spree, she still unable to give the final blow (maybe due to Asahi's influence). Just when I think it was over, a sudden arrival of an unknown crow-like changeling that descend from the air; startled me. It dropped fast and stabbed a mortal wound to Tsukishiro. She instantly dead from the stab and as she laid in a frozen state, Sawa also lost her consciousness. 

A sudden enemy just stabbed Mr Lesb...I mean ms Tsukishiro

Story of Joran keep getting darker by day..as Jin Kusuhara found Sawa body, he rushed to send her to a desolate hut and treat her wound. What I mean with darker was about Sawa current mental state. As for now, she already lost every hope that she had. She already lost her parents, her beloved brother; not only once but twice, her possible suitor (Oikawa sensei), but now she even truly lost her sister Asahi. Fate was not kind for her, it is as if she was resurrected from dead only to see her closest family members died a horrible dead a.k.a murdered just after she finally found her inner peace. Right now, Sawa was in a very sad state, and she already considering about ending her life and if earlier she would be fine if Asahi poisoned her, this time around she would take the initiative.

is this the bone of the previous temple caretaker? So Rinko was a government agent all along?

Just when Jin went outside to buy supplies and food rations, Sawa walked to the ocean alone. The guilt and the sadness that she felt was overwhelming that she let herself drowning; hoping to end it all. Jin who has just arrived, noticed that Nana (the white crow) greeted and told him about Sawa. Instantly, he rushed and saved Sawa from getting suffocated. Afterward, he nursed her back in the hut. Sawa told him that she didn't any longer has no will to live and asked him to kill her right now. Jin told her to live and revealed his real name as Iori Makabe. He told her that despite his background as an orphan; who had to fight for survive in his early life, he also mentioned that he too lose someone that he hold dear. He told her that even if he might not know the hardship that she encounter, he know the pain of losing someone dear. Sawa was hoping that she should have not save Asahi life if she would know about the pain of losing her and Jin just told her that it was already done and they would never return. Sawa lost it and cried on his chest releasing all of her inner emotion all at once until she slept due to exhaustion. Just before the episode ended, Jin met with Elena, yes the same Elena who was supposed to die during the earlier episode. My guess was right that Elena didn't get killed and her existence was kept hidden by making other people disguised as her corpse. The two of them exchanging a bit of conversation and Jin told her that the time for their final mission has come.

The girl had experienced a lot of depressing situation lately

Episode review

As usual, the episode feel rushed during the action part of the anime especially during the duel between Sawa and Tsukishiro. I thought that it will take about half of the episode yet here, it only took around five minutes before Tsukishiro was defeated. And after that, the episode slowed it pace and took a longer route with a heavy emphasis on drama and emotion between Sawa and Jin. I think it was a grim and heavy episode revolve around on sadness and hopelessness. once again I could see Sawa emotion poured heavily on this episode. she cried, she was sad, and no matter what Jin said, she had lost her will to continue living. For four running episodes, the anime wrecked her emotion and showed us how human she was. Her power as a blue blood member of Karasumori clan could not conceal her suppressed emotions as a lonely person any more. In the other hand, Jin's past and his character deeper revelation didn't really get revealed more deeply. Only his real name, his past of living alone, and the silhouette of his love one that we can get from this episode. And about Elena being alive, hmm I am actually not surprised with that haha. I already guessed that we didn't see the corpse's real face so her murder was most likely a trick to erase her past as an assassin. I am excited because the next episode as it might be a one big surprising episode and I hope they can conclude the anime spectacularly with 4 more episodes left

Tragedy is one word representing everything about Joran. Tragedy that I mentioned here was not a step's song title during the nineties but more about Joran's entire plot as a series. It was a story with suffering, destruction, and the plot dealing with the sadness of the main character and most likely it may end with her dead (in a softer way, it will usually lead to a bittersweet ending).As I saw this episode, I feels that the writer didn't hold any punch to wreck the emotion of the viewers. As if we just take a breather from the last episode, we suddenly struck with another surprise and I know that some of you may already watch the seven episode. Yet, for some of you who haven't got the time to watch it, the following review will spoil the story big time. As usual read with precaution if you want to avoid spoiler.

Not only helping with the cleaning, she even told Asahi to rest T-T she did change a lot

...If only it last forever

Meanwhile Tsukishiro was looking for a certain note that the doctor told her before. It was a key that might overthrow the current regime. So with the painkiller dwindling in number, she hasten her move to complete the notes. Afterward, she met with ex-boss Jin Kusuhara. Jin told her that the doctor already told him everything that happened to her and he would not bother to kill her since she might only had three more days to live. He coerced her to give the bag that she bring with her and promising that he will leave Sawa's alone if she did. Tsuki finally gave him the bag that contain two blue blood samples and took the painkiller with her.

Hmm you only came as a hallucination..did you really die?

Tsukishiro came to the temple realizing that the current Sawa didn't even wake when she move closer. It indicated how different Sawa was during her absence. She already lower her guard so much that even a killing intent might not even wake her up. Just when Tsukisiro was about to wake her, little Asahi came and thanked her for her strategic plan of leaving Tokyo. Tsuki planned to wake Sawa and told her about the truth. Yet, Asahi told Tsuki to let Sawa continue sleeping and to let her live peacefully. Tsukishiro left a threat that she should have kill Asahi before and disappeared suddenly when Rinko came to the house. Rinko specifically came to give them the kimono that had been passed down to her. They planned to join the festival together wearing those kimonos. 

Look at the teacher's eyes..it says "smart kid" xD

Later on they found out that the festival was cancelled and despite the disappointment, they still manage to watch the night with Oikawa sensei. Asahi even use this chance to left them alone so they can talk alone and get closer (Asahi was the matchmaker in this one..what a smart kid xD).Just after having a brief conversation, Tsukishiro appeared once again to take Sawa out from the temple. Sawa rejected her offer and persisted that she didn't want to run away again. Oikawa sensei told Tsuki that she didn't like "his" treatment so he took Sawa with him. Ok, from this moment, it will be a life changing situation so I use bold to tell you that the next event might be a big spoiler for this episode so if you didn't want to know about what was going to happen next, just stop reading. Tsukishiro took the one last remaining blue blood sample and turned herself into a changeling. While ensuring to Sawa that he will always help her, Oikawa sensei suddenly stop moving and we can see blood appeared on his back before he fell to the ground. Sawa was extremely shocked and it was not over yet as she heard Asahi's screams from the temple. When she entered, she saw Asahi telling her not to get closer. She looked up to the roof seeing Tsukishiro turned into a cat like changeling and then.time seems to stop. Tsukishiro jumped down near to Asahi and despite Sawa plea to kill her instead, she slashed little Asahi. It..was very heartbroken scene to see Asahi lifeless body in Sawa's hand and after that.. Sawa Yukimura is back once again to take revenge.

Sawa looks so pretty on this episode.. As if the whole budget goes into drawing her face

Episode review

Another "hold tight, we are gonna blasting through the door" episode with fast plot movement from calm to a tense situation in a fast progression. It was unbelievable that Tsuki would become the next episode big bad. Right now, the only mystery left was about the treasure that Tsukishiro hold. What was written in the treasure notes that Tsuki collected in this episode? Why did she change her mind about letting Sawa live peacefully with little Asahi and why in the end she forced Sawa to get revenge despite the fact that she already eradicated Janome? In my random guess, I think that Yoshinobu Tokugawa was partially responsible for the burning of Sawa's clan village. Therefore, Sawa's revenge will never be completed until she killed the leader herself. However, the person that Tsukishiro saw right now was a completely different person. Sawa that she saw right now was an ordinary lady who already move on from her drive for revenge, Tsukishiro wanted Sawa to ignite her revenge once more time and technically speaking, she wanted to use Sawa annihilating Yoshinobu for her

Congrats Tsuki you're an idiot. I hate you

I love this episode and I know for some it was gut wrenching. They didn't even spare Asahi's life and they did it not even in the penultimate episode. The body count was already piling so much that we barely have living cast member by the seven episode and to give it more impact, they did it to a minor..a children no less. The plot didn't spare anyone..It was as if Sawa move closer to a certain dead scenario or a great despair. I know the plot advancement was a bit too fast for a 12 episodes run yet..with a big cliffhanger like that, who doesn't want to see the next episode?..and of course the finale

Like I said before I can see it through about what's going to happen in this episode (that Sawa is still alive lol). Exactly like what I predict before, the pill that Makoto Tsukishiro gave was not a poisonous pill but a fake death medicine. It was predictable plots all over again with Makoto also survived the last episode since when the Englishman drew his gun, she managed to retaliate and kill him instead. The only character that I haven't really seen alive and well in this chapter was Elena (although she did appear in one particular scene). So, lets see what Joran can tell us today after it already told us so many thing. Will it still capable to create a different story-telling after it revealed too many plot points?

The time is ticking..

This episode was about a little girl doing a mission impossible stuff inside the revenge plot (or which used to be) anime. While it was not about revenge anymore, this was more about achieving real freedom via an intricate life and dead mission. The episode started with the scene when Tsukishiro explained to Asahi about the poison pills that she gave to her in earlier episode. The pill (like what I guessed on my last writing) worked to fake a dead. So in the next three hours after Sawa ate the pill, she would be in " death like state for three hours". Tsukishiro even explained every detailed steps that little Asahi need to do in order to achieve their escape. First of all, she needs to wait for the little boy who normally sold his books to Sawa and told him about Sawa's sudden dead. Just as what Tsuki's explained, in a matter of second, Jin Kusuhara would enter the house to check on Sawa's condition. Just after Sawa was confirmed "dead", the burial will take place and little Asahi have to wait the burial finished and use the remaining time to dig the grave again and take Sawa unconscious body out.

ahahaha I am not dead xD you are..

In this episode, we got the focus on two main character; one is Asahi and the other is Jin Kusuhara. While burying Sawa's body, Jin noticed that Sawa crow companion was stayed nearby. Jin knew that Sawa might still alive yet, it seemed that he choose to let it slide this time and left the little Asahi alone. This allowed her to have enough time to dig the grave using her bare hand and wake Sawa. Sawa was hesitated to escape with Asahi due to the fact that running from the regime might put harm on her little sister's life. Yet, whether running or not, both of their life were still in danger anyway so after a brief persuasion from Asahi, Sawa finally decided to take the boat with her "little sister' and went to the temple that Tsukishiro's mentioned. In another scene, Jin Kusuhara met with the doctor that replaced Tsuki's missing arm with an artificial one from the latest episode. Jin interrogated him about his involvement to the anti government party and regardless of his cooperation, Jin still annihilate him afterward.

Sawa's blood can be refined into a medicine?

The episode also gave a glimpse of Tsukishiro moment when she tried to run away from the search party. She was taking the medicine that the doctor gave in the last episode and got hallucination after taking a few pill. I don't really know about the purpose of the drug but after consuming some of it, she hallucinated as if there were snakes on her legs. Why did she needed to take the pill if it only inducing a nightmarish side effect, does it related to her new artificial arm? In another scene this was the first time we finally see the big boss in this anime (Yoshinobu Tokugawa). Though his appearance was hidden behind a curtain and we can only see his silhouette and voice. He later told Jin (who also joined the meting) about the formula of the blue blood that the traitor Janome made. It was a revelation that Janome himself used to work to Yoshinobu before he became the traitor. There was another red lining that this anime want to tell us. About how Janome was part of the government before and how he ended up conducted his own research to reproduce the Karasu clan's blue blood. And by the looks of it, it seems that Yoshinobu knew about the original material still alive (Sawa). 

The girls are out of action boy..its my time to shine

Episode review

I said it before that the plot about Sawa's dead was quite predictable as well as how the escape plan running away from Tokyo which was not hard to guess. Yet, I personally liked how they build other characters like Asahi and Jinsan in this episode. As far as each episode goes, we rarely saw any episode that was focused on her..While Asahi was not really a side character, I think her screen times were a bit low in the early episodes. Therefore, this episode was like a redemption one to focus on her importance in Sawa's life. In addition, she did her best to fake a tear and pushed herself further, digging up the dirt while fighting each minutes to save Sawa from getting suffocated. I am also amazed to Jin decision to kill the police before the episode finished. As far as I know, he was in the government side. However, in a sudden brief of moment he could easily dispatched the regime's men as if he too doesn't like the way Yoshinobu treat the opposition. This kind of contradictory character was the one which made me still guessing on his motivation. He was like a lose end.. a character that you can't see the motive entirely..interesting. This episode was still above average for me...now with Sawa and Asahi moved to another place, it does not mean that the drama is over. Yoshinobu still hot on the girl's blue blood, Tsukishiro was still running, and for Kusuhara..well I think he might have an even bigger role for the next episode.

The episode started with a funeral and the person who was buried was Sawa (WHAT!!). I think that was just a few second but that mean we already lost our heroine now?or maybe not. After that we get a glimpse of the additional scene that they should have put on last week episode. In contrast to what I saw last week, Sawa brother was not dead after succumbing on his wound. Yet, in this scene I saw her brother pushed her to little Asahi after telling her that she was not alone anymore. And the roof just fell on him. I think it was visualized to make his dead scene had more impact; thought it made me wonder..which scene did actually happened before? him died on Sawa's hug or him getting crushed by a fallen boulder. Alas, what important now is that she took Asahi with her while Elena and his boss Jin Kusuhara waited for her outside.

She was waiting for a prince to kiss her ;p

The scene moves to Elena talked to her ghost writer (I guess she had a side job as novelist) and it was revealed that she had on an earlier pregnancy. By the looks of it, it seems like the Ghost writer was her couple but even now she herself just was not sure if the baby in her womb was his offspring because Elena herself already made love to more men she could count for. As obvious, her pregnancy will hinder her doing assassin work; therefore he asked Jin Kusuhara to find another replacement. Before the end of her service, Kusuhara gave her a last assignment to track down a specific person who might try to attack the government later on. 

Yuki prepared for the worst

Back to our main heroine Sawa, it seems that she already lost all of her purpose in life after the last batle. Jin Kusuhara talked with her that she should continue her work to ensure the survival of Asahi. It was obvious that Sawa had little interest to continue her work at this moment. Still, Jin told her to find and to eliminate Tsukishiro who had already gave the "honey" to attract some "ants". It was kind of an ambiguous analogy but I guess the honey might be the word for either weapons or the sample of Sawa's crystallized blue blood. Meanwhile the ants may refer to the anti-government movement that try to raise some ruckus. In the next scene, Sawa got back to her house while little Asahi already finished preparing her dinner. Sawa told little Asahi that she could kill her now; yet the little girl instead of suffocated her, told her that she should've eat her poisonous foods instead. Off course it was just a normal dinner and for a while, it seems that Sawa's little sister wanted her alive.

Concerning to Tsukishiro, It seems that she already replaced her lost arm with an artificial one. The doctor that tend to her injury thanked her on her decision to support the rebellion behind the Tokugawa back. The only thing that Tsukishiro surprised was when the doctor told her that she may visit her favorite book store again later; inciting that Sawa's survival against Janome's attack as well as the reality that little Asahi still has not decided to poison her. Inside the car that about to leave, Tsukishiro had a brief contemplating about when Sawa told her that maybe they didn't know entirely about the truth. Tsukishiro was meant to leave the country until on the last second, she decided to stay in Japan. The driver who wanted to sent her away told her that he regretted her decision; then he asked if she had a certain gemstone in exchange for the blue blood sample, in which she said that she didn't own it. Just after that, the driver pull up a revolver and the scene showed the car while two gun shots can be heard. It seems as if the driver just killed her but I believe Tsukishiro won't be killed that easily.

Hug and kiss? it was too mainstream lol why not slap

There was action mixed up inside this episode too when Elena waking up Sawa to accompany her meeting some certain individuals. Definitely Sawa was no longer interested to join the fight and most of the action goes to Elena. Only later did she realized that there was something wrong with Elena movement. Elena told her about her pregnancy and this might be her last mission with her and she will move to another division with a different name. After this we are given a scene in which it shows a burned house with two victims.. a couple whose silhouette somehow resembling Elena and her Ghost writer (her husband)

Downer episode especially for our main heroine

Episode review

The anime had a guts to instantly tried to write off the three heroines in one episode.Still I am not really certain with their dead because of the way the anime had not show either Elena and Tsukishiro dead body. Tsukishiro dead was not shown to us and it was possible that she was the one who shot the driver. In Elena case, we didn't see her face clearly either. While Sawa reacted as if Elena was really put down for real, the possibility is still at 50:50. Yoshinobu Tokugawa can either kill her for real or fake her dead to create a distraction/ to make her exit easier. In Sawa dead scene, I thought it was still to early to say she was dead. The pill that Tsukishiro gave to Asahi could be a medicine to fake her dead too and I guarantee that plot was still far than over. I called this a breather episode which can somehow kill all protagonists in one sitting lol. There were heartwarming scenes too in here like how little Asahi tried to feed Sawa while telling her that she put some poisons in her dinner or how Elena ghost writer rejoiced over her pregnancy and he decided to be her husband (despite the fact that he knew it might not be his biological baby). I am quite happy with this episode although it was not as emotional as the last one. Not only that it still had few actions thrown into, there were also character developments too such as Elena being pregnant and she was prepared to leave her assassin job for real or how Sawa turned from a cold blooded murderer into a person who hates blood on her hand.

 Finally we got another amazing episode from Joran starting from the first minute to finish. Well this episode seems quite short for me because it was started with a bang and had much more action oriented event all over the episode. From the first minute we found out that Jin Kusuhara a.k.a Nue boss tried to stop Sawa Yukimura from finding Asahi. He told her that the moment she lost her calm, and choose over the girl life over her revenge, the more vulnerable she was for Janome’s traps. Kuzuhara tried to stop her because at this very moment, the the blue blood inside Sawa’s body was targetted by Janome to strengthen him further and it seems that his plan for capturing her was already on motion. He also mentioned that he knew Tsukishiro’s betrayal all along as well as the fact that she secretly killed the cleaner.

Maybe she meant Jin should retire and become farmer somewhere lol

The battle did not last long and Kusuhara managed to beat Yuki due to the fact that she was hesitating. After Yuki fell unconscious, Jin took her into a car and drove away. Just as he rode, they got blocked by changelings that look like dogs and after a brief high chase and lots of explosion, Kusuhara’s car got crashed. The beaten up Kusuhara saw a figure holding sawa’s still unconscious body and that person was Tsukishiro. She took Sawa with her and left her former boss holding his injured stomach.

a certain lady said that she doesn't care for Asahi's life ;p

While being unconscious, Sawa had a dream from her past; especially the time when she was still living happily with her brother. His brother told her that birds was their clan’s closest friend in which I assume why the white crow can somehow unleashed her true potential. This scene also worked as the base for the emotional build being showed later on. First of all, her brother was still alive and in captivity but he was already lost his sight and he barely can move at all. Second, with Sawa close bond to her brother, his dead will definitely unleashed her repressed emotion and she might need another support after his passing (I got reminded of Asahi at this moment; maybe she will be the one who will save her later emotionally). Finally, Sawa waking up in a place that she didn’t recognized. When the light turn on, she saw some painting that resembles an old renaissance painting and someone that she knew well. Janome and her co-worker turned into a traitor; Tsukishiro.

Maybe Janome was inspired from megaman's snakeman

What I don’t understand from this anime was about Tsukishiro’s allegiance. First off all, she knew Janome and I thought that she was the villain of the story. However, just as they managed to capture Yukimura by using Asahi, she was also the very person who killed Janome’s snake pets and released Yukimura from captivity. If a smart villain like Janome can get confused with Tsukishiro’s act of betrayal, how about me who was just a normal viewer lol. Just what was her true motive? Is she really stood for or against Yoshinobu Tokugawa?  Even after the last episode, she was already behaving suspiciously. Still, if she doesn’t side with Nue (Yoshinobu side) yet she also betrayed Janome even if they had a shared goal then whose side she belongs to? What kind of freedom did Tsukishiro sought after???

What I love bout this show is that she is not a Mary sue. Off course she is strong but not invincible

The main event of this episode off course was the fight between Sawa and Janome who had enhanced his body with Sawa’s blood. It was a great battle but isn’t it a bit anti-climactic if they put the supposed end game in the fourth episode? With eight more episodes, the battle against Janome should be on the eleventh or twelfth episode. But in my opinion, if it was the end of Janome, it means that Sawa’s revenge was over. Doesn’t that mean that she already lost his purpose of life since her drive to keep alive was to avenge her family? The fact remained that by end of this episode, Sawa did kill Janome, Tsukishiro managed to escape (although minus an arm). And least but not last, her captivated brother finally die peacefully knowing that he could save his sister with his last dying breath. The scene when she cried while holding her brother was very strong emotionally and I am not regret to say that this anime at least had a heart on it. Yuki was always pictured as a cold and merciless lady that this scene wants to show us how fragile she was in reality. This break her apart and showed her weak side as a woman and as a sister.

I know break the ice queen moment was not rare but..this scene was powerful

If I could rate this episode, I will give a nine out of ten for all of the actions and emotions jam packed inside this one episode. Honestly, before I review this anime, I never had a high expectation from this anime. Since the first episode, it seems like another action oriented anime with a tsundere and cold main character. But as each episode passed, I found that each scene link to each other neatly and every confusing term that we saw in the earlier episode was explained one by one while keeping the action in high octane. I guess after this very intense episode, the anime will go into a breather episode. Or, the producer of Joran will create a new opponent. After all, the first episode already showed a mysterious female changeling and maybe she will be an even bigger threat to Sawa.

The Princess of Snow and Blood continues to the third episode. Unfortunately, instead of seeing Yuki and Hana duke it out after the last episode conclusion, we are instantly brought to Yuki asking why did Kusuhara order Hana to kill the treasurer lady. Just as cold as an ice, Kusuhara said that the order of disposing her came directly from lord Yoshinobu himself and although Yuki complaining about why did they had to dispose her son too, Kusuhara just said that she should not bring her emotion along. As I watch this episode, I found out that there are more mysteries to be answered and there was an even bigger revelation waiting to be unveiled. As usual, I would like to say be very cautious cause I may spoil the story. This anime actually did answer a lot of the character's background information during the previous episode and this episode didn't try to take a steep back and prolong the surprise either.

Don't worry we will find out even sooner :)

After three episode, finally I know the little girl name; Asahi (hahaha pardon me but in the earlier episodes, Yuki never said her name before, and I am not very good at reading kanji name xP). After meeting with Kuzuhara, Tsukishiro talked with Yukimura regarding to her "little sister". He said that if possible, Yukimura should drop the " big sister" act and take the little girl out of her life. As usual Yukimura coldly replied that she never care about her "sister" well-being only for Tsukishiro replying that he too understand her sentiment.  The episode scene moved to Yukii and Asahi having a dinner. Yuki bluntly asked Asahi to leave the house because her health already recovered. She also give her some money and ticket and promised her that after she finally got her revenge, Asahi can come and kill her later. As harsh as Yukimura tried to be, I know that she was doing her best to protect the little girl from Nue's grasp. After the last incident with the treasurer lady, Yukimura knew that having Asahi with her not only will made her unable to focus on her mission, there is a possibility that the government will try to hurt Asahi too when they considered that Yuki might become another threat to the reigning order.

She was also an orphan like you right ^^ whose parents are murdered

Heartbroken Asahi went to the older lady that she kept talking about to Yuki. She was an old woman who raise a pet dog and live in nearby area. At the beginning, I thought it was just a normal scene but as the story unveiled, the lady was more than just an ordinary civilian. I thought it was better for you to see the reveal later so I wont say anything bout her for now ;p

Two dead flags confirmed

The Second part of the anime showed that Nue team (Yuki, Tsuki, and Hana) exposed the "cleaner" connection to Janome. Cleaner was a term used for a man who work for the government. His work was like a grave digger as well as a man who took any evidence left of the person that the government's erased. When the Nue team exposed his evidence money, his reaction was very surprised as if he never know that there was a money inside his casket. In a desperate moment, he exploded the bomb that he planted nearby and disappeared in the thin air. Tsuki ordered Yukimura to descent to a secret tunnel right away. Then he asked Hana to go to the tunnel's other side exit to pincer his escape. It was just a distraction anyway because he knew the person hide somewhere close. He opened the casket and find the scared man right away. I thought that Tsuki wanted to protect the man..I'm so wrong since he shot the man later and made it as if the man attacked him

Surprising but a bit too early ..maybe better if they kept it for 7-8 episode

I knew this anime tried it best to create suspense and it hide most of the character's secret. However, Joran never shy away to reveal it as fast as it got the chance. For example; Tsukishiro's gender was discovered a bit too early in my opinion. The very reason that Hana never tried to seduce "him" was because Tsuki was never a man to begin with. Her secret gender identity was so effective cos I never even saw this coming.. although this kind of revelation was better to be kept secret for later episode. This event also tell us that Tsukishiro could not be trusted entirely because "she" always work in the shadow as if holding another motive (I don't want to say it more because it was a bit too much a spoiler, better watch yourself)