[DreamSword]

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Originally Posted by Enchilada645

but man is this a rather unique beast.

The only other episode that I can think of that comes even remotely close is the "Scar Flame" episode from Carved Seal of Flames. And even then I would not at all try to directly compare the two anytime soon. Love both episodes equally though.

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There's also something almost magical about how what is basically a standard Horror of the Week plot basically snowballs into the ending we receive here. Just the amount of tension in the scene where Kouga confronts the Horror and her lackey, like, it's so thick you can cut it with a soul metal sword. All culminating in the Horror just badmouthing Kouga and basically blabbing about everything.

Like, despite the formula we ended setting up for the show with Kaoru and Kouga and how we get kind of comfortable, from the start you can tell that this is not a perfect situation and that the shoe was going to drop eventually. And boy did it drop, huh?

Thinking about it, the title of the episode is actually kinda brilliant. Not only is it describing what the gate for the Horror is this time around, but it's also the episode where, figuratively speaking, the bubble bursts.

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Also while I don't want to say spoilers in regards to like, story stuff, I will say at least that uh... after that ending? Yeah we're in for something different going forward. I mean we have to be, you know? You can't just end it like that and expect everyone to go back to their usual routine.

I'd be incredibly disappointed if there wasn't at least some sort of shake up going forward! You don't just pull something this big and then try to sweep it under the rug, ya know?

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Yeah I completely adored this one. The Horror stuff was at peak creepiness without tipping too far to the point where I start finding it funny, and then it's also like this extremely emotionally raw, important episode for the overarching plot on top of that. It's really, really great!

I feel like whoever wrote/and directed this episode had a serious phobia of koi fish when they were young. And if so it certainly contributed heavily to the atmosphere of the episode!

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Naturally, I especially loved how everything blows up in Kouga's face at the end. It's exactly what Amon was talking about in the previous episode, where his refusal to get close to people has left him trying to maintain a comfortable uncommitted middle-ground that was always doomed to end like this. Kouga would never be cold enough to kill Kaoru, but he also didn't have the courage to actually engage with her in a way that might've prevented things from getting this bad. Like you said, this one was very much driven by the characters, and the writing and performances are insanely strong here.

It just makes the previous episode all the better by extension, and it makes me wonder if the other things that Amon warned Koga about are going to come to a head soon too.