Zetsuen no Tempest – 08-10

Aika’s death aside, the bill to clean that carpet must have been absolutely devastating

Yes, the next episode of Tempest (I can’t bring myself to call it ZnT; I always think of Zero no Tsukaima) should be out in a couple of hours, but I really don’t want to add another episode to this already late post. I can definitely promise that it won’t be as late as episode 8 was. OTL

Episode 8:

The army did pretty well considering that they’re normally pretty useless in every other anime involving a battle against magic. I’m surprised that they were even considered a threat by the Kusaribe clan since the shots they fired didn’t seem to do much. In any case, the final(?) battle has started and a ton of question have been answered. …Mostly by other questions.

As pointed out this episode, there is a stunning amount of coincidences that bring the plot together. Aika’s death setting off Mahiro, Mahiro being apathetic enough to work for Hakaze despite the possibilities, it all seems too perfect. If it wasn’t for the whole plot point of logic forever being on Hakaze’s side, I probably would have voiced a complaint by now. Even time seems to be affected by Hakaze’s luck now seeing how she’s 2 years in the past. If she didn’t have the luck of magic letting her connect to Mahiro, there would have been no chance of Mahiro and Yoshino standing there with Samon this episode. Again, I wonder just how she died. On the other hand though, the skeleton being in Samon’s hands makes a lot more sense now since he could have gone to the island at any time within the 2 year span. Maybe with it, he can even control the Tree of Exodus without problems. If Mahiro and Yoshino can still use Hakaze’s talismans with her dead, then I don’t see why Samon couldn’t use Hakaze’s skeleton to the same effect.

As for Mahiro, he’s still the same angst ridden kid he was at episode one. It’s a good thing in this case though since he doesn’t seem to care one way or another which way the world goes. You could say that he’s THE perfect person to work with Hakaze since Samon raises an excellent point in his argument about saving the world. Even Yoshino, the calm collected one, was unsure of what to do in the situation. On a side note, Aika looked awfully peaceful when Mahiro found her body. Though maybe someone dragged her body there since there seemed to be a trail of blood. Hakaze’s words about Aika dying for her seem really deep for some reason, so maybe that has something to do with it.

Well, as expected, both sides have good reasons for what they’re doing. From the conversation between Hakaze and Samon, it seems that it was a tired debate in the clan, so the majority of the clan defecting makes a lot more sense. I kind of wonder how they managed to trick Hakaze into being trapped on the island, but I guess there was strength in numbers or something. I also wonder why the Tree of Genesis couldn’t just remove the Kusaribe clan’s powers when they defected against it as well. Especially since Hakaze’s logic-defying powers still seem to be intact. I guess it has to do with the fact that it either can’t or because it’s currently MIA. At this point I really wish that they’d explain how the two trees fought/created the world/how the Kusaribe clan became the people to revive the Tree of Genesis. Maybe that would explain more since I’m a little confused with the timeline of the Trees fighting and when the Tree of Exodus was asleep.

Episode 9:

Well, you have to admit that the army tried their best. As did Evangeline. Actually, she was pretty cool this episode and didn’t get her face kicked in, unlike the last time she tried fighting mages. It’s amazing what those talismans can do. …Or at least she hasn’t had her face kicked in yet. The battle looks like it’s just beginning.

As if Hakaze’s connection to Prospero couldn’t be any more obvious, Aika points it out directly. Even better, Aika once again helps out Hakaze in an unlikely way. Forget simply dying for her, Aika’s existence seems to be crucial for Hakaze’s at this point. If that wasn’t enough, Aika also seems pretty important for the world as well since Mahiro’s decision about which tree he sides with has everything to do with Aika’s murder. That girl is extremely important for a dead character. Aika believed that everything happened for a reason, and once again, I wonder if she didn’t somehow see all of this coming. Yoshino remembering her words in this episode at a crucial point (not to mention it directly relating to the title of the show) deepens my suspicions.

Yoshino finally regained his composure this episode. I don’t know if it was because he felt bad about ditching Hakaze or if it was something else, but it seems like all doubt about being on the Tree of Genesis’ side is gone. Yoshino definitely felt bad for Hakaze though since he went against Mahiro directly instead of doing it from behind his back like usual. I can’t think of any other reason Yoshino would do that other than he felt bad for her. I never expected him to willingly offer the identity of Aika’s boyfriend to Mahiro as a bargaining tool. I guess desperate times call for desperate measures.

Of course Mahiro would betray Hakaze. Here I was thinking he might feel slightly indebted or something. Silly me. Though his loyalty to Yoshino seems to know no bounds since he would attack Samon for Yoshino even after he attacks first.  We’ve seen this side of Mahiro before though, back when Yoshino was ‘kidnapped’. Despite all of the questions he could have like ‘why was it only Yoshino kidnapped?’ or ‘why would Yoshino know who Aika’s boyfriend is?’, Mahiro sticks firmly to his belief that Yoshino is trustworthy. He’s going to feel extremely torn when the truths about Yoshino come out. Between his trust and his obsession with revenge, I wonder which will win out.

Surprisingly, Samon knows nothing about Aika’s murder. I figured he might have done it since Aika’s actions all seemed to be connected to Hakaze and that he killed her to get rid of some of Hakaze’s luck, but I guess not. Though if my suspicion about Aika knowing that this was coming is right, maybe someone else killed her because they wanted her out of the way. The clan seems pretty loyal to Samon, so maybe they did it without him knowing.

Episode 10:

Well, Hakaze still isn’t revived and Evangeline lost a fight again, but exciting things happened on all sides. For one, the army absolutely exceeded my expectations on what it accomplished and it looks like not even a room full of mages is completely impervious to a constant rain of missiles. Another exciting thing is the return of Yoshino’s quick thinking, which proved vital for Hakaze this episode.

I don’t know what the real trick of the island is, but Yoshino’s bluff about Hakaze being put asleep for 2 years and the skeleton being messed with makes waaaaay more sense than anything else I could think of. Judging from Samon’s reactions, it’s not quite the truth, but in a show where they’re supposed to be maintaining logic, I don’t really see how actual time travel fits in… Anyways, Samon definitely played into Yoshino’s hand. He kind of shares the same arrogance his sister has, so he was probably pretty easy for Yoshino to figure out. Hakaze might have been easy for Yoshino to figure out as well since he seemed to know exactly how to lift her out of her depression. …Even though I don’t see how she’s getting off the island. Well, as long as it works for her, I guess since she’s out of her slump now.

As for Mahiro, he was also swayed by Yoshino, but this time even he was aware of it. It kind of makes you wonder how aware he is about the other things Yoshino manipulates him with. I don’t think he suspects Yoshino at all (or he’s just denying it with all he has) since he’s still on his side for the most part. In any case, he’s not pushing the point of Yoshino telling him who Aika’s boyfriend is, so I wonder if he’ll just forget about that after reviving Hakaze is finished. I imagine there won’t be much of a chance for peace and quiet after Hakaze is brought back, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they left Mahiro and Yoshino’s confrontation about Aika until later. Yoshino did promise Mahiro and I’ll bet that Mahiro believes that Yoshino will keep his promise no matter what, so he might be okay with postponing the truth. …Or maybe they’ll bring it up at the worst possible moment, dramatically turning the tides between the Trees once again.

I feel really bad about leaving this show alone for so long, but at the same time, it had some really bad cliff hangers in between the episodes that would have infuriated me if I had been doing this weekly. Anyways, I don’t think I’ve mentioned this for a while, but any and all problems I’ve had with the characters are long gone. Yoshino has proven his lack of personality as something important to the plot, as with Mahiro’s revenge obsession. Even Aika’s flighty-ness (pretend that’s a real term) seems important here since her position as a character seems to change depending on who’s involved. all we need now is for Hakaze to get off that island. The preview for the next episode didn’t really look that promising, which is pretty disappointing since the past 3 episodes has been a lot of 3 characters sitting around and talking. Though that being said, those cuts with Evangeline fighting helped from keeping things completely monotone…dialogue related. In any case, hopefully something else happens soon.