「K」Return of Kings 02-03

Return of the King

We return to the world of K as we are still in the setup phase of the series right now.

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What are the Blues up to?

Captain Munakata, the Blue King, takes time to invite the Silver Clansmen for a bit of a talk at SCEPTER 4 headquarters. Only Kuroh comes as Neko doesn’t care to come along for obvious reasons, and we get a bit of a update of what has been going on. The Blue Clan don’t seem to really understand what the Green Clan wants and why they’ve decided to make a move. And the Silver Clan are even more in the dark.

Munakata is a mystery himself, as he holds up a facade that everything is normal, but we know from his Sword of Damocles, that things are not doing too well for him, and dealing with the Green Clan isn’t helping. The weight of the guilt of having killed his best friend has been really heavy on him, and to make matters worse, Reisi seems to internalize it and even welcomes the damage rather than reach a point of catharsis and dealing with it. But of course, as king, he believes that he has to shoulder everything on his own. Having to take up the duties of the Gold King, and seemingly obsessed with the Dresden Slates, he spends more time in the Gold domain than SCEPTER 4 headquarters. He talks to (aka interrogates) Kuroh in an attempt to find out what the Silver King might have told his second-in-command in regards to the Slates. Of course Kuroh, while spending days with Shiro, spent less than a day with Adolf K. Weismann, and so was told none of his knowledge.

Kuroh: I need an adult…    Reisi: I AM an adult. 

This disappoints Munakata, but he still offers the Silver Clan, SCEPTER 4 protection and headquarters space since they are without their own territory (the Silver King’s territory blew up last season, remember?).

You’re not sure if this is because Reisi is sincerely concerned about the very small and very at risk Silver Clan, or if he has ulterior motives? I’m not sure myself, I think it might be a bit of both, especially considering that he wants information from the First King. However, I also think that he does really care for the other clan and think it his duty to protect those who can’t protect themselves. Did he send Fushimi simply to protect the Kuroh and Neko? Or is he also there to spy? But of course, Fushimi ends up in too distracted to do his job. Can you guess how? (I’ll give you three guesses…)  

What are the Reds up to?

We get to see that many of the Red Clan have matured since the last time we saw them. This is especially with Yata and Anna, who are trying to learn from their mistakes of the past with Mikoto and become better for it. There is unfortunately a perceived curse upon the Red Clan and the royal that leads them, which can’t be good for little Queen Anna. However Yata and the rest of HOMRA have decided to step up and support their new leader so that she doesn’t have to bear the burden alone of the Red legacy as Mikoto and his predecessor had to.

It’s interesting that they too offer the Silver Clan protection, and you have to wonder if this is the beginning of an alliance between the Clans? As Yata says, there has never really been an alliance like that, and the Kings have not made an effort to create one. They’re not “supposed” to like each other. But Neko and Anna make a good point by simply asking “why?” Each of the kings are plenty strong on their own, but wouldn’t they be stronger together? Even kingdoms of old made alliances between each other for help and protection.

I don’t know what the Red Clan’s role in this story will be. They don’t seem to be the focal point as much as they were the last season. The Green Clan freely admit that they simply brought the Red Clan in on their plans as an afterthought, and that their real targets are the Blue and Silver Clans. Kusinagi gets the sensible idea to join JUNGLE himself undercover and look at more of their web network, getting an idea of how much influence they have, and seeing what we saw earlier, that there’s a lot of points involved in taking down Red or Blue Clansmen.  Yet, Yata of course gets distracted by the fact that Fushimi has a slightly larger bounty on his head by the Greens, but you see more of his new maturity and that of Fushimi when the two meet on the island campus later, and perhaps a hint at that alliance that might end up forming between the Red, Blue, and Silver clans, when the two fight together again the strong, but juvenile, scythe-wielding Sukuna Gojou.

What are the Greens up to?

The Red Clan hangs out in a swanky old-fashioned pub. The Blue Clan holds up in a classical mansion. The Silver Clan has the biggest, most fancy zeppelin that German hands could produce, and the Gold Clan stays in the most intimidating skyscrapers Japan has ever seen. And where do the Green Clan stay? The tiniest, crappiest apartment they could afford on the salary the size of a college student’s….

Ya’ know, milord? Maybe we should move on up, to the East Side? To maybe a deluxe apartment in the sky? 

Wow guys, talk about your fixer-uppers. You’re doing your image no favors when you guys and your BDSM wheelchair king, are all staying in a place that looks smaller than my bedroom.

But at least we do finally get to meet the Green King, Nagare Hisui, who I can only really describe as that emo philosophical kid that you basically just say “uh-huh” to every time they go on a tirade. Compared to the other five kings we’ve met thus far, Nagare is kind of lackluster, but we’ve just met him so we’ll see what he can do. I’m just tired of these villains whose plan is to make a “new world” that usually means disaster for everyone else. It’s pretty Villain 101-ish if you ask me, but I guess we’ll just have to see how it turns out. But it is interesting that he is called the “Ever-Changing King” in comparison to Weismann’s “Eternal King”. And we do find evidence that Nagare might be a Strain, similar to Anna and Neko, and that he might just be connected to Neko somehow, since he knows more about her then even she does.

Okay, when you’ve parked the mirror right next to you while you lounge on the sofa, and you put on more makeup than me; I think you’ve passed the level of “vain” and jumped right to “narcissistic”.  And by the way, your multi-color hair extensions look soooo fake. 

But then maybe I give the Green Clan too little credit. Their them is that, like plants, they are everywhere and can survive an ever-changing world. They can blend in very well, and are barely noticed by others. This is clearly seen when we find out the high school where the Silvers call home, is crawling with students who are Green Clansmen and don’t know it. It sort of gives you a bit of perspective, that while the Greens collectively don’t have any more power than the other clans, their large numbers give them a very impressive reach.

It’s through the Blue King that we get some exposition on how the Green Clan works, and it’s not that far off from what you would think. The Green Clan is the largest of the clans, but it’s mostly full of clansmen that aren’t even aware of the kings or clans at all. You can join the group pretty easily though joining online and you are automatically “E-Rank”.

You advance through the ranks based on missions and points until you reach the highest rank of “J”. (J-U-N-G-L-E, get it?) You only get some form of powers when you reach around “N-Rank” and it’s only “J-Rank” that have actually gotten to meet the king. This is astounding and unthinkable to the other clans, who can’t think of having served a king to that point and never have seen or talked to him. To me, by the time you got to the J-Rank, you might as well stay on no matter what the king was like. If you’ve been at the game that long, you might as well finish it to the end.

What are the Silvers to do?

The Silver Clan is the clan of the hour right now, as everyone seems to be looking for them, want information from them, or are simply curious about them. And it’s all because of the fact that they’re the shiny, new clan on the block.

The Silver King has never bothered to get involved in the affairs of the other clans. He has been staying in his sky territory for the last 70 years or so, and has never has a reason to come down, much less, start his own clan. Yet, in a year’s time, he has not only come down, gotten majorly involved in 7 King affairs, and started a brand new clan, all at whirlwind speed.

This has made all the clans curious, and the Green Clan suspicious as they know nothing of the Silver Clan’s intentions. Several of the kings now have many questions to ask of the First King, as he knows more about their powers and their source, the Dresden Slates, than any of the other kings, as he was the one who discovered and harnessed them in the first place. Now, whether Wiesmann is going to be forthcoming on that information is another thing entirely. I can’t see why he wouldn’t divulge what he knows, but then again, such knowledge is dangerous and he can’t give it to just anyone. I can’t see the Green Clan, who thinks of everything as a game, would have good use for it. Especially considering their whole “take over the world” thing they’ve got going.

Kuroh and Neko have to end up taking the brunt of all this curiosity, since their king has decided to keep himself hidden. They decline both the Red and Blue Clans’ offers for protection, and basically stay at the same high school dorm room that was their headquarters in the first season. I would be okay with this, if only for the major flaw that the school angle to this series has always been the show’s Achilles heel. Almost all of the major characters of this series are above school age, and I really don’t think it’s needed. Also, them being such a major target will put the rest of the students in danger and are they really thinking of staying there for years? They do realize that the people and friends they knew will eventually graduate, and even if Shiro doesn’t age, his clansmen are going to become too old too look like high school students. I just think they really need to find another spot and leave the high school scene behind.

Adolf “Shiro” K. Wiesmann finally arrives back on the scene when Yukari and Kuroh have a rematch, only for Yukari to once again best his “little brother”. He had time to find a store and pick up some new duds it seems, and arrives in the nick-of-time to quite easily stop the elder swordsman in his tracks. I really like how Weismann doesn’t even bother to talk to Yukari, but instead, directs his displeasure directly at the Green King Nagare Hisui himself . A king, specifically the First King, doesn’t bother to speak to a mere middlemen, he will speak to the other king directly.

It’s time a real king came to show you how it’s done. 

This season, we might also get some past information on Neko, as we find that the Green Clan knows more about her than she knows herself. We find out that her real name is Miyabi Ameno and that she has some past history with Nagare, though she seems to have forgotten her past. This makes me think that perhaps she started off as a girl that can turn into a cat, rather than the other way around, though her mannerisms suggest otherwise.

Past and Future Repeat Cycle

We do find out more about the history of the kings, as we get a bigger picture of the whole Kagutsu Crater incident from a couple of decades ago. The incident involved 4 kings, but the first Red and Blue Kings specifically. (Why am I not surprised…)

The first Red King, Genji Kagutsu, for which the crater was named, was the cause of the first Damocles Fall, which not only killed him, but both his and most of the Blue Clansmen deaths, as well as the deaths of over 700,000 civilians.

The first Blue King, Jin Habari, also became a casualty, when his fight with the Red King and the fall of the Sword, caused his own power to become erratic and for his own Sword to fall. This was only prevented by the man’s second-in-command, Gouki Zenjou, who kills his own king before the Sword can fall and do twice as much damage. Zenjou and few others rejoined the Blue Clan under Munakata, after the death of Habari, but it wasn’t until now that attention was brought to them before.

Sorry hun, I already lost an arm for my king. It’s your turn. 

If you haven’t noticed, there’s a bit of a cycle that has been going on since the kings and clans began. A Damocles Down incident has only been threatened twice and both times, it has been because of the Red King. And also both times the Blue King was involved trying to stop him. Both times, the Red King was killed and both times, severe damage has been done to the Blue King’s Sword as a consequence. Will Reisi avoid Jin’s fate? Will Seri have to do what Zenjou was once called to do? I hope not, but we can’t avoid the possibility. However, in the words of the Green King, I hope we can nip that “possibility” in the bud.  

I do have to ask though. They’ve been suggesting that knowledge of the kings and clans aren’t common knowledge, which I’m sorry, but I say is pretty impossible. There is NO WAY that they’ve kept this all under wraps all these decades. There’s only so many times you can cover this up, and that’s IF the clans even bothered to be discreet in using their powers. The Red and Blue Clans have never hidden their abilities and have not only fought completely in the open without hesitation, but do tons of collateral damage in the process. And as far as we’ve see, the Swords of Damocles can be seen by anyone, how the heck does all the world, much less the people of Japan, NOT know of this? If the MIB memory eraser at work here? I don’t even think that could work to that degree.

All in all, a great couple of episodes that mostly serve as setup and more world building. Weismann/Shiro has finally returned after having taken some time to change his clothes and pick up a new umbrella. We’ll see how he fights against Yukari, but I doubt there will be much of one. I mean, how do you fight against someone you can’t even hurt? The only thing you could do is hurt those he loves, and that’s only going to fly so long before the king beats the crap out of you so you can’t come at him again. Weismann isn’t afraid to kill another king, Nagare had better watch his step.