For a final battle everyone sure has a lot to say in this series. Though with the true goal of Shana being a mystery I suppose it was necessary that we had to find out exactly what the Flame Haze were up to. While it hasn’t been completely revealed yet, we also are starting to understand what Johan and Pheles are up to.

I didn’t think we would hear from Hecate again in the series. Of course since she is tied into the creation of Xanadu I suppose it shouldn’t be too surprising. Can’t blame Sydonay for being worried since one would have expected the Flame Haze to be fighting to outright stop the creation of Xanadu. Also I have to say nice flying by Chiara as she and Seere take on that crazy professor.

I have to say Shana’s intention to add a single law to the new world was actually pretty brilliant. Really even those who dislike the Flame Haze fighting can hardly disagree with a rule banning the ability to eat humans. Its preventing a complete massacre of life in that newly created world and at the same time dealing with the issue of rampant eating of existence leading to an apocalypse. There’s no reason for the Tomogara to have an unconditional paradise after all that’s happened. Shana is simply taking the positives of Yuji’s plan and removing a major negative. Yuji can argue all he wants about what the Tomogara truly wish for, but if its true then that restriction shouldn’t be a problem.

Of course the plan isn’t that simple. There was a perfectly good reason to have the three remaining gods of the motherland fight in this battle. They need a massacre. Its not just about paying them back for the lives massacred after Yuji’s declaration, but to imprint a memory onto the Tomogara. The memory of their trip to Xanadu being one filled with death. So many Tomogara will die because they ate humans and that will be the reason they couldn’t go into the new world peacefully. I didn’t expect that they were actually trying to make a taboo. Making sure what is passed on is the knowledge that eating humans will lead to disaster. Besides the action of taking out so many Tomogara who have eaten humans will make them a minority eventually. New Tomogara who haven’t done that will become more prominent and they can prevent a repeating cycle. It also just helps make Earth somewhere Tomogara don’t want to go. Terrifying monsters await anyone who decides to leave Xanadu to try and eat humans. Thanks to that Tomogara should be content to remain in Xanadu and not cause disaster.

Of course a funny thing is how everyone has kind of been played by Johan and Pheles. Of course without the Reiji Maigo Johan will disappear from the world. But clearly there is something in this creation of Xanadu that might give him a chance. Even if he had stayed in the Reiji Maigo he couldn’t continue to exist like that. Hopefully whatever his intention is, it will allow him to make it through this. One can only speculate about what might happen. Maybe when the world is created he might be copied over and thus survive that way. It could very well tie into what he asked Pheles to do. In the end it seems like he’s taking a gamble rather than just giving up.

Also nice that Johan had a message to pass along to Carmel. It was clear that Pheles didn’t want to reject Carmel and was hurt from the pain that rejection caused. On the other hand it seems like Johan is fine with Carmel coming along to what I assume is Xanadu. They went through a lot as a trio, traveling together. Truly a unique combination of Mystes, Tomogara, and Flame Haze. It certainly wouldn’t be impossible since Carmel really has fulfilled her promise in raising Shana. If Shana can take charge in this kind of situation then it should be ok for Carmel to go with her friends.

I didn’t think that Kazumi’s group would be forced back to the tower. Of course escaping is pretty hard when you are going against the flow. If Tomogara are pouring into Misaki City then trying to leave would be pretty tough. Then they got caught up in an unrestricted spell. Though perhaps the most mysterious part of this whole thing was that Pheles and Johan weren’t visually seen in the van. Instead Kazumi was told to keep “them” safe which would make you believe they are in whatever she has wrapped in her coat. Things should definitely get interesting from this point on. Of course clearly she didn’t die during that barrage since Khamsin was there for the reason of protecting her. Still, with Kazumi right back at the tower this fight should get pretty crazy.

This was a big episode for starting to reveal Shana’s plan and intentions. It seems like the idea is to erase dangerous elements going into the new world, set up an important restriction, and make the very idea of eating humans a taboo for the Tomogara who will come after this. Next week should be pretty interesting.
Score: A