Last spoilers, I gave you my spoilers. But the very next spoilers you gave it a spoiler. This spoiler, to save me from spoilers, I’ll give it to someone spoilers – – Yeah, there are spoilers ahead. Let us begin.

Sawa wakes up in the old hut with breakfast in bed. She looks to see Nana outside before getting dressed and heading to the beach. At the beach, she sees Kuzuharu with his back turned before the opening credits begin.

Kuzuharu lets Sawa know that Makoto worked for Janome as the distributor of the fake blue-demon blood. Sawa replies that She died at the hands of a dark shadow. They are going back to Tokyo. Kuzuharu first, then Sawa when she heals. However, Sawa has a new dilemma – A promise to Asahi – that they would be together forever if she didn’t kill anyone else. Sawa stays for a bit and unravels her bandages to reveal some scars, despite her healing abilities. A young woman then appears with a bag. It’s Rinko, looking very different without the glasses and bandana. She reveals that Kuzuharu really wants Sawa alive – and, like Sawa, Rinko is also a Nue Executioner. However, there is tension between Sawa and Rinko – because Rinko had the power to save Asahi – but didn’t, as part of Nue’s approach to surveillance. Rinko admits that what happened to Asahi was very sad – and would understand if Sawa hates her. Sawa also finds out that Kuzuharu knows everything that happens – and that Rinko was not only in disguise at the temple – but also sober. Turns out she’s a proper Rice-Wino and might have great battles with Misato Katsuragi if it was allowed. She says that if Sawa is heading to Tokyo, she will tag along. Which is what happens. After a brief walk, Sawa states her confusion. As far as she is concerned, she has nothing to live for – however, Kuzuharu might change that. Perhaps it’s love?

We fast forward to the clinic, which is now closed. Kuzuharu shows the leader of the Rebels a liquid version of Janome’s Blue-Blood formula. He forces the leader to sacrifice his humanity to save his brother. Afterwards, Sawa and Rinko arrive at a train station – and they go to her home village. In another part of the bigger picture, while on the tram, Kuzuharu experiences a brief werewolf/incredible hulk moment. Only to be told that Janome’s serum is now mass-produced to build an unstoppable army, and all that is left is the cooperation of Sawa. It is also clear that the messenger has lost his humanity by his Batman-eque ability to disappear on a moving tram. Back with the other two – Rinko struggles to keep up with Sawa. Unlike Sawa, Rinko doesn’t remember her parents, where she was born. Or even what dialect she actually speaks. They then arrive at Karasumori Village – which is now a burnt up ruin surrounded by mountains and greenery. We then get a history of the Karasumori Clan, which have been around in Japan for over sixteen hundred years, and move with the Ryumyaku to avoid attention. While giving exposition, Sawa does a few tasks, including drawing water from the well to offer respect for the dead. Sawa then asks to be alone. We get a flashback to the day she met Kuzuharu after she had just buried her parents, as well as of her brother’s last words. ‘She then asks Nana if, when the job is over, that they could die together and go be with the family. Sawa now agrees, She has unfinished business.

Sawa and Rinko are now on the train to Tokyo. Rinko says that she is surprised that the village life hadn’t softened Sawa up. In agreement, they acknowledge that the Executioner lifestyle does not afford a lot of sleep – to which Rinko passes out from her drunkenness into a slumber. Meanwhile, a group of men hijack the train. It is the rebels who are demanding and taking hostages. Rinko shows off her drunken badass self in the next minute or two, and leading to one of the most unique death scenes I have ever seen in an anime. Afterwards, Rinko gets some whiskey.

They arrive in Tokyo, and Sawa enters the Morning Dew Used Bookstore for the first time since Asahi poisoned her. She sees a memory of Asahi dusting a shelf before vanishing. Then she starts to clean the shop. And finds a copy of The Merchant In Venice – the book that Makoto liked to quote from. Inside is a note. Now angry, Sawa confronts Kuzuharu. As he offers her the next assignment, she knocks the brief out of his hand and then proceeds to slice up the back of his shirt. Revealing a distinct pattern on his back…It was Kuzuharu – who killed her family all of those years ago.

I will be a little honest – I kinda predicted this would happen. It was my guess on whodunnit, so to speak. However, the road to revealing this was unclear to me. I enjoyed seeing Rinko take over Makoto’s role as the most eccentric character in the show, as her approach to drunken fist (or drunken blade, more like) was a pleasant surprise! This was very much a bridging episode. ‘With a journey more-so than a fight. But no doubt, the confrontation between Sawa and Kuzuharu in the next episode has the potential to be white-hot. Especially when you remember how intimate they got in the previous episode.

Spoilers are ahead of you if you continue down this route. If you are okay with this, then proceed.

Before we truly begin, we are switching pronouns again. As far as I am concerned, those hips and that figure, in general, are not lying. It has happened – Macavity Makoto went from being a tweener to a full-blown heel. We hate her, we wish she was dead, and we hope Sawa tears a new hole in her somewhere. We acknowledge these feelings as the first image we receive is that of Asahi lying there in a pool of blood. Sawa has just brought the Sorceress Of Castle Grayskull out of hiding to do extra damage to this two-faced psychopath. A battle ensues as they more or less fight with light sabres. Sawa gets angrier, and Makoto gets higher as it progresses. It becomes clear that Makoto might have a slight advantage, as she got Sawa to bleed. However, when they strike each other a second time, it is Sawa to gets the hit. Makoto transforms back into her usual self, and her dream is coming true – Makoto has the full attention of Sawa…and now she can die at the hands of the one she desires the most. Not to be killed by Sawa Karasumori, but Sawa Yukimura. However, just as Sawa is about to give the executing slice, the voice of Asahi tells her to stop. Convinced that Sawa is now thinking of someone else, she starts to quote The Merchant Of Venice again and starts to get into her head until – – A man-sized crow swoops down and basically punches Makoto straight through the ribcage. Killing her before flying off. Makoto died without fulfilling her dream. And Sawa realises that everybody she ever liked or loved has died. Causing her to faint as Nana the Albino Crow separates himself from her.

Meanwhile, Kuzuharu tells a woman to take care of something while two cleaners walk in the background with a stretcher. Kuzuharu has the rebel leader in his car, and he tells him to behave if he wants his brother to live. Rinko arrives at the temple and wonders where everybody is, seemingly. As it turns out, she is part of the clean-up after getting another cleaner to look at an outhouse with a skeleton in it. We then find out that Sawa is in the back seat of the car. He is trying to save her life.

Sawa then wakes up in an old-style Japanese hut that has been abandoned. Kuzuharu walks in to tell her she has been asleep for four days. He is carrying firewood and tells her that they are safe. Sawa asks about Asahi. Kuzuharu tells her that she received a respectable burial, along with the rest of the bodies. We then see Sawa outside, reflecting on the amount of death that happened due to her blood. As well as the quote from her brother. That as long as one Clan member is alive – this will not end. Kuzuharu arrives at the edge of the woods with a bag of vegetables. Nana, the Albino Crow, forces him to follow. He finds Sawa walking into the ocean, trying to commit suicide. He rescues her and tells her she needs to live before dragging her back to shore. Sawa says that everything is painful. Everything hurts. Kuzuharu tells her that life is hard and that things are taken from us without cause, and we are constantly forced to submit. But this does not mean we give up. Sawa disagrees until Kuzuharu tells her that dying now would refute everything she has been through. Everything from those she loved to those she killed. That they, and their meaning, cannot be erased. She is not to be ashamed of her blood. To not curse it. To be proud. That there is a point to it all, a reason why she is the survivor.

They stay another night in the hut, where Kuzuharu tries to care for her by giving her fresh clothes and cleaning her feet. He empathises with her and her pain. However, Sawa says that he only wants her because she is a valuable weapon to Nue and the government. But Asahi, on the other hand, saw her as a person, despite killing her parents. Kuzuharu offers her water. She refuses, to the point of hitting the cup away and smashing it. While He picks up the pieces, Sawa demands that Kuzuharu slices her throat because she is a traitor and must die. Kuzuharu looks like he is about to do it, and Sawa becomes submissive. Then…He says it…Iori Makabe…his real name. With that, he becomes intimate as he gives his back story. A hard life where he chose to live, no matter what was happening. He killed to escape his own hell. But then he fell in love with a woman who treated him as human…She died. So, Kuzuharu knows what Sawa is going through. We then get a very touching moment. As both Sawa and Kuzuharu are at their most vulnerable.

Sawa is asleep before him. But he leaves the hut to go for a walk. Kuzuharu then sees Nana in the tree and says not to worry. He admits that there is a bit of a vacuum when it comes to the blue blood and that he will not have long to live. Telling the crow to look after Sawa. Kuzuharu then reflects on his past relationship until…Hanakaze comes back from the dead! Clearly quite preggers at this point. They agree to do one more Job.

You know what? This was great. Really great. A lot more focused. More touching and intimate. And both Sawa and Kuzuharu are very relatable in these moments. This is the most human that we have seen these two, and in this sense, it actually adds more quality to the episodes that came before it. Sawa struggling with her blue blood ability has become metaphorical in nature to whatever we, ourselves, either choose to do in life, or who we are in our quirks. That we have our goal, and along the way, we experience a lot of change. That people come and go, even when the task has not been given closure. It is painful, as there are times when we want those who are at the beginning of our stories to see us accomplish our goals. And in Sawa’s case…there is nobody. Other than Kuzuharu and now Hanakaze, there is nobody. We will see what the trio does next week, along with the rebel leader. Hopefully, it will be even better. I will also add that the voice acting is excellent in this episode! We will see what happens. Until then. Later!

Spoilers! There are spoilers ahead! If you haven’t been watching the show, I say run! Run, I tell you! Now with that out of the way, let us begin.

So: if you have been paying attention, you’ll know by now that outside of Kuzuharu, all of the Nue members, including Sawa, Makoto and Hanakaze have all, possibly been killed off. With another six or seven episodes after this one, let us find out where they go.

So we begin with Sawa lying down after Asahi, who is part loving adopted little sister, part Lady Snowblood as a child, appears to have made a terrible mistake. Asahi holds Sawa’s hand with tears in her eyes as the rain starts. Tears In Rain – Perhaps a hurt lost in time? Then again, this happened indoors. Also, we’re not watching Bladerunner. After this, the opening theme plays.

‘We return to the scene in episode two where Makoto had entered the Morning Dew Used Book Shop to give Asahi a small bottle of poison to kill Sawa. However, there is more to returning to this scene than meets the eye. We receive more dialogue – which gives us context as to why Asahi poisoned Sawa. First of all – Makoto likes a bit of Shakespeare, and he quoted The Merchant Of Venice a few episodes back (about everyone playing their role). Here we get another Shakespeare reference – the Sleeping Potion that gives the impression of death. Much like the one that Juliet took to fake her death in Romeo and Juliet. As it turns out, Makoto’s reason for giving Asahi the poison is not to kill Sawa but to create the diversion necessary to help her and Asahi escape from the “Lie” that is their current state of existence. However, to make this deception work, Makoto states the plan: Once Asahi gives Sawa the poison, she needs to act fast. The poison creates the illusion of death for precisely three hours, after which Sawa’s heart will start pumping again. But Asahi has to tell everyone that Sawa is dead and for the news to spread as quickly as possible. Even up to Kuzuharu. I say this because Kuzuharu shows up in disguise to Asahi (who has never seen him before), but Makoto keeps it easy: Kuzuharu’s ‘disguise’ is the same as Supermans. Glasses – – Friggin glasses. Makoto also makes it clear that Asahi has to go along with performance. Because if she can’t convince Kuzuharu, he will kill her. She ends up convincing him that she is oblivious to his capabilities. However, she has to stay with Sawa for the next three hours. Otherwise, the plan will not work. Out of her performance of mournful grief, she manages to ride in the Hurst with Kuzuharu. However, with this plan, Makoto makes it clear that Asahi could die. After the Hurst ride, the Cleaners will bury the coffin as quickly as possible. It is here that we now see a connection. The beginning of the last episode is happening in this scene. ‘Cleaners are digging a grave, Sawa lying with her eyes closed, and Kuzuharu saying, “Death is just an endless sleep, eh?”. Makoto then states that there isn’t enough air in the casket, and Asahi will have to, somehow, exhume the coffin before the three hours are up. Afterwards, they can both leave Tokyo and play ‘family’ again somewhere else. When Asahi questions whether she can pull it off, Makoto instils a reality: “It doesn’t matter what anybody thinks. You have to be dead-set on making it happen”. Something we can all apply to our dreams in life. However, his words get dark when he tells her, “The truth isn’t important. It’s how things look, and how you choose to make them look.” Which is a reality for those with the belief that there is no justice against ‘X’ if ‘X’ doesn’t get caught.

The plan is a little more complicated than Makoto intended, as Kuzuharu spots Nana, the albino crow, in a tree. Indicating that he possibly knows that Sawa isn’t completely gone. And he may play along with Asahi’s plan from this point. Kuzuharu then tells Asahi that she will be going to an Orphanage tomorrow, but until then can stay at the grave. He leaves with the cleaners. After this, Asahi drops her umbrella and proceeds to dig Sawa out of the grave with her bare hands.

We then get a very different tone – much like something out of Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket. Sawa is in a warmly lit room. Sake is heating in a kettle, and both Hanakaze and Makoto are laughing at Kuzuharu’s fashion choices over wine, said-sake, and a pile of feastful goodies. Are they alive? Is it a dream? Let us see: Hanakaze then asks Sawa what her favourite type of man is. When Sawa says she doesn’t have one, Hanakaze then asks if she seriously thinks she doesn’t need anybody. Sawa insists she doesn’t, allowing Makoto to indicate that this isn’t somebody you can attach with common notions. However, Hanakaze is referring to having someone for her to escape. To remind her that life is worth living, even when it’s rubbish. To, for a time, forget everything. Sawa then says that we can’t forget everything, and she doesn’t want to. Hanakaze then reveals that she did have her baby after all. Only for us to realise that Sawa is having a nightmare – As she meets Asahi in a burning building, she tells her, “Now we can be like real sisters since I killed Yukimura-San!” Her voice is full of static while saying it. Before turning into a bomb of red blossoms, revealing both Makoto and Hanakaze telling Sawa that she’s dead before pushing her. After this, Sawa wakes up from her three-hour death sleep. Asahi looks at her from the edge of the grave with tears of joy.

Sawa has been reborn, ‘so to speak. ‘Yukimura The Killer’ of Nue is dead, and Asahi insists they both run away. More specifically, run away to the Asakura Temple in the Iwai Prefecture. The same temple Sawa told Asahi to go to a few episodes ago (before Janome kidnapped her).

We then cut to the Hospital, where Kuzuharu reveals to Makoto’s Doctor that Makoto is alive, and he was the one who shot first in the car. The Englishman who represented the resistance is dead. We are also switching pronouns again! Kuzuharu calls Makoto a She. He asks the Doctor what she was after. When the Doctor refused to answer, Kuzuharu slices his glasses in half with a blade, showing he’s not playing around or wanting to waste time. The Doctor then talks about the blue medicine in an instrument bag. Janome’s manufactured blue blood. The Doctor also indicates that Nue’s efforts to rid the enemies of the Tokugawa government are useless in the long run. ‘That the government will fall apart eventually. We then get a rather disturbing scene. The Doctor sits at a desk. His face cut off. Meanwhile, we hear the sound of a crying baby, as a midwife comments that the baby looks like the mother.

We then get a scene reminiscent of Sawa trying to get the treasurer to safety in episode two. Sawa considers the possibility of surrendering to the government and meeting Asahi later. However, Asahi insists that they escape and live together. We then see Makoto hiding in the woods. She takes some pills while we hear some Englishmen looking for her (and once again showing that the casting crew did a great job getting good English voices). We also realise that Makoto is He to some and She to others. Perhaps only She within Nue and He on the outside. She’s in a bad state. ‘Suffering hallucinations of the snakes in Janome’s lair.

Asahi and Sawa arrive at the same port where Sawa tried to rescue the treasurer. Nana, the Albino Crow, follows behind, and Asahi comments on how peaceful their new life will be outside Tokyo. They decide on their names: Asahi will be going by Asahi Nakamura, while Sawa gives her real name. Sawa Yukimura is dead, and Sawa Karasumori can come out of hiding.

We then get a scene of a Cabinet Meeting in Tokugawa’s Castle, and so far, this is the closest we have come to seeing Yoshinobu Tokugawa in this series. He hides behind a blind, and the higher-ups of the various industries then address the problems within the country. Kuzuharu is present in the meeting but doesn’t sit at the table as the rest. Tokugawa’s methods prove to be brutal and totalitarian. ‘Raising taxes to make a difference in Revenue over the loss of mining rights against the French. And bringing in the Army to destroy the resistance if the Police aren’t getting results. The meeting is abruptly ended by Tokugawa before the Minister of Communications and Transport had any say. Kuzuharu then does his report, where he reveals that they obtained Janome’s blue blood formula. Tokugawa then says that they have scientists waiting to refine the ‘formula’ to create warriors who would solve both the foreign posturing and the partisans. Tokugawa then comments on Kuzuharu bringing Sawa into the fold and how Kuzuharu has no future outside of one where people die.

While walking home, Kuzuharu gives his coat to a cold mother and son and witnesses Resistance members confronted by Police over graffiti (and about to be killed). Kuzuharu changes sides, as we see with his execution of the police officers that he’s the leader of Nue for a reason. You don’t mess with him or his squirrel-like agility in a fight. Very simply, the man’s fed up.

Fast forward two days later, both Sawa and Asahi arrive at the Iwai Prefecture. Sawa questions if they could live in a place like this. To which Asahi reassures her. They will be good, as long as they’re together.

This episode was…so much better than the last two. It is on par with the first two episodes in terms of interest and curiosity. The cluster-muck of episodes five and six have subsided. The messy plot has context. The lines have form, and while Hanakaze’s fate may be in stone, I’m intrigued to see what happens to everybody. Kuzuharu will no longer be giving orders, and instead, he’s going to fight. Makoto’s fate (and gender) keeps us guessing, and while it’s nice that Sawa and Asahi can escape to the country for a while – No doubt, they will be back. Until then, I look forward to next week’s episode.