We’ve seen what a kabaneri can do in the past episodes and one can agree that they are the superior, stronger beings — albeit they have their own Achilles heel. Given this, a full house of kabaneri can’t survive in this harsh world even if they seem to be unbeatable. They have to — or perhaps, they need to — coexist with humans in order to function properly. This is where the 4th episode comes into play.
I kinda feel like this is only the real start of their journey, and it wouldn’t really surprise me if all of them turns out to become a kabaneri at the end. Kurusu getting stabbed was quite a shock though specially since we saw in the OP how his sword is emitting that amber glow — just like Mumei. The foreshadowing will clearly leave you guessing at the wrong things. I thought he’ll turn out to become one of those wazatori, the not-your-ordinary , stronger version of a kabane. Combining the inhuman strength of a kabane and his sword handling skills… he’ll probably win a 1 vs 1 matchup against Mumei, hands down. Seeing Ayame (with her cool looking mechanical long bow) and the gang without the aid of either Mumei or Ikoma handle their own against the invading kabane will give you a sense of what a human is capable of doing. Sure, they can fend off a kabane or two, but killing a dozen comes with heavy casualties. With this, we can probably say that it’s not only the kabaneri who needs to coexist with humans. The humans must learn to coexist with them too. That’s just what our heroes did this episode and surely enough, the privilege to live another day was awarded.
We should probably expect more interaction between our characters from hereon. I was honestly starting to get annoyed at how antagonistic the humans (more specifically the commoners) are becoming, to the point wherein they are just adding more fuel to the fire. It’s harder to sympathize with them this way. Well, the fear of the unknown blinds and clouds your thinking which puts their actions justifiable to a certain degree so I’ll let that pass for now. Still, regardless of how the commoners are itching to get rid of Ikoma and Mumei, it’s a relief to know that they have a few trustworthy companions behind them. Ikoma’s bestie, Takumi (Yuki Kaji), is shaping up to become this series’ Sam Gamgee. He’s a badass despite how he looks. I’m pretty sure both he and Ikoma has some backstory going on between them judging from how close they seem to are to each other. We’re also seeing more of Kajika’s (Kanae Oki) character. If you’ll remember, Kajika is the only one so far who is able to shut Kurusu’s ranting spree. I like her for this and how strong her personality is, but part of my enjoyment came from getting a glimpse at Kurusu’s defeated look.
Ayame is still proving to be the best girl for me even if Mumei’s getting most of the fame and attention. She impressed me last week, but she’s still rocking that hime-cut in the 4th episode. She strikes me as someone who is rather unsure of what to do, but will nonetheless deliver at the most crucial of times so long as she believes it’s the right thing to do. She’ll probably the one who will act as a bridge to connect both humans and kabaneri together. She did form a contract with Ikoma; a rather vague contract I forgot what it is about. Unfortunately though, all of these character developments we’re seeing can just be a cause of tear-jerking death flags . Hopefully all of them survives, but we have to expect for the worst here.
With all of that said, Kabaneri 4th episode still keeps the action going. It’s not really that much of a watch considering that it acts as an obligatory episode to bring our casts as a well-oiled crew together. It’s not that I didn’t like it, I just can’t say that it’s better than the other 3 episodes. Regardless, I’m still bracing myself for the impact. I feel like we’ll get one soon–if not later. We’ll be in for a rough ride, but as with every heroes vs. villains story there is, we’ll probably know who will win at the end.
Nichi Nichi-chan 