Arata Kangatari - 05

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Arata Kangatari – 05

After reaching land safely, Hinohara and co. Manage to reunite Ginchi with his mother. With only Hinohara, Kanate and Kotoha left, the group travel through Kannagi’s land where they end up in the house of one of Kannagi’s servants, Ohika.

Well, a number of things happened this episode, least of all Ginchi’s reunion with his mother. It was short and sweet and obviously dealt with to get it out of the way. The real meat in this episode was Hinohara meeting Ohika and Akachi’s slaughtering of Kannagi’s people.

We get some more world-building this episode in which we learn how power among the twelve Shinsho are split. Amawakuni is ruled over by the Princess (or was), and that land is then split between the twelve Shinsho into something like mini-kingdoms. The Shinsho has control over his land and people, and the people are loyal to their respective Shinsho. However, with the Princess now gone, this has led to a power vacuum with the twelve Shinsho scrabbling for the number one spot. It’s also hinted that Hinohara just might be the one to unite everyone again, but in the meantime, it seems Akachi has already made his first move by invading Kannagi’s land.

I have a hard time gauging how shocked Kannagi’s is by Akachi’s actions. I think this is the first time we’ve seen him so riled up. I don’t think that Kannagi actually trusted Akachi, but thus far the two always seemed to be in cahoots with each other. However, he did seem surprised that Akachi would make such a bold move. I wonder what their relationship truly is. This episode also shifted the villain spot from Kannagi to Akachi with the merciless slaughter of Kannagi’s people. Looks like Ohika, Kannagi’s last servant is next. Akachi’s actions do provide an ample excuse for Kannagi to team up with Hinohara, though I doubt that will happen any time soon. However, he is painted in more sympathetic light this time. Heck, even I began to feel sorry for him.

Beyond that, we get to spend some time in Japan, and perhaps it might finally be time for Arata’s side of the story. Unfortunately, we only got a glimpse of what’s going on in Japan while Hinohara is away. On a side note, Kanate brought up something quite interesting about losing a friend, stating that just one friend is no big deal. Is this perhaps foreshadowing the blood and slaughter that’s about to take place?

Suffice to say, I don’t have much hope for Ohika’s survival. A guy that nice? No way is he going to get past the first half of the next episode, but you never know. Maybe I’ll be surprised.