Strike the Blood - 12

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The conclusion of the Amphisbaena chapter of Strike the Blood introduces another of Kojou’s Familiars as he fights to save Kanon Kanase.

While mostly healed from the wounds Kanon gave him, Kojou is still unconscious at the beginning of this episode with a piece of the angelic blade lodged in his chest.  The only way to help him fully heal is for Yukina to get him to suck her blood in the hopes of waking a new Familiar within him.  She cuts her arm, drinks some of her own blood, and kisses Kojou to transfer that blood to him, thus awakening his vampiric instincts.  As he drinks her blood, he absorbs the angelic blade into himself.

Once he fully wakes, though, the new Familiar hasn’t awakened yet.  Thus, La Folia offers her blood to him, despite how much Kojou seems against it.  He drinks some of her blood, though, when she insists and tells him that it will help him save Kanon.

It turns out that Kensei is technically Kanon’s uncle, as Kanon’s mother is his younger sister.  That sort of makes his horrible parenting skills even worse, though.  As Kojou points out, just because Kensei thinks Kanon should become an angel doesn’t mean it’s what she wants.

Through the fight with Beatrice and Lowe, it seems as though La Folia definitely has some tricks up her sleeve.  She summons spirit energy from within herself to power the holy sword of the Völundr system, which she uses to defeat (possibly kill) Beatrice, and this is after she kills Lowe.  This, in turn, gives Yukina a chance to take control of the Possession Mask angels with the remote control Beatrice had been wielding.

And that just leaves Kojou to fight Kanon in the hopes of saving her.  He summons the third Familiar, Al-Maisan Mercury, which is a two-headed dragon.  Kensei also calls this Familiar the Dimension Eater.  Using Al-Maisan Mercury, Kojou breaks the extra-dimensional barrier around Kanon, which allows Yukina to destroy the spiritual evolution magic making her into Angel Faux.  Once the spiritual evolution magic is destroyed, Kanon is back to her normal self.

I’ve got to say, this is perhaps the one thing about Strike the Blood that still fascinates me: the fact that the male lead and female lead fight side by side in order to defeat every obstacle.  Each of the main antagonists of each story arc so far has been defeated through the teamwork Kojou and Yukina use.  It’s never just one of them winning the battle, but the two of them in tandem.  In most of the vampire anime I’ve seen thus far, the only real purpose the female lead has is to offer their blood to the male lead.  The fact that Strike the Blood takes a slightly different approach, that Yukina offers her blood but also does a good deal of the fighting, is definitely something that sets this series apart from most vampire anime.

In a post-credits scene, Kensei is in custody and Motoki is chatting with him.  Kensei suggests that there shouldn’t be a Fourth Progenitor because his existence means that something stronger is coming.  And Motoki says “the company” still needs Kensei to do work for them.  What the heck is the “company” that he keeps talking about?  Who is Motoki, really?  Definitely looking forward to getting a better explanation of this in the future.

Strike the Blood Episode 13 Preview

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