Ayano’s time to ’shine’ *you go girl!*

For the first time, I think I’m gonna praise Gonzo for changing things from the novel with this episode, which makes up for the other entertainment they deprived us of. The changes they did especially made this KazuxAya fangirl in me really happy, since it contributed to more waff Kazuma x Ayano moments (but of course there are still many many things omitted / changed, which is why you have to read this deep frying :p)

On Ayano and Kazuma’s confrontation

First off, Ayano and Kazuma’s ‘confrontation battle’ wasn’t portrayed the same way it was in the anime (Kazuma’s ‘entrance’ wasn’t this grand in the novel as well). In the novel, there was no ‘surprise attack’ with Ayano plunging down from the top of the building to lounge her attack on Kazuma, and hence no ‘Kazuma carrying Ayano in his arms’ scene (and no ‘dropping off Ayano from his arms’ either). They already met up ‘on land’ and not in ‘mid-air’ so to speak, so there was also no mention of Kazuma praising Ayano for her amazing ‘surprise attack. Instead, what was shown in the novel is Kazuma asking Ayano if she has gained her resolve to fight against him, and Ayano’s thoughts of being scared of Kazuma (despite the fact that he’s simply standing in front of her) was shown. From the novel, we could see how Ayano admits that there’s no way she can have this resolve to face him, knowing she doesn’t stand a chance against him. But nevertheless she was left with no choice since there’s no one else who can face Kazuma but her. Given this, it’s like Ayano was shown to be ‘stronger’ in the anime compared to how she was shown in the novel (looks like GONZO is making up for worsening Ayano’s personality in the past episodes).

Kazuma gets bored with fighting against Ayano because she uses the same attacks over and over again, and tells her to polish up on her swordsmanship instead of lashing out useless attacks on him. Then comes Ayano’s ridiculous idea of a “Ren barrier”, where the novel shows us a bit of gag by showing a “Please wait for a little while” message to exaggerate the lengthy moment of silence as Kazuma was left stupefied by Ayano’s ‘secret move’. A little ‘fun part’ was just omitted in the anime since we didn’t see Kazuma do anything against this ‘move’ of Ayano (or find a way for her to let go of Ren). In the novel, when Ayano proudly declares that Kazuma won’t be able to attack her with her “Ren barrier”, Kazuma sarcastically replies with a “yeah, right…”, then attacks both her arms with a passing boomerang-style wind attack, making her let go of Ren in surprise.

Ren quickly escapes from Ayano to a place where Ayano can’t reach him, and refuses to get near her despite her orders to get back (I can imagine Ren having the very expression he had when Ayano fell on him in episode 7). Not having any more ‘defense’ left, she rids herself of any hesitations and gets serious in attacking Kazuma (and only in this part that she becomes really serious in fighting). But then Kazuma’s wind barrier proves more superior to Ayano’s Enraiha and doesn’t get hurt a bit by her attacks. Seeing as to how their battle is going nowhere, he decides to stop ‘playing’ with her for some more serious matters he has to do. (From what I understood, Kazuma mentioned something about Ayano having the strength and abilities as a flame-spirit-user, but sees that she still doesn’t have control over her strength).

Now when Ayano tells him to stay with her until Misao’s punishment has been carried out, Kazuma shows how he knows what’s going to be the outcome between the Oogami and Misao’s confrontation, and his reply shows that he’s unconcerned about what will happen to the Oogamis. He tells her, “There’s no need for you to worry about such a thing anymore because their ‘fight’ is going to be over soon”, before showing Ayano her three fingers and start his countdown.

On the Oogamis and Misao’s confrontation

From what I’ve seen, the conversation between Misao and Masayuki shown in this episode wasn’t in the novel, and I believe it was but right to have included such a scene for a smoother transition of events. I’ve been noticing this in other novel-to-anime adaptations as well, where they tend to insert scenes from other chapters (or other events) in the midst of another event, for foreshadowing and transition. The anime makes effective use of these ‘scene changes’, whereas the novel would prove to be confusing if we see these short transition of events.

On Kazuma and Ayano’s confrontation with Misao (before the vritra battle)

When Ayano, Kazuma and Ren arrives on the scene with the Oogamis lying dead and bathe in blood, some argument happens between Kazuma and Ayano. Seeing the gravity of what Misao has done, she questions Kazuma if he still intends to save Misao despite all this. Kazuma tells her that he still wants to save her, and Ayano finds it absurd that he’s siding with Misao, then accuses him of turning a blind eye to what Misao did. Kazuma gives his cold reply to Ayano’s accusation, telling her “Like I care! I’m not the kind of person who can sympathize with people who are but utter strangers to me!”. (This drastically changed the image I got from seeing Kazuma in the anime where he supposedly questions Misao for going overboard, and killing her ‘relatives’, though I can’t blame Kazuma for giving this cold shoulder to the death of the Oogamis, especially Masayuki, since the Oogamis actually deserve their death, so to speak)

But, now that I’ve read the part where Kazuma sees what Misao has done to her father, he actually questions her actions and asks her if it’s necessary for her to actually kill her father. Misao coldly replies “You mean ‘this’ (pointing to the ‘head’ she’s carrying)?”, then tells Kazuma that of course parents are supposed to help carry out their children’s revenge (which are the very words of Michael Harley as mentioned in my previous deep-frying, showing how Michael Harley was most likely the one who gave her this idea). Misao adds that in the case of her father, it seemed that he didn’t want to lend his help in her revenge, and with ‘this’ (having her father’s head with her), she’ll be able to carry out her revenge on him ‘with her father’. Ayano could no longer contain her anger with what Misao has done and orders her to get back (or backout), and Misao mockingly agrees to her order, but then decides to attack Kazuma (as we’ve seen in this episode).

(more explanation about this ‘head’ I mentioned is shown here in the next part)

On the ‘grimmer’ death of Masayuki

Just as the sub-title suggests, the way Masayuki (and perhaps the rest of the Oogamis) was killed was really grim in the novel, all the more showing how much anger Misao had on her father (but the most part of this is due to Michael’s hypnotism). It’s mentioned that when Ayano saw Misao, she seemed to be playing with a ‘ball’ on her hand, which turns out to be no other than Masayuki’s head. She not only killed him like what was shown in the anime, she even beheaded him! (see picture below) Now I can really understand why this wasn’t shown in the anime, seeing as to how disturbing the episode would turn out if they stayed faithful to the novel x__X

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On Misao and Tenshi-sama

Ever since Misao’s encounter with Misao was shown in the anime, I’ve been wondering just how Misao was easily swayed by Tenshi-sama, considering that she only met him right then and there at the rooftop. The novel clearly explains all this, since it states how Michael Harley used hypnosis to make Misao believe everything that he said. In the novel, it was shown that Misao couldn’t remember much about what happened after Michael Harley told her that they’re going to “work together for both of their gains”, which means Misao wasn’t herself when she was killing all those hundreds of people. This should’ve explained things clearly, and not make the viewers see that everything Misao did stemmed from her lack of judgment. When Michael confronts her with the ‘truth’ about what she has done (that he killed hundreds of people and even killed her family), he already broke the spell of hypnosis he placed on her, hence Misao’s shock and bewildered reaction after this revelation. This ‘Tenshi-sama’ was even more cruel in the novel, since after he reveals to Misao that she was behind everything that has happened up until that point, he further torments Misao by asking her “Did your father’s essence taste good?”, which all the more makes her more guilty over what she has done.

The truth is that, Misao didn’t want to involve innocent people into her revenge, and it was for this reason that Michael used hypnosis on her to convince her to do those crimes, rendering her a cold-blooded human.

On Ayano’s (and possibly Kazuma’s) hobbies

There’s a little fun / gag part omitted in the anime (which should’ve cost only a few seconds to ‘execute’ =__=). It’s in this part where the slimes from the youki Misao gathered transforms into the dragon vritra. Ayano comments on this, saying “Why did the slime undergo ‘class change’ and transformed into a dragon?”, to which Kazuma replies “You’ve been playing too much, stupid”… LOL =P Looks like one of Ayano’s hobbies is playing console RPGs~ shocking discovery :p

On the battle with vritra (and more Ayano and Kazuma antics)

As they are facing the vritra, Ayano once again asks Kazuma, “Do you stil intend to save Misao?”, and Kazuma still answers her with a sure “yes”. Ayano however tells Kazuma that perhaps Misao will be happier if she’s left to die in her current state, since everything she has already been taken away from her – taken away by Hyoue, by Michael, and by Kazuma (who Misao thinks took her brother’s life). Just remembering Misao’s outcry and anguish because of everything that has happened to her is enough to make her heart ache. Kazuma agrees with her, knowing the feeling of despair Misao has (surprising Ayano because she was thinking Kazuma would get angry with her), but then remembering that little act of kindness she did to him before (defending him from the bullies) is enough for him to want Misao to live. Ayano and Ren was actually surprised by Kazuma’s utterance of “Despite all that, I want her to live…”, because Kazuma seemed as though he was earnestly praying in all seriousness for this ‘hope’ to come true. They stared at Kazuma, who asks them if there’s anything strange with what he said, but they just tell him “oh nothing…”

Seeing how Kazuma is really determined to save Misao, Ayano lends her help and tells Kazuma she’ll move according to what Kazuma tells her, and he nods in agreement. Ayano asks him how she should go about attacking the vritra, considering that they don’t know where in the dragon’s body Misao is specifically located, and wonders if she should attack the vritra ‘small and neatly’ from its sides to avoid hurting Misao. Kazuma says there’s no need to do such a troublesome thing, since all they need to do is attack her with ‘purifying flames’, which Ayano isn’t capable of (as was shown in the anime). Kazuma comments on how useless she is, and thinks that if only his father was there, then this matter could be resolved in an instant (with his ‘azure flame’). Ayano tells him of course his father can’t be there to help them because he’s still in the hospital, and so they were left with no choice but to do what Ayano suggested earlier.

And well, much of the fight scenes have been cut by GONZO, considering that viritra supposedly ‘talked’ in the novel (with Michael talking), as Kazuma fights with him (with Ayano and Ren fighting side by side him as well). Michael lashes out his attack on Ren, pissed that he’s bothering with his fight with Kazuma, but Ayano comes in time to stop him from harming Ren. Ayano then becomes the ‘frontline’ in this battle as she dodges vritra’s attacks and manages to sustain him some damages, making Ren in awe of her abilities. Kazuma however frowns as he sees the way Ayano’s desperately fighting, because she ends up carelessly attacking without any defense, and wonders if she’s planning to kill herself. Ayano just kept on attacking and attacking, without reserving any of her strength for defense. In the midst of Ayano fighting with all desperation since she couldn’t think of any other means to defeat the enemy but to attack, thoughts of why Kazuma is so hung up with Misao (and wonders if he likes her) plague her mind.

Ayano however rids herself of any thoughts, and tells herself that a ‘machine wouldn’t care a bit regarding these kinds of feelings’. She talks herself into becoming this ‘fighting machine’ who attacks without any hesitation, without being puzzled by anything, but nevertheless she lets her guard down since her thoughts overwhelms her and leaves her in daze. It was for this reason that she gets almost attacked by the vritra, where Kazuma rushes in time to save her and wake her up from her dazed state, much to Ayano’s surprise and happiness that Kazuma came to her help. Kazuma also smiles gently at the bewildered Ayano… and then pinches her nose since she seems to be in a daze again :p

Now in the scene where Kazuma and Ayano temporarily retreat from the enemy, it was only after she discovers Kazuma’s wounds (which Kazuma tells her that it’s ‘nothing to be worried about’) that she questions why he still went and saved her (and got the wound as a result). Kazuma teasingly asks her, “So you’re saying that you don’t want to be saved?”, and of course Ayano couldn’t utter a word of disagreement, and just tells him the very words he mentioned in the anime, that there’s no need for him to save her because his aim is only to save Misao…

When Kazuma told Ayano that he wants to protect not only Misao, but Ayano and Ren as well, she remembers Nanase’s words that “not knowing how someone feels about you (whether the guy harbors feelings of romance for you or not) works in your favor, since this simply means that you still have a chance for ‘success’ (or that you have the benefit of a doubt that perhaps the guy likes you as well)“, especially after she found herself to be someone Kazuma ‘wants to protect’. Having understood that she’s of ‘value’ to Kazuma takes away all her sadness and doubt.

Kazuma and Ayano’s conversation, with Ayano saying striking words to Kazuma, went almost the same as the animes, but the novel shows more words that Ayano told Kazuma. Before Ayano told Ayano about his declaration to protect all of them, she also tells Kazuma, “What do you think you can you do with your current [dying] state?! Are you saying that you’re simply going to resort to committing a suicide attack and be fulfilled over your own death?! You’ve gotta be kidding me!”. Kazuma notices how Ayano is telling her these words (and makes him think about his actions) instead of showing her concern about him (and this doesn’t mean that Ayano’s cold and ‘unconcerned’ in the very sense of the word, but rather she looks at him with confidence (knowing what he can or cannot do at this state he’s in) instead of simply sympathizing at his current wounded state). And after these striking words comes another ‘round’ of Ayano putting some sense into Kazuma (which is what was shown in the anime). I believe Kazuma was really thankful that Ayano made him reflect on his actions, thus gave her that hug she deserved.

The dialogue that happened after the hug was a bit longer in the novel (of course), since after Ayano replied to Kazuma that “I’ll certainly become a great woman…” , she also adds “…and when that times, you’ll regret not having a good judgment / not having a good eye because it’ll already be too late” (since with Kazuma’s words, it’s as though there’s that ‘uncertainty’ if she’ll really become a ‘great woman’, and given that, it might already be too late for Kazuma to really set his eyes on her because she might already end up with someone else who has already pursued her early on). Now Kazuma replies, “I wonder about that… there’s plenty of other girls who are younger than you, and are on the verge of becoming a ‘woman’. It’s not a matter of being a virgin or not; for as long as you think “i will become [a great woman] someday”, you’ll always be a ‘child’ “, and Ayano couldn’t believe that Kazuma can still talk big given his seriously wounded state.

Ayano was also shown to be pretty much confident in her abilities in the novel, that when Kazuma asked her for “five minutes”, she asks him if he’s sure that he only needs “five minutes”, since they can still hold the enemy up for ten or twenty minutes, but Kazuma was sure of himself and reiterates what he said that five minutes is enough.

I wasn’t able to mention this in my thoughts regarding the episode, but I really admire Ayano’s unwavering ‘trust’ (especially with Kazuma as shown in this part of the story). If there’s something about this ‘trust’ that’s making her waver, it’s no other than her uncertainty with regards to what Kazuma feels for her. Other than that, she completely places her trust on Kazuma.

This ‘confidence’ Ayano has on Kazuma is further shown in what she told him after he asked Ayano to give him five minutes to recover. Before going to where Ren is, Ayano asks Kazuma, “You’re not thinking that it’s alright for you to die for the sake of saving Misao, are you?”, and Kazuma assures her that he “hates dying”, making Ayano feel at rest as she finally leaves to fight with Ren.

The battle sequence supposedly lasted much longer (than what was depicted in the anime), that Ayano and Ren put up some struggle in fighting, and Ayano starts thinking that it’s good that Kazuma didn’t ask her for twenty minutes. They’re already in a pinch as they fight against the vritra, and hurries Kazuma to come back, thinking that she won’t forgive him if he asks her for “five more minutes”.

On the ‘Divine Flame’ transformation of Enraiha

The novel didn’t give any concrete explanation as to how Ayano’s Enraiha was able to turn into the ‘Divine Flame’ or ‘Azure Flame’ in Genma’s case, and we get some ‘cheesy’ explanation instead. The novel mentions that what happened is that Kazuma’s ‘ki’, materialized in his ‘azure(?) wind’, envelopes Enraiha (and ‘dyes’ it with its color), and intertwines with it. Enraiha’s flame and Kazuma’s wind naturally ‘melts into each other’, ‘mutually’ increasing both its power, producing flames which is purer and hotter among any other flames – a holy flame of ‘purification’ that is capable of destroying ‘devils’, also known as ‘Divine Flame’ (or ‘God Flame’). (Cheesy explanation, don’t you think? :p)

On Misao and Kazuma’s moments

After defeating vritra, Kazuma talks to Misao, and we witness the same scene in the anime where she’s asking Kazuma to let her die instead. Kazuma’s reply has a tad bit of humor that the anime left out, where he tells Misao, “you think you’re some VIP or something? (that your life would be enough to atone for the hundreds of lives you took?)”

In the novel, Kazuma didn’t ‘claim’ his compensation right then and there with Misao, and Ayano didn’t lounge an attack on him too. What Kazuma did with Misao was she further ‘cleansed’ her body because of the remains of the slimes on her lower body (and err… no he didn’t ‘touch’ Misao there, he used his wind on her at a farther distance ^^;; )

After this, Misao seemed to fall asleep in Kazuma’s arms, but Ayano doesn’t get all furious about this, and actually shows her concern and asks him if Misao’s still alive. She also asks about his wound, and concerned of his welfare, Ayano tells him that they better head to the hospital first since he’s in a more dangerous position than Misao. Kazuma suggest that they leave Misao to Soushu, and Ayano replies, “Oh, how kind of you”, then Kazuma teases her by asking if she’s jealous. Ayano vehemently denies this and tells him to stop messing with her, considering that she’s at a disadvantageous position with his current [wounded] state. Kazuma couldn’t believe Ayano would say these words, knowing that she was actually the one who caused his wound in the first place, and comments on how kids nowadays don’t even know how to show their thanks :p

Finally, in the epilogue part… much of the needed ‘epilogue’ and ‘closing’ wasn’t shown in the anime. When Kazuma was telling Misao of the little act of kindness she showed her ten years ago, his thoughts were shown in the novel, that someone like Misao, or even Ayano won’t be able to understand how he felt that time… how that simple act of kindness ‘saved’ the aching heart of this child who spent all his days being despised and tortured by everyone around him…

Before leaving the convent where Misao is, Kazuma caresses her face and gives her a kiss (I believe Ayano is behind them, and bears ‘witness’ to this ^^;; ). But it’s actually a kiss of ‘thanks’ (for what she did for him ten years ago), as well as a kiss of ‘goodbye’. When Kazuma tells Misao, “the continuation of this [kiss] will happen the next time we meet”, it was clearly shown that Kazuma and Misao knows that this ‘promise’ of meeting again isn’t something that will become reality. They know that their paths will most likely not cross again, and what Kazuma really meant by his words is that “I won’t forget you”.

Ayano gets suspicious of what they talked about, and Kazuma teasingly asks her if it makes her feel uneasy. Ayano once again denies this (despite it being true), and gives an excuse that she’s just concerned that perhaps Kazuma is planning on sneaking into the convent and bother Misao. Kazuma once again teases her and replies, “Oh, sounds like a great idea…”, and Ayano gets infuriated again. (Then the author shows this ‘last words…’, that Ayano still hasn’t realized why she’s getting angry, and whether or not the day when she’ll finally realize these feelings she has, is a different story :p)

On Misao’s name (symbolism)

Ok, now this one is something I just realized (after hours and weeks of seeing Misao’s name in kanji… LOL). I thought Misao’s name looked familiar, and it was indeed as I thought… the kanji of her name 「操」 also represents the same kanji for the verb 「操る」 (ayatsuru – to manipulate, to make a puppet out of someone). Misao’s 「操」 (misao) also stands for ‘chastity’. Given these two contrasting meaning represented by 「操」, one can see how these two different meanings symbolize exactly what happened to Misao. She became a ‘puppet’ of Tenshi-sama, yet atoned for her sins after and reached ‘chastity’. Nice symbolism and play with words… and the author most likely thought of it this way, or did he not? :p

(Wai~ such a loong post again… x__X have to thank Seleria for her idea of improving the ‘readability’ of my post… hence you see a much more organized-looking deep frying… LOL XD)