Asura Cryin EX017

Summary:

Tomo awakens to find that he has been rescued by Takaya and is served some curry by Christina but he's reminded of how Takaya's only goal is to free Kotori from Junichi Rhodonite before her soul is utterly consumed when he refuses to save Ania. There is little time left as Christina is disappearing. Kotori gives some relationship counselling and it turns out that Misao has always known about the cost - it's happening to her after all.

Takaya uses his Asura Cryin powers to retrieve another trunk case but is attacked by more Castas Machina. Christina collapses from the strain, explaining that the use of her demon powers is depleting her contractor's love for her which, hitherto, had been supporting her existence; she wants Ania to be told that while she was foolish, she was also happy. Kyoumu manages to bring down Takaya and Rhodonite using Ania as a hostage but Christina's charge of the light sparkles brigade provides an opening for Tomo and Kanade to retrieve Ania. But after Ingrid is lanced by Bismuth, Christina fades away completely and Rhodonite powers down as Kotori gives out, leaving a last message: "Thank you for loving us."

Tomo finally finds the determination, with Misao's support, to summon Kurogane and stops the maki maki power of Bismuth's anti-magic lance but Kyoumu refuses to surrender, not caring if his burial doll dies. Bismuth is backstabbed by Ice Phoenix Girl who escapes with the trunk. Leaving the island with a CD, from Takaya, containing all of Christina's research, they meet up with Shuri and pledge to support Ania together.

Reaction:

It was a bit convenient how quickly Kagakagari Takaya turned into an ally but it was also a good choice to use the intensely unlikeable Kyoumu as a foil; that old adage does ring so true - the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Especially when said enemy is an arse.

I was also surprised by the appearance of sympathetic damage - the Handler feels the pain of the damage done to his Asura Machina, I don't seem to recall this from previous episodes.

What Others Are Saying:

• Aroduc sums up why this week's episode was great: "it was Tomo finally growing up and getting all the Burial Doll and demon stuff out in the open as well as Kagakagari’s entire family getting killed, along with Kyoumu’s Asura Machine." The build-up certainly took a while (e.g. the previous somewhat mweh episode) but it was definitely worth it. I always love the Misao x Tomo moments and as Kanade grows a chara, the love triangle aspect too.
• FlareKnight's discussion of Takaya's failed gamble got me thinking: are the soul and love drain of the Burial Doll and Demon Contract respectively reversible? What if one manages to rescue both just at the cusp of expiration but only to have 10% of their personality left?
• While Takaya did save and shelter Tomo from Kyoumu, it's pretty clear from kaza's screencapping that there's another person behind it. Is it Naotaka or another Tomoharu hinted at in the OP and Tomo's recall of the black hole experiment?

I couldn't help but wonder if Takaya could have had one last good troll of our intrepid hero and heroines by giving them something else on that CD. And if Shuri had been around during the fight, she would have definitely switched the case's contents too.

Related posts:

1. Asura Cryin EX016
2. Asura Cryin EX014
3. Shuri arc stabilizes Asura Cryin'