Tokyo Ravens Episode 16 Discussion

JoksPacifist said:
I'll be honest and say I didn't get half of what was going on in this episode.
16 episodes in and I'm still unfamiliar with the universe.
I guess it's time to read the novels a bit.

penguindrum264 said:
Awesome episode, but it seems like Harutora still has a long way to go when compared to the badasses they have been showing lately in this series. I wonder if they'll pull something like him getting really powerful in a short amount of time, hopefully not. If they do, I hope they pull it off well so it doesn't feel inconsistent with what we know about him as a character.

VanishingKira said:
Dat divine fan.

So Takiko was pretending to be Hirata.

And Harutora is the real Yakou?

Apology said:
Interesting outcome, in the end there is intrigue about who Hirata.

This guy is scary: http://i59.tinypic.com/2ngbqtw.png

Paul said:
It bothers me every time people summon stuff and they're not CG'd and then I remember Kyoukos ugly ass knights. WHY?

AnimageNeby said:
This was a pretty awesome episode. Apart from the CGI-familiars - I always dislike such blatant CGI in anime - there was nothing to dislike about this episode. There was another 'big-boss fight' (I thought it would take a considerable time after Doman-Ohtomo battle, but nope, two episodes later we're again at a major fight) and there was story progression as well, since the twin horn syndicate now has gotten serious blows, and we got a bit more info about what it is and how it was originally conceived, as some sort of counterpart of the Onmyo academy by Yakou's wish himself.

Furthermore, the grand fight was hectic and powerful, but it wasn't simply a matter of brute force, and I like that. Basically, apart from outright attacking eachother, they tried to outsmart eachother, and the old man ultimately got the better hand. I wonder when he began (and sprung) the trap, actually. Was he already weaving his spell/hypnosis from the start? Because otherwise, it's a bit strange that Hirata would stop his attack to kill the divine fan, when he didn't bat an eyelash when he killed his comrade. So imho, I think he already was influenced by that time, enough to cloud his judgement (obviously, he should just killed off the old dude as soon as he could, since he's such a dangerous adversary).

Well, I say 'his', but I should say 'her', because..plottwist, it's actually the red-haired girl from the former episode. It's quite a shocker, not only as surprise that they're the same, but also because she shot her comrade with such ease...while she seemed so nice last episode. This is actually the second time they came with a twist I really didn't expect (the other one being lil lolicon girl-lover senpai being the familiar annex student of Dolman.)

I must say, this series has pleasantly surprised me. In contrast to Unbreakable Machine Doll, who started good but continuously got worse and more-trope-bound until it became annoying and a 13-in-a-dozen mediocre anime, Tokyo Ravens started out a bit weak and like the so-many-th magical anime, but got better and better with each episode, to the point I'm starting to feel 'involved' and caring about the characters, the interaction, and the story. I also like the progressively darker mood it's getting. If it keeps this up, it's going to be a very good anime indeed.