「Words of Marriage」

This action-packed episode was exactly what I was expecting.  Rock solid Sekirei fighting action, hot Ashikabi-on-Sekirei action and animals attacking poor girls.  Wait, animals? More on that later.

I'd watch a show where Uzume's boobs took up half the screen.

Episode 5 concluded with Uzume vs. Akitsu, and as we see in the start of this episode, Akitsu is pretty strong and kind of has the advantage over Uzume.  Akitsu is considered a scrap number for her amazing strength and inability to be winged, so I wonder a couple things.  Is Akitsu the only scrap number that exists?  And if there are any more, is it possible that the series has scrap numbered people that do not have any masters?  With Sekirei focusing so much on teams & relationship, it’d be a really interesting dynamic to bring in a lone wolf-type character. Tsukiumi tried, but she fell really hard for Minato.

Sanada, meet Yukari's boot.

Kakizaki was seen a little bit in the first series, but he appeared in this episode and we’ll likely be seeing more of him as the Sekirei game moves on. He is working for Izumi, and this week we get a little more insight to something mentioned back in Season 1 where there are Ashikabi working for other Ashikabi. Kakizaki’s appearance prompts Mutsu to forcibly take Mikogami (and Akitsu) out of the hunt for #06, which I guess goes to show how strong/influential Izumi is if #05 is backing out of the battle. With Kakizaki working under Izumi, it makes Izumi perhaps the most intriguing of all the Ashikabi. What kind of operation is he running there?

Musubi's got a nice pair o OMG BEAR!!!

This episode was filled with action from start to finish.  We had 4 fight sequences in total. The first was Uzume vs. Akitsu, which I mentioned earlier.  After Mutsu decided to pull Mikogami out of the battle, Akitsu withdrew from the battle. Uzume later fought with Kazehana, and we all know Kazehana is stronger. However, because Kazehana is a romantic, she can respect Uzume and the circumstance she’s facing, so she lets her off easy. And then we had Musubi and Tsukiumi vs. two of Izumi’s Sekirei, #86 Katsuragi & #101 Oriha. The results of Miya’s training are shown here, as Tsukiumi easily handled Oriha and Musubi’s bear powers actually terminate Katsuragi. Musubi stands by while an MBI chopper comes in and picks her up. To borrow One Piece terminology, her bear and Miya’s devil are kind of like Haki.  The presence by itself strikes fear in others.

Sahashi Minato, the "Red Bull" of Anime.

And in between all of that, we have Minato adding another Sekirei to his side.  Whereas the girls had to push him down and basically rape his mouth, Minato takes the initiative and makes Homura his Sekirei. Minato pairing with Homura doesn’t really feel as destined as the others do, but in a flashback, Takehito explains that as an Ashikabi gets more Sekirei, their strength will grow and it will increase the chances to score even stronger Sekirei. Explanations like this are when I’d really like to get an insight of the other Ashikabi and find out if there is a way to cheat the system. Homura doesn’t look like he’ll be as lovey-dovey as the other girls are around Minato, but Homura now accepts Minato.

One more of Uzume. Her veil is just awesome looking.

We all like Uzume. She’s got a great body, she’s a charming personality around Izumo Inn, she’s the most stylish looking Sekirei and her story is one that we’re all rooting for her to pull through. But her fights against Akitsu and Kazehana really makes me wonder if she’s any kind of strong at all. She’s like a highly-ranked college basketball team stuffing the schedule with cupcakes early, and once she gets to the Top 25 (or in this case, the Top 10 Sekirei), she really can’t do anything.  We’ve seen her eliminate other Sekirei, but they were younger Sekirei who were pretty much weak and defenseless.  Uzume is #10, and it’s about time she start showing her rank in her battles.

I lied. Here's one more of Uzume from this episode.

Anime/Manga Comparison

Strong action episode, strong work on animation.  Since story wasn’t too big a factor this week as it was the 4-5 chapters this episode covered, there’s not much to report.