Test time is coming up, but a new threat may push that aside for the duration.
What They Say:
Six months have passed since Harutora and Touji transferred to Onmyo Prep, and it’s time for their end-of-year exams.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Tokyo Ravens has been a good bit of fun across the first six episodes and surprised me with how light things turn for the last couple considering the early events that got Harutora to come to Tokyo and do what’s needed. We had mostly fun stuff for the last two episodes that definitely made it easier to see how everyone connected and what they can do by working together and that culminated in the dark and ominous moment towards the end that spoke of the bigger challenges to come ahead. Surprisingly, with this episode the show moves ahead six months as the group is getting ready for exams and we do see that Harutora is struggling. Most shows tend to avoid doing such leaps overall so doing that here has certainly perked my interest since it means we got a lot of normalcy time for the group between then and now.
Harutora’s struggles with the academic side of thins is certainly there, though others are doing their best to encourage him. Where he’s excelling is with the practical side in the battles and that’s getting him some good encouragement from others. That won’t help him in his exams since he can’t use his abilities there, but it’s good to see that Harutora has grown over the months and now works really well with Kon, who continues to be Harutora’s biggest promoter. Largely though, you get the sense that things have moved along well since we last left everyone and there’s just been a slow and natural growth to the friendships that feels right. The off piece here in this episode though is that Touji himself seems off, something that even Harutora has started to notice as they get closer to dealing with their exams. It’s easy to imagine it’s related to that, but it feels out of character for Touji to be acting this way.
While we get some decent character material in the first, including some good bonding time between Harutora and Touji, the second half is a bit more full on story focused. During one of the exam phases, things go wrong in the city in general with all sorts of spirit pulses hitting that causes a panic in general and difficulty in coping for some of the students, especially Touji as he seems susceptible to it. Though the symptoms are dealt with, the arrival of a nasty beast that Touji is particularly affected by makes for some tense moments since it has even the administrators thrown off by its arrival. What this brings into focus is the arrival of the first of the Twelve Generals, Reiji Kagami, who has a good bit of style as he deals with the ogre creature in short order. It all feels pretty scripted, but it’s an interesting use of power after the last few episodes and sets things up a bit more during the final minutes.
In Summary:
Tokyo Ravens definitely continues to have the feeling to it that many light novel adaptations do and that’s not a bad thing. It’s less focused on the chapter by chapter adaptations of manga that are a bit more forced, leaving this to come across as a bit more open in what it can do. And this episode certainly does just that with the six month gap and how the characters have grown. While we get some things seeded early on, it goes pretty big in the second half with action and the dynamic of introducing Reiji of the Twelve Generals which certainly leaves you wanting more. But it also seeds a few other things, including something about Touji that could be really interesting to watch.
Grade: B
Streamed By: FUNimation
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.