English Dub Review: Katana Maidens: Toji no Miko “The Distance Between Them”

How far?

Overview (Possible Spoilers Below)

After being on the Lam due to the chain of events that took place last episode, Hiyori questions Kanami’s motives for helping her as Kanami had absolutely no business in Hiyori’s personal goals, to begin with. But Kanami mostly did it to help a complete stranger recover for an actual sparring match, despite the situation they’re in. When Kanami realizes that she left her stuff behind including her smartphone, Hiyori assures her that she’s better off as they could be traced if she had it, while Mai is under interrogation by Yukari’s royal guard on why her classmate would help someone that almost assassinated the head of the tournament but let her go afterwards. One of bigger questions that were raised for me when all this was going on is why Yukari would stop her own guards from protecting her, or give an order to not chase after the very person who attempted to kill you?

A Good portion of the episode is spent on Kanami getting to know Hiyori which are well-established moments as they sneak aboard a truck before stopping at the eastern side of Tokyo. After using some emergency cash for disguises and checking into a hotel, Kanami and by extension the audience learns that Hiyori has an antique Toji device called an “Analog Spectrum Meter” that not only still works, but her Okatana is also double-edged. While cutting between shots of the investigation and Mai taking it upon herself to seek Kanami out after having gained permission from her school principal, begins the search for them using her rich family’s resources and manages to find the Hotel, but isn’t exactly one-step ahead.

When we get to the Third act, Kanami & Hiyori have moved to a more populated area in an amusement park and later find out that Hiyori’s antique spectrum Toji device can detect Aradama, but their ideologies clash on how to deal with it until they both agree to stop the creature despite the risk of being caught. After the two exterminate it in a short but decent action scene, they’re found by Mai who was also alerted to the Aradama’s presence using a device on her cell phone. Mai tells Kanami and Hiyori to turn themselves in with the promise of giving Kanami leniency which may sound pleasant for Kanami, but Hiyori and Mai end up clashing swords before Kanami stops them and reveals the motivation for why Hiyori even attacked Yukari at all, and it’s one hell of a twist. The episode ends when Mai decides to let them go and gives Kanami a bag of cookies and a contact number before seeing them off.

Our Take

Quite a well-paced episode. It was a good balance of establishing character moments while unraveling the mystery in small doses. Even after the big twist, I’m still left wondering why Yukari’s Royal Guard hasn’t further questioned their own boss about why they aren’t chasing after the very person who tried to kill her. But at least we learn from Hiyori’s side why she even tried in the first place.

While Hiyori’s antique spectrum device worked as a checkov’s gun of sorts, the mechanics of it establish that it requires Aradama blood called “noro” to help it function and detect Aradama, So the other question in my head is something Kanami briefly mentions. If noro is needed to power these devices, why were laws placed for Toji that restrict them from collecting noro later on? I can understand upgrading the detection devices to cell phones since Mai is shown having one, but I’m just as puzzled as the audience at this point.

Let’s hope the next episodes reveal more about Yukari, because the big twist at the end, only raises too many questions.