English Dub Review: Katana Maidens: Toji no Miko “Gate of the Netherworld”

Two more episodes left, let’s do this!

Overview (Possible Spoilers Below)

After cleverly absorbing the essence of her other two halves along with Hiyori, Princess Tagitsu begins opening a portal to the netherworld so she can retrieve her true body. And wouldn’t you know it? Tagitsu no longer see’s any value in Yukina after getting what she wants and straight-up cuts ties with her which was a twist even I saw coming a mile away, and later spawns an army of Aradama monstrosities in the process.

This instantly gets the attention of both the Sword Administration and the Japanese Government, with Kanami and her friends deciding to go on a mission to retrieve Hiyori’s sword at the request of the Sword Administration while Souraku despite her previous fuckups of indirectly creating the Imperial Guard sides with the Sword Administration. As Kanami’s friends hold off the imperial guard and hostile Aradama while Kanami & Yukari go to confront Tagitsu herself who at this point has become a “Final Boss” of sorts.

Intercut with this grand spectacle of a battle, Yukina who feels pretty used despite being nothing but an obnoxious sycophantic cunt is saved from a pack of Aradama by Yomi. And while the previous episodes never told us much about her past, We finally got some level of insight into her character as it felt the need to share a small series of flashbacks revealing Yomi’s origin story before collapsing. But at least Yukina for once isn’t ungrateful about it. When we finally cut back to the main battle, Kanami realizes Hiyori is somehow still alive within Tagitsu she manages to cut her chest, allowing Hiyori to escape. And Immediately afterward, the episode ends on a happy note when Kanami, Hiyori, and Yukari momentarily retreat and reunite with their friends.

Our Take

This was a pretty decent episode. Yukina despite being the most annoyingly abusive and unlikable sycophant in the show, is for once showing some semblance of humanity instead of being her usual hateful self, but I guess that’s what happens when you blindly follow a Genocidal Aradama cunt like Tagitsu.

Aside from the emotional moments between all the characters, the action scenes themselves really do sell the drama and urgency as you do see the stakes are being raised which helps build up the sense of finality that all of us will expect now that two episodes are left.

Let’s just hope the ending is a good one.