English Dub Review: Katana Maidens: Toji no Miko “Moment’s End”

Worst Christmas Eve Ever!

Overview (Possible Spoilers Below)

As Princess Tagitsu revel’s in her victory of accomplishing her goal. Kanami, Hiyori, and the rest of the group take a brief rest before facing Tagitsu, who they learn is attempting to plunge Earth into the netherworld by opening a massive portal. Despite the desperate situation everyone’s in, It does manage to balance out the serious moments with lighthearted levity during the proceedings as exemplified with fun scenes, such as Hiyori offering Yukari a mint cookie at one point which shows how far Hiyori has changed compared to the very first episode where she wanted to straight-up kill her.

Intercut with scenes showing a grand spectacle of a sword fight with Kanami’s Team vs Tagitsu, Maki and Suzuka find Yukina giving funeral rites to Yomi, who had passed away protecting her, much to Maki & Suzuka’s dismay. The two even mention that today was supposed to be Yomi’s birthday which just so happens to be Christmas Eve. Only for the both of them to pull Yukina away from danger knowing that Yomi would’ve wanted her to live, while what’s left of Yomi’s body is absorbed by a mass of Noro.

As Kanami’s Team engage Tagitsu in a decently paced sword-battle, she upholds to her “Final Boss” status leaving only Kanami and Hiyori as her opponents. With no other choice, both Kanami and Hiyori manage to stab Tagitsu and prepare the ritual to banish her to the netherworld which in the process destroys the portal once and for all leaving Kanami & Hiyori’s fate left uncertain. At first I thought this would’ve been the ending, but in a post-credits scene taking place at a later point in time, Ayumu who was knocked out after being defeated while she was in Tagitsu’s imperial guard, awakens in the hospital Noro-free and asks where Kanami is, wanting to apologize for her previous behavior.

Our Take

You could make the argument that an otherwise despicable character like Yukina wasn’t worth protecting given the past episodes that painted her as such an unlikeable cunt. But in a proverbial sense, Yomi kinda gave up whatever soul she had left just so Yukina could have one…

It’s unclear what will happen next in the upcoming final episode since Kanami & Hiyori who stole the show during the course of the final battle against Tagitsu, Seem to be the only two who have disappeared and since there’s possibly no more major threats with now gone for good. It’s easy to assume the final episode could serve as both a finale and an epilogue.