Overview (Spoilers Below): Miyo wakes up to her sister and stepmother threatening her. Together with Kouji, Kiyoka arrives at the Saimori home and demands to see his fiancé.
Our Take: If you thought Miyo’s life couldn’t get any worse than it already is, you thought wrong. Without Kiyoka’s good luck charm protecting her, Miyo was captured quickly by Minoru’s men. If that isn’t bad enough, Miyo is sent back to her own home, where Kanoko and Kaya torment her. Oh, how we all wish a fate worse than death would fall upon Miyo’s unforgiving family already. Fortunately, her only hope of rescue is her husband-to-be, Kiyoka, who cooperates with Kouji to rescue Miyo. Unsurprisingly, the episode delivered exactly what we expected, with Kiyoka unleashing his full powers against Minoru, who, through his anger, unleashed his pyrokinetic abilities, which unintentionally burned the Saimori house. However, that’s not why this is the best episode the series offers. Instead, it’s the sentimental turning point involving Miyo finally standing up for herself when Kanoko and Kaya threaten her to refuse the arrangement. Miranda Parkin as Miyo has been carrying the emotional weight since the first episode through her vocal performance, and “Determination and Thunder” is no exception. Parkin still maintains Miyo’s soft-spoken and kind-hearted personality, but her performance shines the most when she provides a convincing sense of hopefulness and courage in her tone. Of course, I would also credit Lizzie Freeman (Kaya) and Erica Schroeder (Kanoko) for continuing to make Miyo’s stepfamily a despicable and heartless duo. Combine that with its gorgeous animation and Evan Call’s compelling music, and you get a thunderous and emotionally satisfying rescue mission that ends the stepfamily’s abusive nature towards Miyo, possibly for good. The Saimori family deserves much worse, considering their unforgivable actions against Miyo, mainly Kanoko and Kaya. However, their house burning down and Kiyoka rejecting Kaya is fulfilling enough, and we should leave it at that. With Miyo rescued and the Saimori family in ruin due to their selfishness and cruelty, Miyo’s future with Kiyoka shines brighter than ever. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean no one else would dare disrupt this happy marriage, as someone else from the shadows is planning something big for the couple.