English Dub Review: The Drops of God “Embraced By the Eternal Universe”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
The battle for the Sixth Apostle begins.

Our Take:
Right off the bat, the hunt for the Sixth Apostle commences, with its clue stemming from maternal warmth and loneliness.  As is tradition in the episodic structure, this sent Tomine and Shizuku to different locations to search for the answer.  Believing that the clue relates to self-reflection, Shizuku travels to Asuka, Nara, where he and Miyabi discover a restaurant run by a Piedmontese owner.  At the same time, Tomine heads to Kōryū-ji Temple to see the Miroku Boasts Hanka Shiizo statue, which is part of the Apostle’s riddle.  While Shizuku’s quest leads him to assist the owner through their recollection of Hitomaro’s poem, Tomine’s pursuit becomes more personal than I expected, thanks to the arrival of his mother, Honoka, who’s also a famous wine taster.
This is another episode that puts the spotlight on Tomine and his past, continuing the show’s surprising approach of giving as much focus to the complex rival as to our protagonist.  The most notable case is his relationship with his mother, who tried to kill her own son on the mountain in the previous episode’s flashback.  I don’t blame him for having these mixed feelings towards her after the trauma she inflicted on him, even though she wasn’t in her right mind at the time.  Of course, it gets even more complicated when Tomine refuses help from Honoka, who knew what the Apostle is.  If only she understood that cheating is wrong, instead of calling him out for being “arrogant”.  As for the pacing, the episode made the right call to jump into the next Apostle right after the previous one, especially since we’re so close to the end of the season.