English Dub Review: Katana Maidens: Toji no Miko “Call of the Evil God”

The Great Divide

Overview (Possible Spoilers Below)

One week after the shit went down with Princess Tagitsu’s attack squad, Kanami and her friends are licking their proverbial wounds and being depressed about their first defeat at the hands of Tagitsu. The scene itself is quite interesting as we rarely see a more dejected side to Kanami at all. Usually, she’s just wearing her smile, but having her sort-of come to grips with the grim aftermath makes her more human. It’s shaken the other characters also in different ways as exemplified with the slacker-ish Kaoru who normally would rather be on vacation than her job, is now determined to return the favor after what they did to them and Nene. During the course of the plot, they do attempt to put the pieces together, along with what leads they can use to find Tagitsu, but much like the Mokusa higher-ups, Maki & Suzuka encourage them not to do anything “until the situation changes”.

Where the real meat of this episode happens, is with a public TV broadcast being made, as Tagitsu audaciously reveals her identity before the masses on camera. And then proceeds to further manipulate the masses by claiming the shit that went down at Sagami Bay 20 years ago was the fault of the Toji. While you’d think the Government would attempt to cut the feed or deny any of it, that sinister cunt Yukina blackmails the government into taking their side due to their history regarding “backdoor dealings with the US Army” according to Erin. Thereby, enhancing Tagitsu’s credibility.

Consequently, this broadcast divide’s the Sword Administration in two factions, with Director/Mokusa Leader Maniwa leading the human faction while Yukina leads Princess Tagitsu’s faction, whose army consists of Toji students from Ayanokouji Academy who are deemed the “Imperial Guard”. And because the nationality of the Mokusa Sub’s origin is a mystery, the government wants to apprehend Yukari and Princess Ichikishima under Tagitsu’s orders under the excuse that they’re on “Japanese waters”, but they’re able to escape. Meanwhile, Kanami and Sayaka are called to an important mission while Yukina assembles Tagitsu’s new imperial guard to track Yukari & Princess Ichikishima down.

Our Take

Much like What Lex Luthor attempted to do in the DC Animated film Superman/Batman: Public Enemies during his presidency, the main villains of this series are actively manipulating the government to discredit our main heroes. But in this case, the villains have some kind of leverage and are painting a picture through media coverage that puts any Toji School who doesn’t side with her in a negative light.

As a Supervillain, Tagitsu has the voice of a charismatic leader but doesn’t seem to care about anything coming from her own mouth which is a clear indicator regarding how little she cares about anyone within her circle once she gets what she wants. But what’s easily and consistently the biggest plot-hole so far, is the fact that Tagitsu makes it no secret that her ultimate goal is to destroy all of mankind, and much like the previous episodes, It still leaves me wondering why would two Toji school presidents and Yomi follow her when that’s been her clear goal?

I’m still hoping they’ll touch upon this later on because the show itself turned out to be a compelling series, but this is a monumental plot-hole that can’t be ignored.

Score
8.5/10