Poor chicken. It deserved better.

Episode Summary
Toru, Chaika, and Akari arrive at the city of Ipsom in search of Dominica, the next hero in possession of Emperor Gaz’s remains. Unfortunately for them, Gillette and company are not too far behind. A mysterious informant directs Chaika and her retainers to a nearby forest where they will find both a vehicle to suit their needs as well as the hero they’ve been searching for. While driving through the forest at the dead of night, a pack of Orthroses, some sort of electrified canine, attacks the group. Toru splits off from the girls in order to hold the wild animals off, but he quickly gets overwhelmed. Out of nowhere, Dominica shows up and saves his life.

Notes
• I’m amazed our heroes could even get a ride to begin with. I wonder if Chaika paid the carriage driver extra because not only does the coffin take up an extra seat, it can’t be good for business. Who wants to sit that close to a coffin? They don’t know it doesn’t contain a dead person on the inside.

• Well, this is a notable juxtaposition:

I wonder if this is simply a result of war, but I don’t think the episode bothers to go on and address this.

• The little girl gets mad at Toru for covering up her coffin because it’s supposedly “sacred.” I didn’t realize simply lugging it around her back was an act of veneration. Still, it’s just common sense to avoid drawing unwanted attention to yourself, right? We know so little about her though, so you have to honestly wonder how she’s had managed to survive on her own before meeting up with the siblings. After all, the girl seems to lack common sense, and just trying to rein the girl in is a large enough effort to exasperate Toru.

• What’s with the guy with nekomimi ears in Gillete’s employ?

• Toru only now decides to grill Chaika: “[Your informant’s] not the people that Gillete guy was talking about, who want to lift you up and use you to rebuild the Gaz Empire, is it?” When Chaika casually chews away at her lunch, he then asks, “Do you even realize that you’re at the center of something huge right now? Is it okay for you to be like that?”

Akari simply adds, “That puts you and me in the same boat as well, brother.” I think these doubts are more than reasonable. I just wish these same doubts had been included in the first two episodes somehow because they really serve to flesh these characters out in important ways. Toru’s concerns here make him seem more real rather than just the typical anime hero who will do anything for a cute face.

• I like how rumors in every anime are always 100% factual and may as well not be rumors.

• It sure is fucking weird how every single waitress feels the need to comment on Toru’s apparent lack of employment. How would this waitress even know he has no job? Just because he’s a traveler doesn’t mean he isn’t traveling for an employer.

• Chaika never seems to pull out more than a small pouch to pay for anything. How much money does she really have?

• Christ, this waitress doesn’t let up:

How do you retain customers with that loose cannon for a mouth?

• Our heroes are turned away from an inn because they don’t allow coffins. Makes you wonder why a restaurant would thus allow a coffin to be near its lunching patrons.

• Only the notable characters have technicolor hairdos. I know it’s an anime thing, but it looks silly to have an orange-haired girl and her green-haired companion run around amongst a crowd of normal-looking townspeople.

• The orange-haired girl then rages on about how Toru defied her master, so she’ll “never forgive him.” That’s pretty generic and thus boring characterization.

• I haven’t got much to say about Chaika’s informant. Everything about Guy is a mystery so all you can really do is speculate.

• Three abandoned vehicles conveniently lined up next to a spring in a forest. That’s nice.

• The fact that false Chaikas have existed is not so surprising. I’m sure plenty of people would love to claim any possible inheritance of the late emperor. What’s odd to me is why some of them would commit suicide upon capture. That would suggest that there’s something a little more ominous going on behind the scenes. What more, Gillete and company aren’t even sure if the late emperor even had a daughter.

On a somewhat related note, I appreciate the fact that these guys aren’t just one-dimensional antagonists. Granted, this probably implies they won’t be antagonists by the end of the series, but still, they’re at least willing to ask pertinent questions regarding their situation. In fact, I feel that these guys are currently more likeable than our designated protagonists, but I’m probably a minority in that.

• That’s what I’ve been wondering:

• Chaika apparently has a large gap in her memories. When she came to, her father was already dead and the war already over. Considering how doubtful it would be that Chaika could survive for long on her own, I have to wonder if some of those captured Chaikas really were the real Chaikas after all. I mean, the ones that had killed themselves before they could be questioned. What if some power just keeps bringing the girl back to life so that she can collect her father’s remains? Hm… oh well, this sounds too silly to be true.

Closing Thoughts
My feelings about the anime haven’t really changed. It’s just meh.