Well, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to see a new transformation. This is anime, after all.

— Now that Clair and Shuichi have officially joined the team, Sayaka reveals everything that she knows about Elena… which is pretty much nothing. What a weak payoff. Basically, Elena used to be really nice, so Sayaka has a hard time believing that Clair’s sister could’ve murdered their parents. Sure, but people can change. People can also lie about their true nature.

— More useless information: Sayaka was attracted to Elena. Yawn.

— Elsewhere, Shuichi confesses to Chihiro that he has killed a person. She can’t believe it; she thinks he’s a gentle soul, so she tries to shift the blame onto Clair. Shuichi, however, insists that it is still his fault. I won’t argue against that, because he’s technically right. If his will had been stronger at the time, he could’ve retaken control of his own body and prevented Hikawa’s death. What I don’t understand, however, is what he thinks they should’ve done instead. Hikawa was going to kill them over a coin. Does Shuichi really think they could’ve talked her out of it? Maybe Clair should’ve been reluctant to kill Hikawa, but I still don’t think it was the wrong move. It was self-defense. What about that goblin dude from a couple episodes ago? Does our hero think Tadanori should’ve spared that guy as well? What would Shuichi had done if Tadanori hadn’t acted? Reason with the guy? C’mon, man.

— Chihiro appears to be even more naive than Shuichi. In last week’s episode, she claimed that she wanted to do anything to stop bad guys from hurting people, but she hasn’t actually accepted the fact that this would require her to confront said bad guys.

–Back at the hideout, Yota, the guy in the suit, tries to hit on Clair. Even when she bluntly rejects him, he doesn’t give up. Clair even goes so far as to say that Shuichi is her other half, but I bet Yota won’t stop trying to flirt with her in future episodes. Meh, he already seems like a boring character. Unfortunately, he’s the only person in the group who can fight. Boy, Clair sure picked some great allies.

— Speaking of Clair’s claim about her and Shuichi being two sides of the same coin… well, I dunno. It’s complicated. Her feelings about Shuichi are crystal clear. If he ever dies, she’ll go down with him. He gives her a reason to live when she had previously given up on life. He also gives her power when she was previously weak. With him, she can be strong without having to make any sacrifices (like everyone else who pays the vending machine alien a visit). On the other hand, the guy is somewhat in denial about his feelings towards Clair. If you’ll recall, Chihiro was going to point something out in last week’s episode when he cut her off. After all, there’s a bit of resentment mixed in there. Clair dragged him into this mess. She also “made” him take a life. Until he squares those things away — and he might never do so — I doubt that he’ll ever describe Clair as his other half. At the moment, he doesn’t even see her as a friend.

— Thanks to Ikeuchi being a voyeur, Clair quickly learns that Chihiro had climbed inside Shuichi. No one, however, can tell her that those two left in order to find Chihiro’s wallet. Really? Nobody really knew what those two were up to? They thought it was just a walk?

— Oh yeah, Ikeuchi has your typical Nice Guy personality. Y’know, they fixate on a girl only because they are attracted to her. But as soon as they’re rejected in some form or fashion, they get nasty. Basically, they’re losers.

— Eventually, Shuichi and Chihiro run into Subaru. Again, the kid has a short fuse, so he instantly summons his parents and murders the duo without any hesitation. It’s interesting how he doesn’t actually transform like everyone else. Instead, his monstrous parents are kinda like Stands from the JoJo series. He still has to get naked, though. Why? Shrug.

— Also, we’re not allowed to see Sayaka and Chihiro’s nipples, but monster mommy nipples are apparently okay to go uncensored. Okay then.

— This looks pretty bad. So does this. But somehow, someway… rage from both Shuichi and Chihiro triggers a fusion between what’s left of their bodies. I love how her dress magically shows up on this new form. In any case, we now get a battle that I don’t care too much about.

— Like I’ve said before, I’m just not excited for these fights with escalating power levels on both sides. We also get oh–so-awesome dialogue like “Huh. Are you a rare like me? I bet I’m rarer than you.”

— Not one gun but two! Akimbo-style!

— Elena eventually shows up to break up the fight. Wouldn’t want them to do any real damage! At least not before the final episode!

— As a result of her appearance, however, Chihiro gets access to memories that even Shuichi can’t recall. I mean, the memories are still there, but he’s blocked from seeing them. Did he repress them somehow? Or is this Elena’s doing as well? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see. All we know for now is that they were (at least) good friends in the past, and they had encountered some black, evil mass. Maybe that black, evil mass is at the root of what Elena is now trying to accomplish.

— The rage-filled Shuichi wants to keep fighting, but Chihiro has regain her senses so she holds him back. See? Now he’s the Clair and she’s the Shuichi. But jokes aside, Chihiro has even shed tears from seeing his memories. But knowing how anime works, she probably won’t exactly explain her thought-process or even what she saw to him anytime soon. At least, I don’t expect it.

— We suddenly cut to the alien, who just had a dream about an encounter with Elena in the past. We don’t learn much of anything new, though. Again, she really wanted to be with a certain someone (probably Shuichi), but she didn’t think it was possible. Eh. Maybe like Clair, her obsession with him was also one-sided, then she did something to make sure that this one-sidedness could never change.

— In the end, what really matters is that the fight is over. For now, Subaru will be a good boy and follow Elena. The brat still has to posture, though. Oooh, what a tough kid. The irony is actually kinda amusing, because he still needs mommy and daddy to do his battles for him.

— Still, we don’t actually see how the fight ended. Why did Shuichi and Chihiro pass out? Did they even have a conversation with Elena?

— Shuichi and Chihiro is somehow magically back to normal. I guess he now has the ability to heal both himself and the person riding inside him? Maybe this only possible if they undergo some sort of fusion? ‘Cause he certainly didn’t heal himself back up when Elena tore off his damn head.

— Speaking of the fusion, I assume he can pull the same trick off with other monsters, but can he do the same with Clair? He might not be able to. Maybe it only works if both parties have special powers. Plus, what would Clair even add to the synthesis of their two bodies? She’s just a normal human. Maybe she can only make him stronger on an emotional level.

— When Clair finally locates Shuichi, she seems shocked to see Chihiro inside the suit. But why? The voyeur showed the girl climbing into Shuichi. This shouldn’t be anything new to Clair.