JRPhipps

A much gentler episode with some silly shenanigans. Nice to have a purely fun time with no emotional weight after all of the recent excitement and soul searching.

Guys, guys - you need to ask the girls. Lead's success was achieved though Clara's eavesdropping and gossiping.

I yelled "Your wind powers Minato!" several times during this episode.

I do wonder what Minato looks like to everyone who can't see who he's talking to and playing games with.

Sakura starting to panic about who she could dare to trust in that moment was really well delivered with the whole world collapsing in around her. Finally it being Itecho's voice that snaps her back. I feel like that moment links to something that I picked up on from the start and how important the personal alliances are over the formal affiliations with their villages and the agency. This being of special importance to Sakura after being abandoned and repeatedly let down by absolutely everyone throughout her life.

The way that Rosei spoke to Ishihara was incredible; a perfect leadership moment for him. He could see the opportunity in her hesitation, he extracted her story with the subsequent information, was dominant enough to take command of the situation even though she was the one with a weapon and a hostage and he was reassuring enough that she conceded and gave herself over to his protection.

In the middle of all this, Ruri still seizes the moment to call out Rosei and tell him to go reunite with Hinagiku. She's so supportive of her girl's love life.

I fully admit that I started openly crying and begging that THAT was going to be the point at which Hinagiku escaped.

Thank goodness Mitsuoka's hypnosis only lasted for one episode. I'm not sure if Eiji would have handled this version of her being in love with him either. I am looking forward to seeing how the Rindou brothers handle school once they turn up. Seems we may need to wait a little longer though.

An interesting element of this episode was seeing how all of the different publishers interacted with the writers. There's a real variety in personalities as well as what they need for their respective audiences. It also shows how switching can be a better way forward than adapting to the demands of someone incompatible with your work.

After all the runaround we dealt with in the previous episode, having the details of Satsuki's job and pseudonym just casually dropped into the episode here feels anticlimactic.