Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Welcome to the third week of Shaman month. In the second half the next round of the tournament began with team battles. But get ready because things are going to get crazy in the third half. Let’s begin.
Episodes 27-30
The third half begins with Mikihisa and Ren continuing their fight where Ren finally manages to get a hit in. Unfortunately this moment of triumph is short-lived as Mikihisa takes him down and he treats him to some BBQ along with the others (that was nice of him). Sadly this gets cut short as they get approached by Magna and Nickrome, two members of the Patch Tribe who are followers of Hao (way to sell us out you bastards) who are here to stop Mikihisa from participating in the tournament. In turns out Mikihisa is fighting in the tournament with two other shamans named Redseb and Seyram who are both kids. Mikihisa rushes to his teammates while Ren and others stay behind to fight. Ren does a good job at first, but he gets rattled when he finds out that Nickrome is the younger brother of the Patch Tribe official Ren killed to enter the tournament (yeah, how was that not an automatic disqualification?). With Ren rattled he gets stabbed from behind and loses consciousness. Trey and Choco try to fight back, but they’re not strong enough and at the mercy of Hao’s minions.
So episode 28 Yoh, Ryu and Faust arrive to save Trey and Choco. They force Hao’s minions to retreat and Faust says there’s nothing he can do to save Ren as his injuries are far too fatal (which was the complete opposite in the first season as Faust was able to save him). Yoh says that even though Ren’s body is dead, his soul is still in the area which means there’s a chance they can still save him. However, they’re going to need help (and it’s coming from the worst people imaginable), the X-Laws (have you accepted the Iron Maiden as your lord and savior?). The Iron Maiden shows up agreeing to help Ren on the condition that Yoh drop out of the tournament. Now that she knows Yoh is Hao’s brother he’s too dangerous to be in the tournament (yet being his descendent wasn’t dangerous in the first place?) and since he won’t join the X-Laws the only way to keep the world safe in their eyes is for Yoh to exit the tournament (boy, Anna is going to kill him). Speaking of Anna, we she her, Jun, and Tamao fight against Hao’s Hot Topic girls (I know they have names, but I remember them as the Hot Topic girls).
The girl fight continues in episode 29 as Jun and Tamao take on Hot Topic while Anna takes Redseb and Seyram to the stadium for their match. It’s here that we learn Seyram has no emotions thanks to finding the body of her dead father. Redseb doesn’t know who murdered him, but on that snowy Christmas day Seyram ceased to have any emotion. At the time the two didn’t know that their dad was a shaman who specialized in golems (soldiers of the earth), but over the years they learned enough shamanism to be able to control their dad’s golem. Back with Jun and Tamao, Hot Topic decides to get serious (Terry: Are you okay?) and crushes Pyron as well as castrates Ponchi and Conchi (thank God). Luckily, they get saved by Mikihisa (who wants daddy’s belt) who beats them with his words and DILF slaps. Magna tells them to retreat, and they comply.
Episode 30 returns us to Yoh who willingly quits the Shaman tournament shocking Jeanne and the X-Laws as they don’t understand why he would do something like this (for people who have felt loss you guys sure don’t understand it). Yoh and the others take their leave so that Jeanne can save Ren. We then transition into a new story from the past where we see how Yoh and Anna met (it was not love at first sight. I know that). We also get to meet Matamune the split-tailed cat spirit who has served Yoh’s family for years. He was Yoh’s first spirit ally unofficially and he accompanies him on his journey to meet Anna in Hokkaido (where the climate pales in comparison to her coldness). Once in Hokkaido they head towards Osorezan where Yoh runs into Anna on the streets. While Yoh was mesmerized by her beauty, Anna was not impressed and told him to get lost (looks of an angel, personality of the devil. Seras, why didn’t you tell me you were in Shaman King? (Seras): Up yours! That’s why). As Yoh wanders the streets he gets attacked by a demon and saved by Matamune with Anna watching from the shadows.
Episodes 31-35
We learn a little more about Anna and Matamune in episode 31. For Anna, we learn that she has the power to read people’s minds although it’s a power she can’t control. As if that wasn’t bad, her emotions can create demons which attack everyone around her hence why she keeps to herself. Apparently, Anna has the same powers as Hao (well that explains why he was attracted to her. That or it’s a festish for the Asakura family) and as a child was abandoned by her parents because of how dangerous she was. Speaking of Hao, we find out that Matamune used to be his spirit until he betrayed Hao and helped in defeating him years ago (man I can’t imagine how hard that must have been for him).
Episode 32 opens up on a shocking note with Yoh and Anna watching TV together (oya oya. We’re making some progress). They’re watching some music show and it’s kinda cute how they both talk about their favorite singers with Yoh comparing Anna to her favorite singer who is this enka rocker (a woman who acts tough to hide how vulnerable she is when deep down she’s a big softie. Scene here: https://youtu.be/FSN9D0gXY50). As the episode progresses Anna slowly starts to open her heart up to Yoh and the two go on a temple visit where Anna unfortunately summons demons (https://youtu.be/XxWkcAUykUo?t=13). Luckily, Matamune comes to their rescue, but in process puts his life at risk. We find out that the reason he’s been able to exist for so long is because his oversoul is still intact and has been going on for a thousand years. Sadly, no spirit’s furyoku can go on forever and it will eventually be exhausted. Despite Matamune’s best efforts the demon still lives and captures Anna. It gets revealed that the demon is intelligent and plans on using Anna to summon more souls to get stronger on top of a mountain where Anna will surely die from the freezing temperatures.
Episode 33 is the last flashback episode as Yoh and Matamune arrive at the top of the mountain where the demon has become even stronger than before (we also find out later that he’s seriously packing down there. Honestly, how do your censorship laws work Japan?). Anna’s not doing so well either as her anger is slowly consuming her. Anna was blessed with amazing powers at birth and those powers scared people (everyone fears what they don’t understand and can’t control). She was abandoned by her parents and everyone who could sense her powers were afraid and kept her at a distance. Just like everyone feared Hao because of his powers so too was Anna. The demon finally attacks where Yoh does a an oversoul with Matamune. Matamune fuses with Yoh’s necklace to give Yoh the power he needs to slay the demon. Yoh defeats the demon (scene here: https://youtu.be/beBd6JRLylk), Anna confesses that she’s in love with him (although she’ll deny it if you ask her) and Matamune’s spirit passes on with Yoh promising to bring him back once he becomes the Shaman King. A week soon passes with Anna staying in her room and Yoh heads back home. As Yoh rides the train Anna appears where she thanks him for everything and gets off at the next stop (she also slaps him a few times. Some girls kiss the guy they like, Anna just slaps the guy she likes).
We return back to the present in episode 34. Ren is revived and now carries the weight of being indebted to Yoh (again). In another part of the episode we see Trey coming to terms with how weak he is and hates it. He soon comes across Team Icemen who are trying to leave the island only to get stopped by Hao’s minions. They’re obviously stronger than Trey, but he still dives in to fight and protect them. He gets beat up with his dad seeing the fight and everything, but doesn’t interfere (it’s not his fight, its his son’s fight). Trey’s dad instead builds a raft and tries to leave where one of Hao’s minions tries to take him down only to get knocked out by his guardian spirit despite having a weaker power level (https://youtu.be/rGHh094WfcM). With only one of Hao’s minions left standing, Trey gathers up all his furyoku to take him down himself.
At the start of episode 35 Trey prevails by freezing Hao’s minion in a block of ice using the powers of Team Iceman. Unfortunately the other minion of Hao gets back up and Trey is so exhausted to fight that he passes out while standing. Luckily, he gets saved by Lyserg who has a new spirit courtesy of the X-Laws (and the brainwashing continues). Actually, to this anime’s credit they don’t make Lyserg a straight-up blind believer turned asshole like in the first season. Despite being with the X-Laws he still has his doubts on if what they’re doing is right and can be considered justice (from my perspective no. I see it as a bunch of crybabies who have been consumed by revenge. They don’t care about justice they just want to kill the man who hurt him and have convinced themselves that they’re holier than everyone else). Lyserg takes Trey and the others to Yoh’s group where they get attacked by more of Hao’s minions (these guys don’t know when to take a break). Yoh and the others manage to escape, but Ryu stays behind to cover the rear where he gets beat up and saved by Gandhara the third power group in this battle to defeat Hao. After everything has calmed down, Choco goes to see his non-shaman friends who followed him to the island where he sees that they’re all dead (oh~ this might be a hate crime). We see that the killers are Redseb and Seyram because the person who killed their father was Choco and his gang.
Episodes 36-40
In episode 36 Choco gets killed by Redseb and Seyram’s golem (okay, this is a hate crime) but Seyram’s condition hasn’t changed because all this time she’s been possessed by her dad. After Choco killed him he became an earth spirit bound to the golem because he was obsessed with it. The golem stops going on a rampage with not even Yoh able to stop it. Hao catches wind of this and tries to make the golem his but the golem tries to kill Hao (and we all know that goes about as well as bringing alcohol to an AA meeting). The injured Yoh and the others get ready to fight against Hao and his followers to end the episode.
At the start of episode 37 Hao retreats as Yoh’s oversoul reminds him of Matamune the only true friend he had in the world (his best friend was a cat. Why does this explain so much?). With Hao out of the way the question now is what will they do about the golem. Yoh passes out from his injury leaving only Ren, Trey, and Lyserg to deal with the golem who is trying to absorb them to replenish its furyoku. Luckily, the group gets saved by Choco who is back from the dead thanks to the help of his master (man it’s like an arc of DBZ. Everyone dies only to come back stronger than ever). He performs a double oversoul with his spirit Mic and new one, Pascual Abaj, to become Jaguarman. Choco and the golem fight only for Anna to come in and put a stop to the fighting. The good news is the fight did drain the last of the golem’s furyoku and returned Redseb’s dad back to his senses. He apologizes to his son and gets ready to move on to the afterlife with the golem but Anna stops him saying she’s taking the golem and forces him to explain how it works (and don’t even think about saying no to her. She’ll punch you). The next morning we find out that it was Gandhara who brought Choco back to life and they took his eyesight as compensation and as a way to atone for what he’s done in the past. As the episode ends Seyram finally smiles (granted she’s watching her dad’s killer get beat but at least she’s smiling. (Yin-Yang): Suffering is one of the pillars of comedy).
Episode 38 opens up with us finding out that Silva has been detained by the Patch Tribe for trying to steal their sacred spirits (really? He’s locked up? Even though you got two obvious traitors running around and causing trouble?). We then cut to Yoh who receives a message from Hao. He wants Yoh back in the tournament (easier said than done) and says that if he’s not back in the tournament by the next match he’ll kill Redseb and Seyram. Anna gives Yoh his oracle bell and he heads to the X-Laws to tell them he’s reentering the tournament with or without their permission (the time for groveling is over. Now is the time for hitting people). Marco and the rest of X-Laws fight Yoh with Lyserg kind of torn on what to do and is trying to play peacemaker but fails. Yoh does a good job holding his own and even pisses Marco off before the arrival of Luchist. This guy is kind of Hao’s second in command and if you can believe it he was the one who originally founded the X-Laws. He was also the guy who raised Marco but for one reason or another he left and joined Hao. Luchist and his spirit Lucifer (why am I not surprised?) take down the rest of the X-Laws leaving Marco the only one standing to take him on. Yoh and Lyserg want to help but Marco refuses to let them interfere (jackass is as stubborn as a jackass).
In episode 39 we start with Marco losing to Luchist (now go put some pants on and never wear short shorts again). Yoh and Lyserg step in where they fool Luchist with a fake Jeanne and manage to take him down (that was easy). In a funny bit as Yoh and Lyserg are lying next to an unconscious Luchist we find out that his medium was a car as was Marco’s (and they didn’t race? We could have had an Initial D moment). We also find out that it was Luchist who discovered Jeanne and convinced her that all this time she was a god in human form (why she believed that is beyond me). Now that the truth has been exposed and with most of the X-Laws killed off, Marco decides to take his life as compensation but Jeanne stops him (for the love of God would somebody give him some pants. I’m afraid it’s going to pop out). As thanks for saving her, Jeanne allows Yoh to reenter the tournament and the next day he gathers all his allies to tell them some big news. First off, Hao is going to win the tournament (yeah that was never in doubt). However, once he goes through a cleansing ritual to become one with the Great Spirit he’ll be at his most vulnerable which is when they’ll strike. With that being their plan the tournament continues as Team Ren take on members of Ganhara where Ren calls out one of them for a one on one fight.
Nothing much to say about episode 40. All we do is see Trey’s true power that he’s been hiding from us. He single-handedly defeats Ganhara and allows his team to advance.
And that does it for the third half. How does this series end? Tune in next week to find out. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.