life line by line

Just when I thought Tactics was going to be another filler episode barely saved by guest seiyuu Mamiko Noto, it decides to do an 180 that left me surprised and waniting more. Between people getting possessed (~nya!), Haruka adding another groupie to his fanclub, and the serious implications of Haruka’s past Tactics 20 finally gets serious and becomes one of the more enjoyable episodes to date!

Going to go list style this time around, as I have other work I have to take care of.

• Jealous Suzu was hilarious!
• all the lower youkais… so cute! Especially loved Hasumi and Reiko “possessed”!
• Yuri voiced by Mamiko Noto was the best. Yuri’s “love at first sight” was adorable and the way Haruka was a total gentlmen with her was nice.
• Favorite two Yuri-Haruka scenes had to be the rain and stolen kiss ones
• Never expected Ibaragi and Raikou to be behind the scenes. I thought it was just going to be another filler episode until these two showed up.
• Finding out about Haruka’s true past and how it relates to Raikou was fascinating. At least now we know why Raikou has been after Haruka’s tail this whole time. Still pretty clueless behind Ibaragi’s reasons, as I can’t see what possible reasons she has to gain from helping? Raikou out.
• I just knew that tailsman would have more importance than just a simple gift. I didn’t initially think it would be the key to saving Yuri and Haruka though. There must be some other tricks with the tailsman, considering how they ended the episode
• I feel so bad for Yuri, how she was basically used by Ibaragi! At least it looks like she’ll live with Haruka seemingly taking some responsibility for it (cute scene with him being there for Yuri at the hospital)
• I’m liking how the staff is slowly diving into Haruka’s past and the whole youkai & human relationship dynamics. Looks like Haruka’s past is catching up with him, whether he likes it or not!

Excellent episode overall, especially after the semi-flood of filler episodes between the last time Raikou and Ibaragi were around. They better keep it this way and continue forward with the “main badguys” arc, because if Tactics is only 26 episodes the staff doesn’t have time to fool around anymore! … but if they bring back Yuri for another cameo, I wouldn’t mind