Yūki Yūna wa Yūsha de Aru

Episode 9

Through its first eight episodes the reason why the series has been titled Yuki Yuna Is a Hero, when Yuna is but an ensemble member in a group of heroic magical girls and not even its leader, has been inscrutable. Late in this episode we get the first big hint: more so than any of the other girls, Yuna understands and accepts everything about what it means to be a hero, even in the face of the greatest adversity. And as most of the girls discover, that adversity actually isn't the Vertexes, but instead the toll that their battles could take on them.

Most of the episode focuses on Fu and her reaction to hearing from Mimori and Yuna about what Sonoko Nogi (the crippled girl from episode 8) told them. Though reluctant to accept it, Mimori's demonstration about how they cannot die and the way the Taisha seems to be dancing around the truth gnaw at her even as Itsuki's loss of her voice (and the blame she takes upon herself for having brought Itsuki into the Hero Club) troubles her more and more. The final straw is a surprise phone call indicating that Itsuki had passed the first round of a musical audition and the discovery of recorded comments by Itsuki (her first spoken lines since episode 5!) indicating that singing was the life goal that Itsuki had been mysterious about a few episodes back. The cool, controlled façade that Fu had been maintaining shatters as she flies into a magical girl-fueled rage against the Taisha. Karin, who had been told to be on the lookout for psychological instability amongst the others, tries to stop her, but ultimately that is a task that only a combined effort by Yuna and Itsuki can do – the former by using force to counteract the rage, the other by using love to calm her down.

In other words, this is where the series plays (by far) its strongest emotional card to date, and the careful set-up of both this and the past few episodes makes the pay-off well worth it. The scene where Fu hears Itsuki's recording takes a little too long to play out, but the way it turns the gentle tappings of guilt in Fu's mind into hammer blows, and thus into a full-blown meltdown, is nonetheless convincing, and the rage she flies into is easy to understand. Using Itsuki's song as the background as this progression and the efforts to stop Fu play out is a directorial master stroke, and Yumi Uchiyama (Nagi in A-Channel, Mio in Survival Game Club!) powerfully sells the emotion on the vocal end, both of which contribute to a climax scene which may require some tissue to get through. The way the sequence also slips in a burst of action is slick, too.

But what about Mimori? Her absence in this scene is conspicuous, especially in light of the stunt she pulls earlier. She has been shown over the past few episodes to be very analytical in examining the full consequences of what's happening to the girls, but even so her willingness to demonstrate that the “Heroes cannot die” business means that their faeries will stop them even from attempting suicide is a bit disturbing and her proclamation that she has made several previous attempts, in a variety of different ways, to prove the point is outright chilling, both because of what it implies about her attitude and why the Shinju would go to such extremes to keep the girls available as Heroes. (Mimori's speculation that their faeries are less helpers than insurance policies carries its own set of dark speculations.) Fu is the one who demonstrably loses her composure, but Mimori might be the one we actually should be worrying about.

Clearly the Taisha is being manipulative, but how much actual evil can be read into their intent and actions? Is their message to Karin genuine concern or another tactic to help ensure that their invaluable assets stay under control? That makes a fine backdrop, but the emotions in play here are what really matter. Because of them and their execution, the series once again earns a “special” label.

Rating: A

Yūki Yūna wa Yūsha de Aru is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.