After the invites were sent out last episode, this instalment of Nabari no Ou sees representatives of both Kairoshuu and Banten make their way into the heartland of Kouga's part of Nabari, which is disguised within the real world as a top-notch private school. Of course, both factions have designs well beyond simply discussing the future of Nabari (the cause to which they have been invited), with the capture of another Kinjutsu scroll their top priority. However, it appears that they aren't the only ones with ulterior motives, as the ninja students of the Alya school appear to be subject to both in-fighting and a little double-crossing of the guests of their own...While there were bound to be some sparks flying this episode following Miharu's apparant defection to Kairoshuu, perhaps the most amusing aspect of this episode is just how civil everything remains for most of it, with everyone trying to act politely and seemingly in the best interests of Nabari as a whole to disguise their true plans. This episode also rather amusingly illustrates the difference in approach between Kairoshuu and Banten's major players, while still portraying both factors in such a way that it's hard to really label the former as 'evil' in the kind of obvious ways that they appeared to be earlier in the season.Despite saving all of its action until the end of the episode (which then leads in to episode fourteen for more of the same), this episode actually proved to be quite well-paced, and while nothing major happened for much of it the playing off of the three Nabari villages worked quite well, allowing the different approaches and wary attitude towards one another to seep through slowly but surely. Sure, it wasn't a classic episode even by this series own standards, but once again it did enough to hold my interest into the next episode at least, where it looks like we'll get much more action to reward our patience.
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