This should be a good test of Kingdom’s plot armor, if nothing else.  Being a show themed as it is, plot armor is necessarily limited.  And Kingdom has definitely shown itself willing to cut pretty close to the bone on this front.  But Diao would certainly be the biggest name to fall so far – she’s one of the three or four most essential members of the cast.  That said she’s entirely fictional so unlike with some of the cast, Hara Yasuhisa is free to bump her off whenever the mood strikes him.

I suppose it was inevitable that Ohtsuka Akio would join this cast sooner or later – which is what I’d say whenever a big-name British classical actor turned up on Game of Thrones.  He’s playing Kai Meng here, and it’s one of those roles where you immediately can’t think of anyone else playing it.  Ohtsuka is truly a giant among seiyuu – I’m not sure there’s another living voice actor who can match his presence (Unshou Ishizuka was in the same class), and he owns the stage (battlefield) pretty much as soon as he stomps onto it here.

As one of the original Fire Dragons of Wei, it’s assumed Kai Meng is going to be formidable.  He comes off here as a hulking brute who’s basically in it for the thrill of the kill, especially against a strong opponent.  The one holding the leash for Wu Fengming seems to be Xun Zao (Shingaki Tarusuke).  Whether he’s Kai Meng’s strategist or just a more cerebral lieutenant I’m not sure, but he struggles to keep the giant in check and on script.  Kai Meng has heard of Xin, and bellows out a challenge to him across the battlefield, which leads to one of the classic face-offs Kingdom is so legendary for.

As Xin notes, it’s kind of dumb for Kai Meng to challenge him to a duel when it’s his army that has the advantage, but one senses that Kai Meng just doesn’t care.  If Xin is worth fighting he wants to fight him – and Xin obviously isn’t going to back down from a challenge under these circumstances.  Their battle is a profound test of Xin’s current strength – and according to Xun Zao no one has managed to stay in the ring with Kai for this long in many years.  But the older man still has the upper hand, and once Xin’s horse is done in there isn’t a lot left he can do.

Meanwhile the Fei Xin force is taking (and dishing out, to be fair) some serious damage.  Xun Zao knows the time to withdraw is coming, but he has his eyes on a prize – the “sharp as a tack” enemy strategist.  He waltzes into the Fei Xin vanguard and abducts Diao with seeming ease, but shortly thereafter Qian Lei charges into battle and Diao manages to make her aware of her situation.  To be honest I’m not entirely clear on what happens next.  It seems as if, unable to reach Diao, Qian Lei decided to abduct Xun Zao – my assumption being that she had in mind a prisoner swap later.

That doesn’t seem to have happened – though just what did I’m not sure.  There’s no mention of Xun Zao at the Fei Xin camp later – did Qian Lei kill him on the battlefield but off-screen?  That would be… odd.  In any event Xin tries to blame Qian Lei for what happened to Diao, but he’s really just trying to avoid blaming himself.  There’s little consolation in almost having fought a Fire Dragon to a draw when Diao is in enemy hands.  As not only a strategist but a girl at that, she’s under a truly harrowing shadow, and there’s no easy or obvious way to get her back.