Neither the jaw-dropper the premiere was or the ringing disappointment of last week, this ep of Hikari no Ou was very solid.  Likely, I suspect, a truer representation of what this series’ lane is than either of its predecessors.  Not a layered and psychologically dense masterwork of writing (and frugal direction) like Shin Sekai Yori, or a thoroughgoing masterpiece of Japanese high fantasy like Seirei no Moribito – but also not a dumpster fire of a production like Baraou no Souretsu.  Just a solid, cheaply but competently-made fantasy story well-suited to entertain.  Those are rare enough in anime lately that I think we should be very grateful if that turns out to be the case.

This week’s focus falls more on Koushi and his story, where a lot of the exposition is taking place.  What to make of Yusoichi (I’m crushed no one praised me for my pun last week)?  Well, there’s no question he’s made Koushi and his sister’s (Hinako) materially better.  Getting them out of the slums and into clean air in a warm house with good nutrition and a kindly doctor (Miyano Mamoru, so you know he’ll be important) probably saved (or at least prolonged) Hinako’s life.  Koushi also meets Yusoichi’s daughter Kira (Hayami Saori) who’s even more kindly, and professes to be thrilled to have a “sibling” in the house.  Mom Hibana (Nazuka Kaori) is kind of a pill, but instinct says she’ll turn out to be the good one of that couple.

Yusoichi is obviously duplicitous, but that’s not to say necessarily evil.  He tells Koushi quite a tale, perhaps most crucially that the giant fire which decimated the capital’s population decades earlier was a ploy by the “Divine Clans” to cull the population.  He says he wants Haijuu’s skyfire to build weapons so the people can defend themselves without relying on the DC – perhaps from the Spiders (heh), a fallen Divine Clan who live in the forests and may be plotting rebellion.  No way to know how much of that is true, or what Yusoichi’s endgame is, but I suspect he wasn’t lying about most of it.  And I think Koushi is smart enough to understand he’s being used and to keep his guard up.

The fact that all the names here are derived from fire is already established and interesting, but the fact that Nishimura is taking the time to literally spell each new name out for us seems to be a tell to look for more significance there.  Back on the bus, meanwhile, Kaho is still unconscious (though not fatally wounded apparently), and Hotaru is about to disembark for her wedding (she gets a nice parting gift from one of the female engineers).  Emerging as a significant player here is Shouzou (Kobayashi Chiaki), who manages to negotiate with the chief and get Touko pardoned for her actions and allowed to stay on the train.

Life on these collection trucks is obviously dangerous, as witness Shouzou’s declaration that Touko’s biggest crime was not closing the door behind her when she went after Kaho.  And that’s reinforced when a refueling stop finds the train attacked by what can only be described as a dragon – notably white, in contrast to all the black fire fiends we’ve seen so far.  The train is well-armed (given the limits of the technology), but against a creature like this what they have seems pretty inadequate.  Kanata is going to have his paws full with this one.

Lastly, regarding the elephant in the room, the production overall this episode was a marked improvement.  That’s not saying much, and there was very little action this time, but what there was did look better than that janky fight last week.  The stills were more judiciously used (maybe that was partly an artistic choice by Nishimura, who knows) and there was almost a touch of Hamasaki Hiroshi (one of the masters of making silk purses from budgetary sow’s ears) to some of the directorial flourishes here.  If things stay at this level the visuals aren’t going to be a major distraction, and the story seems strong enough that it should be able to get by just fine with that.