I suppose by Sengoku Youko standards this was a relatively sedately-paced episode. A shit-ton of stuff happened with a lot of characters as always, but thing moved along more or less at a brisk walking pace. It’s nice to get what almost amounts to a breather episode. I can only imagine what things would have been like had the production committee got its wish and made this a two-cour adaptation instead of three.

In this series characters tend to stick around. They drift in and out of the narrative (apart from the inner circle) sometimes, but they ultimately have important roles to play because Mizukami’s writing style is very much “waste not, want not”. We saw a lot of faces we hadn’t seen much of lately this week, starting with Tago. He shows up with a breech-loading rifle (advanced weapons technology in the Sengoku Period) he absolutely didn’t plan to shoot Senya with before Senya accidentally broke it. Senya detains him to ask if he’s seen a dragon around anywhere (Tago is something of an expert), and agrees to lead the lad and Nau to one if he gets repaid for his firearm.

Who knew you could dowse for dragons? But it works, somehow. Tago leads Senya and Nau to a cave wherein are a dragon – though not the one he’s looking for – and Douren. The dragon is Mudou, and the pair of them are recuperating after taking a beating from Nadare protecting the shoujou (ook), the sake-making monkey katawara first on Douren’t speed dial. The Tribe of the Void attacked with Banshuou to draft the monkeys into their katawara army, and Douren took one for the team to give the others a chance to escape.

It can’t escape notice – it certainly doesn’t escape Senya’s – how different Douren’s reaction was from Jinun’s to seeing him as a young man almost at adulthood. Douren breaks down in tears, which in turn moves Senya to tears. In truth he was much more a father to the boy than Jinun ever was – certainly he showed far more concern for him as more than a weapon. It is what it is, and Senya has clearly forgiven his father for his failings as a parent. But it’s nevertheless a reminder of what a bro Douren in. Which is, in part, why Mudou ended up as his student.

We get that backstory, as Douren and his disciple have to give themselves time to heal up anyway. Mudou may be the world’s worst listener, but his fight with Senya left him convinced he had to get stronger. So he searched the land for someone to teach him, pretty fruitless as everyone he meets is weaker than he is and he can’t see past that. Eventually a renowned swordsman gives him some advice. Don’t bother with blades, as you’re already stronger than any of them. And find a teacher who’s compatible with you. Which the straightforward and action-loving Douren indisputably is.

Meanwhile, Shinsuke is revelling in his newfound freedom. A little too much, in fact, which Hanatora is enjoying considerably more than Tsukiko. Of Senya there’s no news, but the trio does hear word of a series of katawara kidnappings by a cloud. That pretty much narrows down the list of suspects to one, and Shinsuke – even buzzed – sees the true explanation for what’s probably happening. He’s determined to visit the village where Shakugan rests anyway, but this news lends a certain urgency to the matter. What better target for someone kidnapping katawara than a village of katawara?

Unfortunately the trip arrives too late – Banshuou has been to town, and taken everyone in town with it. Including Shakugan, newly liberated from her rocky imprisonment. The child leader of the Tribe of the Void is quickly building up his own thousand demon army to rival Senya’s but he’s making enemies at an astonishing rate. Now Ssnya, Douren, and Mudou have an appointment at the cloud – and that’s exactly where Tsukiko, Shinsuke, and Hamatora are headed too. To the head temple of the Dangaishyuu, in fact – the birthplace of both singularities at the heart of the Tribe’s quest, and the seeming eye of the hurricane of fate.