Recap: The baddies make their move and our heroines soon find themselves separated and locked in combat.

Timmy’s Thoughts: Oh boy, and here I thought Senran couldn’t get much better then last week. Looks like they pulled out all the stops to prove me wrong. Things kick off at Serpent Academy, where we get some very much appreciated time getting to know the antiheroes as well as their school a little better. We also get a glimpse into their master’s motives, mainly the desire to reunite the scrolls of Yin and Yang, the latter of which is said to reside at Hanzou Academy.

Jumping over to Hanzou Academy we see the girls training hard. Katsuragi in particular gets a good portion of the spotlight as we both learn more about her past and how her recent humiliating defeat has motivated her to become stronger. Also worth mentioning is the fact her skirt seems to be able to defy gravity, which given how this show loves visual gags I am sure is intentional.

Midway though the episode the Serpent girls make their move and Haruka uses her puppets to separate Kiriya from the girls and then the girls from each other were there are enclosed in battle spheres to each face their rival. Pretty much the rest of the episode is them all duking it out with each other with Asuka’s and Yagyu’s fights being the most prominent. Askua, betrayed by the fact she thought Homura was a nice person and a potential friend, ends up shedding her clothes and going all out from the get go. While she manages to separate Homura from her single sword, she still has the other five to contend with. Meanwhile Yagyu on the other hand spends most of her time outright ignoring her foe as she searches for Hibari. Only when she realises that they are in separate battle spheres does she turn and fight. At this point her opponent, Mirai drops what looks to be an anti tank rifle out of her skirt, which is totally freaking awesome.

Other happenings during this time include Katsuragi getting fired up and kicking a train, Ikaruga getting ‘sploaded, and Hibari getting scared. Its nice to see all this fighting that the show has teased up to this point really starting to pan out and it is also great to see that the show still isn’t becoming super serious while it does. Sure it has its serious moments, especially with the back stories, but super serious, deep, dark plot related things is something Senran Kagura had best keep staying away from. The show promises more fighting next week as everyone goes all out on each other and it will be interesting to see who wins and how they do it. It has been implied that the target of this attack isn’t actually the scroll and with the subtle reveal of who the antiheroes’ teacher is things might not be looking so good for Kiriya.

And hey, good job, you totally dropped the boob grabbing gag this week, Senran. Considering  Ikaruga was pretty much face palming in reaction to it last episode I was hoping you would actually quit it. Guess we will see if it sticks or not.

Senran Kagura is simulcasting over at Funimation.