Scarlet Nexus episode 9 is now airing. The episode features a very big moment, with Yuito and Kasane coming face to face once again. Apart from that, the mysterious goings on around the world of the Scarlet Guardians persist! Things are looking far more mysterious and bleak as time goes on. Let’s look at the episode’s key talking points in a spoiler-filled discussion!
Yuito’s headaches
This Scarlet Nexus episode features an interesting development in Yuito’s condition. Over the past few episodes, Yuito hasn’t seemed completely alright. Viewers may recall that his memory was a bit hazy in previous episodes and that he hasn’t really been all there. Now, in a fight with the vicious Others, Yuito gets a splitting headache that nearly incapacitates him for the entire battle.
His teammates are all concerned about this development. However, when things are looking bleak for him, Yuito downs one of the mysterious ampoules. Suddenly, he’s back on his feet. In fact, he seems better than ever. In a show of power, he singlehandedly obliterates the Other threat he and his team are facing. When asked about what happened, Yuito explains that he feels perfectly fine after having taking the contents of the ampoule.
This is concerning, given the context of what the ampoule contains later on in the episode. Knowing that its contents are made of human brains, one can only wonder why it appears to be such a big help for him. Why does Yuito ingesting human brains lead to his condition improving? One possible reason may be because of his connection to the Kunad gate. However, does that mean the same applies for Kasane? She has suffered from the same types of symptoms in the earlier episodes, but whether or not the ampoule could help her is another question entirely.
As things stand, this is another mysterious plot point that Scarlet Nexus has put up for viewers to speculate on. It will surely be a bigger point of discussion in future episodes, especially given how the rest of the story is shaping up so far.
The Yuito vs. Kasane face off!
Scarlet Nexus episode 9 features a spicy interaction that has been coming for a while! After spending a few episodes apart, Yuito and Kasane come face to face once again. This versus matchup is one that has been built up for a while now. The stakes have been set for their opposing beliefs and standpoints to come to a head. These are two incredibly powerful individuals, two sides of the coin, coming to blows with one another.
However, ultimately, it’s incredibly underwhelming. This feels like it should be the show’s biggest moment of the season so far. Especially given the power sets of both teams facing off against each other, one might imagine a big all out brawl to occur. Something like the airport battle in Captain America: Civil War comes to mind, where multiple superpowered individuals duke it out with one another.
When you consider that this sequence in the Scarlet Nexus video game is an epic boss fight, that makes it even worse. The action between Yuito and Kasane battling is so tame and watered down. They literally just chuck a few rocks at one another. The lack of visceral energy in any action set piece is damning. Couple that with the fact that the team mates hardly get involved in the battle, save few a few short moments, and you get a very disappointing moment.
One can’t express how unsatisfactory this little squabble between the teams is. In the end, it doesn’t amount to much as the teams end up going out of the battle relatively unscathed with hardly any new information between them. Given that Scarlet Nexus has set up so much so far in the season, that the show was not able to deliver in this moment when they should have is utterly damning.
Naomi’s pain
This Scarlet Nexus episode ends on a bit of a somber note. Naomi ends up discovering the contents of the ampoules that are injected into her. Her reaction is one of horror. She laments to Kasane, wondering aloud if despite her being able to communicate, her relying on such a horrible drug makes her as bad as the Others. She also tells Kasane that her very existence causes her pain on a regular basis.
Kasane, of course, does her best to refute Naomi’s sad thoughts. She tries to reassure her sister that it is okay, and that it will ultimately lead to her being turned back into a human. Kasane also reminds her that in spite of what she appears like in her Other form, she is still herself. She is still her sister.
This sentiment seems to land on deaf ears, as Naomi asks for Kasane and company to leave her alone.
The Naomi subplot has perhaps been the saddest element of the show so far. This small bit of the episode does a good job of reminding viewers of the stakes that these characters are fighting for. In a show that can often be devoid of personality and charm, this is so important.
It also seems like the Naomi subplot may be heading down a much darker route later on. Naomi’s thoughts seem to be going down a dark path. This could be leading to a potentially tragic ending. This is just speculation though. How things play out for her, we’ll just have to see as the show goes on!
How to stick the landing?
The biggest question Scarlet Nexus faces now is whether or not they can successfully tie up everything they’ve been setting up so far. As things stand, the show has three episodes before the curtains come down. And at this point, there are so many loose ends that look far from being tied up. Resolving things before the ending arrives seems to require a miracle at this point.
Now, it certainly seems like perhaps Scarlet Nexus’ story was too big to tell in a seasonal anime style format. And this may ultimately lead to it suffering a disappointing fate in that regard. However, the show isn’t over. For the show’s sake, hopefully they can wrap things up in a satisfactory way.
As things stand, there’s a lot Scarlet Nexus has to do in order to stick the landing. Can they do it with just three episodes left?
Scarlet Nexus is streaming on Funimation and on the Ani-One Asia Official YouTube channel! Episode 10 comes out on September 2nd!
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