It’s time for another exciting week of Spring 2025 anime! This post contains my thoughts on episode 9 of the following: Black Butler: Emerald Witch, Kowloon Generic Romance, Lazarus, and Your Forma.

1. Black Butler: Emerald Witch Arc Episode 9
2. Kowloon Generic Romance Episode 9
3. Lazarus Episode 9
4. Your Forma Episode 9

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Black Butler: Emerald Witch Arc Episode 9

Episode Rating: 8/10

This was an exciting episode. With German soldiers in pursuit, Ciel and his servants split into two groups. They disguised Ciel as Sieglinde so the pursuers wouldn’t know which group had the Emerald Witch. Everyone did their part to help defend the children. Finny’s super-strength was utilized as he dashed through the woods holding Sieglinde. Baldroy’s bomb, Mei Rin’s rifle-work, and Tanaka’s speed with the sword were all impressive. So was Snake’s attack with a small army of serpents.

I like Finnian a lot, so I appreciated watching him use parts of his true strength for once. In addition, we saw a flashback in which Ciel gave him his name. Finny was named after a storybook character who could run faster than hares and out-fight stags. Prior to that, Finny’s only name was “Subject 12.” Getting a name was a life-changing moment for Finny. It was a moving and emotional scene.

Wolfram was frighteningly skilled with combat. Despite everyone’s best efforts, he got to Ciel. The boy tried to shoot to kill, but it only grazed his ear thanks to Wolfram’s quick dodge. As Wolfram was strangling Ciel and getting ready to shoot him, someone suddenly appeared to knock the shot off target. It was Diedrich. I’m not sure if he’s Ciel’s actual uncle or just an uncle-figure, but based on the flashback, Vincent trusted him. He’s here to save Ciel. To be continued.

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Kowloon Generic Romance Episode 9

Episode Rating: 8/10

This was a good episode with some cute and interesting moments. I laughed at the part where Yaomay forgot her realization. That happens to me all the time. But in Yaomay’s case, she became forgetful due to the effects of drinks in Kowloon. We learned that drinking or eating things made in Kowloon makes one stop noticing or caring about the anomalies of the city. It’s like Kowloon doesn’t want anyone to figure it out.

Miyuki continued being a dick to Gwen in this episode. Even after Gwen paid for his items at the check-out, Miyuki still wouldn’t give him the time of day. In other news, the male version of Xiaohei is apparently no relation to the girl we know. Xiaohei is a common name. I’m still doubtful that the two Xiaohei’s are unconnected. Otherwise, why are they so similar? Speaking of Xiaohei, he was spying for Mr. Hebinuma. However, Yulong caught him.

In the last scene, Yulong told Xiaohei to join his side and asked if he would kill the generic Reiko. I don’t understand this. We’ve established Reiko is an important tool for both Hebinuma and Miyuki. What would be the sense in killing such a valuable and interesting entity? What does Yulong gain from this? I might be missing something obvious. Or maybe it’s another bad joke. Anyway, it was quite an intense way to end the episode.

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Lazarus Episode 9

Episode Rating: 7/10

This was a pretty good episode, but didn’t impress me as much as some. I feel like the show isn’t urgent enough. The world is ending, after all. During the NSA meeting to review and interrogate Lazarus, Skinner dropped a new video. It chastised the people of the world for not finding him yet and continuing on like nothing happened. It was good that the show called itself out like this, but it didn’t quite feel like enough to me.

This episode also irritated me a bit by including a scene of HQ/Soryu, the renowned assassin, doing nothing but walking for one minute and thirty seconds straight. I don’t know what the point of that scene was other than to try to be avante garde for its own sake. I respect the hell out of Shinichiro Watanabe, but this was an awkward and weird directing choice. In other news, Soryu/HQ is a bad-ass. The animations of him fighting the military personnel were visually impressive.

We don’t currently know much about the two men who hired Soryu to kill Axel. We know they’re with the American military. Axel’s past is extremely mysterious, but these two men seem to know who he is and what he’s done. They want him dead. I’m changing topics, but I felt like Leland’s character was left hanging in this episode. He clearly feels bad for being a “spy”, even though he used his role to defend Lazarus. The others should talk to him about it so he doesn’t stay depressed and alone.

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Your Forma Episode 9

Episode Rating: 8/10

In my honest opinion, this was one of the best episodes of Your Forma. I thoroughly enjoyed learning the backstory of Harold. It was tragic how Sozon was murdered in front of him. That was an incredibly grim scene. This episode is probably setting up the final story arc, which will involve the reappearance of “The Nightmare of St. Petersburg” serial killer. A lot about this character seems cheesy and overused, so I don’t know if they will be a compelling antagonist.

I like darker stuff like Psycho Pass, so I appreciated the tone shift for this episode. The only thing I didn’t like about this episode was its placement in the series. Why wait till so late in the show to introduce such important character information? Ideally, the story of Harold and Sozon would have been told over the course of many flashbacks across multiple episodes. It’s lazy exposition dumping to just drop a full episode of backstory. Still, I enjoyed it a lot.

~Thanks for reading~

Written by 7Mononoke

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