Josh’s Anime Blog

It’s episode 13 of Shion no Ō. Shion and Saori both lose, so it’s the end of the three girls in the tournament, right? Well, lucky for them, 3 extra players have to advance to the final tournament on top of the 9 finalists to make it an even bracket, so they each have a chance to advance, but will they do so? And Saori gets a note that Ayumi’s mother is in the hospital and goes visit. Unfortunately for Ayumi, his mother doesn’t know anything about him playing shogi, nor does he dress as a girl at the hospital.

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The highlights of this episode:

• This episode picks up right where the last one left off, which Satoru making his move, putting his rook in the center of the board. Despite this, Shion thinks she can still fight through it. However, Satoru keeps her in a hole and Shion thinks back on what Shinji told her once: that in some matches you have to hate your opponent to win. Shion thinks on that, but believes that she doesn’t want to play shogi like that.
• Satoru plays his bishop on the next play and defeats Shion. Satoru gleefully anticipates Shion’s tearful eyes and she admits defeat. However, instead of crying, Shion cheerfully writes thanks to Satoru for playing, which just agitates Satoru further.
• Despite all three girls losing (apparently Saori lost at the end of the last episode), all three can still make it to the final tournament, but they must win 2 fast-paced games (10 minutes of time then 30 seconds a turn) against the other 4th round losers in a row to advance.
• Back in the game room, Satoru still can’t figure out how Shion could smile. He then cuts his thumb with a knife and lets his blood drop on the score sheet, as he thinks of a girl named Kazumi.
• Afterwards, Shinji tells Shion that Ayumi will be studying shogi with them. Ayumi asks him why he’s so kind to her, and he tells Ayumi that “she’s” talented and because she’s Kamizono’s apprentice. Apparently 8 years prior when Shinji first adopted Shion, Kamizono had given Shinji a good sum of money since Shinji was down-and-out at the time, telling Shinji that kishi need to believe in the moves they have made.
• Shion, Ayumi, Hisatani, and Shinji are about ready to leave the shogi association for the time being when Shion sees that the shoelaces on her outdoor shoes have been cut. At the same time, Furuta comes and and shows them the score sheet from Shion’s game, covered in blood.
• That night, Ayumi and Shion both win their two matches and advance to the final round. However, Saori ends up losing to an older man, Kyoudo, in her 2nd match. However, during the match, Kyoudo remarks that how Hani-meijin played the match seemed to show him that he loves Saori.
• That night Satoru asks Hani if he’s OK with Saori losing, but Hani tells him that it’s for the best if she is to realize what she’s lacking. Satoru then borrows Hani’s cell phone to make a text message, under the guise of leaving instructions to his subordinates, but actually sends a message to Saori. Hani then asks Satoru if he’s been doing “anything weird” with Shion’s family. Shion tells him that he’s hired a private investigator to look into Shion’s case, but Hani asks him to stop it until the tournament is over with.
• That night, Saori gets a text message from she thinks Hani, asking her to visit Ayumi’s mother, who is in the hospital, for him. Saori goes to the hospital with some flowers for Ayumi’s mother. Saori tells Ayumi’s mother that she’s there for Hani-meijin, but Ayumi’s mother doesn’t know who that is. Saori tells her that he’s a shogi player, and Ayumi’s mother wonders why he would send her flowers, catching Saori off guard. Ayumi, not disguised as a girl, then enters the room…

Oops! So Saori finds out that Ayumi is a guy, thanks to Satoru, who had obviously figured out as much on his own. Why he decided out Ayumi now, and to Saori, I’m not sure. Of course, Satoru doesn’t seem like the most stable of people anyway, as his bleeding all over the score sheet will attest. I just wonder who else has figured out that Ayumi is a guy, and if they haven’t, how long it will be until everyone finds out about it.

I wondered if we should get some of the 4th round losers to advance to the final round, since only 9 players won in the 4th round. That makes it a 12 player tournament so, I assume, there will be 4 games with 8 players, who will then advance to play 4 players who get a bye. So who will play who in the final round?

We also find out a little more about Shinji’s situation when he took in Shion. We already knew that his shogi was suffering at the time, but now we find out that he really was pretty much down-and-out, and that it was Kamizono who helped bail him out.

I still hold out on Satoru being the murderer, but I do think that he’s somehow jealous of Shion for being able to smile through all her pain of losing her parents while he’s never been able to get over the death of his mother. That could also be why he has a contentious relationship with Hani-meijin too, since Hani seems to be over his mother’s death as well - though Satoru seems to suggest otherwise, saying that he thinks Saori looks like their mother. In any case, Satoru seems to like wrecking havoc.

The series is still quite heavy in the shogi, but I think the story is getting more and more interesting otherwise as well.