Episode 26

Notes

• The opening song in the DVD version is the second version.
• And of course, the photos are now complete.

• Kirihiko shoots a red beam from the ring into the sky. It creates a thunderstorm; a bolt of lightning stikes him and leaves him holding the misshapen sword. He then proceeds to give new meaning to sword sparks, as the sword causes an explosion of electricity basically whenever it hits something.
• The Himekas are back in the gear room now. They watch the battle reflected in what seems to be the moon, which is right at eye level wherever they are.
• Kirihiko yanks the ring-necklace off Karin's neck... and proceeds to destroy it with a ball of energy from one hand, just as Kirio attempted to do way back in ep 2. Karin's transformation is undone... and her memories come flooding back.
  • The Clocktower now reads 5:00...
  • One dramatic eye zoom later, Karin finds herself at Tower Bridge, by the cherry blossom tree. Suzuka walks (or rather floats) by, holding her red umbrella. After a moment, Karin follows her.
  • First they walk into the scene where the photograph was taken. Suzuka (in the photoscene, not the one walking behind them) calls the child "Himeka".
  • Next we see the full version of the very first flashback- Kazuto tells Suzuka he'll have to send her away to protect her. She believes that she won't forget him.
  • Kazuto places the Athena ring on the hand of the child now named Karin.
  • Karin sweeps by the screen twice... she's standing in a spotlight with Suzuka, who turns to face her now. In that moment, Karin remembers her previous name.
• Kirihiko's voice echoes behind Kirio's, as it's been doing off and on for a while now, but for longer than before... and then he makes this odd face. Hmm...
• Athena's staff appears in the Slab of Stone; Kujyou Himeka feels pain and correctly guesses what's happened. She and Karasuma Himeka wish they could help somehow...
• Kirihiko shakes his head as though snapping out of something. His eyes have gone yellow with red sclerae.
• Kazune coughs up weirdly lit negative-imaged blood...
• Kirihiko's eyes return to normal a moment later.
• When Karin tackles Kirihiko to keep him off Kazune, he seems to hesitate over hurting her for just a moment... but then he shoves her aside. His eyes become red and yellow again a moment later.
• Of course, this scene harkens back to the adlibbed ending of the play...
• Kirihiko shakes his head once again, but his eyes return to normal right afterwards.
• "Don't give up!" That's Kazuto's voice, saying the same thing he said to Micchi back in ep 24.
• The Labyrinth goes beyond deterioration and completely dissolves, down to the floor. Kirihiko screams in agony and drops to one knee. Of coure, it's due to the arrival of the Gaia ring. It and the Zeus ring blink on and off in reaction to each other.
• Kirihiko summons up a sickly yellow aura and puts his best crazy eyes on. He summons up a glowing shadow spectre of himself.
• In another callback to ep 2, Karin wishes she could protect the two helpless people with her...
• She asks Micchi for his ring... and then seems surprised that she just did this. Huh...
• The light of her transformation, aside from making Kirihiko scream more, awakens Kazune (again like in ep 2), and seems to heal him, enough that he can get up and fight once more. (Since he seems to still crash and burn afterwards, I'm guessing it didn't heal him completely.)
• Karin stands behind Kazune, channeling her power into him (ep 2 yet again). She puts her hands in a praying pose; the Himekas do the same, causing both the moon and the Clocktower to glow.
• For just a moment, Kiri(hik)o's eyes have yellow irises and normal sclerae... He resummons his glowy shadow. As he and Kazune rush each other, the shadow splits into two- Kirio has taken back enough control to show up here and fight Kirihiko's shadow. Wrestling with it seems to hold back Kirihiko's body as well. Kirio keeps Kirihiko still so Kazune has a good shot at the ring. Kazune's ring shatters; the staff appears in the stone; ... The Zeus ring shatters. An explosion of blue light from Kirihiko engulfs the screen.

• ... Oh look, a different shot of the clouds.
• Karin and Kirika discuss events at the Fountain. (Unlike the manga they don't seem to mention how long it's been since the fight.) Karin looks sadly at the bunny Kazune won her...

Notes on the ending are at ending 3.

The stinger:

• Karin visits Shii-chan's grave. She's placed a bouquet there, but she seems to be grieving mostly for Kazune. The tree the grave is under is now quite healthy-looking. Karin gets out the bunny again and nearly begins crying, until...
• A voice behind her causes her to turn around. The shot is framed so that her hairties are impossible to see. The background vanishes, replaced by a while glow.
• It's Kazune, in older Noble God form! "You did well, Karin." Karin is now older again as well, wearing the uniform and hairties from Chu. The scene with the cherry blossom tree and Tower Bridge appears behind her, with Kazuto and Suzuka looking on as Karin walks forward.
• The background appears behind Kazune as well, showing the rest of the boys as well as the scene from the first episode (the Seed still seems to be on the clockpost as well). Karin runs to greet them. The end.

Analysis

kirihiko's odd actions

When Karin asks Micchi for the mystery ring, she seems surprised by her own actions, as if some outside force led to her doing it.

• Perhaps the Noble Gods in the future arranged things so she'd be somehow led to use the ring against Kirihiko, implying she didn't before (though obviously they beat him somehow...) This might be what Kazune's "good job" is refering to.
  • Perhaps Rika amped up Kirihiko's powers somehow, which would work with the idea that she's trying to trap or defeat Karin in the past to keep her out of the way in the future.