Kizuna (episode)

Kizuna (絆) is the eleventh episode of Season 2 and the thirty-sixth of overall episode The Rising of the Shield Hero anime.

Synopsis
''Naofumi’s party is overjoyed to be reunited with Raphtalia. Kizuna criticizes Glass for invading another world. Glass and L’Arc swear they won’t fight Naofumi anymore, and instead find another way to solve their problem. Meanwhile, Kyo’s plot proceeds…''

Plot
Under the bright full moon, Naofumi, Raphtalia, Rishia, Kizuna, and Filo (in her baby bird form, since she lost a lot of offensive power) are greeted by Raph-chan and Chris. There are only 3 days until the next Catasthrope Wave strikes, and Kizuna remembers her summoning as a Cardinal Hero to defeat the Emperor Dragon, somehow analogous to Naofumi's own summoning. Chris warns them of Glass, L'Arc and Therese coming at them. Back to the temple, Kazuki, being healed by his two bodyguard girls, is scolded by Kyo for having lost Raphtalia as his "experiment body" with the Vassal Katana. Kazuki tries to move, but the wound made by Raphtalia proves fatal to him. Another girl comes to Kyo, assuring to eliminate anyone who opposes him, as they both see Ethnobalt's Vassal Boat departing nearby.

As the Vassal Boat lands safely in Sikul's castle town, Glass is happy to be reunited with Kizuna, but the Hunting Hero soon scolds Glass and her party for going to Melromarc intending to kill the Legendary Heroes and save their own world from the Waves. L'Arc leaves the group to go somewhere with one of the castle butlers, and Therese explains that L'Arc is the young king of Sikul (which explains why the butler called L'Arc "young master"). Kizuna still imagines there must be another way to end the Waves and save all worlds without further sacrifices, and asks Naofumi to let her help him defeat Kyo, which he accepts. Meanwhile, Kyo is working to resurrect Kazuki and agrees to concede "power" to Kazuki's bodyguard girls. Next day, walking around the town, Naofumi's and Glass's parties are planning the eventual battle against Kyo (and Naofumi teases L'Arc by calling him "young master", much to the Scythe Hero's irritation). They soon arrive at Romina's shop to buy and upgrade equipments (Raphtalia comments how much the relationship between Kizuna and Romina is so much similar to Naofumi and Erhard). Suddenly, something scares the neabry town residents, and a girl with a sword shows up, her name Yomogi Emarl, vowing to kill them all for Kyo.

Filo launches a song enchantment to strengthen the party, while Rishia, Kizuna and Raphtalia (who, somehow, seems to recognise her enemy's sword) jump into direct battle. L'Arc, Glass and Therese go into action as well. Kizuna warns Yomogi to throw away her sword, which she reveals was made by Kyo himself, but she refuses to stop fighting. The weapon then tries to form a parasitic link with Yomogi, but Naofumi's and Glass's parties combine efforts to destroy the perilous weapon. Even defeated, Yomogi still believes Kyo's "noble goal" on stopping the Waves. Later that day, Kizuna takes Yomogi to her own house in order to interrogate her about Kyo's hideout, how to permanently end the Waves without destroying worlds, and also to persuade Yomogi into defecting to their side. Naofumi, still sad for Ost Horai's death, disagrees with Kizuna due to Kyo's perverse nature and instead goes to plan their assault against Kyo, with the others following him. Once inside Kizuna's home, Yomogi tells her childhood friendship with Kyo and how she started following him along, but now she wants to stop him for all his atrocious acts, even if she means to die with him.

The next day, Romina has upgraded all their equipment - which include a new Barbarian Armor for Naofumi (made from the Emperor Dragon crystal and the Spirit Tortoise's power core), a sheath for Raphtalia's Vassal Katana and even a new "pajama" for Filo with increased offensive capability. The bill, however, is to be paid by L'Arc, as he is the young king of Sikul. The Vassal Boat suddenly appears, but Kizuna notices something wrong about the Wave countdown... meanwhile, in his laboratory, Kyo managed to instantly create a Calamity Wave, showing Yomogi that his "noble goal" of ending the Waves was but a fraud, his actual objective was to create a Wave instead. They are all teleported towards Kyo's base, and Kizuna has her first view of what a Wave of Calamity really is.

Light Novel & Manga Differences

 * TBA

Trivia

 * Information to be added later.