10 Second Anime - Kyoukai no Kanata - Episode 4

Kyoukai no Kanata - Episode 4

Dream monsters can attack through dreams? What a concept! The big bad this week really likes cute girls in glasses, so Mirai better watch out.

The Hollow Shadow sure lives up to its billing as something to be feared, and also reminds us that youmu are dream monsters. This particular one sucked in three spirit warriors and created a labyrinth from their memories. Lots of good action here, very much like an adventure game (like the Scarecrow zone in Batman: Arkham Asylum), where you have to strike down the central figure before you can escape. After the central body was hurt enough to give up the illusion, we see how cursed, and poisonous, Mirai's blood really is, as it rained down and scorched every living thing it touched. Sakura escaped after the blood rain, so I'm sure we'll see her again. But the battle isn't over, as the Hollow Shadow's external form possesses Akihito. Mirai had to strike him to force the monster out of him, as she did with her friend Yui, but this time she was able to defeat it, leaving its inert crystal form.

Fortunately for Akihito, he's immortal, so he'll get over being stabbed through the chest. Unfortunately for everyone else, trying to hold the Hollow Shadow inside himself, while still suppressing his own youmu half leads to big trouble. If you thought the Hollow Shadow was the Big Bad this episode, you were wrong. Akihito easily overwhelms two talented spirit warriors and a youmu barrier user. Mirai's blood forced the youmu half back down as she embraced him, and Akihito came back to his senses.

There were some interesting notes in the epilogue: Mitsuki's family stole the Hollow Shadow crystal and substituted a cheap one for Mirai to get a bounty, and that actual crystal was shown to a old man behind a screen, presumably the clan's patriarch, before being handed over to the Spirit Warrior Society, to placate them. Is he a youmu too? Do they have some agenda concerning Akihito? We saw Izumi, the oldest sister, create a large barrier to contain the larger attacks from Akihito, but she also created a mirror like barrier so no one could see what they were actually fighting. Giving the Society the Hollow Shadow crystal might be a ruse to explain the destruction in the forest, or a bribe to look the other way for now. We're starting to see the larger story take form.