K: Return of Kings

Episode 12

So were Fushimi's actions all a planned ploy or not? Episode 12 wastes little time in revealing the truth, as an early flashback shows Munakata explaining to Yata that he had, indeed, assigned Fushimi to seem to betray him and infiltrate the Green Clan in the advent that he could not prevent the Dresden Slates from being taken. After all, since Fushimi had a history of turning his back on a king, he was the only one who could have been convincing enough to pull it off. Granted, it was an exceedingly dangerous mission, and so Munakata wondered to Yata if he thought Fushimi might protect his own neck by genuinely betraying him when push came to shove. But on that, at least, we already had our answer from last episode.

Hey, I'll freely admit that I was misled; I had thought that the writing might actually be a little fresher than that, but instead it played the more typical angle. The series executes it relatively well, though, as it gives a chance for Yata to reunite with Fushimi as part of a rescue mission while the other Homra members try to secure the Green Clan's base. (Remember that crashing airship last episode? It apparently had a good chunk of Homra on it, too.) Meanwhile the rest of Scepter 4 arrives just in time to back up Munakata when he starts to get in real trouble against the Gray King, and apparently it was them that the Prime Minister previously heard storming his building. While Munakata was being beaten solo, the arrival of his back-up shifts the battle just enough in his favor for him to triumph. Meanwhile Shiro and company take advantage of the path cleared by Homra to advance towards the Slates, but they are stopped by Yukari. A (presumably final?) Kuroh/Yukari duel is in the making, but that will play out next episode.

For all that, the real meat of the episode is the interaction between Yata and Fushimi and their combined effort to take down Scythe Boy. Although Seri and Izumo make the neatest couple, Yata and Fushimi have the series' most interesting relationship, and the heart of it is on display here. Sure, their fight is fun to watch; unlike when the two battled Scythe Boy earlier this season, they are attacking in sync this time, and that makes all the difference. Complementing each other so well can only come about, though, because they finally came to terms with each other during a scene where Yata is fleeing with a wounded Fushimi. Their back-and-forth peaks in one of the season's defining moments, when in response to Fushimi's insistence that he is a traitor, Yata explains that his current commitment to the Blue King, even in the face of great danger, shows that the Blue King was actually his king all along. It's an epiphany for Fushimi, and perhaps also for Yata, too, and it transforms their connection; not only does it ease some of the guilt the Fushimi had apparently been feeling about turning his back on Homra, but it also helps Yata to finally accept Fushimi's actions. That makes both into more well-rounded characters than they had been, as well as a truly fearsome duo.

The series' claim to being an action series is better-supported this episode, with several battle scenes to liven things up and the level of pontificating reduced (but not entirely gone, sadly). Most importantly, though, this is one of the few episodes in this season which finds a reasonable balance between action and exposition.

Rating: B

K: Return of Kings is currently streaming on Viz.com.