With now weeks of buildup, ominous foreshadowing, and unraveling mysteries, the day of Bloody Halloween has finally arrived, and it’s time for Toman and Valhalla to put it all on the line and earn this arc its violent title…next week. Despite the name, “Open Fire” is more like a couple of warning shots across the neutral zone, as both sides assemble their various chess pieces and make 1000% sure the audience knows what the stakes are and how important this is. There’s even an honest-to-god montage of trailer shots with just about every important character (and Mitsuya) steeling themselves for the coming conflict.
That could make for some frustrating viewing, but thankfully this episode justifies its time spent better than last week. For one, it sets up some immediate stakes about how Takemichi needs to change the past next: preventing Baji and Kazutora’s deaths during…
