Gachireus is shocked when silent assassin Uden arrives on Earth.
Meanwhile, the whole Gang is enjoying a day of ping pong until Asuna’s freakish strength drives the ball right at Papa Naohisa’s forehead, knocking him out. Ui, Towa and Canalo help get Papa Naohisa to the hospital.
While Ui stays with her father, Towa and Canalo run into Uden who somehow sucks them into his chest.
Waizuru and Gachireus watch the battle from above. Waizuru believes Pricious must be on her way to Earth as well.
Back at the ping pong, Nada tells Koh about Pricious and how she is worse than anyone they’ve faced yet.
Nada changes the subject. He talks about how he used to hate and doubt himself, that he was never good enough to be chosen. But since meeting them all, he has learned that those things don’t matter. He is so excited now to be able to fight alongside the people who taught him that important lesson.
Nada says there’s still something that Koh lacks when it comes to protecting who you care about. But before he can say what it is, they realize Towa and Canalo haven’t come back yet so they all go out to search.
Koh, Melto and Asuna run into Uden who immediately captures them inside his body.
Koh finds himself in a strange labyrinth and henshins when Uden appears.
Bamba and Nada find Uden who somehow unleashes Koh’s technique on them. They wonder if Uden has stolen it.
Koh is forced to dehenshin and wonders why the more he uses his skill, the weaker he becomes. The others, also captured inside Uden, realize the same as they too have been fighting him.
Bamba henshins as does Nada for the first time ever. He enjoys getting to do his roll call.
They take on Uden. Nada compliments Bamba having become stronger. But Bamba soon gets trapped inside Uden as well. Bamba realizes how Uden works and he warns the others not to fight.
Uden absorbs the power of their techniques. So all they can do is just run and hide for now.
Nada continues fighting Uden on the outside while the others try to fend off Uden without henshining inside. Also realizing what he must do, Nada gives it all he’s got to try and find a way to release the others.
Uden is able to easily handle Nada, but Nada refuses to give up, no matter the risk involved.
Inside, Melto feels defeated. But Koh says they must all believe in Nada.
Nada charges toward Uden. The sound of a sword clanging against armor is heard. But Nada says he has Uden right where he wants him. He slams his helmet at Uden’s chest.
Nada’s helmet shatters off his head as an opening appears for Koh to be able to jump out.
Koh thanks Nada. But Nada suddenly falls to his knees.
Koh sees blood dripping out of Nada. He tries to figure out a way to help, but Nada insists he is fine and tells Koh he must defeat Uden and save the others.
Nada collapses to the ground. He tells Koh that his soul is in his hands.
Nada is struggling to breathe. But he musters up all the strength he has left to say that in the end, he was able to meet good comrades.
Nada takes his last breath. Suddenly, the Gaisorg armor absorbs Nada and turns into a new Soul and weapon in Koh’s hands.
Uden sends a finisher at Koh, but he quickly henshins. Taking the two new pieces left to him by Nada, Koh uphenshins to Max Ryusoul Red.
Koh unleashes a powerful fury on Uden who is completely overwhelmed. As Koh declares their souls will never crumble, he unleashes an Excellent Everlasting Claw Max IkeSoul finisher at Uden.
The others are released from Uden’s body and they hurry into the warehouse where they immediately realize what has happened.
A teary-eyed Koh turns to look at them.
While they sit by the river overlook, Ui comes running toward them. She shows them a video Nada recorded on her computer.
Nada wanted to tell them that he was going to go on a trip by himself to train, hoping to not get in their way while he does. He tells them not to miss him too much.
Nada says that while the Druidons are powerful, he is never scared whenever he is with them.
Nada lists all the great qualities each of them has that he feels together can defeat the Druidons. He promises that when he gets back, they can be an even stronger team.
Nada says as soon as they can return peace to the world, they should play ping pong again. Talk about dumb things.
Nada says goodbye. But he also has a P.S. at the end of his video.
“Everyone… thank you.”
Episode Thoughts
I HATE!!! getting spoiled on Twitter! No matter how hard I try, Twitter always thinks I’d like to get spoilers recommended to me. But @Twitter, you are wrong! Lol
So I’ve known Nada died a week before I got to watch the episode. I definitely wish I had been shocked in the episode instead of getting shocked on Twitter.
But at the same time, it wasn’t any less impactful. The episode was definitely setting the scene from the start. The entire Gang having fun playing ping pong before later unleashing an assassin on the Ryusoulgers (one that’s less cheery as Assassin-chan though lol) and then killing off Nada who is fresh off a great redemption arc.
What made it all even more emotional was that scene between Koh and Nada at the ping pong place. In addition to us knowing he was ready to kill himself to stop Gaisorg from causing any more harm, Nada tells Koh here that they basically talked him off the ledge. He expresses how he let his inner demons consume him. But Koh and the others were able to show him that he can fight those demons. The feelings of jealousy, being power hungry and just feeling not good enough. Nada found a reason to live other than just competition and gaining a Ryusoul.
So of course, after he has expressed that realization, he dies. But in a most heroic way of course. He made the ultimate sacrifice fighting for the people he cared about. And that already is enough proof that Nada had become a completely different and better person after meeting the Ryusoulgers. He knew he was likely going to die if he charged at Uden. But he felt that he would feel worse if he didn’t.
That the scene where the blood drips out of Nada was so subtle. They didn’t actually show how Uden was able to fatally injure Nada. We are just left to piece together what happened. That was an amazing bit of writing there. And directing to as Koh comes to the realization of what just happened.
At the end of the episode, I honestly thought they would end with that scene of them in the warehouse. But again, nope. A distressed Ui comes running to them with what at first could be interpreted as a suicide note. (Which is not too strange for Ryusoulger if it was.) But instead is Nada’s farewell and, for the first time, a Thank You to his friends.
Nada’s sacrifice of course gave Koh (and I would love if the others get to use it too) the Max Power. And Max RyusoulRed is a beautiful suit. We thought last episode was the climax to the arc. But it was really this episode. It was all leading up to the Max power up. But not only a power up, it was really a big arc for the Ryusoulgers as well. At times breathtaking, at times just silly fun. This arc really gave the Ryusoulgers a lot of depth that might have been missing in the first couple of episodes.
But looking back now at the journey to this point, I have to say the show might have just known exactly what it was doing this whole time. I think the season has actually built up to this point very well. Of course, I still think a few of the early stories were done too soon even if the stories themselves were good and important to do (Ui’s suicide attempt, for example). But looking back, the peeling of the layers has actually worked very well. And moving forward now toward the final episodes, the mission is clearer, our heroes are more defined.
Ryusoulger is very much on the right track.
Elsewhere, I wish Uden had stuck around longer though. He seems like he’d make a good foil for the Ryusoulgers, especially if he is like a right-hand of Pricious who also looks like a great character coming up as well.