We’re almost done with the show, maybe now we can actually thwart an evil scheme?
So, this episode is mostly setup for the inevitable finale. Rashomaru tries to leave the Masked Demons and gets mind controlled, the Shinsengumi finally find out what’s up with those map drawings and the pentagram they draw, and the Choshu make their move to create the mystic pentagram of doom.
Todo also manages to discover that the court Onmyoji (Astrologer) is the mastermind of the masked demons, using his dark arts with the intent of taking over the world.
The Shinsengumi (plus mr. crossdresser, the most fun character in this show and thus someone whose name I should really have bothered to relate properly) try to stop the Choshu from hitting the target shrines for the Masked Demons ritual, but arrive at least a little late at all of them. Most of the duos find soldiers in various states of capturing the shrines (including our buddy finding his clansmen having sacrificed their lives for the evil scheme with the spirit weapons), but Ichibanboshi finds the possessed Rashomaru, at which point a giant skeleton monster is summoned with him as the core, the very same that destroyed the previous (real) Shinsengumi.
That seems like about enough for an episode.
It probably sounds like I’m being harsh on the show, and that’s not entirely fair. In the pantheon of shows that have honestly done wrong, Shine On! doesn’t even rate. There are levels on which it fails, like letting its heroes get anything meaningful done, and the visual style, while something I appreciate, is not for everyone. The characters are more dimensional than I had feared, but still fairly basic as would be expected of such a large cast. But it’s not a terribly good show, so I’m kind of glad we’ll soon be seeing it off.