Kannazuki no Miko Mechatalk: Part Three – Ame no Murakumo & Orochi

Took almost a month after Take no Yamikazuchi’s mechatalk due to real life commitments which is rather hectic lately. But I proudly present the Third and Final Kannazuki no Miko mechatalk! This one will be dedicated to the true main respresentation of the force of Good against Evil in the series, Ame no Murakumo and Orochi. After laying some groundworks with other characters that played a role in Kannazuki, I would believe that these 2 eternal adversaries serve as the fitting final destination of this Mechatalk series. While it won’t be as extensive as Take no Yamikazuchi, I will still do some proper job for this one.

In the universe of Kannazuki no Miko, the endless conflict between the Good and Evil do take place in the fabric of reality. And on the moon, there lies a hidden ruined shrine which still fulfill its purpose and had a sword like object lay dormant until the fated confrontation.

But whenever the ultimate representation for the force of evil in this setting, Orochi fully awakened to continue its ambition of world domination, with the Ritual completed by the Solar and Lunar Miko, that Sword awakened and becomes the Justice fighting robot known as Ame no Murakumo.

Ame no Murakumo is a literal Justice fighting robot which exist only to purge the Ultimate representation of Evil; Orochi out of existence whenever it manifested physically. Throughout all of their cycles of conflict, The Solar and Lunar maiden need to complete a particular ritual to awaken Ame no Murakumo. Once awakened, Ame no Murakumo will straightaway confront Orochi and its fragments without any hesitation.

As Kannazuki’s ultimate representation for the Force of Good, Ame no Murakumo is literally armed to the teeth with blades all over its body which it mainly use the ones on its Armguard and head. With its power level, Ame no Murakumo obviously make the short work of the Fragments of Orochi as shown in the anime’s final episode. But how about the Orochi itself?

When the Negative energy accumulated by the Fragments of Orochi are sufficient, the Ultimate representation of Evil in Kannazuki no Miko; Orochi is awakened. Resulted from the amalgamation of all Orochi’s Fragment, Orochi is a giant Evil Robot who only exist to continue of its ambition to plunge the world into darkness.

As the Big Bad Final Boss Mecha, Orochi’s physical form is enormous befitting its status, easily towering over Ame no Murakumo which is its half of its size. Being the manifestation of evil, Orochi fights like mindless beast most of the time. But it is still lucid enough and possess capability to  conjure weapons out of thin air and wield it, more than capable to give Ame no Murakumo a rough beating in a slugfest and even close enough to finish off Ame no Murakumo in the cycle where Kannazuki no Miko takes place. However, there is a reason why Ame no Murakumo managed to defeat Orochi in every cycle.

In the setting of Kannazuki no Miko, the Ame no Murakumo awakening ritual took slight deviation due to the Lunar Miko, Chikane regained her memory from previous cycle and refusing to partake the awakening ritual, taking care of the Orochi Problem in her own way.

In order to complete the sealing process of Orochi, In each cycle one of the Miko have to be sacrificed through a duel between Lunar and Solar Miko. In the previous cycle, the Lunar Miko ended up slaying the Solar Miko and this severely traumatized the former which Chikane regained this particular memory as her pent-up desire for Himeko, the current Solar Miko goes out of control due to certain event.

Ame no Murakumo being the epitome of Lawful Good alignment however, take none of Chikane’s nonsense and could have used some coercion with its power to get the Lunar Miko back in line even if it means increasing Orochi’s odds in winning. Because as the physical manifestation of Orochi’s slayer, it still has its own will and do anything necessary to complete its duty. After the Solar Miko attempt some persuasion which ended with some tender moments, Chikane decided to perform her Lunar Miko once again only after concluding that she will be the sacrifice in the cycle.

As Solar and Lunar Miko return to their duty and serve as Ame no Murakumo’s power source, Ame no Murakumo regenerate its damage and activate its awakening form to proceed completing its duty just like countless previous cycle. Enveloped in Golden Aura, Ame no Murakumo prove to be more than a match to Orochi. With the help of Take no Yamikazuchi which is permanently purified, Orochi is sealed again in the current cycle and the timeline resets to restore the destruction incurred in the conflict.

With the Mechatalk for Orochi and Ame no Murakumo being wrapped up, the Kannazuki no Miko Mechatalk concluded its run properly. While I will never be able to get into Yuri and can’t even take the on in Kannazuki seriously when Saber and Sakura’s VA were the ones playing the role, as I stated before I do see some merit from Kannazuki no Miko to the extent of even bothering to make a dedicated Mechatalk series for it.

To be frank, Kannazuki no Miko is a Mid at best as a mecha series. But I do appreciate the essence that the mechas from this series tried to convey which would have been a Top Tier stuff if executed properly. There are plenty of rooms for improvement of execution for the mechas in Kannazuki notably the Concept for the Orochi, Take no Yamikazuchi. Too bad I don’t think Kaishaku has the necessary talent to create a perfectly woven backstory for Kannazuki series given his expertise is not in mecha. Also I still wonder why SRW never picked up Kannazuki since it is more than capable to fix some flaws that the series had and perhaps could have given more satisfying conclusion. But who knows there will be someone who could come up with better option and perhaps even myself could give it a go in the future.