Its the fourth episode of the series and as such its time for the almost obligatory “swim suit” episode for the anime series. Fortunately there is also time for some plot development though this may not be apparant on first viewing.

Yumiko is visiting Misa as she suspects that Misa is the one behind the Daemon summoning. While Misa admits the code on the laptop does resemble one of hers she denies responsibility. Koyomi then wonders how they know each and Misa replies they ran into each other a long time ago.

After investigating the Code further Misa discovers that part of it is developed from a worm she developed that played a melody on Christmas Eve 2006 but has additional code introduced. Misa then agrees to help Yumiko investigate.

Continuing from the previous episode we learn the reason that Yumiko wanted to see Misa is that she suspected that she was to blame, and as it turns out it looks like she was partly right with the revelation that the Daemon producing code was developed from an old worm of hers. Given the first episode it is also clear that the time they initially ran into each other was the events of 6 years ago.

There is also a hint that this code is linked to the events of the first episode as it was designed to activate on Christmas Eve 2006 and the events of the first episode take place near Christmas given Misa’s Santa costume (this also places the events of the series in 2012). On a side note even though Misa is not responsible up to this point there is more than enough circumstantial evidence that would have allowed her to have been revealed as the villain of the series given that she was present for the first Daemon sighting and the code is originally hers.

This leads to Yumiko, Koyomi, Kaho, Misa and her brother visiting a waterpark to “investigate” which soon turns out to largely be a fabrication on Misa’s part.

At the waterpark Koyomi accidently knocks a fully clothed Yumiko into the water, this leads to Yumiko thinking Misa planned it and after a quick change into a bathing suit starts to attack her with summoned swords. The conflict is resolved after Misa distracts Yumiko then pushes Koyomi into her, turning all the remaining swords into Wash Basins.

While on the waterslide, Koyomi hears someone laughing (which Misa also heard earlier), this distracts her and causes her to land face down in the water and she later admits to Kaho that she can’t swim.

This part of the episode was largely humour based and to establish the main “threat” of the episode the jini of the title. It also further established that Koyomi is both clumsy given her dunking of Yumiko and accident on the slide but powerful given how she managed to cancel out Yumiko’s code when Misa pushed Koyomi into her.

The scene is also typical of the episode as a whole which for the most part is fairly light hearted, though there are a few darker moments amidst the levity of the situation.

It is then revealed that the real reason Misa came to the waterpark is revealed when she meets a contact named Huang. Huang tells her that the worm was written by Jinzai Tsukumo, a programmer who died recently.

Misa then passes the information along to Yumiko but the subject of the conversation turns to Koyomi who Yumiko is concerned about stating that her way of magic is fatal for a mage and that she isn’t suited personality wise. Misa responds by saying ultimately it is Koyomi’s choice and that nothing has changed since 6 years ago.

In terms of importance to the series as a whole this is probably the most important part of the episode as it introduces Gary Huang who in later episodes we learn is the true mastermind behind events. Unfortunately I found it a little too obvious when watching for the first time that Huang would be implicated in events, for the simple reason he looked shifty and was dressed in black. What I did find surprising is that the scapegoat (Jinzai) actually turns up in a later episode and is not simply forgotten about or mentioned to actually be dead.

The scene between Yumiko and Misa is also interesting as it could imply that Misa and Yumiko do remember Koyomi being present 6 years ago but Yumiko wants Koyomi to not continue on for some reason but Misa thinks it is her own choice. On the other hand it could simply be honest concern on Yumiko’s part and the reference to 6 years ago is simply down to her rejecting Misa as a teacher given how she has a tendency (in Yumiko’s eyes) to abuse her magic for her own self interest. Unfortunately it is never made clear what is the case, though it should be noted that at the end of the series we see that Yumiko remembers Koyomi from that time though forgot her name.

As Kaho teaches Koyomi to swim, a rogue current takes her away from the shore, she then hears the laughing again which is followed by a large wave. She then struggles underwater and nearly drowns as she again hears the laughter.

She is eventually saved by Yumiko who gives Koyomi the kiss of life however after Koyomi awakens she passes out again. Misa takes care of Koyomi as she recovers, and mentions her mother died soon after her brother Soshiro was born and that it was her (Misa’s) fault.

There is some nice interaction between Kaho and Koyomi where Kaho teaches Koyomi to swim demonstrating that Kaho does care for Koyomi despite being a rather stoic character. The near drowning of Koyomi also demonstrates why the jini though seemingly benign given its laughter needs to be dealt with. The scene also establishes that with the possible exception of Soshiro everyone in the group cares for Koyomi on some level.

The information about Misa’s mother dying when young is also significant later on in the series, when it is revealed exactly why he is so ignorant of magic and it is directly related to Misa having to look after him.

After Misa and Koyomi return, Yumiko tells them she has detected a Code and suspects a Daemon is involved. After a failed search Koyomi asks Yumiko if all Daemons are bad as she felt like the Daemon was playing with her when she nearly drowned. It is at that moment the Daemon causes a Tidal Wave.

Yumiko responds to the wave by erecting a shield which is gradually pushed back. Misa then arrives and uses a spell to increase the viscosity of the water to reduce its energy. Unfortunately just after this Yumiko’s shield fails causing them both to get covered in gloop. Koyomi then hears the laughter again and Misa tells her that she knew Koyomi could hear her voice.

Everyone then goes into the maintenance area and Misa reveals a Jini is the culprit which appears in front of Koyomi. The Jini has become unstable and despite its benign intentions has become a danger to humans and cant be fixed forcing Yumiko to erase it to Koyomi’s regret.

As they return home Yumiko tells Koyomi that she should stop dealing with magic and that she is not suited to being a mage. Which leaves Koyomi visibly shocked.

I was fairly impressed with how the tidal wave situation was resolved by Misa, in that in terms of how you could stop a wall of water with magic, having it turn gelatenous so it uses up more energy is about as realistic as you can get. The scene after this again establishes that Misa is aware that Koyomi is highly sensitive when it comes to detecting magic. Shortly after this we are then reminded that Kaho is a lot like Sashiro in terms of magic sensitivity when she cant detect the jini despite it being right in front of her.

The conclusion of the episode is also slightly tragic and serves as a wake up call to Koyomi when she realises that the jini has to be killed and that nothing can be done to repair it. It is probably Yumiko seeing her reaction that leads to her warning Koyomi off magic at the end, since regardless of if she remembers Koyomi from 6 years ago, her experience then (and possibly since) with the darker side of magic is something she would not want Koyomi to experience. I also don’t think that Yumiko is being nasty in the scene but rather trying to demonstrate “tough love” towards Koyomi.

Moving on to the events of the first episode it was also a welcome relief to learn in the next episode preview that the fifth episode continues the events of the first episode and we get a better idea of how Koyomi got to the past.

In terms of my opinion of this episode, it is probably one on the weaker installments and not just because it is a “fan service, swim suit episode”. In terms of the larger plot aside from a couple of scenes it seems largely superflous to the larger story and given the series was limited to the now standard 13 episodes I think that the series would have been better served by combining elements of this and the previous episode, though given the series is based of light novels it may be that it is being faithful to how events proceed in them.

Episode Rating

6/10 – Fairly average episode with nothing that makes it particularly stand out