After the information bombshell that is "there’s no entrance to the capital," how will our party of Yesmas find their way inside? But before worrying about that, they still need to get past the Forest of Needles... Just 4 episodes left to go (including this episode), so we'll be reaching the climax of this story soon. You'll find my thoughts on the anime as a novel reader below, and any news released over the past week regarding this series in the section afterwards.
Episode 9 Thoughts
We open with Nott checking out the bulletin board, and he notices a report stating the scarred-eyed man was captured. The anime seems to want to overtly imply the connection between Nott and this gang of Yesma hunters, as the novel stated the paper was text-only so that the readers could connect the dots themselves.
After the OP, we see the party doing a final check before heading out. I would’ve liked it if they had at least kept the light banter/teasing between Jess and Mister Pig from the novel (Nott had some too with Mister Pig), because as Mister Pig puts it in the novel, it was to “avert their eyes from the fear of death.” The scene ends with Nott handing over a few tools to Jess, and they set out.
I like the brief dialogue addition that Nott was on the lookout for watery areas to ensure the usability of Mister Pig anklets, but even more interesting is the fact that the anime decided to insert a moment that was cut from episode 7. The party originally spotted a hecklepon when they were outside the church trying to rescue Brace, but Nott couldn’t kill it due to not wanting to draw attention (it escaped by the time they wrapped up the rescue operation, and he was pissed). The same principle was applied here, with Nott readying his dagger’s flames but ultimately forced not to kill it for safety reasons. Unfortunately, they were still spotted, as a ninja-like bandit attacks them.
It’s here that much of the story progression and action in this scene was changed, not really for the better either in my opinion. Since the changes were so drastic, I’ll go over what occurred for the rest of the episode before delving into the novel’s original approach.
The anime has the party hide, with just Nott and Mister Pig welcoming their assaulters. I liked the throwaway line Nott gives about Mister Pig being emergency food when questioned (a little fan service for novel readers), but I’m not a fan of Nott being supposedly caught off-guard by the ninja sneaking up from behind, as he’s a good huntsman who should’ve been prepared for that. Brace then gives herself up, pretending to be Jess; I did like how fast Nott catches on that this gang of Yesma hunters are after Jess, so he followed up by acting like Brace is Jess. Points deducted for the anime over-explaining this though, since Brace immediately starts conveying this exact same info as she walks towards the hunters…
The gang’s boss then shows up - it turns out he’s the same guy who wanted Jess dead back in Quilti, and the one Nott holds a grudge against 5 years ago. What a cruel twist of fate.
It’s time for the counterattack as Nott asks Mister Pig to figure out a way to get them out of this bind. It’s interesting that Mister Pig was able to create a wall of water, as the anklet’s water manipulation powers are supposed to be fairly mediocre, but I guess it was just water gushing out from the floor? Anyway, Nott takes out the ninja and they hide to figure out an actual strategy.
We get another cruel dose of reality as the hunter boss recounts Ys’ fate, and then checks out Brace’s body. Nott is then forced into action to create a diversion for Jess and Mister Pig to escape, as well as to try and rescue Brace (obviously not wanting another repeat of Ys’ incident).
The battle ensues, with Nott and Rossi taking out most of the Yesma hunters; but just as Rossi was about to help Brace retreat, the boss knocks them down with a shockwave of sorts. It’s here Mister Pig saves them by knocking down a nearby tree (anime doesn’t explain how, but I’ll discuss this during the novel’s approach talk later), and gets Brace out of there.
However, this reunion was short-lived as the one hunter that had escaped earlier was waiting in the shadows to finish the two Yesmas off. Brace spots the man, and takes the attack for Jess to give them a chance. After Brace gives a quick monologue, we cut to the title card.
Jess’s scream causes the boss to notice her, but luckily he was still preoccupied with Nott. And just before the other hunter managed to increase his kill count, Nott was able to shoot a flame wave to save Jess. However, there’s no time to dwell on Brace, so the episode ends with Nott having Jess and Mister Pig get a move on.
Again, to be quite honest, I’m not the biggest fan of how this part of the story was adapted, given all the changes that were made. Starting with the first encounter scene with the ninja’s sneak attack, the novel actually had the ninja throw a follow up attack at Jess when Nott had them hide. This resulted in Mister Pig jumping in the way to take the attack for her, but Brace also moved in front so that she could cover for both Jess and Mister Pig.
As Jess gets into hiding, Brace collapses onto the floor with a resigned smile, and dies after turning over to face the sky.
The gang of Yesma hunters then arrive, and Mister Pig uses his quick thinking to pretend Brace is Jess by rushing to Brace’s side and squealing. This fools the gang into thinking Jess died, as Nott and Mister Pig are then introduced to the boss.
The dialogue that follows was mostly adapted in the anime, as Nott spits his anger at the boss and the boss recounts what he subjected Ys to. However, Nott’s purpose here was actually to distract them so that Mister Pig could come up with a plan to cause havoc.
And what a cool plan Mister Pig comes up with, as he utilizes the knowledge that coniferous trees don’t have deep roots. By freezing the roots and liquefying the soil around it, the tree will naturally topple over.
After toppling a tree to create that first distraction, the battle begins and Mister Pig switches between creating icy ground and potholes for the hunters and their horses to stumble on, and knocking down more trees. The battle as a whole was pretty exciting to read, with Nott and Rossi getting in plenty of action, so the anime’s butchered version was frankly a letdown… Not to mention the lack of Mister Pig’s strategic or knowledge demonstrations.
Lastly, I wished they had kept the original parting lines, with Nott telepathically using the cliché phrase “Don’t worry about me, you two go on ahead.” then Mister Pig responding with “You better not die.” and Nott finally saying “You too.” I know it goes without saying at this point that Nott acknowledges Mister Pig as an equal, but hearing it be spoken (telepathically) just has that extra weight to it.
While I highlighted what I enjoyed about this section of the novel, I definitely recommend that you at least check out the first part of vol 1 ch 4 in order to fully experience this bit of story for yourself.
That one week delay really didn’t feel like it was enough, considering the anime reused quite a few moments from earlier episodes, and still lacked a strong, cohesive action scene. I do hope the focus was placed on the final 3 episodes, as we’re back to just the original duo of Jess and Mister Pig as they reach the end of their journey.
I would like to leave you all with this video that Aniplex uploaded after this episode aired. They posted a new KV, and PV3 which has quite a few lines from the upcoming episodes. Those of you that have read the novel, I’m sure you know which moments they belong to.
News Update Section
The anime site was updated again with a third theme to signify the story is reaching its climax.
The January issue of Megami Magazine released on Nov 30 features a pin-up of Jess in a bunny girl outfit.
Heat the Pig Radio episode 5 was delayed due to episode 9 also being delayed for a week, but it will feature Nott's VA (Itou Kento) as the guest.
Looks like there’ll be a Valentine’s Day event hosted for Heat the Pig Liver next year on February 10, you can read more about it here.
LisAni posted an interview with Myuk about the ED for Heat the Pig Liver, which you can read here.
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