REVIEW: ‘To Your Eternity,’ Episode 10 – “New Family”

To Your Eternity is a shonen fantasy anime produced by Brian’s Base. Just as Fushi and Gugu manage to help Rean escape from her parents’ servant, the mysterious creature that attacked Fushi on his way to the shop returns to fight him once more in To Your Eternity Episode 10.

Seeing the mysterious tree creature reappear, and this time in the stolen form of March, was quite the note to close the last episode on. Given that I still get teary-eyed when March shows up in the opening credits, seeing her form being usurped by something with hurtful intent toward Fushi was more than enough to get me angry. March was a glorious ray of sunshine, and to see her form lashing out at Fushi elevated an already dire situation with some powerful emotion. I just hope her lingering presence isn’t used too frequently to provoke an emotional response from the viewers. While it works, for now, I’d hate to see her impact be dulled through gratuitous overuse.

To help Fushi face his pursuer, despite Fushi’s insistence he not help, Gugu must temporarily return to the shop to acquire some tools to best this menacing threat. Once he gets there, however, he finds Rean’s family has finally caught up to her. Even as Fushi fights for his immortal life, Gugu is delayed as he helps his friend confront her own problems.

Now to clarify, To Your Eternity Episode 10 doesn’t have Gugu just waste time at the shop confronting some slightly over-controlling parents while Fushi is in a life or death struggle. There are reasons why this lesser situation is such a distraction for the young man. I just am going to avoid giving them here for the sake of spoilers. Suffice it to say, Gugu doesn’t leave his recently declared brother in danger simply due to a passing distraction. The reasons are skillfully designed to allow both moments to happen without feeling like anyone’s priorities are severely messed up.

Since the plot was able to deliver these dual confrontations in this way, I really loved that they were both included in To Your Eternity Episode 10. It allowed the story to present both a physical threat as well as an emotional one for the characters to face.

Perhaps the best part of the confrontation at the shop, however, was Pioran. This character has been utilized repeatedly to great effect since she and Fushi set out to find Booze Man. Just when I think I have her pegged, she ends up surprising me. But not in a way that feels out of character.

To Your Eternity Episode 10’s animation does a great job capturing the confrontation with its mysterious assailant. As the fight escalates, the impressive nature of the attacker is put on a full, terrifying display.

With a packed story that delivers both action and emotion, To Your Eternity Episode 10 manages to continue delivering the high standard of quality storytelling the show has established for itself.

To Your Eternity Episode 10 is streaming now on Crunchyroll.