Bitter Orange

Bitter Orange (橙, Daidai) is the fourth episode of the Kyoukai no Kanata anime series, released on October 23, 2013. It was storyboarded and directed by Yasuhiro Takemoto, with animation direction by Chiyoko Ueno.

Despite the odds, Akihito comes to rescue Mirai from the Hollow Shadow and the mysterious Sakura Inami. Together, they escape the youmu's illusions and broke through. However, as the Hollow Shadow targets Akihito, not only was Mirai confronted by a past memory, but she has to sacrifice another friend to defeat the Hollow Shadow. Meanwhile, something inside Akihito becomes a challenging threat in itself.

Synopsis
As Sakura Inami lies motionless, Akihito takes the chance to take the weakened Mirai out of harm's way. Meanwhile, Mitsuki asks a favor from Hiroomi to look for Akihito. Despite having fought dozens of youmu during the early moments of the night, Hiroomi decides to follow his sister's request.

Mirai and Akihito are still stuck inside the Hollow Shadow's illusions, and due to Akihito's incapability to fight a Spirit World Warrior and Mirai's fatigue, they are forced to rely on the illusions to confuse Sakura. However, the Hollow Shadow soon manifests itself as Yui Inami and attempts to finish off Mirai, only to be stopped when Mirai snaps out of her delusions of Yui surviving. Using her blade, Mirai strikes the grotesque figure that emerges and soon, the illusions disappear, followed by a potentially lethal rain of Mirai's own blood.

Sakura Inami leaves shortly after and Akihito decides to approach Mirai. But the Hollow Shadow, managing to survive Mirai's potent blood, snatches Akihito's body. Mirai is confronted with the need to stab Akihito once again and Akihito urges her to do so. Although reminded of what happened to Yui in the past, Mirai stabs through Akihito and forces the Hollow Shadow out of Akihito's body. She then finishes off the youmu before it can recover.



Mirai is relieved to see Akihito survive the ordeal. However, Ayaka, Shizuku and Hiroomi appear to confront another problem: the manifestation of Akihito's youmu side. Mirai watches as the three Spirit World Warriors attempt to supress Akihito — a challenge in itself due to his abilities. However, even with the powers of three Spirit World Warriors, Akihito breaks through, leaving the battlefield scarred by his powers and the three unable to fight.



At that moment, Mirai understands what Akihito meant and apologizes for being stubborn. Then, Mirai rushes towards Akihito and tackles him, using her remaining power to suppress Akihito's youmu side.

Minutes later, Akihito wakes up to the destruction he created earlier and apologizes to Mirai.

The next day, Mirai eats back the iron she left after the battle with the Hollow Shadow. She is shocked that the youmu they defeated was worth a measly 200 yen, and while Akihito is surprised himself, he doubts that Ayaka would lie to them. Akihito and Mirai's relationship at this stage has improved, now understanding each other's circumstances.

Meanwhile, the real stone of the Hollow Shadow is in Izumi's hands, brought to the head of the Nase family. Izumi mentions "stalling the Spirit World Warriors Society," and leaves with a pleased expression.

Characters
List of characters in order of appearance:

Characters in italic are only seen briefly and have yet to make a proper appearance.

Trivia

 * The name of this episode originated from a fruit which is known for its bitter taste and medicinal properties.
 * The color may be linked to Mirai, who has similarly colored hair, and her bitterness towards the death of Yui Inami.
 * The fruit's name, daidai, originally meant "several generations" (代代 or 代々), alluding to the bloodline of the Kuriyama family, which is known to many as "prone to misfortunes".

Unanswered Questions

 * Why did Izumi Nase retrieve the Hollow Shadow's stone and present it to the head of the Nase family?
 * What did Izumi mean when she mentioned "stalling the Spirit World Warrior Society"?
 * What was the phenomenon that Mitsuki saw in the forest?