Asirpa & Tsurumi finally meet face-to-face, and things go about as you would expect. Interestingly enough, unlike with his men, the lies from Tsurumi ended up stopping, and we see the truth. It is clear that, unlike with Hijikata, there are no plans for the Ainu in his future. Of course the Ainu come first for Asirpa so there is no surprise for her to be as bold as she ended up being.
Still, finally we see Sugimoto go with what Asirpa was aiming for. For the first time we see him following her lead and treating her like a partner. The big thing is for him to respect her judgment, and at the same time she followed his lead in finding a way to escape. We have seen the flashbacks of Tsurumi’s lies and knew that Asirpa would never fall for it. Although Asirpa saying she is willing to go to hell with Sugimoto is interesting. The real question is if she will stick with her guns when she needs to take action.
This episode covered a lot of ground, covering chapters 211 to 216. They did cut the run with the polar bear in chapters 215 & 216, which is understandable.