Petals of Reincarnation 1×2 and 1×3 Review: “The Way of the Returner” and “Declaration of War”

Even though I’ve been enjoying watching Petals of Reincarnation, the events that occurred in episode 2, titled ‘The Way of the Returner’, and episode 3, titled ‘Declaration of War’, progressed the narrative a bit too fast for me.

If you have kept up with my decades of reviewing content, you would know that while I call out TV shows dragging storylines, I also call out rushed storylines. So, yeah, it’s been a while since I have seen a storyline progress as quickly as it did in episodes 2 and 3 of Petals of Reincarnation.

What could have been the perfect opportunity for the anime team to expand upon the manga and allow viewers to connect with the bunch of characters that were introduced, what was delivered kind of gave me whiplash. Like, are we supposed to care about the Returners or not? I just couldn’t find myself connecting with any of the expanded roster because the narrative gave me nothing to latch onto. And that’s disappointing because the current battles, going into episode 3, were life-or-death ones.

‘The Way of the Returner’ introduced viewers to the rest of the Forest of the Greats. Along with Haito and Neumann, the good guys team also consisted of Newton, Einstein/Ein, Nightingale, Hiroshi Funasaka, Picasso, and Hans Driesch. The respective abilities of some of the team members were showcased while hunting down and attacking John Wayne Gacy.

Of course, Newton could manipulate gravity. Einstein could teleport short distances. Hiroshi Funasaka was an immortal soldier. And Driesch could create copies of himself. As for Nightingale, she was the team healer. Picasso made drawings that could point to a possible future or serve as a clue toward a mystery or a person being tracked.

Even though most of the team welcomed Toya, I liked how not everybody was on board. The Forest of the Greats had been through a lot over the years before Toya joined their ranks (which I’ll get to in a bit). Also, realizing that Toya’s ability was that of legendary thief Ishikawa Goemon didn’t help his case. Neumann continued to remind the team that a person wasn’t defined by which talent they gained access to. What mattered was how said talent would be used for a person to be considered a Returner or a Sinner.

Neumann’s trust in Toya was appreciated, but as viewers, we already knew that her trust was misplaced. The debut episode had made it very clear that Toya was ready to use his talent to steal the abilities of other Returners and Sinners. He was putting up a friendly facade in front of the Forest of the Greats to learn more about how the mysterious dagger worked and to gain access to a variety of abilities ripe for stealing.

I assumed the narrative would keep Toya’s intentions a secret for a couple more episodes. But nopes, Haito confronted Toya over his true intentions during the second chapter. Not only did she agree to keep his secret, but she was also disappointed that Toya hadn’t tried to steal her ability. In Haito’s mind, Toya’s lack of interest in her ability meant she wasn’t strong enough to entice him to steal her power.

WTF?!

The characters in Petals of Reincarnation, especially the lead cast, are so out of whack that I can’t help but enjoy the mess. I can get my fix of goody-two-shoes leading men and women in the countless other anime that exist out there. Toya didn’t have time to be an outstanding leading man. At least, not yet.

Haito’s backstory revealed that she was adopted by a kendo master. As a way to repay his kindness, Haito worked hard to improve her kendo skills, but to no avail. Her desperation to become powerful and make her adoptive father proud is what led her to transform into a Returner. However, her ambition was fulfilled at a terrible price. Tapping into her abilities during a practice match with her adoptive father led to her unintentionally crippling him. Haito’s goal was to become a Complete Returner before heading back home to showcase her control over her skills.

Learning about Haito’s backstory made me wish some of the other characters had also been given layered pasts. It’s as if the narrative wanted to showcase some interesting takes on historical figures instead of fleshing out the reasoning behind their appearances and what they were supposed to contribute to the story. I have a bunch of questions about why anyone would want to become a Complete Returner, as well as when and why such a phenomenon came to be.

To be fair, episode 3 did give some answers regarding the battle between the Returners and the Sinners. However, the information lacked depth and felt more like a way to involve Seiya (Toya’s deceased older brother) in the storyline instead of allowing the plot to progress naturally. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Episode 2 also put Seiya’s best friend, Itsuki Kitazuka, on the chessboard. As an operative of the JSDF special forces, Itsuki had been keeping an eye on Returner and Sinner activities, which also included Toya’s involvement. I liked how disappointed someone naturally skilled as Itsuki was when he realized that Toya had become a Returner. Itsuki didn’t hold back when verbalizing his disdain at Toya needing to borrow an ability from a past life instead of working hard to excel on his own merit in the present. I couldn’t help but agree with Itsuki. Toya’s a loser of a protagonist.

However, I also couldn’t help but laugh when Itsuki mentioned how Seiya would have also been disappointed at Toya’s current state. Poor Itsuki had no idea that Seiya was also a Returner, with episode 3 explaining how Seiya’s the one who brought like-minded Returners to form a group to use their abilities to benefit humankind and stop the Sinners from unleashing chaos.

Seemingly led by the King of Returners, aka Xiang Yu, the Sinners aimed to unleash every historical disaster all at once, and they weren’t a fan of the Forest of the Greats deciding to police the talents gained from past lives.

‘Declaration of War’ introduced even more characters to the mix, including the Wright Brothers (who could transform their arms into wings), Darwin (who could modify his body to counter threats), Jean-Henri Fabre (invisibility), and White Feather (a sniper). Petals of Reincarnation making me look up Wikipedia numerous times. Ha!

My favorite of the new characters was E. Schrödinger, with the character design being a cat head on a human body (of course!). His ability allowed him to pick a possible future to dodge enemy attacks or land them.

Having a bunch of characters fighting to the death is what made me wish we got to learn more about their backstories before they bit the dust. I’m holding onto hope that, because the narrative rushed toward the current battles, things might slow down a bit to allow some of the characters’ motivations to breathe.

As for Toya, he was paired with Funasaka and Fabre. Toya was interested in stealing Fabre’s ability, as turning invisible would make stealing abilities easier. However, Funasaka had been asked by Neumann to keep an eye on Toya, as he could be a spy. And with Funasaka pointing his gun at Toya after recognizing the stolen ability Toya used, I’m looking forward to seeing how Toya will try to explain his way out of the current predicament while being targeted by Sinners.

Did you watch Petals of Reincarnation anime season 1 episodes 2 and 3? What did you think of them?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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