Black Torch Ep.09 - Training arc at this stage? Isn't it late for that?

Episode 9 of Black Torch continues from where we left off, with Jirou obtaining Ragou's power but being unable to control it while Ragou is kidnapped by Amagi's group. Last episode, of course, they left us with a cliffhanger, but I doubt anyone really thought that Ragou would die from that attack last week.

In fact, he was saved by Kouga and even managed to bond with those other mononoke. They are allied with Amagi, but they don't seem to know the full picture of what Amagi is trying to achieve. I don't think it's just "destroying humanity" or being "enshrined and feared." There is a missing piece...

Ichika is seriously tired of this guy actions, but I do understand him. I mean, it's Ichika, you simply can't not love her.

I asked it in the past, but I repeat it again now. What is the purpose of Hana in this series? Like is she there just to have another pretty face?

Jirou wakes up and is restrained by Touko Kusumi and the other members of Division 1, specifically Takeru Inui and Banri Himezuka. They act like jailers, but what they're really doing is trying to avoid the worst-case scenario of Jirou going berserk with that power and being killed or sealed by the higher-ups.

They even call his grandfather to help contain Jirou; it turns out he simply can't stay retired. The interesting tidbit is that he is apparently Touko's teacher and a close acquaintance of Fuyou since his days as a new recruit. Fuyou was spilling some stories from those times to Jirou, but they didn't vocalize them, so I'm curious now: what exactly happened back then?!

The direction is clear, though: Jirou needs to master Ragou's power in order to face Amagi in battle, and that requires a new training arc, which will happen in the forest of another mononoke next week. I feel it's a bit late for another training arc, though, considering we're at the ninth episode already. Are we getting a second cour of this series?

There are way too many plot threads open that require time to be developed. For example, Ichika's backstory is still completely absent: where is the mononoke that attacked her mother? No info has been revealed so far, but it has to be connected with Amagi somehow, right?

Just how old is Fuyou, I know mononoke are pretty much immortal, but everything has an age and I simply can't guess hers...

Himezuka continues to be interesting, I like her relationship with Inui. She was genuinely worried when Jirou nearly hit him.

I mean, of course they could end it with some rushed, incomplete ending, but the series doesn't seem to be skipping through content fast enough to hint at that kind of approach. The original manga series is just five volumes, so depending on density, they could easily adapt it all in two cours...