Hell’s Paradise – 07 – The Real Battle

When the two ethereal-looking lovers spot Choubei and Touma, the one with golden hair stands up from their necking session, protests the presence of humans, and transforms into a male form, crushing a fruit in his hand. When Gabimaru spots a little girl with pink hair, he gives chase, leaving Yuzuriha and Senta to deal with the girl’s Groot-like protector.

Yuzuriha swipes Senta’s glasses then drinks some kind of tincture that causes her to secrete a thick viscous liquid from her skin and orifices. Unfortunately, like Senta, we’re not able to see more of her secret ninjutsu, but the next we do see her, the Groot is on the ground.

As for the little girl, she’s extremely quick through the forest, but so is Gabi. When he catches up to her, she Judo-throws him, then later throws a punch that demonstrates strength far beyond the presumed limits of her slender frame.

Gabimaru, desperate to reunite with his wife and thus prepared to do anything, uses his ninjutsu to ensnare the girl in vines. After he monologues about being tired of everything so difficult and warning the girl to tell him about the elixir of life or she’ll “force him to do more,” the girl bursts into blubbering tears. Gabimaru is disarmed, and Sagiri rightfully shoots him a judging look.

Sagiri takes the girl in her arms to comfort her, and they reunite her with the Groot, who tells them he’ll take them to their village for a meal and to discuss the elixir. Yuzuriha agrees with Gabimaru that this could be a trap…until the Groot tells them they have a bath, then she’s on Team Go to the Village.

After Yuzuriha and Sagiri enjoy a nice hot soak (Sagiri insisting she’s not relaxing her responsibilities while making a very pleased sound upon immersing herself made me LOL) Yuzuriha and Senta eat the fruit provided and don’t transform into flower zombies.

The Groot, who is named Houko, explains that there is indeed an Elixir of Life, but it is located at the very center of the island, the map of which is three concentric circles representing the three regions: shore/woods, village, and mists.

Houko is fine sharing this information and showing the humans hospitality, because he’s certain they’re not getting off this island alive. That won’t be because of him—he harbors neither affection nor animosity—but because of the Tensen.

So far, Gabimaru and Sagiri & Co. have only encounter the Soushin—monsters of the forest region. In the central region of Horai dwell the Tensen, who are the gold and pink-haired individuals Choubei and Touma encounter. Described as perfect, eternal beings, no human is any match for the Tensen.

We know Choubei is no slouch, but his giant blade is shattered by Goldie’s bare hand, and both he and Touma are tossed into a pit packed with former human victims, all technically still alive but partially transformed into flowers and in a constant state of bliss.

After Houko’s exposition, Gabimaru heads to the bath with Sagiri tagging along. He chastises her for letting her guard down (we cut to her nodding off after the bath and meal) but she insists she didn’t. When Gabi walks in on the little girl (whose name is Mei), she bursts into tears again.

Mei runs to Sagiri, but Gabi doesn’t understand the fuss; in his village everyone shared the baths except the village chief, who had a private one. As Sagiri pulls up her sleeves and gives the filthy Mei a proper Edo-style bathhouse experience and washes her hair, her remark about Gabi stretching himself too thin takes him back to a memory of Yui saying the same thing.

Gabimaru was initially embarrassed to have his back washed by Yui, but also just dislikes baths. He believes they wash away his “edge”, to which Yui responds by dumping a bucket of water on his head and asking him to clarify if he thinks his wife is wantonly robbing him of his luck in battle.

No, she’s insistent that he’s stretched too thin, and has to take the time to relax and reinvigorate, so he can stay prepared for “the real battle”—her term for life itself. In this battle, he’s the general, she’s the strategist, and victory is living peacefully, honestly, and true to one’s ideals.

Gabi asks if he, as general, can issue a strategic order: for Yui to stop wearing her hair so it hides the scar on her face. He tells her she’s beautiful, making her beam with happiness. We haven’t seen much of Yui, but she makes such an impact in the times we have that I’m confident she’s a worthy rival to Yuzaki Tsukasa for Best Wife of the Season.

Back in the present, Gabimaru tells Mei not to be embarrassed by her scar. When Sagiri says that’s not so easy for a woman, Gabi begs to differ: he knows a woman with a large scar, but no one is more beautiful. Not only is Sagiri “dumbfounded” by this respectable comment, but Mei seems to be won over, as she grabs Gabimaru’s sleeve and looks admiringly upon him.

Outside the bath, as Sagiri smiles over the prospect of Gabimaru being a good person who continues to change little by little, Gabimaru wears a fearful face. Even if his wife told him to relax occasionally, he’ll never see her again unless he maintains his focus.

He knows where the Elixir of Life is, and the kind of beings who may stand in his way. He’ll use the information Houko provided to keep moving forward, knowing he’s sure to collect a few more scars before the mission concludes. If he can look upon Yui’s beautiful face once more, it will have all been worth it.

The Fire Hunter – 08 – A Good Boy Comes Home

Koushi takes Touko to the tree beneath which the capital’s Treefolk dwell. When the rusted door won’t open, Kanata senses one of the Treefolk, a young child, who beckons for them to follow when Touko requests medicine.

Unfortunately, these Treefolk don’t make medicines, nor can they even go out into the forest. Calling themselves failed experiments, they live out their cursed lives under this tree, possibly hoping a couple kids come by so they can deliver an infodump about the relationship of gods, humans, and beasts.

We learn more about Tayurahime, the Lady Goddess, and Tokohanahime, her sister and the first Fire Hunter, and how the flame fiends were an effort to pass the flame that made both gods and humans combust on to wild animals.

On their way out of the tree they’re attacked by a spy familiar, but Akira arrives out of nowhere with Temari to keep them at bay. When two more spies appear, a god arrives to stop the fighting and tell Akira, Touko, and Koushi to beat it.

After that, Koushi takes Touko and Akira to his home, where Touko says goodbye to Kanata. Koushi tells Touko to hang on to the sickle, as she may find more use for it than he will. Suddenly separated from Kanata, and with quest suddenly complete, Touko can’t hold back her tears, and Akira carries her home, where Kaho gathers her in a hug.

But between the fact you can’t spell Toukohanahime without “Touko” and the fact she still has a fire hunter’s sickle tells me Touko’s role is far from complete. The Flickering Flame is up there in orbit, a massive and sinister-looking weapon that might just have a mind or will all its own. And if it can be mastered, humans will no longer have to fear the forest…or something?

Honestly, I’m still a little uncertain what the heck is going on, and the animation ranges from barely animation to no animation at all, but the shot of the satellite made me intrigued for how this is all going to play out, so I shall press on.

In / Spectre – 13 – Things That Go Thump in the Night

When In/Spectre last aired, I said I’d hope we’d get more of the adorable duo of Kotoko and Kurou as they investigate and resolve more supernatural cases. Thirty-three months later here we are. There’s a lot of expository dialogue between a ghost and two youkai that bring us back up to speed on what this show is about, and Kotoko and Kuro’s abilities.

This is the same old In/Spectre, which means it is absolutely packed with scenes of people doing nothing but sitting or standing and talking. If that was fine with you in the first season, it will be fine here, as it is with me. There are three things that makes this not only tolerable but enjoyable for me, and that’s Kotoko’s magnetic charm, Kitou Akari’s firm yet affable voice, and Manabe Akihiro’s beautiful accompanying score.

The spook-of-the-week initially seems to be artificial, Kotoko tells the ghost and youkai discussing it that the scary thumping in the night wasn’t a supernatural phenomenon, but the sounds of an escaped monitor lizard illegally owned by the building manager. The truth is that an ancien cursed sumo doll was making the sounds.

Kotoko not only works out a deal with the manager that gets Kurou a cheap new place for them to live, but she and Kurou take the doll out to the isolated woods. There, she instructs Kurou to fight with the four-armed, horned sumo demon that manifests. This doesn’t go well at first, with Kurou suffering a number of gruesome deaths.

Of course thanks to eating of both mermaid and kudan flesh, Kurou is immortal and can see and choose the future. In between death and revival, the future he picks involves basically pinning the sumo down, exposing his back and enabling Kotoko to stab him through the throat with her cane.

It’s a victory, but not an ideal one for Kurou, who had hoped Kotoko could have been kept out of harm’s way. But Kotoko remains steadfastly unafraid of dangerous situations, and knew she could score an easy blow against a being that would not attack her due to her goddess status.

All of the various supernatural beings that dwell in the woods come out not just to gaze upon their kawaii Goddess of Wisdom, but thank her for dealing with the sumo doll. They all still consider Kurou a terrifying monster, but as long as he’s by Kotoko’s side and she’s vouching for him, they’ll accept him.

As for me, I’ve long since accepted that this is one of the talkier anime out there, and that more often then not that’s an asset and not a liability. And with all the reintroduction out of the way, next week’s dialogue will be less about what we already know and more about what we don’t.

Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement – 01 (First Impressions) – Making the Best of Things

Yamano Mitsuha’s parents and older brother were killed by means the show doesn’t get into, but suffice it to say, she’s alone. When she fights some aggressive flirting guys and is pushed off a cliff, she doesn’t want to die. But instead of landing on the rocky shore, she wakes up in a soft, sprawling grassland. The giant moon is a dead giveaway: this is another world.

She wanders across the vast plain until she reaches a forest, and there she encounters another human, and passes out from exhaustion and hunger. She comes to in the girl’s home, and while she learns her name is Colette, she speaks another language. For the time being, Mitsuha lives with Colette and her fam and helps forage for mushrooms and the like.

When Mitsuha and Colette are stalked by wolves, Mitsuha shows her mettle (partially inspired by her late, brave and confident otaku brother) by getting Colette to safety and getting the wolves to follow her. But while she’s willing to put others before her, she still doesn’t want to die, and she doesn’t: she transports back to her house. Turns out she can go back and forth at will!

Mitsuha arms herself with her brother’s slingshot, kitchen knives, and pepper, and returns to the other world, and is successful in fighting the wolves off, killing the biggest and intimidating the others before passing out again. Then she has a conversation with a “being of pure energy” taking the form of the lucky cat her brother gave her, and explains her situation.

Frankly, the explanation is fairly half-assed and played for laughs, and isn’t even necessary. All that matters is that Mitsuha can not only travel between worlds, but take items with her. Items like gold.

If she can create a lucrative market for Japanese goods in this other world (a good bet) she figures she can make enough money—roughly 2 billion yen—to retire early and comfortably in either world should she lose her power.

I’ve seen isekai series with enterprising protagonists, but I cannot recall one in which they are able to move back and forth at will, and without any apparent catch. Another factor in this show’s favor is that Mitsuha is a girl, which just makes this feel fresher than if it was another Taro-kun.

Also, while typically a sister would be embarrassed by her otaku big brother, Mitsuha remembers him fondly, and his inherited wisdom proves useful to her on multiple occasions. Mitsuha’s design is fine, but the general animation and art is uninspired and underwhelming. But the series has enough going for it so far to make up for its visual shortcomings.

To Your Eternity – S2 09 – A Horse of Course

The Nokkers attack the city, but as usual TYE has presentation issues when it comes to capturing the scale and complexity of the ensuing chaos. Events come down to Fushi in his various forms warning townsfolk to flee “east”, which seems somewhat arbitrary. People crowd and convene in the head church, only for that to be the location where the Nokkers appear. As Fushi battles, he loses his vessels one after the other.

By the time the sun rises and the dust clears, the Nokkers have been defeated, but untold people have been killed, while Fushi has lost Parona, Gugu, Uroy, Shin, and Ligurd. Bon and Kahaku are rightfully concerned: if he can lose five of his precious vessels in just one battle, he can scarcely afford to lose many more in the next. A kindly holy knight gives Fushi his blessing, but it’s not enough.

While Fushi has gotten a lot better at fighitng the Nokkers, we’ve arrived at a point where they’re a step ahead, hiding in quicksand and capitalizing on his lack of muscle (March can’t really fire arrows, for instance). The Beholder ends up bailing Fushi out with a Horse he created from a piece of Fushi’s flesh. The horse has a mind of its own, and keeps Fushi from rushing back into battle too soon.

While Kahaku shows that he can still fight the Nokkers off with his left arm, that arm Nokker relays a message from its fellow Nokkers who regard it as a traitor: they’ll be launching an attack on the largest human city in a year’s time. If Fushi wants his vessels back, he’ll go to that city and “play the game.”

Kahaku, Bon, and the forces of Uralis will aid the city in preparation and evacuation, while Fushi stays aboard a beached galleon from Uralis that Bon has designated his new base. There, he must learn how to create larger objects in order to gain a new advantage against the biggest Nokker threat yet.

DanMachi IV – 11 (Part 1 Fin) – The Banquet Continues

When we last saw Bell he looked…pretty dead! Fortunately, Ryuu soon finds a pulse—the Goliath Scarf Lili and Welf gave him saved his life. Ryuu keeps him alive by tying off his arm and healing him, but he’s still unconscious when Bors and what’s left of his party arrive and become the Juggernaut’s next targets.

Ryuu saves Bors by coming between him and the beast’s initial strike, and she’s even able to kinda fight it, though she soon suffers too many wounds to continue. There also apparently isn’t adequate time to warn Bors & Co. that their magic will be reflected back onto them. When the dust clears, only Bors is still alive, and only thanks to a magic dagger that is now dust.

The force of the reflected magic sends Bell rolling into the river, where he’s found by Marie. Would it be nice if Marie were more than just a plot device with fins? Sure, but that will have to suffice, as she uses her magic mermaid blood to reattach his severed arm and heal him.

The last episode’s one saving grace is that it truly raised the stakes by having Bell taken out so easily. I thought he’d have to deal with having only one arm at least until he returned to the surface where it could be treated by higher healing. So while Marie’s healing powers have been demonstrated, this frankly feels like a cop-out.

Regardless, it at least puts Bell back in the fight, and this time he knows how to fight the Juggernaut: with numerous precise strikes to its legs to slow it down. Ryuu, who is still out of commission, can only watch and marvel at how much stronger “Cranel-san” has become since they last crossed paths.

She yells to him when it looks like he’s going to repeat his mistake of launching a Fire Bolt at his foe, but this time he uses the Goddess Blade to absorb all of the magic the Juggernaut reflects back, which he then uses for an all-or-nothing coup-de-grace.

Unfortunately, when the dust clears, the Juggernaut isn’t defeated; it’s merely stunned and wounded. Worse, this is exactly what Jura (remember him?) wanted, as it enables him to attach a beast-taming magic stone to Juggernaut. After a little more maniacal laughing, he cracks his whip, hoping to finish Bell and Ryuu off once and for all. But Juggernaut either can’t be tamed, or just can’t be tamed by someone of Jura’s level.

It turns on him immediately slicing him clean in half. Let it never be said that the Juggernaut never did anything right, and let us hope that’s the end of the maniacal laughing. Unfortunately, it’s far from the end of the ordeal, and Jura’s final whip-crack attracts a still-alive Lambton, who then proceeds to swallow up both the immobile Ryuu and a Bell lunging after her.

Back up at the 25th Floor, Cassandra is doing everything she can to keep Lili and the others from descending any deeper without spilling the beans about her premonition. But while her vision seemingly didn’t factor in Marie’s clutch assist, it turns out the banquet of tragedy is only getting started. The 27th Floor’s Boss, Amphisbaena, an impressively huge two-headed dragon, is now Lili’s crew’s new opponent, and there’s seemingly nowhere to hide.

As for Bell and Ryuu? He blasts them out of the Lambton’s stomach, but they only end up out of the frying pan and into the freezer. Remembering Eina Tulle telling him different parts of the Dungeon have different colored walls, he notices the walls here are white, which means the Lambton transported them all the way down to the Deep Floors, an area known as the White Palace where death is around every corner even for the most elite (and unwounded) adventurers.

So yeah, Bell and Ryuu are in deep shit, and Lili and the others aren’t that much better off. I honestly don’t know how they’re going to get out of this one, but I very much want to find out, so both cliffhangers can be considered an unqualified success!

P.S. Looks like that’s it for this cour! DanMachi IV will continue in Winter 2023.

DanMachi IV – 10 – Game Over, Man

When Marie hears the shouts of agony from the Dungeon itself, all she can do is stay below the water and cover her ears; later, she wishes she was by Bell’s side again. But unfortunately for most of this episode, Bell and Ryuu are simply standing around as they express outrage at what Jura has done.

Jura, in turn, laughs maniacally as he describes his diabolical scheme, then laughs some more. Rinse, repeat. It got to the point I actually said to the TV “Alright already, enough build-up…let’s get to it!”

Not helping matters is that the static, repetitive scenes of Bell, Ryuu, and Jura are interspersed with scenes of Ouranos delivering exposition to Fels via magic telephone. It’s all very dull and plodding, not what you want when trying to build tension for the Dungeon’s most vicious beast.

When Bell’s party starts to hear the screams from below, Lili prepares to head down to see if they can help, which is quite possibly the dumbest thing she has ever attempted. Thankfully, a weeping Cassandra stops her and tells them they’re only alive right now because they’re here.

The beast itself is…kinda weak looking? Like some kind of giant emaciated, skeletal horse-mutant. Maybe that’s the point; even Bell notes that it has barely any armor, even as a well-placed strike from his sword simply bounces off. It does kill a great number of the adventurers in the Ryu hunting party through slicing in half, dismemberment, and straight-up glomping, but the vast majority of its victims are nameless NPCs.

It isn’t until Bell says enough and charges at the beast that we truly learn just how deep into the shit everyone is. Bell is level four, and has learned a lot in his short time on these lower floors, but against the Juggernaut, as it’s known, he might as well be one of those scores of Bors’ adventurers getting cut in half. None of his attacks have any effect, and Juggs is far faster than he anticipated.

By the end of the episode, Bell’s right arm has been sliced off, he’s been thrown across the cavern like a ragdoll, and the life is fading from his eyes. Considering he may be the strongest adventurer down there, that’s not a good sign. He’s no longer in any condition to even dodge the Juggernaut’s next attack, which begs the question of who (or what) will come to save the day—or at least get him and Ryuu to safety?

The Executioner and Her Way of Life – 12 (Fin) – Something That Ended Ages Ago

The end of what I hope to be only the first of a split-cour series starts with the final boss battle between the unlikely but awesome duo of Menou and Ashuna and Centipede Pandemonium, whom I’ll henceforth call Centipan. The cent- is key, since around 100 people were sacrificed to create Centipan, which means she’ll have to be killed at least that many times to be defeated.

Unfortunately, every segment of Centipan that is broken off goes running off into the city to wreak havoc—this is Chaos Pure Concept, after all—forcing Ashuna to break off in order to save the people. Menou’s piss-poor ether capacity once again rears its ugly head, as Centipan relieves her of her Scripture and trusty dagger. That’s when Ashuna tosses her giant sword Menou’s way, since she can destroy the segments with her bare fists.

Menou swinging Ashuna’s sword around is #Goals, but the weapon quickly drains what little ether she has left. Fortunately, soon after telling Akari that there’s a way to go back to Japan, the other ‘Moni leaves Akari alone and flies off on wings made of shadow. This leaves Akari free to join the battle with Menou exactly when Menou needs her (and her ether) the most.

While the train episode was the only other time I can think of that Akari and Menou joined forces, it’s not “ticklish” to Akari this time, as the two simply combine forces to create a massive blade of flame that obliterates Centipan with a single satisfying swing.

All that’s left of Moni is her quickly dissolving head, but that’s enough of her to give Menou one last piece of advice: the Sword of Salt she once visited wth Flare? That’s powerful enough to kill any Pure Concept, even Akari. But true to her chaotic nature, Moni tells Menou this knowing that Menou isn’t totally 100% sure she wants to kill Akari, even if it’s her duty and probably the best thing for both Akari and the world writ large.

Ashuna congratulates Menou on her victory and decides to “let it slide”, “it” being the fact that Akari is an otherworlder. As for Moni, another version of her in a spooky graveyard resurrects Manon. At first Manon is confused why Moni would do this, she then remembers her mother telling her how she had a sister who was full of energy and loved movies. Moni was once just an ordinary movie buff from Japan, and she may now not remember who she was or that she had a sister. And yet she saved her sister all the same.

With the big battle taken care of not long after the halfway point of the episode, there’s adequate breathing room for some epilogues. A rapidly recovering Momo gets some quality time with Menou, who tells her about the Salt Sword. Menou thanks Pastor Sicilia, and as she walks back to her inn contemplates two different roads: one where she executes Akari with the Salt Sword, and the other where she discovers a way to “fix” Akari so she won’t destroy the world and herself if left unchecked.

And then, of course, there are the sweet, sisterly scenes between Menou and Akari, who greets her with a big hug and probably only grudgingly agrees to sleep in a separate bed from her. When Menou starts to say something like Akari is her…something, Akari is very vexed by her simply trailing off, gets out of bed and tussles her until Menou says she’s her “source of stress.”

The next morning, Menou and Akari take the first step out of Libelle and head back on the road to the “Sanctuary” hand-in-hand. The previous night, Momo resolved to execute Akari in Menou’s place, knowing that the more time she spends wth “Boobalicious”, the less inclined she’ll be to murder her.

The parting mic drop belongs to Flare, sitting on a throne and planning to kill her apprentice “for the zillilonth time”, crystalizing the reality that she’s been interfering in Akari’s attempts to get Menou to execute her by murdering Menou herself. It’s an enticing place to pause and hopefully not end, as there’s tons of material for this story to continue.

The Rising of the Shield Hero S2 – 11 – It’s Kyou Ethnina’s World, We’re Just Living In It

The Shield Hero Gang is finally reunited, only with Filo sporting a steep decline in attack power due to her change of species and Raphtalia donning an adorable miko outfit. Kizuna also reunites with her comrades L’Arc, Therese, and Glass for the first time in years.

The warm feelings of those reunions are chilled somewhat by the sight of Kazuki, whose two improbably loyal and devoted aides are trying to stich him back together. Unfortunately, he jumps the gun and his top half ends up separated from his bottom half, hopefully fatally.

Oh, and Kyou Ethnina also has an improbably loyal and devoted aide? A samurai girl who is going to kill his enemies? (Throws hands up) Ok, Shield Hero, why not?!

Glass is so happy and relieved to see Kizuna she doesn’t want to stop hugging her, even if Kizuna finds it hard to breath; it’s Peak Endearing Glass, though you could argue she had a lot more edge when she was a baddie. The group ends up in Sikul Castle, where we learn…L’Arc is the young king of Sikul. The hits keep coming!

Naofumi, Kizuna, and their super-sized mega-party are determined to kick Kyou’s ass, but they need equipment. Kizuna hits up her longtime midriff-bearing blacksmith Ramona and gives her the unenviable task of doing a week’s worth of work in a night’s time.

After placing the order, the group is suddenly ambushed by Kyou’s samurai aide, who is determined to end all of them, scolds them for outnumbering her, and bears a creepy sword with an eyeball.

Needless to say, while she has no shortage of spirit, the girl is no match for the combined power of Naofumi and Kizuna’s parties, and when she’s disarmed, the sword takes on a mind of its own, restrains her with tendrils, and seemingly sucks up her energy.

Therese, L’Arc, Kizuna, Naofumi, and Glass all work together to separate the sword from the girl and send it high up into the sky, where it self-destructs, taking with it the girl’s undying loyalty for the guy who almost blew her the ef up!

Her name is Yomogi, and as befits a hero who cannot kill another person, Kizuna decides to take her to her party’s home and headquarters, where she herself hasn’t been in years. Naofumi protests such light treatment of an ally of Kyou, but doesn’t stop Kizuna from doing things her way.

Sending everyone else away to prepare for the fight with Kyou, Kizuna removes Yomogi’s restraints, asks her to sit down and relax, and serves her tea. In exchange, she learns that Yomogi and Kyou are childhood friends, that he was always a little off, but apparently in a less evil way at first, such that even someone with a rock for a brain like Yomogi was drawn to the knowledge he possessed and dispensed.

However, in the midst of her discussion of her childhood friend, Yomogi concludes that if Kyou has indeed gone off the deep end behind her back, then she’ll help stop him, while also sharing in whatever punishment is chosen for him, even death. While I doubt Kizuna will take her up on that, I’m sure she’s happy for another strong fighter on her side.

Alas, the next day when the mega-party picks up their completed equipment from Ramona’s, Kyou’s big scheme kicks into gear. The countdown rapidly drops to zero, Waves of Catastrophe appear in the skies, and Naofumi and Kiuna’s parties are separated via warping.

Whatever semblance of positive feelings Yomogi might’ve had for her childhood friend are dissolved in the midst of this spectacle. All this time she thought he was occasionally going a little too far in order to stop the waves, but his actual goal was to summon them. Dude’s gotta go!

The Executioner and Her Way of Life – 11 – Let’s Get Nuts!

Pandemonium is the ultimate agent and wielder of chaos. None of the Jokers have anything on this mirthful, pint-sized Giallo buff. Haruno Anzu typically voices her with a singsong child’s meter with a healthy share of “Maa’s!”, which rides the line between ironically effective and annoying, but also makes it that much creepier when ‘Moni speaks more quietly and seriously.

While Menou expends all of her ether on a mere warm-up fight with Moni, Akari seemingly heals Momo with her power, which made me think Momo would possibly play a role in the battle. Ashuna also gets reports of around a hundred people in town suddenly melting into red goo, making the princess primed to get involved in whatever’s up on the island.

I’ll tell you what: nothing good! Giant four-eyed rats with human legs sticking out of their backs? No freakin’ thank you! But it’s par for the course for the B-movie-obsessed Moni. She’s not trying to take over the world. She’s just trying to be as entertained as she can possibly be watching humans try their absolute best…then die horribly.

When Menou does run out of her own paltry stores of ether, Moni shoves her out of the castle with a giant hand, but that’s when Ashuna officially joins the battle, pretending she’s meeting Menou for the first time and offering her own seemingly unlimited stores of ether for Menou, who is far better-equipped to use it.

The duo of Menou and Ashuna proves extremely successful, at least at first, as Menou connects the earthly and heavenly veins, builds a massive Pseudo-Cathedral atop the castle isle, and sucks Moni into a bloody singularity, then an endless loop of detainment. Logically, the battle should be over. It’s not.

That’s because with Moni around, chaos reigns. Kill her once or a hundred times, it may not even be the real one you’re killing. Moni not only survives, but summons a gigantic eldritch abomination from the fog in order to show just how tough a cookie she is.

The kaiju obliterates the castle isle in one blow (which is sad, that was a hell cool-looking isle; reminded me of Ico) but the dashing Princess Ashuna saves Menou with a princess carry—just before that, she showed genuine affection and concern for her reluctant bae Momo.

So the giant monster is out there, but Menou soon determines it’s not a real threat; it’s still basically trapped in its current location by the fog, and that fog soon starts advancing on both the monster and Moni. While all this is going on, Akari is kept from joining Menou and Ashuna in battle by another Moni, who prefers mind games to blood and gore.

Moni felt like chatting with a fellow Japanese. Moni knows Akari can only use her Pure Concept of Time so much before it starts to degrade her soul into nothingness. There’s also the side effect of losing your memories from your previous life, but Akari, who was bullied at school in her old life, is only concerned with keeping her memories of Menou.

Akari destroys Moni with one shot from her fingertip, but Moni soon comes back and continues to mess with Akari, telling her that there’s a reason she’s failed so many times. Someone more powerful is impeding her efforts—someone with access to something called the “Astral Archive”, an entity composed of all the collected memories of the planet, the source of the power of ether, and the origin of the lord written in the scriptures of the Faust.

In other words, it’s probably Flare. So as Moni threatens to wear out her welcome by transforming into a CGI centipede girl (which while creepy and menacing, lacks visual mass and weight and is thus less impressive than the kaiju she summoned), she’s looking more and more like an intermediate boss on the way to the true big bad: Menou’s mordant mentor.

The Executioner and Her Way of Life – 10 – From Letdown to Taboo

Manon isn’t that surprised or intimidated by Akari Prime’s time magic, while it’s Akari who keeps getting surprised by this current iteration of the world. Manon was the child of a Lost One, a Japanese woman who was not intentionally summoned but simply appeared. Lord Libelle, Manon’s father, married the woman to bolster his power with her pure concept, but ended up never forcing her to use it, because he fell in love with her.

Manon is right that it’s a lovely story, but it has a cruel ending, as one day Flare executed Manon’s mom right in front of her, and didn’t even bother to kill her too. Manon grew up with everyone having great expectations for the child of a Lost One, only for her to have no magical power whatsoever. Branded a great letdown, Manon became mired in a life of uselessness an ennui…until she decided to embrace the dark side and become taboo.

This is why Manon doesn’t fear Akari in the least, nor Menou when she shows up to save Akari from certain death by Chaos magecraft. Not because she’s particularly powerful—Menou basically freezes her with her gaze then lops her arm off—but because, in short, Manon isn’t greedy. She’s had fun as a rebel and a taboo, but ultimately she’s just a vessel and sacrifice for something much, much worse…the little girl in the Iron Maiden who almost blew Momo up.

This girl is creepy and frightening as fuck, successfully toeing the line between twee and terrifying. Menou slits her throat, and she simply sheds her old skin and pops out of her dead body good as new. Then she twists her own head around dozens of times and stretches it vertically until it pops off to create a fountain of blood.

Out of that blood, multiple eldritch beasts emerge, and feast upon her corpse. Then she pops out of one of the monster’s mouths, once again whole. It’s an atmosphere-upsetting enough incident for Ashuna, still getting over Momo standing her up (though to be fair, Momo is bedridden), to sense from the mainland.

Yes, the girl herself is the Human Error Pandemonium, having escaped her prison of fog and is now ready to finish off the world she almost destroyed once before. Like Menou’s conundrum with Akari, how can you kill someone that won’t die when you kill them? We’ll surely find out in what’s looking like a season-capping final battle that’s sure to include more than just Menou as it progresses.

The Rising of the Shield Hero S2 – 09 – A Whole Different Animal

The moment Naofumi materializes in Sikul, he wants to go right back to Mikakage. Where Raphtalia is concerned, all self-preservation goes out the window. Fortunately, Kizuna can’t send them back, as the hourglass on the other side was shut off. But she can introduce Naofumi to a very useful friend.

Kizuna was trapped in the labyrinth for years, right? Because the reactions to her return make it seem like she was only gone for a few weeks or months, tops. Her peers are also weary of a hero from another world, fearing he’s come to destroy their world.

Oh and Kizuna has a blue penguin shikigami named Chris because…why not, I guess??

Back to Kizuna’s useful friend, Ethnobalt…which is a naaaaame. With a drop of Naofumi’s blood and a catalyst (some of Raphtalia’s hair), he can help him create his own shikigami—one that like Raphtalia is a raccoon, but frankly isn’t as cute as the genuine article to these eyes.

Have I mentioned that Ethnobalt (sigh) is the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland? And that instead of the wielder of a pocket watch, he has a “boat” that can grow to the size of a Final Fantasy-style airship (indeed, it looks inspired by the Fahrenheit).

Ethnobalt helps Naofumi out and asks nothing in return; he’s just happy to be useful to his friend Kizuna and her friends. That makes him more of a device than a character, but no matter; he’s able to warp them to Raybul, where both Filo and Glass are currently located.

They soon find Filo, who is being held captive by a disreputable showman along with scores of other magical animals. Filo is notably also not a filolial in this world, because that creature doesn’t exist here. Naofumi initially wants to kill her captor on the spot, but Rishia’s cooler head prevails, and they free Filo without incident that night.

Filo is clearly traumatized by the situation, though when her captor first said she was going to “make a lot of money” for him I immediately assumed he was going to prostitute her out to customers. Thankfully that wasn’t the case, but there was a distinct lack of peril and suspense to her rescue.

Despite camping in the forest for the night, Naofumi, Filo, Rishia and Kizuna return to town and immediately find wanted posters of themselves. Fortunately, the likenesses are vague at best. Then Naofumi feels what I’ll describe as a “disturbance in the force”, and suddenly Raphtalia’s stats disappear from his HUD.

The raccoon shikigami Filo names “Raph-chan” is still kicking, however, so the real Raph should be fine. That doesn’t mean she’s comfortable, however, as after the credits we see she’s in chains and has been taken to what I’m assuming to be the arctic stronghold of the Katana Hero, since that’s the name of the next episode.

The Rising of the Shield Hero S2 – 08 – Your Sword Till the End

I have to say, I’m really enjoying this more semi-episodic Shield Hero. Last week’s escape from the Infinite Labyrinth was a true bottle episode, while this one expands on Kizuna’s world as well as her own abilities, that haven’t dulled a bit in the years she’s been imprisoned. This week there’s another definite goal: reach the Dragon Hourglass, which in this world serves as a warping point for Heroes.

But wisely this episode starts out with the basics: they need money for food, a roof over their heads, and supplies. Kizuna describes the various races of her world, one of which is Glass’s Spirit People. Naofumi just happens to have a supply of soul-soothing potion that doesn’t exist in this world, so he puts his merchant skills to good us and sells them off to the highest bidder.

It’s a team effort, with Naofumi, Raphtalia, Rishia and Kizuna all doing their parts to ensure they sell all the potion for as much money as possible, which they then spend on new, more location-appropriate threads and gear. I like the new classical Japanese looks. Their day is darkened by the appearance of a “genuis mage” who has figured out how to use the Dragon Hourglasses to warp even though he’s not a Hero.

This guy, Kazuki, reminds Naofumi of Kyou, and doesn’t like him one bit right off the bat. Fortune smiles on his party, however, as a blizzard gives them cover for an easy infiltration of the capital’s central fortress, which contains the Hourglass they need to warp to Sikul.

But while getting in is easy, finding the Hourglass proves difficult, and the fortress is full of dead ends, traps, and a huge number of guards. While Kizuna can’t harm anyone with her hunting sword, she can damage their surroundings that indirectly neutralize the guards.

But there are a lot of guards, which means eventually the party has to split in two groups to lessen their numbers. Turns out this is just another trap, as Naofumi and Raph walk right into the Hourglass chamber only to be quickly surrounded by guards, led by Kazuki and his two personal bodyguards. Taking after Kizuna, Naofumi uses his non-offensive shield’s ability to throw the guards aside.

Kizuna and Rishia then rendezvous with Naofumi and Raph, and Kizuna uses her Hero status to activate the warp. Everyone starts to glow yellow, and it looks like everyone is on their way to safety and the next adventure…but then Raphtalia stops glowing. Kyou, the architect of this latest trap, remotely cackles and taunts Naofumi, saying he’ll be taking Raph to his lab for experiments.

Kizuna can’t stop the warping, which means all Naofumi can do is watch and wait helplessly until he’s taken away from Raphtalia. For her part, Raph puts on a brave face, grateful that she was small so Naofumi could pat her on the head and carry her. She vows to be his sword to the end, and charges at the guards as he and the others warp out.

Filo having been separated from the party last week was one thing, but she’s always felt more like a mascot and strategic weapon than an actual character. There’s a lot more meat to Naofumi and Raphtalia’s history together, and seeing them suddenly separated like this was a true gut-punch, not to mention cementing Kyou as an uber-evil big bad.

But while losing Raph must be crushing blow to Naofumi—he may even summon that hate and anger Ost helped him let go of because of this—at the end of the day we have a satisfying, at times heartwarming and thrilling episode with a distinct beginning, middle, and end. I have no idea what comes next, but I can’t wait!