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I do very much enjoy that the characters not only have quite varied powers and abilities, but they have used those to create a unique fighting style too. This week I was particularly impressed by Dakai and how he uses everything he can to pull off a victory. He takes note of every little thing and even though he is not all that strong compared to the other monsters he is one to watch out for due to his tactical wit.

As for miss word of the world, I am starting to doubt even an angel would be able to pose a threat to her.

Well, I for one am bummed that Sexy Spider Lady got kilt.

#10

I did not expect to see a Dakai vs. Nihilo showdown so quickly, but then I'm not paying closer attention to the ED visuals and connecting the dots. With the episode title more or less giving away the result, it was a matter of process for Dakai's victory. To be fair to Nihilo, she wasn't beaten by Dakai alone: Soujirou's intervention gave Dakai the opening he needed. Without it, even he admitted he would have lost as he would have had no way of actually penetrating the armour. Nihilo herself was surprised, but thinking back she's best suited to killing hordes of normal soldiers rather than one on one duels with other contenders. The last to be introduced, but the second to fall after Higuare.

Kia might be almighty, but she's still mortal. Taken by surprise before she can say anything, she can be killed. Fortunately for the pair, Shalk wasn't in the mood to kill random civilians. Had he followed through his attack on the rampagers against Kia, that would have been it for her as she wouldn't be able to say anything to defend herself before being decapitated. If she does take another contender on in the tournament to come, the only way she'll lose has been revealed by Shalk (who up to this point doesn't get the bombastic intro the contenders have been afforded to date).

Thanks to Kia's intervention, Lithia's civilians get some respite. It's still a race to see who falls first as both sides have attacked each other simultaneously. With the situation in the mage city stabilising thanks to the counterattack and the wyverns annihilated by Alus, Lithia are on the back foot unless their commander gambles and goes for a quick taking of the mage city while its defences are still down. If she in turn falls, the capital wins and the rebellion is crushed. Not sure how it's going to go from here, but as an ending point the fate of the rebellion seems apt.

And that pretty much was the end of the war. Looking back on it now the whole thing was doomed from the start to be a failure for Lithia. Yeah, they had a capable army, the wyverns and a bunch of powerful mercenaries, but looking at who they were up against I have a hard time thinking of even a possibility of winning. I suppose it was the will of the people that made it happen, the end result is anything but cheerful though.

As for Yagyuu, seems like his sword is actually nothing special and it is all skill or a special ability? I assume the latter since being skillful is not enough to be able to cut through anything no matter what.

#11

A gamble, but Taren went all in and in the end she didn't have enough to win despite the stakes involved. Not to say it was flawless for the empire, plenty of losses for them too. They got lucky as well that Alus played a huge role in helping them out despite not working for them officially. Taren is technically still alive, but any of the Empire's agents who do find her will finish her off easily given the state she's in. All of her subordinates are dead, so the only thing remaining is for the city to be razed to the ground as punishment for the rebellion.

Harghent lives a charmed life; that's twice in the season he's survived when he really should have died for his incompetence. He doesn't like being indebted to the one being he hates above all, but even he understands it's not a sin to stay alive with the help of powerful allies. Alus did get his victory, with Regnejee losing everything he had in a battle he really should have won even if the war ultimately went against him and Curte. As for Curte, does the Angel of Death have something to save humans at death's door? Or will she just be allowed to pass over with much less pain than she really would be feeling?

I don't think we're getting more adaptations of this, but Shalk's short dialogue with Taren throws up a surprise about the backstory. If everyone is afraid of the Demon King and his legacy yet no one really knows what he looks like, then the world they live in is under one big deception. Probably won't learn more about that until the tournament starts for real, but that is for another adaptation which likely won't see the light of day.

Soujirou vs. Dakai is the last contender duel, and it turns out the former had everything under control. Back in episode one it was already stated Soujirou's skill is being able to cut anything and everything because of his skill, it's completely independent of the weapon he wields. Considering he's using nothing more than a badly chipped blade no better than a club, his exploits to date only make his unique skill stand out all the more. For all that Dakai is good at, getting caught by surprise because of his misjudgement of Soujirou's ability really was the only way he was going to lose and so it proved. Ironic getting killed by his own enchanted blade, and with him gone Yuno's torment is eased somewhat but will never disappear entirely. It does mean she and Soujirou will get a reward if they make it back to report their findings, more if he finishes his original commission and kills Taren with proof.

Next week is the last episode, and I'm wondering how they'll close it off while still keeping the door open for more (unlikely as it is).

The Soujirou / Dakai fight was win/win for me because I hate them both and thus either death is fine by me. I loathe Soujirou because the whole, "I just wanna fight somebody strong" motive is so overused and so lame, imo. With Dakai, I was put off by his apathetic attitude and the fact he killed Sexy Spider Lady. Good riddance. Ye shan't be missed.

Well, I am glad that besides the many introductions we got an arc with some developments and action. It still stings that we will see nothing of the actual tournament this season, but it has not been 12 episodes of introductions either thankfully.

So, that was the final episode of the season, the first season, given the news that a second one is on the way. That is a good thing since the first season is half character introductions and half the war with Lithia. In all honesty though, it is basically one big appetizer for the real content/tournament to start and if the season had ended without the news of a follow up I would have been pretty soured on the whole thing.

Yes, the first season showcases an interesting world with plenty of quirky characters and events in it, there is enough value to watch as is, yet like I said, it is basically all build up to what comes next. Without the announcement I would have been quite hesitant on recommending the show.

#12

The final episode of the season basically closes up all of the loose threads from the recently concluded war with Lithia. The contenders who survive make their way to the Capital to participate in the Royal Games which will determine who gets to claim the title of Hero, since the real one who finished off the Demon King never reappeared to claim credit. Since the world needs some kind of symbol to have closure over a very long age of fear, the Games have their purpose in helping everyone turn the page.

The format for this story works against it, since half of the season is spent on introducing the contenders with the second half pitting them together and sending the survivors off to the next potential conflict. Because of the pacing, anyone who didn't like this battle royale format and how long it took to get the introductions done won't be interested in seeing it through to this point, let alone the second season which has thankfully been introduced to satisfy viewers who did watch to the end (a terrible way to finish the story when it's really just the opening two chapters in a long tale otherwise).

The last part illustrating why the Games are being held in the first place is interesting as it turns out the young queen governing by proxy through the Regency of Generals came up with the idea. Everyone sees her as a pawn to control, so the 29 Generals who made up the Regency then all have their names in the hat for the games to come. Elea has her champion, while Alus will be sponsored by another. Soujirou will fight his way through and force a route into the competition, while Kuze will probably have sponsorship from the Church he serves given his job. Looking at the last narrative segment with the painting it has, many more contenders will be introduced before the Games begin for real. That means the series format might well repeat itself in the second season, which won't be great for keeping the attention of its viewers for long even if the action after the introductory episodes is satisfactory.

I'll be waiting for the second season. The franchise has its own views on war and peace which aren't really found elsewhere, and seeing how the different characters look at the situation is interesting in its own right. They'll need to raise the bar on the action sequences though, since those need to improve to really keep neutrals interested as there are far flashier competitors for attention. The four contenders who did survive have interesting enough backstories, so it's going to take some work to bring in contenders who can match them in combat and keep viewers interested with their character exposition.

I'm rating this series Good but now that the real story is about to start, I suspect my rating for the next season will be higher. It really is a shame this wasn't a 2-cours right from the start, but alas. Very happy to hear there will be a second season and look forward to it.

I ended up watching the entire season this week and I would describe it as irritating. I liked the over written narration and character descriptions but I didn't like the half formed theme.
OK, most of this cast can change the world by killing people but has it occurred to any of them that they can help the world by helping people?

I'm looking at you especially, Kia. The whole series would have had a massive pivot if she chose to follow world weary spy Hana rather than the duplicitous greedy and utterly evil assassin Elea, a woman who spent the entire series trying to kill Hana to prevent showing Kia's power, only to keep showing off the power in attempts to find Hana.

And I'm still not sure if Spider-woman is dead. She was the one described as a bioweapon, not the literal spider tank. Having her head cut off but then the body freeezes in that position? It's odd.

Or I was trained by the narrator into not buying characters are dead until he says they're dead.
Come on, Hana, make it to the sequel.

And so the second season begins with two new introductions. One seems to have ungodly good vision paired up with arrows bigger than most buildings and the other can see the future (for now). Given how they are still introducing new characters who will enter the tournament I can only imagine how massive said tournament will be. Considering the many insane abilities on offer thus far I also wonder if any arena can hold the fights that will take place.

My hope is that we will actually get to see the tournament in animated form.

S2 #1

I didn't expect this franchise to get its second adaptation so quickly, especially as reception to the first was lukewarm. Regardless, the battle royale it depicts remains unique even in this saturated market so if it can improve on the visuals of the first round it should have enough to keep casual viewers interested, even if the hardcore fans might be in two minds about keeping up with the adaptation.

For this week's contender, extremely straightforward using a giant with incredible eyesight who uses modified tree trunks as arrows for his bow. Possibly the ultimate siege-breaker to date, his weakness being anyone who closes in to a point where he cannot use his bow and specialized ammunition properly is more than capable of killing him despite his enormous frame. The first season has lots of monsters who are lethal at close range, and in the arena where the contenders are to fight for the title Mele's greatest advantage is already nullified. I don't expect him to make it far into the actual tournament, assuming he survives long enough to make it there.

On the other hand, the ex-assassin now detective Kurou will fare better in arena duels. Despite his own admission about his powers being on the wane, the homunculus who aids him makes up for his growing weaknesses with interest. The problem for him would be the lack of cover if the arena is like the Flavian Amphitheatre; he won't be able to use crowds to his advantage to maximise his lethal crossbow bolts. He doesn't appear to be much more than a regular human with amazing foresight and spatial awareness. so someone like Souijrou who can get close enough to land a strike would be fatal to him.

The "deity" at the start is the big question mark this week. Something so strong that the Demon Lord was deterred from invading its demesne, if "it" has a corporeal form and can take part in the tournament that ability to turn humans into offal through a localized tornado is stronger than anything seen to date. After all, if there's nothing to strike at when the target is a literal force of nature there can't be a contest.

Like the first adaptation, the adaptation will take its time to introduce the myriad contenders for the next round of "preliminary heats", most likely culminating in a multi-episode arc where the contenders have to face off with the remaining survivors allowed to continue their journey to the tournament proper. This episode has helpfully given a timeline as well: only 38 days remaining so if there's no tournament depicted this season it would definitely be for the next assuming more adaptations are greenlit.

I'd love to finally see the tournament, too, smurky turkey, but I gotta say I quite enjoy these introduction vignettes. Plus, to be honest, I'd rather see these characters with amazing skills fight each other in a non-tournament setting the way some of them did in season 1. I'm not a huge fan of tournament shows where the the combatants are in an arena and square off one on one. But maybe the tournament is a battle royale where everybody fights everybody in a certain location? Haven't read the source material, so I don't know.

I doubt that you will since a normal arena won't work. Take for example a fight between Mele and Alus, both use long range detructive attacks and the latter can fly. Most fights would also wreck the arena in question. Maybe something like a big dungeon with magic cameras in it to show the fights would work? Other anime have done it like that.

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