Helck Episode 18 Discussion

Wow. It's heartbreaking for Alicia. Yet, even in her final moments, she manages to wear a smile.

Before the running Helck, there stood bounty hunters and soldiers. Helck defeated the large army one by one and continued steadfastly towards the royal capital. There, he witnessed the pitiful state of Alicia, who had been dragged to the execution grounds. Helck was enraged by the cruelty and ugliness of the people's actions, but Alicia, despite her injuries, gently cared for him. Soon, as if to celebrate their reunion, snow began to fall.

What a merciless world. They should never have conducted a public execution... It's no wonder Helck wore a constant smile at the start; I had no inkling of the weight he carried. I still find it hard to believe Alicia is gone, especially considering there was an awakened hero skilled with a bow, much like her. Perhaps Alicia has transformed into one of the winged soldiers. Yet, I've glimpsed a spark of hope.

Could it be that taking down the king will be the key to saving everyone? Maybe all is not lost after all?

So now we know why Helck is always smiling and the terrible pain he hides.

Helck needs a hug, poor guy guy went through a lot and saw absolute apocalypse happen right in front of his eyes.

Ah yes, the age old trope of "this bad thing happens to everyone almost instantly. Except for this one single person that has to talk for twenty minutes in emotional exposition before succumbing because screw consistency". Helck is a good story with terrible execution, and the fact we've had a prequel series jammed into the middle of the actual series with zero progress on the actual story has made it a chore to watch each week, and it doesn't even look like we're done getting more backstory that could have been summarized in 2-3 dedicated episodes or several flashback scenes during the actual story.

@Malebranche Nonsense, you can't fit 30 chapters into a couple episodes. You're grasping at straws, it started with dunking on cheap budget values and when the story lifted off, you were forced to move on ever more niche and fastidious complaints. Give it a rest and realize you were the butt of Helck's best gag: don't judge a book by its cover.

@xdiesp The entire back story arc is a literal full on prequel series, and while the lore dump was nice in the beginning, it's become a chore. They stretched out character development, back story, history, full life resume, love interests, lack of love interests, hero journey, and everything else they can fit into what could have been covered with "My brother was the hero, I was a mercenary, my friends were dear to me, shit hit the fan, nobles were corrupt, my friends died/were awakened saving me, now I'm on a mission to avenge them and save what's left of the human kingdom."

The story of Helck w/ demon girl has been interesting. The anime was interesting. Until they decided to outright abandon the story they started with to go down memory lane for literally 1/3 of what has aired. 13-18, all lore dump backstory with absolutely zero progression of the actual plot. I had Helck rated 8/10 in my friend group from the outset, it was a fun show for tuesdays... Now I delay it until Wednesday because I rather start with the disappointment of infinite useless backstory that doesn't matter that Helck has become and go into shows that actually deliver on their characters.

Not where where you think I dunked on the cheap budget values or anything else (I've not made a single post on Helck until now). But go off.