Okay, have a few things I want to let off my chest after finishing watching this episode.
Mort important of all. I've seen some people complain about Naofumi's seemingly offensive abilities, and indeed, the anime has done some things that makes it feel like he's got attacks. The "gun" on the shield to destroy the heart is an actual thing, but it can only be activated for this expressed purpose. The "gun" ability will forever be locked and inaccessible to use and it required specific criteria for activation.
Also, that Aura magic he casts with Ost, the reason bitch face reacted the way he did was because it's ritual level magic, as in hungreds of mages casting it simultaneously in normal circumstances. He will eventually learn to cast this on his own, but that is much much much later in the series, far beyond what season 3 is going to be. So don't want to flag the "spoiler" card for that one.
Now that that's taken care of.... I honestly think this was one of the best episodes in terms of adapting the source material. Sure, some cuts here and there, some changes to make it easier to anime, but overall, it was pretty well done! Bitch Face, I never remember his name, and he's such a dickhead anyway, his demeanor is pretty spot on. So I feel that was really well done.
Rishia's awakening was pretty well done as well I feel. It's often referred to as her awakening, in the novels it a lot more sense because she has the same scenes of justice as Itsuki the Bow Hero, but it isn't as borked and twisted as his. It's more like hating injustice, which is why she has this love and admiration for Itsuki. How Bitch Face treats Itsuki and the other two heros, how he unfairly uses stolen powers to shit on others like he does with Naofumi at that moment and how he's just a dick in general is what sets her off. And it's actually her heightened emotional state that causes her to set off like that, something that isen' apparent at all in the anime. In the novels, she litterally gets off the floor the same way in the anime, and it's due to how pissed off the is and how natural it is for her to use life force, what they translate to chi. She was as bad ass in the anime as she is in the novel at that point. I hated her character up till this point. After this, I started paying attention to her, cause she had potential is seemed.
Finally, I do feel the scene with Ost at the end was poorly handled. In the novels, she dies around them, surrounded by Naofumi, Raphtalia, Filo, Rishia. If memory serves the Queen is there as well with Eclair and even Fitoria. She see's them morn the loss of her, even though she had the job of destroying the world if need be. They were crying because a friend was about to die, and they called her a friend, something she'd never experienced before. The scene in the novels is a lot more emotional and powerful, and they still have time to go through the portal after she's gone. I feel it's a shame they changed that specific detail going from novel to anime. Perhaps is has something to do with culture, of seeing loved ones die? Regardless, as it was in written form, to me at least, that scene would have been more powerful if they'd been next to her. Maybe it's just a personal thing, the idea of dying alone, rather die surrounded by loved once.
Well, next week we start with vol. 8 of the novels. Okay, the pre into scene is probably going to be the last chapter of vol. 7, but we are about to start the second half of this arc next week. Pretty insane to think; season 1 was 26 episodes long (ep. 1 being a double episode), that season spanned 5 volumes. These first 6 episodes of season 2 spanned 2 volumes. A tiny bit of fun trivia here; vol. 1-5 consists of 1.576 pages spanning 26 episodes, that averages 60 pages per episode. This first part of season 2 consist of vol. 6 and 7, a total of 639 pages spread over 6 episodes, that's and average of 106 pages per episode.
I'm not saying this is an accurate representation, cause sometimes entire sections from season to were also cut. But at least it's a bit of an indicator of why it was so difficult to keep up with this season so far. I'm a novel reader, and the only reason I understand the story is due to that fact. This shouldn't be the case. I've said it before and I'll say it again. And I say it because I love this series so much, I want people to watch the anime, fall in love with it and be encouraged to pick up the novels and read them. But making a mess of an anime adaptation is not how you do that. Credit where credit is due though, and overall, this episode was by far the best of the season so far, and hopefully, there are still some people around who has stuck with the series. |