[Kurona]

It's nice to see the show's gotten a bit more decent now that Xross Saber's here and everyone's basically at the endpoint of their arcs except for Ren? It's a similar problem I have with Zero-One where the conclusions of those arcs are great and it's nice to see them, but they had absolutely no clue how to actually carry out that journey.

But unlike 01... now we're actually here it's actually a new status quo that's good to take in and I'm enjoying a fair bit! I'd like Reika to be a character again and really wouldn't mind if Ryoga just tripped on a rock and died or something but aside from that thing that's been bothering me for months now, something the show's great at accomplishing is the absolute triumph of all the Swordsmen united. Sure, Ren's still very conflicted about going back but it's done in a way that it's inevitable, with everyone gathered at the Northern Base more or less happy and Xross Saber symbolising that crowning achievement. Even if I feel his arc was pretty disjointed, it's just nice to see Kento smile again and be back with his friends! It's nice to see him ultimately make the choice to defy fate at Touma's side, and were his story a bit better done I think it's a moment like this that would have settled him as my favourite character in the show. He's come a long way since his brooding debut.

I know this is a lot of backhanded compliments but... well, what can I say? It hasn't been a good show getting here, and I have to acknowledge that when the good it's now doing is inevitably building off of that. I've hoped for a while that Saber could turn things around at the last second for me and it looks like it's on that road now