[DreamSword]

Episode 20: Duel

Wasn't a fan of this one!

Getting straight to it, the whole point of this episode is set up a clash of ideals between Zanga and Garo, resulting in an actual fight over it.

The problem here is that they do in a way that's incredibly forced and nonsensical: Killing off Yasumasa as a way to provide pathos for Hakamadare, which is not only a waste of a good character, but incredibly unnecessary.

Hakamadare and Raiko were already at odds in how to go about their lives as Makai Knights. This really did not need an extra set up than what it already naturally had. And even then, at the end it's revealed that Seimei as the vessel can't truly die anyway, rendering alot of the character drama pointless.

As a result this is an episode that has basically nothing going for it. The character drama is a waste, the action is nothing special, the plot isn't advanced in any sort of meaningful way, and again, a character that could've brought about more great dynamics in the cast is just unceremoniously killed off. So yeah, not a fan. You can tell that the story is being dragged out just to be 24 episodes long.