[Zolda]

I wish the Mammoth Malgam could survive longer than the first 5 minutes of this episode. It's made of 4 homunculi, so it should be able to overpower both KR Gotchard and KR Majade for longer than 5 minutes and force them to retreat. I'd like to see a Malgam that can actually give the riders a hard time and serious injuries. But I guess Hasegawa wanted to focus more on Rinne's inner turmoil, not the physical aspect of fighting.

As usual, the food cart scene @ 06:10 is done at the famous ramp outside of Toei's studio (aka warehouse), haha. Lachesis confirms that homunculi like her and the other Sisters don't eat. Their source of energy is perhaps Glion's alchemical tricks, or perhaps another form of alchemical substance/elixir like I hypothesized here, since they could still function when Glion was absent in the last 10 years. I think they also don't age, as shown in episode 18 where their look in the past was identical to today's. Could it be that The Sisters are immortal beings? Now it makes more sense why Glion's derisively called them dolls. He's called them dolls because they are dolls with alchemical batteries/source of energy. I thought that The Sisters and the other homunculi were artificial humans, in the sense that they function like normal humans, only created through Glion's alchemical skills, but I think I was wrong. I think The Sisters and the other homunculi are automatons, similar to Koyomi (or rather, the Koyomi-shaped magic-powered doll) in KR Wizard.

Atropos seeing (or imagining) Kraken Malgam as Glion @ 06:52 makes me hypothesize that the homunculi (and The Sisters) could be Glion's horcruxes. He could've linked, copied, or separated some of his soul into the homunculi he's created. It could be interesting if one of The Sisters or homunculi be taken over by Glion's persona from inside their body without them realizing it. Atropos is the most viable candidate. "I'm not sure what you were reading, Tom, but this is very dark stuff. Very dark, indeed." (Prof. Horace Slughorn)

Kyouka asks Lachesis about the identity of the three-eyed uber-demon dwelling behind the Ouroboros gate in episode 27, but she also doesn't know. She only speculates that it might be the king of darkness, which I'm 90% sure is the same uber-demon that was defeated by the Alchemist of Dawn 120 years ago. The three-eyed uber-demon might be Chemy #101, #102, or rather, Chemy #0, who is the source of all alchemical force in the universe. The uber-demon is the most basic, raw form of alchemical force that has existed since the beginning of time, or even outside time, as Glion cryptically stated in episode 27. Unlike normal Chemies, the uber-demon has no connection whatsoever to this world, hence why it will cause the destruction of this world if it manages to fully appear in this world. It might even be indestructible. It's destruction. Can destruction be destroyed?

Seina got sick after being frozen by Mammoth Malgam. Well, she was turned into an ice statue, of course she fell sick, haha. This is one of the few rare instances where a MOTW attack causes a disruption in the victim's health, even after being reversed by the protagonists. So, naturally Rinne got the role of Juliet. Seina is initially upset when she learns about it, but then apologizes to Rinne for her jealousy. So, the writer chose to play it safe. If this is a Toshiki Inoue's script, then this love triangle will be turned up to 11, last for at least 10 episodes, and intertwined with other dramatic interpersonal conflicts, haha. Soooo... All's well that ends well. By the way, All's Well That Ends Well is also a play written by Shakespeare, haha.

Kraken Malgam's ink nicely causes an illusion inside the mind of its victims, similar to how an octopus' uses its ink to disorient the predator and or its prey. It's also nice how The Sun's power is ineffective against Kraken Malgam's illusion tricks due to it being a mental/psychological illusion, not physical one. Rinne uses Neminemoon's power to "eclipse" The Sun's power, basically allowing her to enter a state of suspended animation to fake her death and fool Kraken Malgam. Kinda convoluted, though, and it's explained through infodump, haha. Rinne apparently killing herself kinda parallels the story of Romeo and Juliet. And like Mammoth Malgam, Kraken Malgam is formed from multiple copies of homunculi (about 12 of them), so Atropos is starting to up her golden Malgam creation game.

Kraken Malgam's defeat is due to his amateurish disinformation tactic. He should've not consistently used illusion all the time, and should've randomly alternated between illusion and reality. If you consistently appear strong when you're weak and appear weak when you're strong all the time, then your enemies will read the pattern and know your true intentions. Your enemies will know your tactic beforehand, and thus ultimately defeats the purpose of disinformation in the first place. The most effective form of disinformation is when it's combined with randomness. If Kraken Malgam randomly activated and deactivated his illusion tricks, Houtarou and Rinne would've had a much harder time telling the difference between illusion and reality. Although, this tactic might still be ineffective against Rinne's new suspended animation tactic, haha. But, come on, Zolda. He's just a bunch of dolls. What does he know about Sun Tzu's Art of War? Haha.

It's nice to see the X-Gotchalibur (the most multifunctional and the best looking toy in this show so far) is still used in this episode. Bandai should do more multifunctional approach like this or Gashacon Bugvisor on the future DX toy designs.

The forgotten one after Kraken Malgam's defeat is Spanner. He's nowhere to be seen. Is he kidnapped by Kraken Malgam after losing to his illusion tricks? Or is it just writing/directorial error? Haha. Thankfully, he's back to AA common room fixing his Valvarusher, so he's not kidnapped by Kraken Malgam, haha. He then continues his favorite hobby: Exchanging insults with Lachesis. My girlfriend ships Spanner and Lachesis, haha. I think their dynamics is similar to Houjou & Ozawa from KR Agito, or Takumi & Mari from KR Faiz. Lachesis getting her own Valvarusher may also mean that she (and several other people like Sabimaru and Renge) will ultimately be given mass-produced Drivers and transform into AU's Riotrooper-esque infantry based on Valvarad. Kinda fitting, as the name Valvarad is likely an amalgamation of valve(?) and apparat (German word for tool/device/apparatus)(?) or apparat (Russian word for the workers of an administration/bureaucracy)(?).

Who and what the frak descends from the Ouroboros gate @ 22:46? Is it Glion who's somehow alive and returns with a small portion of the uber-demon's powers? Or is it just the king of darkness who will debut in the next episode? This could be the next big reveal. The writers better not screw it up because this reveal may be close to KR Legend debut in the main storyline. If the writers are not careful, the presence of KR Legend could potentially mess up the internal logic of the main storyline and creates a more convoluted story.

Next week:

I wonder what kind of life The Sisters are going to live without Glion's influence. This episode perhaps will focus on Clotho's inner struggle.

The king of darkness finally appears. This is probably the one Lachesis was referring to. Is he indeed the same uber-demon that was defeated by the Alchemist of Dawn 120 years ago? Or perhaps he's not the uber-demon, but the ruler of the Ouroboros world. Anyway, the king of darkness doesn't look menacing to me. He just looks like an upgraded golden Malgam.