[DreamSword]

Episode 17: The Order to Kill Ricca!

Episode 18: Thawing a Cold Heart

This one was... alright.

The main crux of the episode is that Ricca ends up absorbing the White Power Stone, and Ray needs to find a way to get it out of her while fighting Mossa.

And that's kinda all there is to it in terms of plot. We get a tease about how Ricca's' boss is soon to become the new Satria, and since he's apparently Tiger themed I suppose his makes sense he gets Orange and White.

Sure, there's a small message about empathy and meeting people where they're at thrown in there, but it's not really a primary focus nor is it a major issue to be overcome. Heck, the whole emotional climax, wherein Ray tells Ricca that she's like family now, kinda comes way too easy? But it's whatever.

I think the biggest takeaway for me in all of this was actually Lady Mossa; She has a rather good showing here! Her plan is direct, but proven to be effective, and she quickly shows that she's one of the Death Phantoms for a reason. I especially liked how she took advantage of the fact that none of the heroes knew what her civilian identity was. And her monster form is cool too.

The action itself isn't anything super stellar, but we do get a new finishing attack for Azazel, who also gets a surprising amount of screen time throughout this thing. First fighting Iron Mask in episode 17(with his previous identity of Mikhail getting mentioned) and then doing a great job holding off Mossa in 18. And of course, you know, the shirtless scene that I'm sure many a viewer was happy to see. I guess this was all to make up for him being a bit absent recently.

In the end though, yeah, there's some solid stuff in these two episodes, but as an overall I just felt they were fine. Nothing bad, but nothing incredible either.