[DreamSword]

Episode 11: Star Scarlet's Mission

Episode 12: Trimming the Intruding Flower

Lady Mossa's' plan here really was pretty smart when you get down to it.

Which makes it kinda ironic that the very thing she exploited(human greed and vanity), is what ultimately did her plan in, in the end.

But really, despite being the primary plot device of these two episodes, the Scarlet Bintang(nice callback there, guys), was maybe the most minor of things that stood out to me during this chunk?

No, what stood out to me most was just how much character development we got out of Ricca. Even moreso than the two-parter that was advertised as being all about her! Her family having died during the Grand Gator attack made for a really great follow up to the previous show, to say the least.

There's also her bonding with Rena and, by extension, the rest of the family. The scenes between the two girls were rather nice, especially since they helped to showcase that despite some Akiko-isms early on(thanks, Riku Sanjo), Rena is still the same girl we've continued to know. Oh and uh, Ricca might have the White Power Stone, but don't worry about that part.

The last thing I can think to note is that I could very easily see this monster of week getting on people's' nerves, what with its constant vocal tick as if it's meant to be a parody of Pokemon or something. But ignoring that aspect, it did have a pretty neat gimmick and the way that the family ultimately bands together to take it down was fun to see play out.

Oh, and Azazel's' new Dark Meteor attack is frikken sweet. That certainly helps!