[Fish Sandwich]

Brutal, funny, *and* dramatic is quite the combination of moods to balance in a single moment, but somehow the ending to this episode pulls it off.

It helps how the show in general has always had that sort of tonal range, I suppose. I mean, how fantastic is it that the big ultimate villain scheme that's been building in the background for a while turns out to center around a horde of adorable bootleg bad guy Gochizo being unleashed on an unsuspecting world? It keeps that light pop vibe going with the cutesy minions bouncing around on screen, but the colorful nature of how the scheme is portrayed doesn't do anything to diminish the suspense created by the scale of the operation, or the cruelty of what the goal of it all is. In other words, it's brutal, funny, and dramatic, all at once.

So yeah, squeezing in that tiny reaction from Nyelv milliseconds before his final gambit blows up in his face felt about right to me. It made me laugh, but the sheer indignity of it also reinforces quite nicely just how despicable the larger villain here is, barely reacting to anything going on while all these other characters are out here putting their all into whatever they're doing, for better or worse.

The saddest thing in all of this, for me, is how Shouma gets that moment where his immediate reaction to seeing Nyelv again is relief, only for things to go the way they do. For Shouma to actively demonstrate concern for Nyelv's well-being in spite of the history he has with his siblings suggests an immense sincerity on his end of that alliance in the same way Nyelv actually calling Shouma by his name suggested his own sincerity. It's not like they were becoming best friends or anything, obviously, but that doesn't stop it from being compellingly tragic to see things revert back to the status quo in a way that ends up shutting the door so firmly on anything positive that might've been.

Although speaking of positive change, I also felt this episode highlighted how much Lakia has grown as a character in way that also helps underscore the encroaching sense of finality as the show marches towards its conclusion. His chat with Hanto was especially great. Seeing him readily acknowledge himself as being similar to Hanto, and then offering that level-headed advice, it speaks to the personal struggles Lakia has overcome, to how his relationship with Hanto has managed to become one that could actually reasonably be described as friendly, and to the respect he has for Shouma. It's like a reflection on his whole journey across the series, plus the way it intersects with the other leads, packed into one tidy little conversation in a scene that doesn't even make a big deal of itself. Pretty impressive stuff, but just like what I said about the tone earlier, tightly executed character dynamics has never really *not* been a strength of this show.