[DreamSword]

Episode 18: Illusion

Gotta say, the twist about Sophie's' brother was really obvious.

What I wasn't expecting, however, was for Sophie's' phone to be literally magic. I always thought those virtual sequences were all in her head.

Anyway, the crew at long last touch down in El Dorado. Unfortunately, that last attack spend almost all of the group's' resources, so Gina retreats to go and grab some supplies. So it's up to Luke, Sword, and Sophie to investigate the town.

Although this is primarily meant to be a Sophie-focused episode, my biggest takeaway of it all actually came from Sword and Luke. There's a scene where Sophie wonders why Sword isn't mourning Zaruba, and Luke explains to her the inherent difference in how Makai handle death.

The Knights and Alchemists are always prepared to fulfill their duties to the end, and as such, continuing to fight on and living life to the fullest is seen as the best way to honor their fallen comrades. It's the sort of message that I actually really personally relate to, as it's very similar to the way I was taught to handle the deaths of loved ones.

That aside, this episode does offer a big leap forward in the plot. Not only cluing in to how Sophie's' brother Martin factors into all of this, but what exactly the endgame plan of El Dorado exactly is. They want to, you guessed it, take over the world.

And they mean in all ways too. Business, politics, you name it. It's a slight step up from simply wanting to eat everyone ala the plots of the previous two anime.

After so much time with Luke going solo and Sword and Gina being a pair, I'm definitely looking forward to seeing Luke and Sword play off eachother again.

[Enchilada645]

Yeah, I know you were worried about them getting to El Dorado later rather than sooner a couple episodes back, but thankfully (given they set out this goal at Episode 9 of all places) we got to El Dorado with a good several episodes to spare too.

We've pretty much entered endgame at this point so things are about to ramp up pretty quickly.

That being said, even though it did only appear for a few seconds this episode, I didn't really want to say anything last time for spoilers sake but hey! Congratulations Sword on being like one of the few Garo's to actually get a permanent upgrade to the armor, even if it's a bit minor in terms of details. It happens a couple of times but not as often as you'd think.

[DreamSword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enchilada645

That being said, even though it did only appear for a few seconds this episode, I didn't really want to say anything last time for spoilers sake but hey! Congratulations Sword on being like one of the few Garo's to actually get a permanent upgrade to the armor, even if it's a bit minor in terms of details. It happens a couple of times but not as often as you'd think.

I mean, depending on how you view "upgrade" it's happened in every anime at least. Like, with Leon it's debatable, sure, but Raikou's' for sure counts.

But yeah, I am glad at how smooth and well times the transition into El Dorado was. I've seen some other shows where like, once Gina was like "I gotta go back to get supplies" the entire plot would've been like "WELL I GUESS WE CAN'T GO TO EL DORADO YET EVEN THOUGH IT'S RIGHT HERE~"

So yeah, glad we're at the endgame now.

[Enchilada645]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

I mean, depending on how you view "upgrade" it's happened in every anime at least. Like, with Leon it's debatable, sure, but Raikou's' for sure counts.

Yeah like I said, Sword joins the few since it's not as common as you'd think in this franchise. Though yeah, Raikou's definitely counts.

And I wouldn't count Leon's purely because his first iteration is very much a variant based on his emotions. Meanwhile he ends up getting one more in line with how Garo normally looks after everything's in check. With Alfonso being the real first case of "See this is how Garo is supposed to look".

[DreamSword]

Episode 19: Farewell

Martin's kinda dumb.

He's essentially the type of media parent who abandons their kid and then tries to justify it with work or some dumb garbage.

Not only that, he for some reason has this idea in his head that Sophie is an absolute lost cause unless he helps create a virtual reality for her? For a genius level programmer he sure doesn't understand why smiles are important.

Because that's what El Dorado's' end goal is: A virtual reality to trap people in under the false pretense of eternal happiness, and this episode is a raid on the main enemy base in order to set up for the next episode which will in turn elaborate and expand on that idea.

Out of that and the reveal that El Dorado is also responsible for the death of Sword's' sister, this episode was just what I said: A raid. And a somewhat lower budget one too given that the action is kinda minimal and there's some weird animation here and there(mainly in the way mouths move this episode). Like, it's not bad, but it's very much a stepping stone episode.

It's important sure, but the show is gonna have to do alot if it wants me to care about Martin after his being a neglectful family member. Like, sure, he thought he was writing to Sophie while he was gone, but that doesn't change that he just up and left without a word one day.

Needless to say, I'm far more interested in the promised interaction between Sword and the virtual version of his sister.

[DreamSword]

Episode 20: Utopia

This didn't quite go the way I expected, which is a good thing, but I'm still a bit unsatisfied.

Like, I get what the episode was going for, especially with all the blatant dream symbolism, but this felt overall undercooked to me.

Part of that might be due to the studio knowing that they only have a few episodes left an as such they need to hasten things a little, but unfortunately the writing isn't tight enough to make everything feel as developed as it could be.

Case in point, Sword and his sister, after such a big deal was made about her, really don't get to interact all that much. Sure, Sword does keep his wits about him and assumes that she's a fraud, but it overall feels like little payoff to so much build up throughout the show.

Instead most of the focus is on Martin and Sophie, which while that is somewhat expected, I also found it alot less interesting. Martin continues being a terrible brother/parent in that he's focused only on his wants and needs and using his sister as an excuse to those ends. I get that he's possessed and delusional, but this was all even before Horrors got involved.

Meanwhile with Sophie, I really don't get her internal logic in this one? She has the sense to know that El Dorado is a sham and that it's a feeding ground for Horrors ala The Matrix, and she even instantly pieces together that the ring Martin wears is the problem, but yet come the end of the episode she just goes for the kill option? It seemed way more likely for her to just try grabbing at the ring again while Martin was unconscious.

Well atleast we finally know Half-Naked Makai Lady's' name, which is Queen. Makes sense, given the Chess theme inherent in Knight and Bishop. Also, the quick gaga about Luke trying to carry an unconscious Sword gave me a chuckle.

Safe to say though that while I don't hate her, I think that Sophie is the character I like the least of the main four. What a shame, given that she's arguably the main character at this point.

[DreamSword]

Episode 21: Cause and Effect

My main takeaway of this episode is that Queen went down without much of a fight.

The majority of this episode is designed to try and make the viewer feel sorry for Martin due to the way he was manipulated.

And in that regard, the show tries to have its cake and eat it too, by making the claim that Martin had become a Horror and was a lost cause the moment he put on the ring, despite so much evidence to the contrary.

There's also the claim that he remained altruistic despite his possession, which is just outright not true in that his actions are incredibly selfish. The show really can't decide on if the ring is the main problem or not. "Martin is an utter monster except not really" could be cool in concept, but the execution is sloppy.

If anything, all this did was make me dislike Sophie even more. I expressed confusion at her inner motives last episode, and this episode clarifies them in probably the worst way? She still knows that the ring is the Horror and Martin isn't, but she just wants to appear more valiant and braver than she actually is, meaning she has the guts to kill Martin the human, but not the Horror.

Sophie is a coward despite all of the allegedly growth throughout the show. The moment Martin even so much as shows any resistance, what does she do? She backs out, terrified. Killing an "innocent" man is easy to her, and something she'll gladly say she'll take responsibility for, but when it comes down to the wire, she is nothing like the Nun who took care of her. She backs out immediately and never acknowledges that her actions directly lead to Martin being turned.

And this all could've been so easily fixed had there just been one scene where, after the two escape El Dorado, Sophie tries to wrestle the ring from Martin but the ring itself actively resists. Instead it's alot of claims about the two siblings having pure souls. Which, sure, in comparison to Horrors, they probably do, but both are still far from the purely altruistic do-gooders that the show tries to claim they are. And you're telling me that Zaruba sacrificed himself for this girl? Yeah, no, I ain't happy about that.

Needless to say I really as not into this one. That prophecy about Sophie's' actions "shaping the fate of the world" is technically true, but in probably the most lackluster way for a show like this.

[Enchilada645]

I had to check if I could get the trivia out of the way concerning something but nope! That'll wait for next time!

Anyway sorry if I didn't have much to say these past several episodes other than uh, Martin's a dumbass.

Purely cause I'll be real when I was legitimately shocked that El Dorado's plot kicked in at Episode 18 given the whole endgame kinda blurs together for me that I thought it was only like 3 episodes. Not 6 episodes.

[DreamSword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enchilada645

Anyway sorry if I didn't have much to say these past several episodes other than uh, Martin's a dumbass.

Yeah, he really is. This is an instance where things would've been way smoother had Martin just become a Horror outright and that's why he disappeared rather than this "complexity" that the narrative is shooting for.

[DreamSword]

Episode 22: Yu Light

Well, that certainly robs episode 17 and 18 of their biggest moments.

And on that note, I was really emotionally checked out during a good majority of this episode.

It's alot more Sophie and Martin drama that I am very much sick of hearing about and watching at this point. Combine that with the dreaded "King planned this all along!" cliche that I find very rarely ever works and my eyes rolled really hard.

Zaruba coming back despite being absorbed by Sword and King somehow planning everything aren't the only asspulls done though. There's also Queen being alive despite being blown in half and Gina and Sword now being a couple despite only one hint that Gina was even remotely interested in the guy.

And that's all there is to this one, really. Though it does end on the promise of a battle of Gina and Luke vs Queen and Knight, which I am definitely down for. I might not be jiving with Vanishing Line's' endgame all that much, but if this fight delivers, then really that's all I'll need at this point. Luke's' entire arc has been leading up to this, so I really hope things don't fumble here.

Oh, and if you care at all about the plot: Martin got eaten, everyone tells Sophie she had nothing to do with it despite the fact that she did, and everyone retreats and regroups for one final attack on King's' forces. The end.