*Keep in mind I am no expert reviewer & analyzer or anything; I just watch and then say whatever's on my mind
*Sorry Flutterz; I was gonna edit all Squeara typos to Squealer but too lazy. Also monster rats -> queerats, and whatever other terminologies that had mutliple translations (ogre / fiend / akki)
Naturally, this will contain spoilers~
Episode 3
Episode 4
Btw, LOL at my amateur theorizing back in Episode 2
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Anyway, Rijin criticizes the crew for not obtaining permission to venture this far out, but apparently the even worse crime they committed was 'listening to the words of a horse demon" which breaks one of the Ten Platinum Laws of their Ethics Rules and so he seals their powers (I'm interested into the mechanics of that) and then prepares to escort them to the Ethics Committee for their punishment.
Unfortunately, the crew gets ganked by Monster Rats along the way, and surprise surprise, Balloon Dogs do exist & Rijin dies protecting the crew from the explosion.
Episode 5 - 7
That random sexual moment b/w Saki & Satoru when they were captured though. Cheating on Shun already, Saki? xD
Again, I'm interested in how their abilities are sealed and unsealed. Saki was able to unseal Satoru's powers via hypnosis + remembering his mantra or so and that was pretty interesting.
Regarding PK powers in general, wow. Satoru completely rekt the Monster Rats while he still had mana stamina. Really shows how devastating the war in the Dark Ages must've been since PK users had free reign to use their powers against each other.
I also wish to see Saki kick some ass one day. Sucks her powers remained sealed for the remainder of this arc.
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Regarding Squera, not sure how I feel about the rat. It seems he only assisted Saki x Satoru because of mutual benefits rather than him being a legit friend. Especially during that scene where he was 'captured' by enemy Monster Rats where the anime totally portrayed him to be a double agent so I was confused when he was still helping them, especially at the end when they are running from the Giant Hornets. But everything works out in the end~
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That ending though.
"Yay everybody reunites and the Giant Hornets let us go despite being ordered to take us in (thanks to Satoru saving the general earlier I presume).
We'll go back home, unseal our powers, and since Rijin died, there's no way anybody will have known we were in trouble for breaking the Ethics Rule via talking to that magic horse!"
NOPE! Looks like shit is gonna go down in very soon. I'll be looking forward to it ~
Episode 8
Saki x Maria
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Something's obviously up with Shun. For a moment I got annoyed by his distant shady attitude + breaking up with Satoru (he was such a nice boy 2 years ago; remember the starry river canoe moment he had with Saki? That's something only nice guys would do.)
I was worried that he was up to no good/doing illegal shit/will become a villain, but by the end of the episode it's hinted that he's doing the whole "I'm going to play hero and shoulder the burden all by myself to protect everybody" thing so props to him.
The 'burden' of course being the horse-demon-lies incident 2 years ago that the crew thought they had covered up, but apparently it took this long for it to come back and bite them in the ass.
Episode 9
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Later back at home, Saki inquires her parents regarding Shun to which her mom freaks out and pleads with Saki to stop prying because "she doesn't want to lose another child" which she immediately rephrases (finally) to "I don't want to lose you".
I felt for Saki's mom at that point ;-;. If I was Saki I might've totally just dropped everything to keep the peace for the sake of mum. But Saki being Saki will obviously continue to pry.
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Random flashback childhood Saki is soo adorable goddamn!!
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SLKFJASKLFJ FRIGGEN' MARIA!!!!!! I'M WATCHING THIS WITH HEADPHONES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT WHY YOU MUST SCARE ME!@#
Maria reveals that she and Mamoru went to tthe off-limits courtyard at their school and that the 'storage containers' contained... the Impure Cats!@#
They heard one of their teacher's voices amongst the adults...
"Must take care of it before the transformation into a Karmic Demon is complete"...
"He was so talented. It's such a shame"
Welp I guess that means Shun's the poor sod who is turning into a Karmic Demon and therefore must be eliminated. Damn shame indeed.
Saki gears up, says her goodbyes to Maria and then heads out in the middle of the night to go look for Shun.
And guess who what she runs into!!!!
Episode 10
Episode 11
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Mamoru. Typical whiny pathetic baby character who cracks when the crew start digging and conclude that Ryou =/= Shun based on their skewed memories.
You may have noticed by now but I HATE these types of characters. They are the bane of my existence. Chaos;Head's Takumi. Hated him. Accel World's Haruyuki. HATED HIM. Mamoru is no exception.
Though later on, Maria says something to Saki that finally made me realize something about whiny characters
Saki still wishes to pursue their lost memories of Shun but agrees to not involve Mamoru in their investigations anymore.
Oh and YESSS, more Saki x Maria <3 <3 <3
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The head of the Ethics Committee (revealed to be Satoru's grandmother) summons Saki / Satoru / Maria. Uh oh. The resulting banter among the trio from this revelation was very much appreciated in the midst of all of this tension
Episode 12
Episode 13
Episode 14
Btw does that mean no more Saki x Maria...? NOOOOOOOOOO
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The Education Committee play the whole "WTF is this blasphemy you speak of?" card but Tomiko-sama finally steps in and vouches for Saki. The once-scary Education Committee suddenly sound so passive. Wow, Tomiko-sama really does have HUGE influence 0.0
Saki has some heart to heart with Tomiko-sama; she is revealed to be 267 years old because her PK powers allow her cells to idk divide and not naturally deteriorate/something about Telomeres and that's why she has so much influence- with age comes experience, wisdom...
Tomiko-sama offers to protect Mamoru x Maria should Saki be able to bring those two home within 3 days otherwise the Education Committee will act on its own to execute the two elopers.
Saki meets up with Satoru and they begin their search for M & M. Hey look, it's Saki x Satoru vs. the world again. Looks like this is the default couple -_-
Episode 15 - 16
But alas, despite the initial friendly re-introductions, immediately you get the shady vibe from this guy and it's subtlely revealed later as to why. So I guess all of my suspicions in the earlier episodes about not to trust this guy *are* right soo yay me xD
Meh, don't really care about the lore regarding the Monster Rats. Yada yada yada we're building our colony by merging with other colonies and we got our hands on old-school technology/concrete and we incapacitate our Queens because they are too paranoid blah blah blah one day we'll mount a large scale attack against you Kami-samas
~
They track down Squnk with the help of Squeara and his questionable methods. Squnk gives them a letter from Maria and OMFG WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY Maria's letter was an official "Good-bye don't come looking for me"
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME MARIA T____________________________T
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WTF KIND OF NIGHTMARE IS THIS SAKI?!??!
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No leads on Maria x Mamoru. One day remains... will they be able to find them...? Saki x Satoru start talking about how they'll rebel and elope together and meet up with M & M and then Saki all of a sudden bursts into tears ;-;
Soo uh, Saki x Satoru confirmed?
Episode 17
Satoru also grew into a fine young man. His VA actually sounds decent when he's not playing whiny baby characters >.>
But I had to take a moment of silence because this time skip meant that they went 12 years without seeing M & M aka they never found them ;-; (unless they'll randomly pop up in the next 20 minutes and start reminiscing about the good 'old days)
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Fk. Do the creators of this show have a thing for rats or something? Why does this show feature Monster Rats so much?! I want Ogres! Karmic Demons! Anything but RATS!!!
Not going to go into Monster Rat lore cuz I don't give a damn (quick summary: colonies going to war with each other and having drama about who attacked who) but it's interesting how they have do paperwork to go to war with each other >.>
And I'll be honest, if the Monster Rats at least looked half as decent as Kiroumaru I would've liked them better. Yes, appearances matter. Besides, it's not like Squeara had a good personality to contrast with his ugliness.
It's annoying to see Squeara silver-tongue his way through everything, but w/e.
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Committee of Badasses:
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What. The. F#@$%? The Giant Hornets led by Kiroumaru were wiped out by Robber Fly lead by Squeara?! Obviously this fking annoying rat has something up his sleeve, but I am totally disappointed in this show for having the Monster Rats be the 'grand conflict'.
Episode 18
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Denial Mode #1: At the summer festival, Saki has halluncinations of Maria. That means Maria's still alive right...?
The Monster Rat Department has more meetings as to how the Robber Fly Colony could devastate the all mighty Giant Hornets. Conclude based on how effortlessly it was and the lack of damaged weapons could only mean one thing: they have a PK user on their side. But how...?
...Maria...? Mamoru? No way..!!! Why would they possibly side with Monster Rats? Revenge on society for exiling them?! Are they gonna be the big baddies?!
But that theory is quickly debunked by Tomiko-sama saying that that was impossible since they have the skeletal remains of M & M returned by Squeara that were thoroughly, 100% checked and confirmed to be theirs so it is for absolute certain that those two are dead.
Denial Mode #2: Wait, what? Those are really M & M's bones or is Tomiko lying to cover up that they never found M & M? Or maybe Squeara's just really good at coming up with legit-looking remains..?
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Yup, the fking Monster Rats are the 'grand conflict'. 0/10 this show sux trololol GOD WHY RATS.?!@# Hopefully this arc is done by Episode 20 and the remaining 5 can deal with more interesting things.. Sorry, I just don't care about the rats >.>
The Rats mount an assault during the Summer Festival. It feels soo weird how everybody was caught off guard and how even the elite fodders get taken down by fodder rats.
Denial Mode #3: A flashback of Maria at the end of the episode with a 'Good bye' plastered all over it? Definitely means she's alive and that we'll get a reunite soon right?
Episode 19
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Fodder girl pulls a Maria & volunteers to stay behind with wimpy fodder lady while Saki x Satoru escape to warn the village about the Ogre. RIP.
I didn't really take time to think about 'who' the Ogre could be. I merely thought it would be a fodder Ogre that would be explained like 'due to the Monster Rat attack, this person became traumatized so severely and thus became an Ogre".
Episode 20
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Anyway Saki x Satoru cleverly escape the Ogre by using a mirror/reflection. A gunpowder-igniting monster thingy from the river then attacks them and Saki x Satoru are separated (I thought it was weird she didn't try looking for him after regaining her ground >.>)
Saki makes it back to the village and informs about Ogre. Wow seeing the 267 never-aging Tomiko-sama wrapped up in bandages made me feel bad x.x. Tomiko says that if there really is an Ogre, then all hope is lost because apparently even though she lived through an Ogre attack in the past it was just luck/a complete miracle. Dw, Saki can manage xD
Episode 21
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Shisei easily gets ganked by the Ogre and Saki x Satoru flee. They meet up with some other guy who was tasked with eliminating the Robber Fly colony earlier but failed to do so because of said Ogre.
And then another shocking revelation: Squeara's grand plan? Raise an army of PK users by stealing babies. Well, shit. I was disappointed earlier for the 'grand conflict' being the Monster Rats, but this plan of theirs made things 100x more interesting.
But then that made me realize something. That Ogre isn't Maria. All of those Denial Modes where I was clinging onto hope that Maria was still alive was all for naught.
The Rats' plan was to raise an army of Ogres, right? So how'd they get their first one? From M & M's child.
And I bawled like a freakin' baby for quite some time upon finally realizing that. Maria's DEAD. She's gone forever. The remains they mentioned before is 100% proof of that. Killed by that fking Squeara and her child raised to become the ultimate weapon in his conquest.
Goddam that got me depressed. Like c'mon, you guys elope specifically so you guys could continue living, not die to these rats and then have your child raised to become their weapon!!!! FK!!!!
Ok I gotta stop now before I tear up again.
Ahem
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I'm surprised I was impacted by Maria's death this much (or rather, the realization/confirmation of her death). I usually just shed a tear or two for character deaths aka Shun, but man, Maria's was just soo tragic.
It was probably a combination of me liking her character so much and then having to go through several episodes wondering if she truly was dead or not clinging onto hope even when facts are presented and then BAM the harsh reality is confirmed. T________T
Episodes 22 - 25
Overall Quick Review
Characters: 8 / 10
Art: 7 / 10
Music: 7 / 10
Enjoyment: 10 / 10
Random- my favorite scene (obv spoilers):
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Overall: 9 / 10
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