Radiant

Episode 4! Introduction of the Big Queen, and I really love both her voice and the echoing effect they put on it. Adds to the majestic aura.

But man, visually this season really does the bare minimum. Nothing outrageously ugly, but the animation and direction are just really flat.

Episode 5 is very… talkative. I feel like the scene with Mélie at the inn was dragged out a lot more than in the manga, and Aoi Yuuki's voice acting was weird (seriously, when she was sobbing it sounded like she was laughing…) It made Mélie sound a lot more whiny overall, I'm not a fan. =[

Ocoho is as great as ever though.

I liked that conversation myself though I agree Melie's voice was weird. I wonder how long they're going to drag this subplot out though. We're already nearly 1/3rd of the way through the season, assuming this season is also 21 episodes.

From what I remember it's resolved pretty quickly, so you don't have to worry about that. Unless the anime puts more emphasis on it, which they kind of did already?

(also, 5 episodes is only a quarter of 20 )

Is this season only 20 episodes instead of 21 like season one? Because 7 is a third of 21 so episode 5 was nearly 1/3rd of the way through.

That said, just finished episode 6. I was not expecting the Spectral Nemesis to be magic holograms though I guess that may have been obvious.

I have been catching up with this manga. It's really good.

Hm. Well that certainly was an episode. Now I'm not sure how to feel about Grimm. He seems nice but that whole scene after he escapes and sees his blood is making me question that.

Yeah, I wonder what's up with that… An earlier scene implied that he had seen a lot of people die (maybe he killed them himself?) but I'm not sure how that's related to his fear of his own blood.

Just caught up with the anime… Huh, episode 7 was cool but I'm not sure we needed to spend 5 minutes to sum up everything that happened in the series. But at least they always nail the transformation scenes.

It's also cool that they gave Sagramor some more screentime in episode 6, if only a little.

Have to say that I've been enjoying the second season. I get impression that its probably more faithful to source material than original season was?

Oh, definitely. There are a few additions here and there, but at least they're not chasing a freaking coffee monster.

That's good. I was turned off from the first season because of that.

I actually started reading the manga.

Only read the 1st 2 volumes but it’s pretty decent. I like how clean the art is.

The official volumes?

I must say I really enjoyed the last two episodes. They totally nailed the tone and the Caillte forest is gorgeous. And they brought in Inoue Kikuko to voice Jill, that couldn't be more perfect.

Really liked the little conversation between the Queen and Ocoho with the Queen poking her, it was so cute and cozy.

A question do we know if Santori died or not. The anime made it seem like he did, but the manga chapters of the same events I read featured his body and stuff on the ground and it was more ambiguous.

As far as I know, there's no indication that he's dead.

I'm not caught up with the anime, does it handle the big battle well?

It's been pretty cool. The fight with Santori and Seth was pretty cool.

I saw a clip of it, they actually made it more awesome than it already is in the manga.

Also I currently all the volumes localized in the U.S., at 9 volumes.

Man this series is fucking dope.

Oho, gotta watch this then.

Speaking of which, volume 13 is also out. Turns out Mélie's infection used to be much worse than just turning from dere to tsun. From what I get she kinda… absorbed her sister's personality, which in turned kept the other, unhinged personality in check? Meanwhile Dragunov can finally have an actual conversation with Seth, away from battle. And it's strongly implied that he was the one who dealt the finishing blow to Konrad back in Rumble Town… that little chat about how he felt the first time he "killed a bad guy" was pretty damn chilling.

So finally at end of current arc and tear jerkers huh?

Little update on the current arc! We’re at volume 17, and the situation has gotten quite a bit more complex. The Domitors have a nasty plan that Hameline was apparently trying to hijack before she was killed, Lupa more or less joins our heroes’ side, Alcille and Shoan (a couple of reluctant royal guards) are on the run after the latter was infected, the King of Bome is realizing how useless he is, Dragunov defected after pissing off Torque more than he had planned, Seth and co. have more or less accomplished what they had come for after several close calls, and Mélie’s third persona has locked the other two away, unbeknownst to the others. Oh, and Piodon is fucking terrifying.

I absolutely love it. Character interactions are really Valente’s greatest strength, and they shine more than ever in this arc.

Also of note, there’s a lot more… diversity in these last few volumes, I feel. A lot more dark skins, an ordinary young blind woman, a lesbian couple, one of the Domitors is stated to be gay… it’s all very organic too. Makes the world feel more real and tangible.

Edited by Lyendith on Dec 13th 2022 at 12:43:38 PM

need to catch up on this :O