「転石するイシ」 (Tenseki Suru Ishi)
“Rolling Darkstone”

It may have been a little cliche and predictable, but for a series that’s going for the reluctant superhero approach, it’s hard to fault Sunrise for using some of the staples of the genre. This includes the tried and true mustering strength out of nowhere and coming in the nick of time to save the heroine. Knowing what it was going for, I actually found Alma’s fight with the two Ashi pretty cool to watch. It had a very shounen-esque feel to it, where our hero was down and out and getting the crap kicked out of him and dug deep within to find it in him to pull through.

It wasn’t all that unbelievable either, since we don’t really know the true abilities of Alma’s “Liberator” form (as it’s known as). What we do know is that he’s been thrown into a situation where he’s asked to fight Ashi when he isn’t particularly good at fighting to begin with, so it doesn’t require too much suspension of disbelief to see that he could probably do a lot better if he did. In this particularly case, it wasn’t so much skill as it was heart though, hence why I enjoyed this episode as much as I did. Just when I thought it was over, they slipped in one more threat to really cement the idea that Alma had found a new purpose in life.

As a bonus of sorts, I finally got to see the Corundum Laser Cannon fired, even though it didn’t prove to be as impressive as I had imagined. Ruri’s rail gun was much more so, despite the fact that she missed the core of the gigantic gluttonous Ashi. Production-wise, I was pretty forgiving of the fact that the faces looks terribly simplified in a lot of the scenes, as well as the artwork in general during the action ones involving Alma, simply because it was offset with a lot more animation. It seemed like a fair tradeoff taking fluidity over detail, given that this series hasn’t really given any indication that it’s a high-budget Sunrise project. It was also nice to see Alma do something new in battle, using his scarf as a weapon for the first time and tossing the first Ashi into the air before dealing the finishing blow. Coupled with the heroic music and the sound of Alma screaming his lungs out — pumped full of adrenaline — the flashy conclusion to the fights on all three fronts gets a thumbs up from me.

Best of all, we had some more profound character developments between Alma and Wakana, going back to the small rock that he gave her long ago. They also hinted at the possibility that the rays of light from Alma’s desperation attack may free Ruri’s sister from her crystallized prison. It’s hard to tell if Aoi’s going to be freed by that, but the preview does suggest that we’re going to take a trip down memory lane about her.

 

Preview

26 Comments

  1. So 3 more episodes and there is still the possible past with Alma and Ruri, Ruri’s sister coming into play, and taking down the villian Kenmi. Wonder if they are able to fit all this in…

    TSouL
    1. I was wondering that, too. I think they’d have to extend it ot a full series or have a season 2. I doubt the story will wrap-up nicely with 12 episodes. Not that this show has been exceptional in some way.

      JD
  2. I wonder if/when we’re going to find out about the whole “I’m taking your memories” thing. The tagline for the series was about memories changing the world, but unless I’ve missed something huge, we haven’t really seen anything of the sort.

  3. It constantly amuses me after I’ve seen each episode that they never explain the source or limits of Alma’s powers so they can keep on literally giving him new powers as the plot demands. The execution is cool enough that I don’t even think about it in the moment though (“I Need to run fast! I need to fly!”).

    This has thus far been pretty formulaic, but that’s not a bad thing here.

    Delwack
    1. The title sacred seven has several meaning. I believe it was stated that there will seven stone. Also when Alma use his power, there were seven circles, each representing a unique power I suppose. So after he has the gun, the surf board, super speed, and thing with this cape.

      I doubt he has used all seven of his power yet. I guess they are saving the best power for last…

      chaos
  4. Looking at Ruri and Alma, I can’t help but to think this look like a pedophilia relationship…

    He is very tall and well developed while she is cute and small make this a very odd couple. Ironically they are of the same age. They don’t look anything alike. I am think the creators might be a pedophile, especially for lolicon…

    chaos
  5. Fun episode, almost like watching an episode of Ultraman with two monster battles XD (except with better fight scenes). Love that they show more Wakana in this episode, though I’d love it if they revealed more about what is going on in that head of hers :p . Doesn’t look like we will ever get to see that though. We got to see the maids in action this week, that was pretty fun as well. Not that many episodes left, I guess next episode will reveal what happened in the past and after that it will be wrapping things up to give a resemblance of an ending. Doubt this will get prolonged or a second season, though I would enjoy it as well.

    x
  6. Nobody notice? Did anyone see how big the size Tantouji is at 7:32. Look at the how tall he is compare to other male characters and also how he is taller than the shoe locker themselves

    lkaze
  7. now this is what I say a good romance done. you dont need fancy dates and whatnot to get some relationships with the characters. I also liked how it provided some other stuff for alma’s development like knowing how he was a “rock” and realizing how much he and everyone changed.
    *sigh* they still probably wont end up together…

    well I finally see some of the plot happening. we will now know more about ruri’s sister and their past. I get the feeling they’re setting up one of those “wrong twin” as in the one crystallized is ruri and the other one is the sister. it might also play a part in alma’s own part too.

    amado

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