「無限迷宮」 (Mugenmeikyuu)
“Infinite Labyrinth”

After all the fun (read: debate) of the Spirit Tortoise arc, things are now returning to a stronger degree of normal in Tate no Yuusha. A cuter normal. Or if you will, an isekai normal. In serious need of a story reset and a return to what makes things great? Hey, why not stick another world in your alternate world, because nothing says isekai like isekai in isekai – and with more Japanese transplants to boot! Trust me, you’re not the only one questioning things.

Although I avoided bringing it up over the past few weeks, the Spirit Tortoise arc is admittedly one of Tate no Yuusha’s weakest, something the new Infinite Labyrinth arc does help correct for, if only slightly. The premise here is fairly simple: Naofumi and company (minus one birdbrain) have to track down Kyo in his own world, but to do so is going to require some serious levelling up thanks to everyone involved being reset back to the very beginning (courtesy of different world mechanics). It’s effectively Tate no Yuusha throwing Member Berries around for the hell of it, because between the return of loli smol Raphtalia (whose presence right now, it should be noted, is anime original) and some humorous reminiscing on the tribulations of old we got a pretty good trip down memory lane. Still missing the obvious links to Filo of course, but I imagine we’ll get there in time. This arc (the start at least) is all about bringing back some of what originally made Tate no Yuusha a fun watch, and nothing says fun here like sisterly competition. Sorry Rishia, you just aren’t at that level of entertainment yet.

In terms of new fun, however, the main point here will be the Hunting Hero Kizuna. Besides the mainstays of short stack washboarding and a relationship with Glass almost certain to yield some tasty gap moe in the near future (admit it, an embarrassed Glass will be interesting to see), Kizuna heralds the setup for more serious things to come. Not too difficult guessing for one that her imprisonment might have something to do with Kyo, or that the reason Naofumi was also thrown into it is due to Kyo’s shenanigans. Plus considering Kizuna is a Legendary Hero and not a Vassal Holder like L’Arc and Glass, it’s reasonable to suspect some further info on the waves and their otherworldly differences isn’t that far away.

While this arc isn’t that likely to seriously transform overall impressions of this season, it should at least bring us back to a more familiar Tate no Yuusha. All we’ll have to see is how well it can stick the landing once things kick into high gear.

 

Preview

6 Comments

  1. Any LN or WN readers here? Having read the manga before it’s been interesting to see what kind of changes they’ve made for the anime and this eps has the biggest one so far IMO.

    First major change I can remember is giving Naofumi his own territory, and they changed up the Spirit Tortoise and Kyo fight quite a bit, although kept the end result the same. They nerfed Fitoria and her fight.

    SPOILER-SPOILER-SPOILER
    Show Spoiler ▼

    END SPOILER-SPOILER-SPOILER

    Not sure if this is how it actually originally was in the LN and the manga was the one that deviated or if the anime is just being real liberal with its changes.

    Duranvolt
    1. > However, in the manga Raphtalia is actually
      > separated from Naofumi

      I read the chapter way before getting to this point and was disappointed that the production company decided to add in Best Girl when she wasn’t with Naofumi or Reshia. Not staying true to the Manga, Now I wonder will the producer keep Filo in chick mode or will we see her evolve when Naofumi finds Filo.

      Renasayers
    2. The change in Raphtalia’s presence is really weird because it’s going to screw hard with events later on. The more relevant Raphtalia developments are easy enough to alter, but the rest isn’t as simple. I’m cautiously optimistic even though I’m fully expecting things to go off the rails.

      At least we got additional smol Raphtalia scenes to make up for it, potentially 😛

      1. Yea now I’m wondering what other changes they’re going to make, especially since the manga seems like it’s going to end this current arc in another chapter or 2.

        Duranvolt

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *