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「禁忌の魔法」 (Kinki no Mahou)
“Taboo Magic”
Now that was one serious case of whiplash. From truth bombs to five-minute warfare and even bigger (if partially predictable) reveals, yes Maou Gakuin went places this week. I’m not sure I fully approve of the rapid fire pacing over the earlier saunters, but hey, cannot fault setting up a good ending when I see one.
Although Ray being outed as both the reincarnated Kanon and Anoth’s impersonator Avos likely threw some for a loop, it honestly shouldn’t be that big a shocker. Given what we knew of the guy beforehand and his questionable origins (in the sense they having been kept ambiguous), winding up with Ray doing the hero instead of the subordinate demon makes quite a bit of sense. I will say having him as Avos too had me raise an eyebrow, yet that isn’t particularly bad either considering it’s clear the guy has an agenda and isn’t afraid to break a few eggs in meeting objectives. Personally I hope there’s a little more to that agenda than simple revenge, but considering how well in hindsight Ray being Avos has been foreshadowed, I’m willing to overlook a few hiccups.
Ignoring the intricacies of major reveals, however, Maou Gakuin did as Maou Gakuin more or less does. While there’s plenty to be said regarding the random fighting which needed far more explaining than it received, I loved how Anoth continues being overly willing to let everyone else in on the fun. Hell, when you let your fan choir/group/literal moeblob even duke it out over rightful sovereign you’re doing something right when it comes to power trips. And also Minas Tirith easter egg, because for all the confusion that scratched an itch I didn’t know I had. In terms of Anoth and Ray/Kanon though things are murkier for while Anoth can be expected to crush face and take names like usual (Anoth has beaten Kanon before after all, repeatedly), I don’t actually anticipate it being that easy a fight. With Ray’s goal up in the air and Anoth playing for a diplomatic victory I’d expect some greater give and take compared to earlier battles as our demon king will likely want a peaceful conclusion. You know, for reasons.
Not to say that death won’t be in the cards next week, but when it comes to Maou Gakuin, I think we all know by now just how permanent such states wind up being.
Preview
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Yeah, I got the same impression. The episode delivered the answers to many, many mysteries surrounding the series, and the final reveal was great in the sense it made use of a double twist at the same time it had been foreshadowed for ages (the necklace legend, the Hero’s seven roots).
However, all that plot goodness has been hurt by a very rushed pacing. While the adaptation could never be accused of taking its time with the source material, it was too obvious they wanted to end the episode with the Big Reveal no matter the cost. It was particularly egregious at the beginning: in a matter of seconds, it goes from Anos promising to save Eleonora (what happened to her in the end?), to Anos stealing the holy sword, to declarations of war and the team back in demon territory.
That said, given the resolutions of the two previous arcs, I’m confident that the final episode will deliver.
What we get next week will determine how much the rushing has hurt things I think. If there’s some degree of conclusion which wraps everything up then it wouldn’t be difficult turning a blind eye to the likes of this episode, but if not the downsides are really going to be felt. Although even that just tells how well this show has performed when we’re criticizing rushing more than the setup 😛
So the hero reincarnated as a demon — this is interesting,
but didn’t Anoth reincarnated as a human baby but in reality,
is the demon?
I’m looking forward to #13, but I’ll miss this fun over-the-top
series. To me, it started out pretty strong, but lost some of it’s
charm in the recent episodes. I guess we’ll see how it’s all
wrapped up!
Nope he didn’t reincarnate as a human, Anoth is still a demon in his current form. For all intents and purposes there’s no real difference visually between humans and demons, and this isn’t the first series to lack them either,
And here we all thought that Ray’s story arc was over.
Looking forward to the uncensored blu-ray release of this particular episode for Eleonora.
Seeing how things have been going in the Blu-ray world recently I expect she’ll still be Barbienora.
At least I learned something from this episode, though – “kinki” means “taboo”.
No wonder Zeshia resembles Eleonore…she’s been magically cloned by the latter countless times! And on top of that, Eleonore is humanoid magic (in essence, also a magical clone–specifically, a clone that creates clones) created by Jerga’s peace-loving half of his source. (With the more warlike, ruthless, demon-hating half of Jerga’s source serving as the basis for the Asc field spell.)
But man, that reveal and Eleonore’s wish to be killed by Anoth got interrupted by Avos and his remaining three Elder Demon Emperors stealing the Holy Sword Evansmana.
Other thoughts:
– That reveal of Kanon being betrayed by the humans he’s sworn to protect. Damn. If Anoth was reasonable enough to accept overtures of peace and sacrifice his own life to end the war 2,000 years ago, what does that say about the humans who wanted to continue the war?
– How the heck did that rear lake manage to refill itself after a few days? (And yes, based on that lake’s crater-like shape, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that Anoth “created” that other lake 2,000 years ago.)
– Meta: Did I just hear Shinichiro Miki, Junichi Suwabe and Hikaru Midorikawa (in that order) as Avos’s remaining Elder Demon Emperors?
– I could have sworn I’ve seen a different spoiler regarding Avos Dilhevia’s true identity. And it’s not about Lay dressing up as Avos. I don’t know if that spoiler will still hold water in the anime adaptation though.
Again, the troubles of a compressed anime adaptation of a light novel rear their ugly heads. Hope the Blu-Ray releases have additional scenes, or better yet, a “Director’s Cut” version.
Let’s see how the season finale is handled.
This series has always been fast, but this is the first time it became confusingly fast. Also didn’t really expect that reveal. I thought he was either one of those things but not both.
While certainly expecting a great battle next episode, I hope they can still wrap up a few things properly. Like Eleonore’s fate.
Also wonder if Misa still has a role to play.