Heion Sedai no Idaten-tachi – 04

「黄雀」 (Kōjaku)
“Yellow Sparrow”

After the big fight with Nickel, Rin is enraged and raging to go towards a struggle against the demon army, but Ysley cool level headed asserts that it’s better to go and see Prontea first before they do anything rash. I really liked this episode, it had its moments where there was only but pure exposition, but it was contrasted with action scenes however tame you might see them. Still learning about this world is quite interesting. Never a dull moment, as Hayato asks Prontea to train with him, and a fight ensues. I like how the pacing of this show is slowly revealing more of this word, and going deep into the physiology of the demons, as Ysley tries to understand, what exactly makes them tick. Now Nickel stands in a lab tub, with nothing but her head. And Hayato only wants to continue his training with Rin, resulting in Rin breaking every bone in Hayato’s body. Then she takes a quick peek at the ships surrounding the island, with no one noticing she was even there. Either the humans are really dull or she can also be sneaky. At least for me Rin’s fiery attitude towards Hayato, and how explosive with her power she is, bring one or two harsh chuckles out of me.

If Hayato is not getting beaten to a pulp, it’s not a Heion episode or so it seems.

So they take a little trip through the bottom of the sea so that they wouldn’t be detected, and are headed towards the island where Prontea is. A human liberation city.

Meanwhile, Prontea is the king of the RC racers, but soon retires and heads over to the beach where Ysley and Paula just landed, Prontea shows his fire powers on Ysley, almost burning him to a crisp. Prontea only wanted to show off it seems, as Ysley is the one developing the Idaten theory.

It is in this same city that Ysley is conducting his experiments with the science guys, what they find is incredible.

But before that, they take a little trip towards Prontea’s hideout where they mention Rin in name and it’s enough to bring Prontea into a PTSD fit. That brings bad memories and makes him lose his cool. It seems Rin’s training has more than just the superficial scarring, leaving traumatic psychological wounds on those not strong enough to withstand her demanding training.

But the demons also take a quick step towards the city and bring new clothes with them, wanting to fit in with the humans, they have some incredible surveillance, looking through every single camera around the city, even those not connected to a network, and explain it’s the mysteries of the demon lords power. Who knows how it actually works but is enough for them to take a quick peek at Ysley when he flies towards the lab.

The training fight scene with Prontea and Hayato takes a turn towards the magical as Prontea shows some of his Idaten power and beats Hayato down. This show loves beating up Hayato. But he has gotten stronger over the past couple of episodes, so at least it’s working. His second to Rin after all.

In the lab, Ysley learns that poison could kill the demons, but it would take a vast amount of it. And why did that science guy have lipstick? (It’s that Persona 5 representation argument all over again) Like, was that necessary?! I quickly brushed it off. But Ysley gets called to a separate location with the purpose of it being an emergency, but it’s only an ambush by Pisara (Seto Asami) in a small room with tons of books. Then it sort of becomes a double ambush when Nepto (Amada Masuo) and Kori (Ishigami Shizuka) push a giant boulder on Prontea, but nothing bad happens as Prontea takes the hit direct to the head. The show ends with a VS screen of the upcoming fights. I’m looking forward to how each Idaten uses his powers and skills to fend off the demons.

Overall a little bit more of an exposition episode, but I still heavily enjoyed it, in fact, I sway and say this might become one of my favorites animes this season, it’s definitely up there in terms of quality with high tier anime such as Sonny Boy, Shiroi Suna no Aquatope, Peach Boy, and, Bokutachi no Remake, all of which I’m watching, and loving so far. it’s really well animated, and the colors used throughout to express how the characters are feeling, or reflect the action happening on screen really pop for me. Like how skin color looks different depending on if they’re inside or outside. And the muda-muda action is flashy and spectacular. I’m loving Heion to a point where it’s surprising even for me. Plus I think the mix between what are the demons doing and what the Idaten are doing was really well executed.

Thanks for reading so far, and look forward to next week!