Helck – 17, 18

Episode 17

Episode 18

「反逆者 / 笑顔」 (Hangyakusha / Egao)
“Traitors / Smile”

Although I’m normally one to loathe skipped week posting (work emergency oh crap must drop everything do be hurting at times) have to admit Helck pulling out all the stops of late does plenty for tempering the ruffled feathers. The series has really found its stride of late, and while there’s room for criticism in spots, hard denying that it’s all coming down to one hell of a showdown. Only question is how good a showdown it’ll be.

One of the benefits of flashbacks such as Helck’s is knowing what’s coming without knowing the manner at which it’s arrived at. Cless for example is knowingly dead – but was it Helck who killed him or someone else? As could probably be guessed it was someone else – though anyone betting Cless officially offing himself certainly deserves some kudos for the imagination. Then comes Helck finally realizing his full hero powers in proper shounen style, only for Alicia to bring him back down (up?) to ground level. Oh and let’s not get started on the awakening of humanity playing out in true cathartic fashion. Much as gone into over the weeks Helck has a fairly standard plot with foreseen twists, but it’s a plot retaining good execution with smart understanding of pacing and when to drop hints. What’s lacking in true depth or complexity is made up for by effort, enough so that each episode never really feels like a slog to work through. Moments like Alicia’s awakening after all would normally be a tacky affair, but Helck makes it hard not feeling a bit for the poor titular lug discovering what rock bottom of the hero’s journey is actually like.

The curiosity for me in the near future, however, is how Helck intends on transitioning from this foreshadowing back to the main story. It’s been a few weeks since any dedicated Vamirio screentime after all, even longer since any information on how demonkind intends on dealing with awakened humanity. Easy to guess that Vamirio will glean a solution from this, but just what will it entail and what will Helck’s role be in the affair? For a relatively simple gearing up to face off with the human king who probably isn’t even human there’s still quite a bit of preparation required beforehand, enough so that rushing becomes a concern if the buildup needs another episode or two. Make no mistake, I’m nowhere near thinking Helck is about to run right off the rails, but there’s definitely the potential for some shenanigans in this series’ final quarter.

We just have to hope it’s the right sort of fun and games.

Preview