Legend of the Legendary Heroes – 24 (Final)

Episode 24 Final – A Distant Day’s Promise – 遠い日の約束(tooi hi no yakusoku)

Well I have to say, for a final episode, this episode turned out rather interesting. The episode did almost nothing in terms of trying to wrap up all the plot threads, and instead, we’re pretty much left off with a huge cliffhanger (in every sense of the word). Considering this is the 1st half of the entire storyline, though, with the second half in the “Dai Densetsu no yuusha no Densetsu” series, I guess they really couldn’t force the show to end right here. Instead, a lot more information was revealed about both the lonely one, the legendary hero, and how Ryner and Sion are involved with them.

We do get a fair amount of information about the relationship between “the lonely one” and the legendary hero, with the lonely one apparently having been willing to sacrifice himself to help the hero, mainly because the hero was his “first and only friend”. I’m not sure how much that reflects upon the situation today between Ryner and Sion, but it’s pretty obvious that the creators are trying to draw a parallel between the two stories, which could be an attempt on their part to foreshadow events in the future.

In a sense, it looks like Sion has crossed over to the “dark side”, now using seemingly invincible soldiers (that seem formless as well), which he used to attack Ryner. It’s only through the intervention of Ryner’s mother (as a ghost..?) that Ryner is saved. The interesting thing is, the “ghost” appeared out of Ryner’s chest, indicating that she came from that odd little tatoo that was put on Ryner’s chest a few episodes ago. I’m not sure if that’s implying that Ryner is under his mother’s protection, or that it was a one-time use defensive spell or something, but it is showing that both Ryner’s parents and Lucile know much, much more about the situation then they were letting on.

Even the events involving Ryner, Ferris, and Kiefer had a lot of foreshadowing. With Ryner and Ferris forced to escape from Roland, it’s pretty obvious that they’re going to end up fighting against Sion to try and get him back to normal. Not to mention, Kiefer will also be returning back to Gastark, probably to fight against Roland alongside the Gastark King and, potentially, Ryner and Ferris.

Pretty much every little aspect of this episode was pointing at future events to come, with a lot of foreshadowing and cliffhangers. In all seriousness I’m glad that the creators decided to leave things so open ended as opposed to forcibly trying to wrap up the plot, because considering the complexity of some of the ongoing events, a quick and simple ending to them would have been a bad idea. The only downside I see in this episode is that now I want to see what goes on in the sequel =.=;  Here’s hoping for that Season two announcement….

Overall Enjoyment: 4.2/5

Legend of the Legendary Heroes – 23

Episode 23 – The Final Day – 最後の日(Saigo no Hi)

..Well dang, this episode was certainly unexpectedly different. And here I was expecting some sort of amazing episode building up on the whole “Sion gone evil” idea, and instead we get a random slice of life episode? Don’t get me wrong, this episode was quite entertaining, but it seriously felt out of place. Considering how next week’s episode is the final episode for this show, I had expected more buildup towards a (potentially great) finale. I guess we do get a bit of serious stuff towards the end of the episode, but for the most part this episode is pretty goofy. The goofy character antics are rather refreshing in a way, considering how heavy the plot has been in the past few episodes, and it does portray some of the characters as rather charming (or even a seemingly nice Froaude? I must be going crazy….).

Anyways, the gist of the episode was pretty much focused on how everybody was trying to celebrate Sion’s birthday in a grand manner. Sion wanted to avoid a grandiose celebration, but Claugh and Froaude both wanted to make his celebration as flashy as possible. The random antics this episode, from Ryner being overworked, to the revelation of Ferris’ dream of becoming a dango shop owner, to Ryner being kidnapped to become a live human fireworks generator, were all rather entertaining in their own ways.

In the end though, the focus this episode was on Sion and his inner turmoil, though it’s not that obvious initially in the episode. Towards the end of the episode, though, the episode took a very serious tone in atmosphere. While Ryner explains how he has gained faith in Sion and his dream of creating a better country, Sion shows that his own outlook on his dreams have turned completely negative. I guess his experience as king has really disillusioned him with regards to his idealistic goals.

That being said, the twist where we see Sion attacking Ryner with a sword felt completely unexpected and out of place. The sudden change took me completely by surprise, not to mention, there wasn’t any buildup or explanation as to exactly how that situation came to be. I’m guessing the next episode will be focusing on how that situation exactly came to be, but I still feel that the change in plot was a little too sudden. I’m seriously doubting that they can wrap up everything in one episode, so hopefully this means that there will be another season to this show announced.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.9/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Legend of the Legendary Heroes – 22

Episode 22 – The Beast Named Alpha – αという名の獣 (Arufa toyuu na no shishi)

This episode continues the trend in this series, where it is continuously building up to what should be one hell of a finale. Even if this is all buildup, the events are still turning out rather interesting, especially the events revolving around Sion and Ryner. While Sion is fighting it out with his inner self, it seems like Ryner is heavily involved with “the lonely one”. A lot of stuff is happening all at once, bringing up both a lot of questions, as well as a few answers to some previous questions I had in mind.All of this, along with the involvement of the Gastark king, Ryner’s father, and Lucile, is culminating into a rather intriguing situation.

Right off the bat, it’s revealed that Ryner’s father and Lucile are well acquainted with each other, and unsurprisingly, think of each other as threats. It hasn’t quite been revealed as to the significance of Ryner’s father quite yet, but it seems like he played a major role in the forces surrounding Ryner, even going as far as “killing” Ryner for the sake of embedding a strange symbol into his chest.

Edit: To clarify, I’m assuming that “Alpha” inside Ryner is the “lonely one” mentioned in earlier episodes. I could be wrong, so take my words with a grain of salt.

I’m guessing that symbol he engraves into Ryner’s chest has to do with the fact that Ryner is harboring ” the lonely one” inside his body. We finally see exactly what the “lonely one” who’s been taking over Ryner’s consciousness actually is, and I’m finding it’s appearance quite intriguing. It looks very robotic, and definitely is not human. I don’t know exactly what it is supposed to be (maybe a demon…?), but I am wondering why Ryner’s father sealed it into Ryner. The fact that Ryner’s mother appears when the lonely one does pretty much hints at Ryner’s father’s heavy involvement. What I’m thrown off by is how Ryner found a door in his consciousness that apparently leads to a illusion (or not…?) of the infamous Legendary Hero the title of this show is derived from.

The Legendary Hero seemed to be pleading for help, or so it seems. I’m not exactly sure if Ryner was peering into the lonely one’s memories, or if he was seeing some random artifact of the past, but nevertheless the fact that Ryner sees his reflection in the hero’s sword (and seeing someone who resembles himself) indicates that he definitely has some sort of major connection with the hero himself. I have absolutely no idea what this implies, but this major connection will probably come back to haunt us later in the series.

Just as intriguing was watching the inner conflict Sion was having with… himself? For some reason, I get the feeling that Lucile messed around with Sion’s mind, which is why he seemed to have two distinct selves arguing with each other. Maybe Sion got an alternate personality or something from all the stress as king, but my suspicions lie in the strange door that Lucile had show Sion, which seems very important to the plot. The interesting thing about his inner conflict is that, we aren’t told exactly which side successfully took over Sion’s body, but based on Lucile’s reaction, I’m guessing the “Sion” that is out to kill Ryner is the one who made it through.

Seeing all this unfold, along with the Gastark king releasing Kiefer so that she can “rescue Ryner from Roland”, just keeps adding to the intrigue in this current arc. There is a tremendous amount of buildup to what looks like will be a major clash between armies, and amidst all this, Ryner, Ferris, Lucile, Sion, Milk, and Kiefer are all involved in a complicated mess of situations and unforseen happenings. It’s episodes like this that really make me wish this show had an announced season two already. With the end of this show fast approaching, I hope Zexcs could wrap this all up well.

Overall Enjoyment: 4.4/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Legend of the Legendary Heroes – 21

Episode 21 – The Darkness of Roland ローランドの闇 (roorando no yami)

Apparently, this episode crammed the contents of an entire novel of the original source material into one episode. Considering how much they crammed in, I think it actually turned out rather decent. The part where Sion was starting to go insane definitely felt a little out of pace, perhaps due to some skipped character development or something, but besides that, this episode did a nice job of building up much of the background info. There were a lot of politics involved this time around, but you can seriously start seeing how everything is interconnected with each other. With only a few episodes left in this show, this is definitely a good sign.

There were a bunch of separate plotlines ongoing in this episode, with focuses on Ryner and Sion, Milk and Luke, Claugh and the princess, and Ryner with his father. Each of their stories provide a different perspective on the situation around them, some on the suspicious, ominous activities in Roland. There seems to be quite a bit of power struggles ongoing within the political elite, with Sion’s almost ghastly state definitely not improving things. Ryner’s actions before (when he attempted to leave Sion and Ferris behind) really twisted Sion’s personality quite a bit, and we’re starting to see the side effects of it all. He seriously seems like he’s gone insane, which pleases Froaude quite a bit apparently.

The situation with Milk and Luke provided some insight to what was going on amongst normal people in Roland; There were assassinations and deaths going around, which is indicative of something major brewing in Roland.

The biggest twist this episode, though, was the first appearance of Ryner’s father since the flashback back a few weeks ago. What puzzles me is that, considering how old he must be, he looks rather young. What threw me off even more was how Ryner’s father decides to stab Ryner straight into his torso, probably near his heart. Not much family love, eh?

This episode’s buildup provided some great info about future events and occurrences, but what’s really grabbed my attention was the presence of Ryner’s father. Why is it that he suddenly appeared out of nowhere, as well as why he is so cooperative on everything? And why did he stab Ryner with a knife? Quite obviously, there’s still a lot to be answered (which I’m expecting within the next few weeks), but it looks like Ferris will be getting worked up next week over Ryner’s stabbing (if the preview is indicative of anything, at least).

Overall Enjoyment: 3.9/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Legend of the Legendary Heroes – 20

Episode 20 – A mind not in despair – 「絶望に埋め尽くされない心」 (Zetsubou ni ume tsukusa renai kokoro)

Ryner and Ferris finally get reunited in this episode. However, this episode was quite depressing in tone, and really felt bittersweet. One thing can be said for sure though; excuse my language, but the Gastark guy is a completely arrogant bastard who deserves to die. I mean, it’s one thing for to consider eye wielders as monsters, but it’s another to completely look down upon them in such an arrogant manner, not to mention, he brutally kills off some of the eye wielders introduced last week. Well, at least the creators did a good job of creating a very unlikable antagonist. This episode does introduce some nice character development between Ryner and Ferris, which was pretty well done, and really shows us just how significant they both mean to each other.

The action this episode was pretty swift and brutal, with the Gastark guy using his legendary weapon to severely injure Tiia, as well as kill off a berserked Alpha stigma girl. I never actually realized how powerful the Gastark guy was, probably because he fought on equal footing with Froaude earlier, but this fight really does show how powerful those hero relics are. He single-handedly was fighting Ferris, Ryner, and Luke without much danger. Considering how powerful these items are, I can’t imagine how powerful somebody with all of them would turn out. I guess they aren’t legendary weapons for nothing.

Seeing Ferris’ bittersweet confession to Ryner (about her opinion on him being a “monster”) was rather sincere on her part, moving Ryner to tears. I have to say, their relationship has been developing quite a bit recently (or at least, there have been signs of their affection towards each other), and this episode helps reinforce that. I guess you could describe their relationship as them having a unshakable trust between them, though whether that will turn into a love relationship remains to be seen.

What’s more ominous about this episode is the moments with Sion and Ferris’ brother towards the end of the episode. Sion’s depressing demeanor is definitely foreshadowing something in the future, and with Ryner saying in the next episode preview about how going back to Roland was a bad idea, obviously something is brewing in Sion’s mind. With a few more weeks left in this show, I’m honestly looking forward to how this anime concludes. And, after that, I’ll be praying for a season two. Either that, or I’ll have to go search out those darn light novels for this series…. ヽ（´ー｀）┌

Overall Enjoyment: 4.3/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Legend of the Legendary Heroes – 19

Episode 19 – The Ingrate Without Direction 「行方知れずの恩知らず」 (Yukue shirezu no onshirazu)

This episode was filled with a lot, and I mean a lot, of flashbacks. The flashbacks did serve to help build up the story for this particular arc, but seriously, they could have toned the amount of flashbacks a bit. In the end, this episode pretty much serves as build up for what looks like a major fight next week. We did get a bunch of new info on Tiia and his comrades, who all are also cursed eye wielders, and this episode does delve a bit into their paths, and how Gastark ultimately plays a huge role regarding cursed eye wielders. The episode did also elaborate on some stuff from last week, such as how Sion and Ferris were doing, but in the end, this episode focused on Ryner’s interactions with the newly introduced cursed eye wielders, and how he thought of all this.

This episode finally mentions why Gastark is seeking out the hero relics, as well as why Sui mentioned that he kills cursed eye wielders. It turns out that the people from Gastark are actually quite deceptive with regards to how “noble” their actions seem. While the guys from Gastark treat people, as well as their hero relic wielders, as proper human beings, they don’t mind going on a hunt to massacre cursed eye wielders, even if the cursed eye wielders are just a bunch of innocent kids. From now on, every time I see the Gastark king (who seemed to be a nice guy), I’ll probably be more doubtful as to his intentions, considering he is in charge of the ones who randomly kill innocent children.

The Gastark King’s attempt to force a marriage between him and Kiefer also annoys me, mainly because he seems to be using his authority as a king to get married with her. Seriously, if you want to marry a girl, don’t force her into the entire thing =.=;  I’ll admit that he has decent taste though; the dress he forced Kiefer to wear (by stealing her regular clothes) actually looked rather nice on her.

For the most part, this episode focused on Ryner’s encounter with Tiia’s orphanage of cursed eye children. They all seem particularly innocent, and Tiia’s desire to protect them does spin a new perspective on things. Also, the introduction of Rafra, who’s eyes were the Ebura Crypt cursed eyes, shows us the final type of cursed eyes present in this series. We’ve been introduced to at least one of each type now: Alpha Stigma, Iino Doue, and Ebura Crypt. I wonder if that will entail anything in particular for this series in the future?

On another note, what I’m finding nice about this show is that it isn’t just outright good or evil. While Tiia may view regular people as mere livestock-like existences (and thus, brutally kills them), at the same time he has a noble goal of protecting those children. Same goes with Gastark’s intentions, where they may seem good to their own people, but are absolutely terrible and horrific with regards to cursed eye wielders. None of them are purely good or bad, which makes watching how all these complex characters interact quite intriguing.

The one (and only) scene with Ferris this episode was actually very symbolic. The very fact that she admits that it’s no fun eating dango without Ryner, and abandons her seven or so dango-filled backpacks for to search out Ryner speaks volumes about how she feels about Ryner. The very fact that she left behind dango, which she cherishes and loves (or maybe more of an obsession, lol) to search for Ryner means that she cares for Ryner more than those dango. The significance to that moment really confirms that Ferris cares deeply for Ryner. I’m not quite sure if it’s love, but all indications are pointing at it. :3

In this episode, you could really start seeing how events are starting to connect together. I mean, even the armless Sui plays a role here, where the tensions are escalating now that all the main players are aware of each other’s existences. Ryner knows that Gastark is the one behind the massacres of cursed eye wielders, while Gastark was informed that Ryner is the one behind almost killing Sui. Not to mention, Luke’s appearance this time around means that he’s probably out to kill Ryner, though that does make me wonder how his fight with Froaude went. You can definitely feel that he tensions are increasing, and the next episode’s preview (where it looks like there will be a huge battle) makes me just wish the next episode was out already (x.x)

Overall Enjoyment: 3.7/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Legend of the Legendary Heroes – 18

Episode 18 – Cursed Eyes – 呪われた瞳 (Norowa reta hitomi)

I thought I was seeing things at first when I saw this episode, but it turns out that Zexcs decided to experiment with the animation this episode. The animation felt, how would I call it, crude? The animation style is very stylized, giving it a very dynamic yet rough-around-the-edges feeling. To put it into perspective, they did it more Birdy the Decode 02 style, which gave the action and stuff much more expressiveness, but at the same time, looked odd at times. I personally loved Birdy the Decode’s dynamic animation, so this episode’s style was fun to watch, in my opinion.

The actual episode had a lot of stuff going on, with one of the main events being Sion setting out to try and kill off Tiia, from last episode.Of course, at the same time, Ferris is getting all emotional about Ryner’s running away. What I found the most interesting little revelation was the part at the very very beginning of the episode, where the episode actually vaguely covers Ryner’s real parents. It may have been brief, but we did get to see how the parents were aware of his Alpha Stigma, and even considered killing him. Seeing as how Ryner’s father saved his life, I’m wondering as to how the father intended to deal with the consequences of having an Alpha Stigma as a child. Of course, I’m glad that he saved Ryner, considering how Ryner turned out to be a great guy, but I can’t help  but wonder what his father was thinking when he saved Ryner. Perhaps it was merely fatherly love, or maybe it could have been something else.

I did get a few laughs out of the occasional gags here and there, but this episode was mostly very heavy and serious in tone. I hadn’t expected Tiia to run into Ryner and Ferris and fight them, let alone totally defeat them. Tiia is definitely formidable if he managed to subjugate both Ryner and Ferris in a matter of seconds.

The real climax to this episode, had to be the fateful encounter between Ryner, Sion, Ferris, and Tiia this episode. Sion had pretty much set out to kill Tiia, but the resulting meeting between the main characters turned into a issue of whether Ryner should stay with Ferris and Sion, or leave with Tiia. Ryner’s eventual choice of abandoning Ferris and Sion for Tiia was quite upsetting. I mean, seriously, you just saw Tiia rip apart some guy to shreds, and you choose to side with him? I knew Sion would be hit real hard by his decision, but I hadn’t quite expected Ferris’ very strong emotional reaction to Ryner’s sudden leave. Over the past two or three episodes, we’ve really gotten to see just how much Ferris cares for Ryner based on her actions, which makes the entire situation all the more heartbreaking.

Sion eventually “won” the battle against Tiia, but at a great cost; he pretty much lost the very motivation that had started him off on his mission to become a great king. I sympathize for both Sion and Ferris, especially after Ryner’s decision to leave Ferris and Sion alone. We do get to see Ferris in a new costume at the end of this episode, implying that a long period of time has passed, but I can’t say for sure. The change in her costume probably represents how she’s changed, with her new goal of finding Ryner representative of that.

I personally found this episode both very intriguing, yet informative. Seeing both Ryner’s past, and how it’s interrelated with everything, was great to see. Not to mention, the tension in the atmosphere was great at times. The animation might have been a little weird, but it fit the serious mood of the episode perfectly. Overall, a great episode that promises a lot about the future episodes of this series.

Overall Enjoyment: 4.4/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Legend of the Legendary Heroes – 17

Episode 17 – Annihilation Eye (Iino Doue) –  殲滅眼（イーノ・ドゥーエ） (inno・douee)

Well, this episode turned out quite chaotic, though in a good way. There are a bunch of parallel stories going on here, with each of them quite interesting, though the most important one would probably be the one featuring the new cursed eye wielder, the wielder of the Inno Douee cursed eyes. There is a lot more information revealed this episode too, mainly from Kiefer’s information seeking finally bringing about some good results, and she ended up showing us some very interesting revelations. Also the battles shown in this episode were quite brutal, which did emphasize how this series is really starting to delve into the meat of the main plot, so to speak.

There are around four or five parallel stories going on right now, with them having little to no relations to each other; I am expecting the stories to intertwine sooner or later, with some of that confirmed with the next episode preview. Kiefer’s part in this episode is about her simply researching about Ryner’s Alpha Stigma, where she learns of the three different types of cursed magical eyes, with the Alpha stigma being one of them. The oddity to Ryner, though, is that he was actually able to recover from Alpha Stigma berserk mode, which theoretically is impossible. This fact leads to the idea that Ryner is, in fact, NOT an alpha stigma, but is actually a being referred to as “the lonely one”. I’m not exactly sure what this entails, but it’s been pretty obvious that Ryner isn’t a typical Alpha Stigma user, and Kiefer’s research serves to reinforce that notion.

Claugh, in the meanwhile, dukes it out with the newly introduced Lelouch Tiia, who is a wielder of the second type of cursed eyes that Kiefer mentions, although Claugh thinks it’s just regular a Alpha Stigma. Seeing how Claugh, even with his powerful arm, was easily defeated by Tiia, it seems like most cursed eye users are particularly dangerous. Claugh lost his powerful arm in the process of the battle, with it being cut off and “eaten” by Tiia. Just like in episode three, this episode is also quite upfront about portraying the terrors of war, showing soldiers being outright cut in half (straight across the stomach too), or even with their heads being ripped off. Seeing how the battles are portrayed really gives them a sense of urgency and realism, which is nice all things considered.

Luke was pretty awesome this episode, with his search for the missing Milk-san turning into a fight between Luke and Froaude, where Luke surprisingly shows just how badass he is at fighting, and manages to force Froaude into a very tight situation. When matters get serious, it looks like even Luke gets his priorities straight, and isn’t completely naive like some other characters in this show. Ferris, Sion, and Ryner’s stories mostly take a backseat this episode, with the only major event that occurs is Ryner’s running away from Roland (which, admittingly, took me by surprise).

This episode did a great job of really upping the ante with regards to the story, with a lot of major events occuring simultaneously, with little time invested in Sion’s political troubles. Because of the less focus on the politics, and more focus on the real life battles and happenings, this episode was also much more fast paced and enjoyable than recent episodes in memory. Not to mention, Tiia’s cursed eyes were intriguing to see, and we are finally given a decent amount of background info about the cursed eyes. I’m not exactly sure what being the “lonely one” entails for Ryner, but Ryner seemingly running into Tiia next episode, I can’t wait to see how this all turns out.

Overall Enjoyment: 4.4/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Legend of the Legendary Heroes – 16

Oh my god, he opened his eyes??

Episode 16 – Smileless Goddess 微笑まない女神 (Hohoemanai megami)

The little bit of background info in this episode about Ferris surprised me, but it’s not nearly as dark and gruesome as  Ryner’s past. The part where Ferris’ parents almost raped Ferris because they found her useless, except as a way to continue their bloodline, was pretty creepy and messed up, but what was just as creepy was seeing her brother Lucile mercilessly crush his own father to death. While I find it nice that he would rescue his younger sister, the way in which he saved her was quite disturbing and unwarranted. This episode’s focus on both Ferris’ backstory, as well as the mysteries surrounding Lucile, was quite interesting.

At the same time, the story also involves quite a bit about Ryner’s alpha stigma, and his involvement with Lucile. The very beginning of the episode was rather serious with Ferris’ backstory, but it changes up and becomes all light hearted and cheery, with Ryner being attacked by an infuriated Milk courtesy of Ferris’ mischievous comments. Seeing how Ryner ended up sneaking into Sion’s room to escape from them both, the amount of light hearted moments took up quite a bit of time.

The appearance of Froaude, who seemingly is out to take out Ryner, makes his move at the end of the episode by attacking Milk right after she had invited Ryner to a birthday party. The document shown at the end of the episode, which outright states that Ryner’s Alpha stigma is pretty much dangerous, was signed by Sion himself. That sudden revelation also took me by surprise, and seriously makes me feel sorry for Ryner. He’s a pretty great guy and all, so why is he getting all this negative treatment from everybody else?

Personal opinions aside, Lucile and Froaude’s involvement both proved to make this episode a great buildup episode, with not to mention the next episode preview showing us another cursed eyes wielder; Whether he is a alpha stigma wielder hasn’t been revealed yet, but it looks like Claugh has a bone to pick with the guy.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.8/5

Screenshots are later in the post.

Legend of the Legendary Heroes – 15.5 (Recap)

Episode 16 -Iris・Report – いりす・れぽ～と (irisu repo~to)

For a recap episode, this episode didn’t turn out quite as boring as I thought it would. The episode did sum up all the important parts of this series up to this point quite well, though Iris’ high pitched voice for the commentary was painful to listen to at points. Though there were times where she genuinely made the episode fun to watch, with some cute moments here and there, but in the end there isn’t really much worth noting in this episode. The dango tally at the end was pretty funny, but overall I’d say it’s safe to just skip this episode.

Overall Enjoyment: 3.4/5

Screenshots and Next Episode Preview are later in the post.