Recap: Gap moe, the anime. There is also a fight with Perseus.

Lifesong’s Thoughts
And Liliana stole my heart, the end. You want an actual recap? Okay, so basically these last few episodes have been the highlight of the series for me so far.

On the tying events into one cohesive thing front Athena is becoming an increasingly interesting character. I am starting to think that the ancient snake and the one who rebelled against heaven are actually hinting that Athena might = Lucifer. Now I am just speculating here and I don’t even know if the anime will get that far, but just thinking about it has all my history/mythology nerd senses tingling.

If you are looking for other implications that she might be Lucifer well let us take into account Liliana’s bow which is another biblical reference or the way the god who helped Godou in the first episode is actually Baal, another biblical reference. This foreshadowing is amazing and the wait just might kill me. I can only hope the anime actually makes it that part of the story, if not season 2 please! I’ll be reading the books either way.

Is this what they mean by gap moe?

The real focus these last two episodes has been all about Liliana and Perseus who as these last few episodes revealed is also Mithra explaining why he is able to seal Godou’s authorities. As I predicted last time Perseus is a bit higher on the bad ass list than Godou. Why? Mithra is essentially the patron god over Verethragna so until the point where Godou cuts Perseus ties with Mithra he is basically fighting someone he should not be able to beat.

The fighting in episode ten did seem to have some holes in it. Why was Godou able to use his boar twice? I assume I will understand when I read the book. That said in the past it seemed like using the boar’s strength required actually summoning the boar. Maybe Godou can recover a lot faster now? This anime does a lot of showing and very little telling so in all fairness that could be it. I am still confused why the Boar didn’t come out to play until the end of the episode either way.

Gap moe at sword point.

Liliana was the real show stopper these past two episodes. Yeah sure Perseus got his ass kicked by Godou, and yeah Athena is probably Lucifer and that is totally awesome, but the new element on the table is Liliana and how she becomes Godou’s knight. I’m not really sure how to say this without going all otaku fanboy so.. screw it!

(Insert all kinds of comments about how Liliana is amazing here.) Liliana’s Gap moe is over 9000! Liliana has the best make out magic in this series, sex magic enthusiasts everywhere rejoice! Liliana is the campione of gap moe. Liliana can be my knight any day.. or night… Okay I’ll stop.

It is hard to use magic when your mind is completely blank.

In all seriousness though I feel like Liliana’s spotlight was exponentially better done than Yuri’s, which is funny when I stop and think about it. Liliana is probably the most cliche character in this story and her romance and shoujo passion moments really do feel like rehashed ideas from somewhere else, but they work.

And oh god, the gap moe in these last few episodes.. When Godou kissed Liliana and she forgot to use her magic on him I about died. Who was using magic on whom in that moment I wonder? Originally I didn’t think Liliana had any chance at becoming a character I would be able to appreciate, oh how wrong I was.

Probably the most satisfying blow in the series right here.

Overall the pacing and sensibilities of these last few episodes has been a fairly significant improvement over the adaptations of the first 3 books. With a the exception of a few issues I pointed out above, events have been fairly smooth. Perhaps we traded a bit of animation quality for this increase in pacing performance, but it is a welcome change in my opinion.

Right now I am really hoping this anime sells well in Japan and gets a second season. I won’t even try to claim it as one of the better anime of the year or even the season, but I am having a ton of fun watching this. And hey you know what? sometimes a B anime filled with harem antics and cliche romance can be more enjoyable than a high budget epic.

Oh, and next week we get to meet Ena. I have had a little bit about Ena spoiled for me, but lets just say I am expecting good things.

More gap moe, for good measure.