Only one more episode to go after this… I’m going to be a sad panda next week. T_T

For the bulk of this episode, there are 3 main focal points: Guts’s struggles to get to Casca in time and then later his fight with Mozgus, Casca’s burning and rescue, and the struggles of the refugees as they are annihilated by the evil blob creatures.

In the beginning of the episode, Luca and the Skull Knight part ways, only for Luca to run back to the Tower of Conviction (to be with Nina and Casca, presumably). As she leaves, Nosferatu Zodd shows up. Also known as Zodd the Immortal, he is a long-lived demon who has an ongoing feud with the Skull Knight.

vlcsnap-00009We also see the Egg of the World, weakened after being injured by the Skull Knight in the previous episode, come across the weakened form of Casca and Guts’ deformed child hiding in the exterior of the Tower of Conviction. The Egg of the World takes pity on the grotesque creature and eats it, telling it that it will be reborn in the new world using the Egg as its cradle.

Aside from those two subplots, the bulk of the episode centres around Guts’ fight with Mozgus and rescuing Casca from the stake. Guts is not able to slice through the gelatinous blob spirits in time, so as Casca’s pyre is lit, Jerome, Isidoro and Nina use a pulley system to retrieve Isidoro and Casca after the youth frees her from her restraints.

However saving Casca is only one item striken off of Guts’ to-do list: he merely leaps from killing evil blob monsters to fighting Mozgus, who is easily the Black Swordsman’s toughest opponent this season. And Mozgus in his final form is one tough cookie, formidable enough that Guts can’t take his attention away from his foe for even a moment or he will be struck down.

This means that it’s up to Jerome and Isidoro to help protect Casca. They manage to strike down the final two torturers, leaving them free to watch Guts fight Mozgus.

As the two fight, Mozgus preaches a lot of words about religion, God and faith. Down below the refugees scream for Mozgus to burn Casca so that they will be saved. Guts says that people who only rely on prayer to be saved have no right to depend on a single woman, Casca, for their supposed salvation. Guts is not religious and definitely does not believe in God, so his biting remarks to Mozgus are always amusing for me to hear.

Guts is finally able to find the hole in Mozgus’ armor, a crack in the centre of his chest. Guts is able to slip an exploding bomb inside, blowing Mozgus’ chest wide open. Guts then impales Mozgus with his sword and throws him off the tower. His corpse falls to the ground below, where the outline of his body glows as it vlcsnap-00031disintegrates and feathers fly everywhere.

For the refugees Mozgus’ defeat essentially spells their doom. With no one to save them, thousands of people are killed in minutes as the towering blob spirits swarm the grounds surrounding the tower. A handful are saved by crowding near the spot on the ground where Mozgus’ body landed (it has turned into a bonfire), and that’s how Guts figures out that fire repels the spirits.

So from atop the tower, Guts gives everyone a torch. They just need to survive the night out in the open; once the sun comes up, the daylight will either weaken or completely kill all of these blob creatures.

My thoughts: Huzzah, Mozgus is dead! I’m glad that his final form only spans one episode because honestly that overpowered shit gets boring after an episode or two.

I was also glad to see Isidoro be able to redeem himself by helping to save Casca from being burned at the stake, and I hope it’s something that Guts will acknowledge before the end of the last episode.

I’m wondering if we’re going to see the new world reincarnation ceremony before the end of the season, or if it’s something that’s going to be left as a cliffhanger so that it could be used in a potential future season.

Lastly, Guts and Casca are together again. 😀   It was a brief hug, and it probably didn’t mean much to Casca because she doesn’t fully recognize Guts in her current mental state, but for him it was badly needed. This is the woman he loved but had abandoned and had been fighting so hard to get back, and now she was safe with him and he could touch her, put his arm around her again. Ugh, those two just give me all the feels. <3

* Susumu Hirasawa song of the week: This is my favourite non-Berserk track by Hirasawa-san, and I’ve been saving it for the end of this season. From the Paprika OST, I present to you The Girl in Byakkoya.  (ノ◕ヮ◕)ノ*:・゚✧