Episode 7

We pick up right where we left off, with Kershner and Mikhail preparing to tear Yuliy apart. Meanwhile, vampire hoodlums swarm the rest of the mansion premises in a rather unimpressive display of goonery. I’m sure if they’d distributed their resources better, or if the lowest vampires weren’t so incompetent, the vampires would’ve been able to at least hurt a single jaeger. Unfortunately for Kershner and his lackeys, the military arrives with my beloved Major Iba and annihilates the vampire goons with normal firearms and some tanks. Now I’ll be honest, I did not expect the major to come with tanks in tow, but I’m not complaining. It is however, quite relieving to finally see the major on the side of our jaegers. No more misunderstandings! 

A number of revelations are revealed during the first segment of the episode, with Kershner revealing Professor Willard’s past and Mikhail dropping the father bomb on Yuliy. I’m a bit iffy on the number of twists the show has presented us with in such a short time, since there’s a risk of the show getting convoluted with all the plot points its releasing into the air. Mikhail tells Yuliy that their father left Dogville with the Arc, making me wonder if Yuliy’s father will return as a character. I’d be very interested to see a family reunion between Yuliy, Mikhail, and their father! Ooohh, the drama.

Unfortunately for Kershner, revealing the truth to Yuliy was not the best move. By doing so, he triggered the blood in Yuliy, the same blood he utilized to almost kill Agatha earlier in the series. Kershner toys with the barbaric Yuliy, laughing at the situation. Eventually his arrogance becomes the death of him and Yuliy kills him with his own broken sword. I’m a bit annoyed that Kershner died so abruptly, much like the Frankenstein’s monster. It seems like this series enjoys making characters off to be stronger than they actually are.

Not only does Kershner die after telling Yuliy the information behind the Dogville massacre, Yuliy doesn’t even take it out on the professor. Even though Willard himself expects Yuliy to seek revenge and kill him, Yuliy stops himself through the rage of his beastly blood. After all these years of acting as his father figure, Willard has become a pillar for Yuliy. There’s no way Yuliy would kill a man who’s been trying to repent for ten years, especially after all they’ve been through.

Yevgraf hears about Kershner’s death and doesn’t seem to care at all, only focusing on Mikhail’s safety and of course the arc. It seems at this point the arc has become the focal point of the show’s conflict, with the vampires, the Japanese military, and Yuliy chasing after the powerful artifact. Once again we’ll probably have all three of these factions colliding at the arc’s location!

Major Iba himself is seemingly discharged from his duties as an intelligence officer, but later reveals to Willard his new mission to search for the arc. It’s a bit scary that the Japanese military itself is getting involved in this chaos, and the level of trust they have in Iba is insane. I’m not sure if I would take the mission if I was Iba though, since it pits him against supernatural forces. I suppose he must be extremely confident in his own intellect and wit to willingly face off against such creatures. Good luck Iba!


Episode 8

Mikhail meets back up with Yevgraf, where he’s brought to the resting place of the actual arc. Much to Mikhail’s surprise however, his father sacrificed his own life to set up an eternal seal. It is also revealed through the writing on the walls that the arc is the remnant of an ancient civilization. Yevgraf beckons Mikhail to join his father, using the blood of Sirius that used to run through him. Unfortunately, the vampiric corruption coursing through Mikhail’s veins prevent him from taking hold of the arc. The desperate Mikhail crawls through the acidic properties of the pool, eager to use the arc to kill Yevgraf. In his moment of rebellion against Yevgraf, the red of his eyes reveal a slight hue in the back, a shoutout to his heritage as a descendant of Sirius. Yet it is still not enough to power through the blood pact, and Yevgraf handles him with ease. He is most definitely going to pit Mikhail against his own brother, especially after their earlier conversation about how much Mikhail loves Yuliy.

Meanwhile, Yuliy leaves the rest of the Jaegers and rushes to the same location. There he meets cowboy jaeger, who just screams of suspicion. I’m not sure if it’s the cowboy hat, the smug smile, or the general aura he produces, but I just can’t find myself to trust him. I doubt it’s likely he’s working for the vampires or something, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he turns again his deal with Yuliy in favor of his own desires.

I was beginning to wonder where Ryouko was hanging out during all of these shenanigans, and here she does it again. Running away from home and heading London! I mean c’mon my girl, Yuliy has not presented a shred of mutual interest in your direction, yet she’s travelling across the world for him. This is just absurd and really getting in the way of my enjoyment of the show. It is however really amusing how her father decides to chase after her, even after admitting that one must allow their child to go on journeys. I swear if Ryouko’s father gets hurt or even killed because of her, I’m going to flip!

The episode ends with cowboy jaeger man and Yuliy driving into the mountains to meet a recluse. Yuliy questions the smell of blood on the cowboy, revealing his tragic past when he lost his entire team of jaegers. I’m a bit scared about him possibly dying, but his confession pretty much just reveals his true intentions of killing Yevgraf. I wonder how the show will make this a conflict for Yuliy, perhaps because killing Yevgraf might destroy the blood pact, killing Mikhail? We’ll see!

Next episode we get to see Yuliy fight the vampire goth lolis, and we’ll also probably see cowboy jaeger kick some vampire ass. Very excited.

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. zztop

    Some fun history facts – South Sakhalin (where Yuliy and cowboy are) was once part of Japan.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karafuto_Prefecture

    Japan won the South as reparations from Imperial Russia for winning the Russo Japanese war of 1905. They renamed it Karafuto and ruled it as a Japanese prefecture, renaming all natural landmarks and previous settlements to Japanese names.
    This lasted until Japan’s WW2 defeat in 1945 – communist Russia seized the chance to reclaim old lands and successfully invaded Sakhalin, placing it once again under Russian control. All Sakhalin has been part of Russia until today.

    Something about the cowboy jaeger – earlier Japanese officials were talking of the risk that foreign nations would get to the Ark before them. Maybe cowboy’s secretly a double agent working for the USA?

    1. Fuzzy

      I could definitely see the double agent thing happening, and I’m curious as to how that might twist up with his motivation to kill Yevgraf. Steals the arc to gain the power to kill Yevgraf, similar to MIkhail? Actually steals the arc for the USA, and the entire backstory is a lie? Kills Yevgraf in a dramatic finale with Yuliy and then he betrays Yuliy for the arc?

      No matter which direction it goes, I’m pretty excited!

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