Impression
I did say Loki might turn up as an unlikely ally to Raishin, and it looks like I called it 😀 In light of his change of heart, I should retract my earlier statement about him being an arrogant bastard – I suppose he’s an alright guy, all things considered. Knowing he hates his “father” and is secretly protective of his older sister really did improve my opinion of him (though have they mentioned before that Frey is older than Loki? It certainly doesn’t seem that way from their personalities). It would have definitely made life far harder for Raishin if Loki had appeared as an opponent alongside all those guards; I doubt he would have even made it to Bronson at all.
Speaking of Bronson, I found his arrival and departure rather abrupt, especially for a guy who’s allegedly been masterminding this whole incident. He’s supposed to be a last boss, yet his presence feels pretty detached when viewed in the wider context of the arc. I was sort of expecting a better excuse than “the ends justify the means”; and even despite his illegal experimentation, any sliver of sympathy I may or may not have had for him disappeared once he tried to casually shoot Yaya. What a cowardly move. Coming to think of it, this “Sword Angel” arc was more about Frey and Loki’s development than anything else; the fight with Bronson just served as a by-product to that. And even though he was a former Wiseman, it felt like Yaya had less trouble with Lucifer than she did with Lisette and Felix – after Raishin figured out how the Jet magic circuit worked, suddenly he’s got an advantage against every single automaton in the Angel series which, no matter how shiny and gold it is, includes Lucifer as well. Compared to what Lisette could do after assimilating lots of other magic circuits, Yaya rightly shouldn’t have that much trouble with a few jets of hot air. Don’t worry, either way she’s unbreakable 😀
I do sometimes wonder whether Raishin is genuinely asexual o.O Even as someone who evidently favours Charlotte, I admittedly gave an appreciative nod to Yaya in her nurse’s uniform (which she must have put on after overhearing Raishin talking about hospitals). But as someone who favours Charlotte, I’m glad to see that she’s become involved in the plot once more, after taking a back seat during the “Sword Angel” arc. For some reason, there’s multiple Charl’s running around, all with subtle differences between them – the one who tried to jump off the roof was terrified of men (and wasn’t blonde enough) while there’s another one (who I’m sure is also fake) wrecking havoc with Sigmund. Given their capabilities, I actually wouldn’t put it past an automaton to have constructed this elaborate ploy somehow… but who? And why?