So, from where we left off last, we got the big battle ready to unfold between Herman and Leon.  Leon and co. can’t fully understand why Herman, a warrior for justice, would work with someone like Mendoza. However, Herman has caught the “vague not answering basic questions” phase, and really wants to fight Leon. I’m actually pretty hyped for this. While Leon’s strong, and Garo, Herman is an extremely experienced Makai knight who we’ve seen can take on his peers and win.

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“Oh Herman, you let your blade do the talking far too often.”

Before we get too far we get a small scene with Octavia an Mendoza. It was good to keep up with her after having last episode devoted to her, and her odd position and connection to Mendoza remains such a fascinating facet to their both. She’s devoted enough to give up a limb and those close to her for him, and he actually acknowledges her sacrifice with no sign of duplicity or just using her.  Its something that humanizes our villain really well and I have always digged that aspect.

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“Let them fight”

And they fight, first just in normal mode, which is pretty standard for this part. While its the armor fights that really show off the coolness, I do like when they fight normally. There’s even hide cool part where they trade weapons and duke it out with them. And even as it goes, Herman clearly has the advantage in the fight, and has the handle on him. However, before things get serious, who should show up but Garm, the white haired face of the Makai’s higher-ups.

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Finally, you assholes, get to the point already!

Ok…so the deal is this. Mendoza is going to awaken a giant Horror that was buried beneath the town, and from it, thousands of Horrors are going to pour in. The idea is…they let him do it, so they can swoop in and kill huge amounts of horrors. While it won’t end the threat of Horrors forever, it will apparently weaken their numbers enough they won’t be as much of a threat for a long time. However, this would mean the people of this country would be utterly boned. And no, we are NOT told on how exactly they plan to get a massacre of horrors due to having such limited amounts of people.

This plan is bad..and stupid, and morally reprehensible and just….no. They have no way of deciding whether this would work, they’re trying to fool Mendoza, a guy who’s already very smart, and they’re willing to sacrifice people in the here and now just because its possible more will be saved because of it. This is just….no.

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I’ll believe it when you finally get off your ass and do something, you useless bitch!

Other than Herman, who says how its all “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”, everyone else is against this plan. Leon dons his armor like a total badass.

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It really shows how much he’s grown in such a short amount of time. And its clear Herman realizes just how much he has, even if he still takes the piss out of him as they fight. But now the fighting begins and it is just glorious seeing them go out all badass.

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Seriously, the way the masks move just brilliantly adds such cool, unique things to these fights. The fights in Garo aren’t just cool because they’re stylish nd epic with great animation and insanely good choreography, but because they hold the emotional weight of the character’s feelings. Despite how intensely they’re duking it out, they are still family and it has those emotions shown through the armor, their fighting and its just…just so epic.

Then, to both add to and disrupt this glorious fight scene, flashbackkkkksssss.

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Chibi-Leon is so cute.

The flashbacks show how Herman, despite being a bumbler and a lecher and a fool, was also incredibly responsible and focused on helping people. Despite Leon no being able to get it at the time, he was able to understand now, and see just how much protecting everyone, even he smallest person, was of utmost important to the makai Knights.

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No…I-I don’t have anything in my eye…I don’t know what you’re talking about. T_T But honestly, all this shows Leon that his father would never go along with this idea of sacrificing some for many, and so he either takes a dive or is actually beaten by his dad. Either way, he’s out of the fight, and Mendoza apparently is just cool with having Herman hang around his base and show him his creepy stuff. Like the huge nightmarish monster hidden under the castle that will soon resurrect.

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He also says that of course he already knows about what the Makai plan and that it won’ work. Oh…what a surprise. Letting the villain do what he wants was a terrible, horrible idea. I really, really hope Herman was playing the part of helping and that the makai are not actually this stupid. Of course, even f hey are not, it doesn’t explain not telling Leon, Emma, and Alfonso, their allies on it. If they’re planning n anything, shouldn’t some solidarity be in order here? Well, we’ve hit a dam sop as now the big beastie is about to begin resurrecting, and we got our heroes ready. For better or worse, the end is in sight for this epic tale. And I really..really hope Herman lives. T_T