Lion-kun scares me.
Impression
I had my hopes that we’d be leaving filler by next episode, I really did. And then they were crushed, just like what Kuro thought would happen to them if they jumped straight into rock. That conversation at the start was canon content, by the way – it was what they talked about as they prepared to confront the eighth Class Card. Alas, at this point in time the construction has yet to be completed, and so had the alternative of the lolis spending time at a theme park instead. I mean, it’s not outright bad, and I love slice-of-life stuff a lot, but it’s not what Herz is supposed to be. It’s supposed to be this. It’s mildly amusing that they’re still releasing new PVs halfway into the season, as if the real story hasn’t actually started yet. Oh wait.
Sadly, I don’t think it was funnier than last week’s filler – partly because it rode on a trope, and partly because it was something original, and not from an extra manga chapter. They paid nice attention to detail though, with the bridge scene especially – Illya and Miyu were immediately shown with their trance hair ribbons on after jumping off the bridge, without which they would have probably gotten injured. And Kuro noticing strange details, while never really developed from her point of view, is a nice way to indicate to us that something’s strange about a scene. Irisviel clearly thought Caren was sent to spy on Kuro, and maybe even do unspeakable things to her to get the Archer card back – which means Clock Tower knows that something’s up with the Class Cards.
I’m not sure why they decided on Lion-kun as the mascot for this bizarre theme park that has its staff dressed up in human-sized, naked Lion-kun costumes – if anything, I’d have expected Neco-Arc. I guess it’s because of Saber Lion? Having so many of them walking around made them incredibly creepy though, especially the one which fell to the ground with such force that it left a crater there. I didn’t realize it was Bazett until Caren started talking to it – and then I knew it must have been someone Church-related, and Bazett must have still been trying to get her credit cards unfrozen. If anything made the episode, Caren did – I love how she went to visit a lost child center for the express purpose of being able to see crying children up close. And I was surprised she didn’t deliberately put Illya and friends in situations where she could get off on their suffering, either – but I guess Tatsuko gave her enough of that. Other cute scenes included Iri simulating the wedding she never had, and Illya hugging her toy lion with the cutest smile.
Bless this filler.
More importantly… I know we’ve all felt like a character needs a hug at some point while watching anime, but this is probably only the second time I’ve ever felt it so strongly. Amidst the general happiness in this multiverse someone like Caren just stands out in a saddening manner with the way she enjoys children’s pain, which is probably both a reference to and resentment springing from her father’s twistedness. I mean, at least Miyu has Illya, her family, her friends and her “Onii-chan”. Sadly, a hug probably wouldn’t do much for her and I’d personally prefer to just talk it up anyway.
Speaking of family, do the Matous, Tohsakas and Sakura ever show up? o:
Caren just has a horrible personality 😀 I don’t know how much interaction she’s had with Kirei though, although he may very well be around in this iteration of the story.
[spoiler] Sakura shows up. Any more information would be an outrageous spoiler though, so I’ll stop there. [/spoiler]
😀 Hurray!
Stop wasting time, Herz, there is Epic™ waiting to happen, and plot ready to be revealed.
I know it’s pointless beating a dead horse, but I get more and more convinced each week that Herz should never have been its own season.
If there existed no timeslot for a 17-episode anime, which is what 2wei would be without any filler, then they could have copied Saki: Achiga-hen and run 13 episodes on air, and the other 4 as a series of specials. That would have worked nicely.
quick correction. Caren works for the church and Bazett works for the mage association aka the clock tower. also another side note they only have enough material for at most 4 episodes maybe 5 if they extend some stuff so we have another 2 filler episodes left.
Ah of course, that’s right.
I hope they extend some stuff. I know there’s literally zero slice-of-life in 3rei, and thus this helps balance the scales a bit, but the wait is becoming painful now.