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When Sorey wakes up, he learns that he has been delirious and bedridden for 3 days. He’s now staying at Alisha’s place, who saved him after his collapse due to exhaustion last episode. After feeding him, Alsiha also gives him the outfit of the shepherd which looks amazing on him… My heart still belongs to Mikleo but let’s be honest, Sorey is looking good. Actually, everyone is looking sharp in this anime. I usually don’t care about animu grills but Lailah is adorable. Especially her pouting face:

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Sorey tries to introduce Lailah and Mikleo to Alisha but since she can’t seem them, it looks like he’s talking to the air. In my opinion the anime did a fair job trying to alternate between Sorey’s vision, where we could see the Seraphs, and Alisha’s one. I remember that scene being exactly the same as in the game and I’m pleased. Furthermore, it is quite nice to see a bit of comedy since the past episodes were rather serious. Moreover, this scene was glorious.

Especially this moment:

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I think I can die happy now.
I’ve seen everything life has to offer.
Bless you Mickey boy
4ever in my  心

vlcsnap-2016-08-01-12h49m15s339So Alisha can now hear the voice of the Seraphs if Sorey focuses a bit. And by “a bit” I mean he has to close his eyes, hold his breath and try to not hear a thing. However, he has to do all this because he hasn’t got enough power as a Shepherd yet, thing that will change after some time, as his powers will slowly grow.
Speaking of new powers, Sorey is starting to feel the malevolence like the Seraphs, and like them, malevolence seems to make him weaker. It’s probably linked to that “Burden of the Shepherd” Lailah talked about. If only the Shepherd can clear malevolence it must have some side effects on his health. Although Sorey does not seem to care much, Mikleo looks like he’s worried about his boyfriend during the whole episode. That’s my Meebo, so clever and attentive.

vlcsnap-2016-08-01-12h59m25s622Anyway, Sorey feels like the source of the malevolence must come from some sort of not welcoming at all undergrounds ruins. Since they have no other choices they go exploring them. After passing some sort of magical gate thanks to Alisha’s dagger, they arrive at the center of the ruins, only to discover there’s a huge hellion in it.
After defeating the hellion, Lailah shows Sorey one of the powers of the Seraphs who have become his sub lords. She can go inside him, thus allowing him to rest. This scares Sorey a bit and I understand why, it’s not like Sorey is used to get girls inside him. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

*AHEM*

vlcsnap-2016-08-01-12h59m41s077Going deeper in the ruins, our little gang discovers the reality of this place. The floor is littered with corpses who have been abandoned here and whose hate and despair have generated this powerful malevolence. It is most likely that the council have been hiding all this from everyone, sealing the entrance of the ruins with the royal seal. Speaking of which, the council now wants to control the shepherd. Of course Alisha refuses, and is not going to give up soon. However, since the real goal of the counselor is to remove her from monarchy, she might be in great danger. That’s what Lady Maltran warns her about before they are interrupted by a huge malevolence storm. Now shit is really starting to happen. Sadly we’ll have to wait a bit before seeing what’s next because next week it’s Berseria.

Also, before the storm, Lailah finally explained the true goal of the Shepherd, although it was rather obvious: It is to destroy the source of all Malevolence aka the Lord of Calamity. Unexpected right?

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Fan Girl Corner:

vlcsnap-2016-08-01-12h54m08s428This episode felt like 2 minutes! I did not see the time fly at all… So it was great, but at the same time I feel like there’s not much for me to add. It is quite clear to me that the episode focused more on offering us some amazing action scenes rather explaining a lot of things. Although we were finally introduced to the mission of the Shepherd: killing the evil guy who does evil things because he’s evil.
So story-wise, this episode was lighter than the previous ones but those actions sequences man… This is just amazing. Also, the colors in the garden scene, the colooooooors, It’s was so prettyyyyyy! And again, the OST is… Hey! Is that possible to have a EAR-GASM ? Some sort of orgasm but for ears? Well, if it’s possible that’s what I just got. DAMN THE SOUNDTRACK IS GREAT!

If I had to sum up this episode quickly it would be: ” HEY SOREY! CAREFUL! You’re the shepherd now and that’s dangerous! BOUM EPIC BATTLE! The council members are dicks, malevolence is bad and Mikleo is a gift from above“. There you go, seems 100% legit.vlcsnap-2016-08-01-12h52m48s501

vlcsnap-2016-08-01-13h01m05s899Okay serious talk now, I appreciate the fact that the anime is paying a particular attention to the role of the Shepherd and its dangerous nature. It makes things a lot darker and I like that. I also like how they are adapting Mikleo and Sorey’s relationship. By looking at the numbers of shots where Mikleo is silently looking at Sorey, you can tell he’s worried about Sorey’s health state, even more than Sorey himself. He also tried to reassure him at some point but was interrupted by the ruins collapse.

So next episode is going to be the Berseria episode,  I’m a bit sad I won’t be able to see Meebo though. Also, the cast of Zestiria isn’t complete yet, so we’ll have to wait to see the rest of it, which is a shame. I did not think I’ll have to wait until episode 7 to see Edna and co… ugnnnn. Furthermore, there’s still a lot of stuff they did not explain, like that Sub Lord thing. I said “Sub-Lord” because I know the story a bit, but the name wasn’t even mentioned by Lailah, nor did they explained Sorey’s Amartization of last episode. Are we supposed to know all those things?

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To summarize things, the party isn’t complete yet, there’s still some technical stuff left unexplained and Sorey’s journey hasn’t even started yet. So yeah, I’m a bit worried about the pacing now… but we’re going to get a second season this winter if I’m not mistaken… so maybe things will work out well in the end? I have mixed feelings about this Berseria crossover, but I’ll stay optimistic. So far the anime is doing a great job so heh, hopefully those episodes will deliver.

Ps: I’ve looked a bit at the character of Berseria and I must say, I’m especially looking forward to those two:

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I don’t really know if they are going to appear during the two next episodes but I hope they will!