Sorey and co go to Rolance to learn more things about the dragon and it’s the opportunity for Lailah to warns Sorey about the dangers of purification since it might have bad repercussions on his body. In the meantime, Mikleo saves a Normin Seraph called Atakk, we’ll call him obligatory cute cat mascot for the time being. He has the power to intensify the powers of the regular seraphs and after a short talk with Mikleo he decides to follow him. He doesn’t have any particular reason but I guess he doesn’t need any, nobody needs any reason for wanting to follow Mikleo… he’s just sooo… aaaaah… I’m getting slightly off topic again.
So everyone is heading towards the big stormy cloud, even Alisha who was sent there to investigate the cause of the 
storm. But things get shitty (again) and a hellion called Oroborus appears. According to Lailah he’s really powerful and the one who caused the storm. Also it’s not really a dragon, but more a snake monster…. Anyway, Sorey armatizes with Edna again without any explanation, just like that… fair enough, and right after a dragon, who’s not really a dragon yet appears and fights with the Snake King. Apparently since it’s not really a dragon, it can be saved, they also call this not-a-dragon-yet thing a Drake, like the singer yeah… at least that’s what the subs said… But because Drake is flying high [heh] Sorey can’t reach it and purify it. Heh, if only he had a long range weapon, like a bow or something… that would be easier right? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
During that time Mikleo and the cute obligatory cat mascot continue their trip and we learn that the Cat thing has the hots for Lailah… and that he can’t explain it to Mikleo because it’s a “male-female” thing… is he assuming Mikleo wouldn’t understand? because he’s kinda gay for Sorey?
But anyways, Mikleo continues to go after Sorey while the latter is already in Marlin, a city devastated by Malevolence. There he meets with Alisha who blames herself for not being able to heal everyone. Although it’s clearly not her fault, I can’t help but to understand her concern and sympathize with her in this powerless state.
Oh yeah, also now, Sorey’s powers have grown bigger so Alisha can hear the Seraphs’ voices. But I guess, like the old saying goes: with great powers comes great responsibility. The more powerful Sorey is going to become, the more he’ll have to use his powers and the more he’ll put his life in danger.
Then Sorey continues fighting Drake, who has grown bigger since last time, even Lailah’s armatization can’t do shit. So now he’s waiting for Mikleo to come help him and says they’ll be okay since he can sense he’s near him… No no I won’t make any sassy comment here, that’s cute… they can feel each other’s presence.. that’s cute… Also Sorey already knew Mikleo’s armatization name… that’s also cute… *AHEM*
So they armatize, purify Drake so that now maybe he’ll do bearable songs and the episode ends with the two lovebirds doing hand-checks because they are happy to see each other again YEAH!
I must say, It’s nice to see King Meebo the 3rd doing things on his own. It shows that he’s not powerless without Sorey and exists as an individual instead of just being Sorey’s sidekick and love interest. But at the same time, their separation and reunion with the armatization shows that again, that they complete each other and are best when being together. I’m not even talking about the brofist thing they did at the end, recurrent move that they do a lot which I guess, is the ultimate proof and demonstration of their strong bond.
And that Armatization, gosh, that was pretty. I know I might sound like a filthy fan girl ( which I am, really) but this Armatization is my favorite, It’s just so beautiful, and those water bubbles and everything, really gureito. I must say, every time there’s a new Zestiria episode I spend a lot of time making gifs because everything is just so beautiful… especially Meebo.
Now, If I have to point out some flaws, not particularly about this episode but more about the show in general, I think what could be my main problem with the series is the pacing. Or should I say, the slow start. Right now we are entering the last part of this first court and I feel like not much has been done. I’m used to slow start for series and it would not bother me if the show was 50 episodes long, however, since it’s going to be 24 episodes, I can’t help it but to feel a bit frustrated. It’s easy to pin everything on the two episodes commercial but I genuinely think, this commercial resulted in a missed opportunity for the show develop things a bit more.
We are at episode 9 and I feel like everything is just starting, some of the characters were only introduced recently and some of them; like Rose or Dezel are completely useless and non existent, which is quite a shame. Sure on the other hand, Alisha’s screen time has improved but other characters who are also interesting, were left off a bit.
With all those new changes from the original story I’m wondering where the anime wants to go, but I’m not worried about that. I have good hopes the anime will correct the game’s flaws and it is always better to get a different story than the one you already know right?
Now that I’m done bitching about every little thing that doesn’t suit my complicated shitty animu taste, let’s take a moment to admire Mikleo’s beauty.
Just looking at pictures of him makes me feel so blessed.
Lol the staff wants us to fangirl this episode anyways, which I did hahahaha. I truly love the armatization, they shouted the name together! For the complete each other thing, did you notice that Sorey is right handed and Mikleo is left handed, and Mikleo always standing on Sorey’s left to protect Sorey’s blind point and vice versa? Their armatization though, Sorey holding the bow on the left hand because Mikleo takes care of the aiming while Sorey taking care of the timing (/w) It is cuteee.
This…is actually pretty rushed if you compare to the game, but I know where you come from. Tbh, the game only starts to introduce its villain after like…what? 2/3 series? And after that 1/3 series is like throwing information at us and all the villains start to appear. However, the villain is not the main thing Zestiria wants to portray, but how the state of the world being affected by humans and what chaos are happening. You can say that…the main plot is for Sorey to go out and realize his mission and his dream. It is a slice of life series LMAO.
The first course probably ends at the part when Rose joins the party I hope…and it will be a terrible cliffhanger to wait actually
Ahaha I’mglad I’m not the only one who fangirl about them. I don’t have the tendency to ship guys together, or to ship characters in general but bloody hell Sormik is canon to me ( even more than the two dudes in No.6). I also try to keep my cool while writing my reviews but I guess people can see right through me aha. So yes, I agree, the anime staff is definitely adding some content to to the ship, and while some might call this “yaoi bait” I’m fine with that. Also, since I hang around the “Mikleo” tag on tumblr, I see a loooot of posts shipping the two of them, so it adds again, some material to the ship… at least for me.
Oooh no I did not notice that, god dammit, they really thought about everything… They are so cute sometimes I want to scream… Actually I think my face during the entire episode was something like that:
Well, then I guess when can add the tag “bromance” to the slice of life one then.
Oh and is the cliffhanger the part where: [spoiler] Dezel dies and Zaveid takes his place? I remember that part from the game but I’m not sure where it is in the game’s timeline ( I think it’s later on but my memory is a bit fuzzy) But since Dezel hasn’t even been introduced yet, I doubt they’ll end the first cour on this… that would be pretty bad. [/spoiler]
They really thought it through with Sorey and Mikleo, small detail like this are what make it more fun to dig in their relationship (and more reasons to ship pfff). This is also the only Armatization that Sorey shouts the real name with his seraphim though, lol. They are totally in sync.
Yup lots of people shipping them since the game is released anyways because it is pretty canon…I dont watch YA in general and sometimes ship guys when I feel their relationship is deep…and I like Sormik a lot, lol. Hmmm Im not sure I ship them in the YA meaning because I cant imagine them to be romantic together at all LMAO. More like soulmates.
I dont actually know how to do spoiler tag since I dont use WordPress that offen…If you can help me to put this in then thank you (/w)
[spoiler]I actually means when Rose saves Sorey from Helldalf and they fall off the cliff. That is when Sorey know about Rose’s true identity and Rose joins the party. Also where the serious stuff starts hitting us because the big boss shows up. Imagine they end episode 12 by Sorey and Rose falling off the cliff and tadah, end! [/spoiler]
Yes, they are totally in synch, but on the other hand it leaves less room for all the other Seraphs, Mikleo is so important in the anime that I sometimes forgot the other seraphs (well, I don’t really mind since Mikleo is my fave but yeah…). For example in this episode we got two armatizations but the one everyone remembers is Mikleo’s one. Edna’s one wasn’t particularly spectacular and did not leave a huge impression on me. It was shown almost as something normal, like Lailah’s one although it was also the first time Sorey and Edna were armatizing.
As for adding content to the sip, I also recall them using the famous sentence “The moon is beautiful” in episode 8 which is a phrase employed by Natsume Soseki to describe the romantic feeling in a more poetic way that would fit japanese’s sensibility.
And yes, I agree with the soulmate thing. I’m perfectly fine seeing no romantic interaction between the two of them, just because romance in anime, makes me cringe. I feel too uncomfortable watching shows where they are characters displaying their affection towards each other. I’m unable to watch that, and I don’t want this to happen to Zestiria (because I want to watch it), so thing are fine the way they are now.
Oooh yeah, that could be the place where stopping the first cour. But it still looked weird to me since Rose hasn’t really been introduced yet… I don’t think the anime even revealed her name. So it will leave me with a “meh, I don’t really care for her” kind of feeling.
As for the spoiler tag it’s easy:
[spoiler] what you want to write here [/spoiler**] .
Just remove the two little stars and Voilà 🙂
Haha yeah that moon line is good. It just makes things more obvious.
Agree. The game itself also did not focus much on other seraphims beside all the small skit, and you know, the anime hardly include any skits. I totally feel that people only watch anime will remember only Mikleo and Dezel in result when it ends.
At a little note, I also understand why they give Mikleo special treatment, since…well, he is popular. Edna already has last episode focus on her so I guess the staff does not want to make a big deal of her in this ep. I do feel her armatization is gorgeous though :3 (My most favorite still the wind armatization actually…)
[spoiler]
I also did not feel anything about Rose in the game, the time she reveals her identity is not that surprising, because I barely remember her! We met her only one time before as Rose…Dezel’s death is also not particularly make me feel sad because he got what it coming for him
Well at that part Sorey is also not able to see Seraphim, falling off a cliff. It would be fun if anime watchers screams what will become with Sorey after cour 1 ending like that XD
[/spoiler]