I’m so glad to see King and Elaine interact with each other, especially on a more pleasant and loving note. Since the last time we saw them interact, Elaine just straight up ignores King in favor of Ban for the most part. Here we actually get to see them talking to each other pleasantly with smiles on both of their faces, which has been a long time coming and I enjoyed seeing the siblings bond again (or even for the first time since we’ve known them).
Speaking of good relationships, there were a lot of friendships highlighted in this episode. We got to see more nice interactions with Diane and Matrona and how much Diane truly cares about Matrona’s well being by going along with her to the tournament. When they do reach where the tournament is being held, they find a colossal labyrinthe maze made of earth. Looks like the giant and fairy are working together to create this ridiculous maze. The giant built, repairs and creates traps while the fairy puts random mushrooms that cause people to hallucinate. A pretty scary duo we have here. Especially since Matrona gets tricked by the hallucination and walks off, leaving Diane to herself.
Now this part was a little jarring since Elizabeth and the others are already in the maze when they bump into Diane. (Poor Hawk always having to be almost eating by Diane so many times lol) Though I guess they kind of make up for it when they show brief flashbacks of them getting separated and trapped. Still was a little weird transition-wise, but I guess we were supposed to get the gist in the previous episode that they were all headed in the same direction.
The second relationship highlighted in this episode was Diane and Elizabeth. I for one really adore their friendship as in the first season we got to see Diane slowly warm up to Elizabeth where both are able confide in each other despite Diane’s initial jealousy of how close Elizabeth was to Meliodas. It was both sad and somewhat hilarious to see how standoffish Diane was towards Elizabeth and being super tsundere about it. Though considering her last memories were of humans betraying and attacking her and Matrona, it’s not surprising how Diane was acting. But despite her tsun tsun attitude, Diane’s kindness still shines through as she rescues Hawk and Elizabeth without hesitation when they are about to fall into a pitfall. However, what slowly breaks down Diane’s tough facade was when she ended up in a swamp full of giant leeches and Elizabeth immediately jumps in and yanks them off of her. While I don’t care much for Elizabeth, mad respects for her in that moment.
Also, I didn’t realize until I took a closer look that the town’s people were killed in those pit traps…
The fact that we witness Hawk EATING a monster was… I am both left horrified and confused. Especially since Hawk transforms whenever he eats something that has magic in it. That’s… mildly concerning and weird. There are a lot of characters we are suddenly introduced to. Some being QUITE important later and some… not as much. There was a lot going on with several fights happening at once with all the monsters.
And finally, the last friendship that was highlighted was Ban and Meliodas. This here has always been my very favorite friendship in the series. (Their game of pattycake will always be legendary) Though I was a bit miffed at how Ban disregarded it in the first season as he planned to sacrifice Meliodas to bring back Elaine. But we do get to see how actually torn up about it Ban was once he confessed his grief to Zhivago. He was even trying to get Meliodas to get angry at him after he told him he was reunited with Elaine. But Meliodas continues being Meliodas tells him he’s happy for him without a second though, even disregards Ban’s comment that it isn’t fine that he had tried to kill him. I do appreciate that Ban let go some of his pride and stop trying to justify himself by trying to get Meliodas angry at him and actually did apologize to him. This definitely touched Meliodas’ heart as he immediately accepts his apology and calls him his best friend.
This episode was fairly simple and straightforward with a lot of action going on. But I’m looking forward to the next arc that is about to begin and a… certain reunion, heh. Things are certainly revving up as all the contestants have made it to the center of the maze. Can’t wait for next week!
Also, because of the strange upload times this series has acquired, my reviews are going to be pushed back to Sundays for now on for it.
