We ain’t got nothing but broken hearts and crushed dreams for you guys in this week’s episode.

— Martinet grins moronically even after he allowed Rita to escape. Actually, what would bug me most is the mess on the walls and floor. I think that would ruin my day. “Aw man, now it smells like the forbidden arts in here.”

— Favaro tells his friends that they can change fate, but he then goes and believes the green dragon? I mean, isn’t that a little inconsistent? If fate can be changed, then surely, he can figure out a way to spare Amira’s life. C’mon, you’re the hero of the story. Step your game up.

— Welp, these soldiers are horrible. Not a single one of them wants to save Jeanne’s life, but that’s not even the worse part. When the people rightfully try and save their savior, the soldiers blindly follow the king’s orders and attack the mob. I mean, it’s not surprising. We see protestors being brutalized by riot squads or the police all the time. Still, this doesn’t change the fact that it’s pathetic, though.

— On another note, however, this got dark real fast. For the first half of the series, Shingeki no Bahamut had felt like a pretty happy-go-lucky adventure series. I mean, there have been some sad moments — like Kaisar’s character developing episode — but nothing quite like this massacre of peasants…

— In her greatest moment of weakness, however, Jeanne falls prey to Martinet’s persuasion, and thus imbibes some tar-like liquid. Welp, this is a pretty sad turn of events for Jeanne. I mean, I was hoping that anime Jeanne would fare a little better than real life Jeanne…

— If we can at least punish this lousy king, however, that would be nice.

— Hmm… well, I was expecting corrupted Jeanne to be a little more fearsome, but she’s just going to sport some sassy, midriff-baring tank top instead. Talk about lame. I mean, this is as anime as it gets, and not in the good way. C’mon, you couldn’t give her some kick-ass suit of black armor? She then flies off without punishing the king. Waste of a golden opportunity, if you ask me.

— Is that really going to hold up in a fight?

— Man, this guy is everywhere. Honestly, Martinet looks like some Japanese Kiss fan.

— According to Rita, Jeanne has been turned into a demon. Speaking of which, hasn’t Cerberus pretty much just disappeared from the story? Not that I’m complaining…

— But what a coincidence: Martinet just happens to have a bounty on his head.

— Ah, they can’t kill any of these characters off. But those poor peasants, however, don’t matter.

— So what is Beelzebub up to? Oh, just ruling the world. I was hoping for something a little more out of the ordinary, but I guess we can’t expect much from a standard fantasy tale.

— Amira finally gets to see her mother, but the angel doesn’t seem to recognize anything, much less the girl standing before her.

— According to Martinet, Amira never really had parents. She was simply an “imitation vessel” created from an angel’s form. If we can take the bad guys at their word — and there really isn’t a reason for them to lie anymore when they seem to hold all of the cards — then I guess Lavalley was just full of shit. Oh well. It makes sense. I mean, the angels might seem like a bunch of pompous dorks, but they’re still the good guys. So when they say something along the lines of, “You must stay here, because the demons are after you,” you should probably listen. Nevertheless, Lavalley gave the girl the idea to leave the confines of Anatae and go after her mother. The only question is… was Lavalley in on the demon’s plans all along, or has he also been implanted with false memories? After all, he has a similar pendant to Amira’s…

— Nicole only has one word all episode, so she can only convey her feelings through her facial expressions. She seems rather disdainful or disgusted at first.

Then abject terror? And finally, she wears a look of pity right before disintegrating into golden dust. I wonder if the angel nevertheless got Amira’s desperate yearning for her mother even though she never had a true emotional connection with the girl. That seems to be the likeliest case before she finally disappeared for good.

— Anyway, the Transcendent Key is now whole, shit’s about to go down, blah blah blah.

— And since desperate circumstances call for desperate measures, so Rita and Azazel end up becoming strange bedfellows.

— Favaro tries to pull a fast one on the demons, but Martinet’s probably been at this game for, well, centuries. As such, he’s probably seen every trick in the book. As punishment, Favaro gets a good tonguing. I hope Demonic Favaro is as equally sassy as Demonic Jeanne, or I’ll be sorely disappointed.

— In any case, I think the show was a whole lot more… compelling before it suddenly had to go on hiatus for a week. It’s still enjoyable at the moment, but it’s also pretty standard fantasy fare. I actually preferred the more episodic nature of the first half of the series. There was a lot more swashbuckling and a lot more subtle character development. There was more adventure. I guess that’s what it really comes down to. I was hoping for more adventure and less fantasy.

Right now, I’m interested to see how Amira’s fate will turn out, but the show’s no longer in contention for the best series of the season. Oh well.