Theo may have won over his Altirk buddies, but he needs help if he wants the rest of Union to cooperate. This is where Alexis comes in. 

— No cold opening? Hmm.

— Everyone in the Altirk Treaty is just gonna allow Theo to take Villar’s old throne? Lassic walks forward and kneels before his old buddy. He always did promise that he’d gladly serve under Theo again. In fact, he promised that all the way back at the beginning of the series (episode 4, I think). Technically, Theo did do most of the work in the battle against Milza, so why not?

— It’s still not entirely clear whether or not Theo is powering up with all of these crests. Against Milza, he made it seem like his opponent was just weaker than usual. Plus, our hero hasn’t exactly performed any amazing feats by himself.

— There’s drama surrounding Villar’s brothers, but eh… I barely know what their deal is other than that they’re not great leaders. One of them will take up his mother’s name instead… because he doesn’t feel as though he has the right to go forward as a Constance. But I mean, if you suck that much, aren’t you just gonna fuck up your mother’s name instead? Like what’s the logic here?

— What happened to the crotchety old man who was against Theo all those times?

— Siluca looks happier about this than Theo.

— Theo’s first move is controversial: he wishes to remain neutral, which means he’ll withdraw from Union. The status quo won’t change all that much. Either way, he’s going to have to fight. He’ll still cooperate with Union, and he’ll still butt heads with Alliance. So what’s the difference? Well, this way, he won’t have to deal with Union politics. After all, that alliance is hampered by the fact that it has too many cooks in the kitchen. Different lords have different agendas, and they’re not all pulling for what Theo values most: peace. But on the other hand, that’s just the price you have to pay for democracy. Not everyone’s going to agree, and you can’t just always secede if you don’t get your way. At the end of the day, it’s tricky. I guess the argument here is that we can always go back to something more democratic once peace has been restored, but this assumes that the winner will relinquish their authority.

— How can you say that Alliance is as strong as ever when it just lost one of its greatest warriors? It also lost a huge chunk of territory.

— I will never not take screenshots of anime food.

— Look at all these side characters that we’ve all but forgotten about. What ever happened to that magical cat of Siluca’s?

— Take this priestess, for instance. What is her deal? She first came into the story with a little intrigue, but since then, she’s completely disappeared as a character.

— Later that night, Theo waits to speak to Siluca privately. I wish they would act more like a couple considering how they sealed the deal months ago. She’s still way too professional around him.

— So the guy has to make the first move again. He wants her to be with him when it’s all said and done. Y’know, be with him. But she’s all just “I already pledged to serve you forever!” Girl, he’s gonna waifu the shit outta you.

— She wants him to be specific?!

— Way to throw someone’s love back in their face.

— In the end, she accepts his proposal, but she wants to keep their relationship private until the war is over. He had already made out with her in front of all his soldiers, though. In fact, the act seemed to pump them up. Imagine how thrilled they would be if they knew that they were fighting for not just their lord, but a queen as well?

— Geez, morbid.

— Elsewhere, Marrine has her eyes set on the Earl of Le Couleurs. Man, I can’t keep all of these names and titles straight. Just show me a picture of him, and I’ll probably know who it is. But for now, all I can do is shrug.

— Siluca: “Pope Leone of the Order of the Crest proclaimed himself to be the Holy Grail.” Wait, what?

— But wait, it’s Priscilla who’s the Holy Grail! Unfortunately, I don’t even know what a Holy Grail does in this universe! This sudden development just came out of left field.

— That’s what I’m asking, dude!

— So wait, if you just give all the crests to Priscilla, God will save the world? C’mooooooon…

— Why isn’t Priscilla a more notable person in the story, then? Why haven’t we seen more people go after her if she’s so important? It doesn’t sound as if Siluca had to do any deep digging in order to figure out that the girl is the Holy Grail.

— I also like how there’s no lead up to this power move by the pope. Basically, he could announce his intent to gather up all the crests. The people would be on his side if they’re devout. All of a sudden, we have yet another faction to contend with. My problem, though, is that this just came out of nowhere. We haven’t built up to this major revelation whatsoever. Siluca just casually walked up to Priscilla in this week’s episode and engaged the priestess in a conversation.

— True to his generic anime boi personality, Theo would gladly give up his crest if it meant saving Siluca. He already gave up nearly all his power for her anyways. This shouldn’t surprise her.

— Oh, this guy is the Earl of Le Couleurs. Man, I barely remember him. And apparently, he just died offscreen. Awesome.

— I don’t remember who Lord Dawson is either.

— Siluca’s plan? Pay Alexis a visit and cheer him up. Really? Apparently, the pathetic Earl of Jalucia is the only man who can prevent Union from falling apart. Just like that, man. One earl goes down, and an entire faction may lose its footing. All of this happened within the span of like… ten minutes. All offscreen, too.

— Nice disguise. Surely no one would notice Theo’s distinctive green hair.

— Alexis continues to inspire as always.

— Oh god, they’re still discussing the possibility of getting Alexis and Marrine together. People will point to the fact that she slept with Milza, but that’s not even it. Who cares about that? She’s got blood on her hands, man. She gassed an entire enemy castle just to win a battle. She resorted to illegal means of warfare, and she’s allied herself with slaveowning nations just to get her way. Marrine does not deserve salvation. She deserves judgment for her war crimes.

— “Oh, if we marry, we can create the Emperor’s crest or whatever. Unfortunately, we can’t marry because people don’t want that to happen! So I’ll just create the Emperor’s crest by force anyway!” Like, I don’t understand the logic here. If there’s going to be bloodshed anyways, why not just stick with the goddamn marriage? Either way, she’s fighting. Why not fight with her beloved by her side?

— Basically, even though they keep crying about how Union is in bad shape, they’re not really in bad shape. Most of the nations have barely been engaged in the war, so they’ve still replete with resources. They just need someone to rally them. Unfortunately, we’re talking about Alexis here.

— But of course, Alexis will eventually come through. We’re nearing the end of the story, so he has to. Someone has to. He’s going to surprise us all and suddenly become a strong leader. This will surprise and perhaps even impress Marrine. I think this is all inevitable, sadly. I say “sadly” only because I don’t like either Alexis or Marrine.

— Theo plays on the fact that Marrine is unhappy, and as a result, only Alexis can save her. In fact, Marrine still loves him (probably true), but she’s stifling her soul… or something. And just like that, our pathetic lord suddenly stares at his sword and decides to become a warrior. Hilarious. He couldn’t come to this simple conclusion himself. He had to mope until the hero scolded him.

— Look how shocked these guys are. “Whaaat? Our lord isn’t going to hide himself in his room and cry like a loser anymore?!”

— Sure, sometimes we need people to talk some sense into us, but nothing here is super complicated or confusing. Up until now, he sincerely thought that Marrine was happy doing whatever the fuck it is that she’s doing right now. I thought he loved this woman, but it seemed like he didn’t understand her at all. He needed Theo to remind him that his “one true love” is sacrificing her unhappiness in some mad quest to unite the continent.

— Seriously, I thought this entire time, he understood what Marrine was doing, and he just felt powerless to stop her. It turns out he’s just an idiot.

— And all these fuckers are just like, “Wow, cool! Our leader doesn’t suck anymore! Let’s get pumped!”

— Oh, this douchebag is Lord Dawson. Y’see, we only ever see these guys like two or three times.