Time to slay the magic dragon. 

— Oh hey, the lineup of characters now has them all grown up. A couple of faces are missing, though. It’s obvious why Takashi isn’t standing with them, but it looks like Takezo is no longer with us either.

— We jump ahead five years, and I guess everyone is just content to wait for the Dragon to wake up. That’s nice of them. I figure if it’s truly that dangerous, why not just subdue it before it can wake up. But maybe that’s not the polite, gentlemanly thing to do.

— By the way, the Dragon’s real name is Azrabarakura. A commenter told me that Sensei and Generalissimo’s names are literary references, so maybe this one is the same. But I don’t care enough about the anime to look into it.

— So Nebula is just gonna float there like this? C’mon, at least cloak yourself so you don’t scare the poor Earthlings.

— That’s what her name is! Poor girl doesn’t even have a name on the official site, so I never knew what to call her.

— In general, it seems that girls just grow their hair out after a time skip. I guess Ginko looks better this way since twintails are kinda childish.

— In this fancy new age, you can just look people up with telepathy. Seems convenient. Or we could just text them too. That would work. Plus, is there a limit to this? If I wanted some privacy, could I prevent people from detecting where I am with telepathy? I’m just sayin’… it would be kinda suck if telepathy kept everyone connected at all times.

— We already saw what Nozomi looks like as a grown-up. What’s seemingly important, however, is that she’s a “Temporary Nebula Telepathic Unit Member”… whatever that means. She’s been receiving telepathic training, but is she really going to join Nebula? And what would that entail? Going from world to world to help guide alien races towards peaceful evolution?

— So, uh, five years have passed. Are these two a couple yet or what? Doesn’t look like it. They seem like close friends, but nothing more than that. Their relationship is mostly the same, but Soya’s much more confident in himself now. So instead of her supporting him all the time, he’s also supporting her when she feels anxious about the upcoming fight against the Dragon.

— Soya’s being all upbeat and cheerful, promising Nozomi that he’ll protect every single person on the planet. Then all of a sudden, The People of Paradise guy crashes the party just to be a killjoy: “The dragon is strong. You should be prepared to see people suffer.” This just makes me wonder even more why they allowed the dragon to slumber so peacefully.

— Nozomi can see the People of Paradise by holding Soya’s hand. Does that make her special or does that make her connection to him special?

— New hairstyle for Benika. I liked the old one better.

— Hideo is apparently some defense chief, but he looks like a salaryman to me.

— Harumi and Miu are now both office workers (probably at the same company as well), and they are super flirtatious with Soya. These two went to the same college as Soya and all three of them were even in the same club… well, it sounds more like Soya was roped into it. In any case, anime seems to give the impression that Japanese girls are super modest and chaste up until adulthood, then they become huge, flirty drinkers. All inhibitions fly out the window when you’re of age, I suppose.

— Nezuya didn’t have much to do in the first ten episodes, and I doubt he’ll have much to do now. Well, aside from hitting on alien babes.

— Apparently, the Dragon is actually a member of the People of Paradise who refused to leave his physical form behind. But why? What were his motivations?

— Also, we’re apparently not going to take him out or whatever. Rather, the People of Paradise want him back into their fold. I mean, if billions of Earthlings are in grave danger, do we really want to risk this? Is the Dragon’s life really worth all that much? He’s already nuked a planet before. We’re now banking on the fact that a handful of fighters can keep him from doing any damage to Earth as they hope to rehabilitate him. Eh, that doesn’t seem practical to me, but whatever.

— Basically, this is Earth’s fight, and Nebula is just here to offer support.

— Soya reiterates that he no longer desires revenge. Instead, he simply wants to cure the Dragon of his loneliness. How magnanimous. I guess I’d be too worried about my loved ones to be so… idealistic about my chances, I suppose. But I mean, he’s the anime hero, so unlike Average Joes like you or me, he should know that his chances of success are pretty good.

— Anyways, Takezo is dead (RIP), and Yousuke has cut his hair. It still looks pretty dorky, but parting your hair right down the middle hasn’t been cool on guys for quite some time now.

— As for the old man, he died from choking on mochi. Like shit, the writers didn’t even let him go quietly in the night. Still, I guess I don’t really feel anything. He wasn’t much of a character.

— In a meeting, Hideo tells Benika and Yosuke to each make out a will. Well, he’s a downer compared to Soya. But honestly, I would do the same. It seems sensible. Everyone else is a little too carefree.

— Later that night, a more mature Soya reflects on his people’s crimes, and tells Ginko that she can take revenge on him if she so wishes. It’s silly, though; he should know she wouldn’t do such a thing. She’s practically his nee-san, and they’ve lived together for five long years. If she had any ill will towards him, he would’ve known by now. No one is that good of an actor. Nobody can bury their feelings for that long without cracking even once.

— Anyways, Ginko tells Soya that her people are just super forgiving and chill. Well, they’re all vegans with green hair, so yeah, I guess so!

— Love, love, love. This is so schmaltzy.

— Ginko even invites him to her home planet, assuring him that everyone would embrace him with open arms. So many absolutes. But I guess that’s just how this anime works. I’m just curious, though… if they can forgive and forget nearly being destroyed by another race, does anything actually bother them? Maybe picking up a chicken wing in front of their face or something.

— It’s time for the big fight.

— Aw, the big sleepyhead finally woke up.

— Imagine a giant 8000 meter long dragon that can shoot out even smaller dragons.

— As the psychics attempt to subdue the Dragon — or whatever the hell they’re doing — the former Grand Paladins work together to protect them from the tiny dragons. Basically, this is just one last opportunity to see the gang in action. Even Nezuya gets to have his action hero moment.

— Imagine sleeping for five long years and still being this cranky.

— When our heroes punch the main Dragon back to the surface of the moon, the guy from the People of Paradise starts ranting about how justice can’t forgive anyone. Whuuuuu? That’s new to me, bro.

— He then reveals that the Dragon is none other than his brother. It’s one of those reveals where it’s just like, “Oh… okay.” I guess it fits in thematically with the rest of the story, but by itself, it doesn’t really resonate emotionally with me.

— This is a slow episode since it sets the stage for the final battle, so as a result, it really isn’t all that exciting. We got a bit of action towards the end, but I had a tough time getting through the first 75% of the episode. Anyways, at least this will be over and done after next week’s episode.