How does a skeleton without vocal cords even roar? Must be spooky skele magic. ‘Tis the season, after all.
Overgeared Ep. 6
Khan asks Grid to visit his son’s grave, but you gotta remember, Khan is an NPC. This is a video game, so was Khan’s son ever alive? Was there an actual living NPC called Oliver, who then died permanently, leading to an actual grave being created for him? Grid is all, “Wow, even NPCs care about their families,” but do they? Or are they just obeying their programming? The thing is, if Satisfy is truly filled with NPCs capable of having their own genuine thoughts and feelings, that should be the biggest story. We’re talking about actual AI and not just a bunch of if/then statements.
Anyway, Grid manages to max out his bond with Khan, which leads to a bunch of Khan’s family appearing as ghosts. This ain’t real ghosts, though; it’s just MMO ghosts. Nevertheless, Grid actually gets scared and pisses his pants. Like what is he afraid of? Dying in a video game? Yeah, it’ll set him back, but c’mon. Plus, what the fuck does it even mean to piss your pants in a video game? Why would you program that functionality in? Do you also have to shit on a regular basis in this MMO? In any case, this unlocks his first job quest. So could this have happened with any blacksmith? Or did Grid really need to seek out Khan specifically?
Grid is too low level for the area where his job quest takes place, so he wants to craft a piece of gear that lets him stealth. This, however, requires a rare item; he needs to kill countless frost orcs for a less than 1% drop. Before Grid arrives, these orcs are standing around, making small talk. One of them even mentions missing their family. So if we feel bad about Khan and his supposedly dead son, why don’t we feel bad about these orcs? If one NPC has genuine thoughts and feelings that we’re supposed to take seriously, why don’t we acknowledge the sheer brutality of wiping out an entire base full of orcs? I don’t feel bad when I grind in an RPG, because I know they’re not real! But this doesn’t work if this show wants us to pretend that these NPCs are just as human as you or me! Or are we supposed to implicitly disregard an entire race simply because they’re orcs?
Elsewhere, the Blood Witch gets blessed by the evil god Yatan, so there’s now like a massive quest to defeat her cult. She’s a real player, though. I guess this is a rare event where only one player ever gets to interact with Yatan. If you’re not the chosen one, you’re shit out of luck. Personally, I wouldn’t play an MMO like that.
The Laid-Off Cheat-Granting Mage Enjoys a Second Lease on Life Ep. 4
When Lily saves Margaret in the middle of the dungeon, I thought maybe the latter would turn the corner. Maybe she’ll finally believe that Lily was just as traumatized by her sister’s death as she was. But then Rein finds a note on the ground that says “Lily Flambert killed us,” which is kinda bizarre. Do I think we’re going to get a twist where Lily truly was the bad guy? Nah, I can’t see it. Did Margaret somehow plant the note there? I think this is the first time she’s been to this dungeon. Did one of Lily’s former party members write it? Maybe…? I dunno, I guess we’ll see next week.
The thing is, I don’t think I want a redemption arc for Margaret. Sure, if she gets over her trauma and stops wanting to kill Lily, that would be great. But I wouldn’t want someone like her on my team! She wants to kill people! “Oh, if someone got your sister killed, you wouldn’t want to kill them in return?!” No, dude. That’s fucked up. I want justice for my sister, but I wouldn’t want to kill them.
In other news, Cornelius really wants Rein dead, so he’s hired assassins to do the job. He also outright kills a lady who seems to be one of the higher ups in Beast’s Fang. Man, Rein and Lily really fucked up. If they had just taken Cornelius out early, we wouldn’t have this mess. The body count keeps climbing.
Anyway, there was no need to censor the dog as well.
A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special Ep. 16
At first, we get scenes from the tournament mixed with scenes of the world leaders force-feeding us exposition. Something about Outers closing gates, or how we can’t trust the Hebrion Empire, i.e., where Azest is from. All of a sudden, a bunch of terrorists attack both the city and the meeting full of VIPs. Tower Master Zod has to fend off a guy wearing a crow mask while Desir escorts everyone else to safety. Eventually, Zod drives the bad guy back, so he tells Desir to check on his team. Naturally, they’ve been taken hostage in an attempt to protect civilians.
I’m trying to think if the first season told me anything about the Outers… I think that was what the last couple of episodes of the first season were about. Some Outers leader was trying to steal something important, but thanks to Desir having future knowledge, he and his team were able to foil their plans. The thing is, he didn’t expect this current attack at all. So we naturally have to ask ourselves if changing the past was a good thing. What if it leads to a worse result? So far, none of the VIPs got hurt. That doesn’t mean, however, that there weren’t any casualties in the city. Also, it looked like one of the world leaders left in a huff. He now seems to think joining the Western League of Kingdoms was a mistake. This story would get a lot more interesting if Desir using his knowledge of the future actually leads to unintended dire consequences.
Sasaki and Peeps S2 Ep. 4
I know anime can’t get too explicit unless it wants an adult-only rating, but does this even look like a lump of flesh to you? Anyway, Sasaki finally learns that Otonari is not only involved in the proxy war between angels and demons, her demon has killed people. Nevertheless, he dives in head first when it looks like she’s about to die. Eh, I’m not sure if that would’ve been the right move. The old man then tries to resist Seraph, who is apparently a really powerful angel. Even Abaddon doesn’t seem to stand a chance against them. We then get cliffhanger’d on Sasaki literally losing his bottom half. Dude can’t die in the fourth episode of the new season, so whatever. We’ll just have to wait and see how they bullshit their way out of this one. Also, Otonari has her demon kill people…? Like I know she’s a cute anime girl, but are we going to do anything about that?
One thing for sure, I wish Peeps was more of a costar. He’s not in this anime enough for my liking. I’m not particularly fond of the old man.
The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World S2 Ep. 4
This looks… not right. But I don’t have a six-pack, so who am I to judge? Anyway, Ray and his girls win the tournament and thus a comically large trophy. The animation quality just keeps getting worse and worse, though. Ray then heads to where all the elves are, where he finds Elisa. She’s probably in love with him too. Hell, I don’t even know what the story is anymore. What are we doing? What are even our immediate goals? How does any of this lead to ruling the world?
Magic Repo Man Ep. 5
Like Lent, Linka is super apologetic to her party even though they abuse her. I don’t get it. How come none of these characters ever have a backbone? We’ll learn later that she has a rare gift that forces her to stay in battle no matter what. That still doesn’t mean you should let people walk all over you, though. But let’s move on.
Unsurprisingly, Lent saves Linka in the nick of time and even defeats the Irregular mob. I wonder if her name should be Rinka, but they stuck with Linka instead for the alliteration.
We then cut to a tavern where people are fawning over an A-ranked party. I guess they’re here to show us that not all adventurers are jackasses, because when they heard that Linka was in trouble, they immediately volunteered to save her. They’re even on friendly terms with Lent. So… did they just not notice Lent’s party abusing him?
Alas, Lent already secured his waifu, so no rescue effort is needed. Not only that, Linka’s former party is accused of abandoning her, so they get arrested. Here’s the thing that has me scratching my head, though. The guild has a device that turns red if you lie. They use it to pretty much confirm Linka’s party members’ crime. So… you can’t possibly get away with murder in this world, right? Think about it. Even if Linka had died in the dungeon like her party members wanted, shouldn’t any responsible guild question them anyway? The lie detector would easily suss out their guilt. You’d be stupid to sacrifice a party member! You simply can’t get away with it if the guild simply does its due diligence! Bah, I’m probably giving this slop show more consideration than it deserves.
At the end of the day, Lent forms a party with Linka.