The battle to stop Van and save the people of the world from annihilation was fought.

Impressions:

Well I just knew this episode was going to end ambiguously. This is not only because I played the game, but it just seemed to be building to that point. It really is annoying that you are left debating whether it is Luke at the end, or Asch, or some kind of mental fusion of the two of them. It seemed to hint a bit more at Luke, but it wasn’t so definitive as to say it was Luke. I mean Asch had made some promises that needed to be kept. Be it to survive or to marry Natalia so he had a reason to be back. Being gone for two years makes you wonder what the truth is. It couldn’t have taken two years to do that fusion thing. Luke seems more like the type to go and see the others almost immediately. Asch should have wanted to go see Natalia as well, but he has a habit of being a loner. Maybe they are both in there and were fighting for two years? It would have been so much simpler if they just brought both of them out rather than leaving it to the fans to say who they want. Leaving it ambiguous doesn’t give a satisfying conclusion to anyone.

The final battle itself wasn’t too bad. I mean you had everyone charging at Van and the guy kept it together. Once again it is Tear’s fonic hymn that saves the day. Seriously she is the most powerful character in the entire series. Her song allowed the easy defeat of Sync, Legretta, and Van. Largo got a brutal strike early in the series by Jade and only survived because he had plot significance. Forget about Luke and all that stuff, she was the true powerhouse of the series. At least the characters got to show off numerous moves. Luke and Guy were the exceptions since they just charged in with swords swinging though I think Guy used a skill at least once. Mostly they just kept Van busy while Jade charged up his better moves. In the end Van lost because he didn’t learn from his mistakes. Got caught up by Tear’s fonic hymns at the start of the series and got beaten by them again here.

There wasn’t too much of an epilogue, but we can assume the world has given up on the score. Though you wonder what kind of point Daath will have since the score no longer matters. I think Tear was giving Luke too much credit since I doubt the guy had a grand vision for the world. He was way too simple and focused on figuring himself out to have any real belief in how the world should turn out. But she does love the guy so Tear is bound to give Luke more credit.

There really isn’t that much to say about the episode itself since most of it was the fight against Van. At least they gave a slight epilogue after the battle was over. But at the same time I wish there had been a little more than quick peeks at individual characters.

Final Words:

The major thing I worried about with this series was whether they could pull it off well within 24 or 26 episodes. There was a lot of material to go through and it seemed like it would be tough. In the end they managed it, but it really was a rushed series in some respects. Travel was completely negated in this series and you could almost feel like they teleported from location to location. Battles against random monsters along the way were also very limited. I can only remember a couple of occasions where they fought monsters on the way to getting somewhere. Similarly the boss battles were also pretty short. They just didn’t have time to show major struggles until they got to the final few fights against the God Generals.

Speaking of boss fights this series really showed how cheap the protagonists can be. They have the boss completely outnumbered which is a pain to begin with. But as we saw against Van they can step back to heal themselves while constantly laying down the attacks. Not to mention Tear is the most broken character in the entire series. She doesn’t need to do anything but stand there and paralyze the enemy. With numbers they can just rush in and kill the helpless boss without a struggle. The RPG genre is one where the good guys do whatever it takes to win.

But the series wasn’t that bad overall. There were some pretty likable characters in the mix. Oddly enough it’s God Generals like Asch and Arietta that remain at the top for me. There were multiple tragic figures that ended up involved in something that they shouldn’t have been. Asch had his life ripped away from him and then was slowly being killed by the process. He had some problems and could be a jerk at times, but he wasn’t a bad guy either. That’s why I personally hope it was either him at the end. Every character had some major event or ghost in their past that tied into the story so all had an important reason to be fighting at the end. It’s kind of too bad that the show is over for that reason.

In the end I’d say this was a decent series, but not a great one by any stretch. They really would have been better served with more episodes to better spread things out. A feeling of rushing made the world feel so much smaller than it actually was. But it was a good journey and worth watching. I’d probably recommend the game since I did enjoy playing it. For a game being turned into an anime Tales of the Abyss did alright.

The God Generals make a last stand while Asch and Luke settle things once and for all.

Impressions:

Asch…This series seems intent on killing any characters that I like. You think they could try killing someone from the main party for a change of pace. It’s really too bad that Asch had to go down like this. Losing not because of any lacking in ability but because his body let him down. First he has to survive a crash, drop down a hole, fight Luke, and then take on a massive group. The odds were so stacked against him that it was just not right. At least he managed to take all those jerks down with him. It reminds me of another favourite character who got killed in similar fashion from a different game. In the end he couldn’t see Natalia again nor his family. Even if his body wouldn’t have lasted much longer I think it would have been right to let him live on for a little longer. On that note I think the game handled Asch’s fight a little better than the anime. At any rate in the end I could only feel sad at his loss. Asch had that much stripped away from him and couldn’t even settle things with Van.

But really couldn’t someone have been spared to go and backup Asch? I understand that Luke had to go, but did they really need everyone together? You know that Luke and Tear will spend a good chunk of time talking to Van before the final battle gets going. I don’t think it would be that big a deal to send Guy and Natalia to back Asch up. They could have taken care of it rather quickly and hurried up to the others for the final battle. Now they lose someone for little reason other than not caring enough to go and save him. I’ll admit this argument doesn’t come into play in the game.

It seems like it was God General execution hour. You lost two or three if you counted Asch in this episode. Really I think Asch should have changed his uniform so he wouldn’t have been counted in with the rest. Since anyone called a God General has now been killed off in one way or another. I do feel a little sorry for Sync since he never really gained anything in his whole life. The entire time he felt his existence was empty and the only thing driving him on was destroying the world that created him. While Ion passed away feeling like he accomplished something the same can’t be said for Sync. Sympathy is limited because he was at least satisfied with dying. Legretta fought for the man she loved and died for it. She was another character who felt satisfied in dying since she was following her beliefs.

I have to say Tear’s song is just cheap. I mean you have an advantage already over your opponents and then you go and paralyze them? They call themselves the good guys and yet they pull cheap tactics like that. Sure the God Generals had grunts, but the party still had a very strong advantage. Also makes you wonder what Tear was waiting for if she could end the whole battle in a single move. This kind of reminds me of why boss battles are somewhat unfair in nature. You usually come in with a good sized party and outnumber the guy. Sure the boss has more health than you, but really you can’t underestimate a good numerical advantage. Just kind of weird how that fight ended.

Now we head into the final battle against Van. It has been a pretty long road to get to this point. I don’t think anyone really has to guess about who is going to win this. But after all it took to get to Van we might as well enjoy the fight.

The group prepares for the final battle and take time to reflect on how far they have come.

Impressions:

Well now we are set up for the final battle. It was a nice job at doing the regular final moments of peace before taking on the end boss. Everyone has gone through a lot so there was clearly a lot for them to think about before taking on Van. I liked the nice little chat between Jade and Anise at the bar. Being the creator of fomicry and having killed your childhood friend would push anyone to start drinking. Though I suppose he was feeling worse about the situation Luke is in. It’s tough since if he hadn’t created fomicry there would be no Luke. Yet having created it caused many lives to be created and cut short. I’m sure also he didn’t want to kill Dist, but if he didn’t the guy would just keep coming back to haunt them. There was no end for Dist since he would just keep trying to use fomicry without thinking about the consequences. Having killed Arietta and losing Ion is the burden that Anise has to carry on. Maybe she feels that she can do some good by taking care of the Ion replica.

It’s actually amazing how Luke and Asch can be so similar and different at the same time. Both of them are suffering and don’t seem to have much time left before their bodies give out. Suspect that doing a hyper resonance by himself has put a lot of strain on Asch’s body. Neither one of them are willing to tell others that they don’t have a lot of time left to live. Think that they both don’t want to be pitied by those around them. Now Luke probably doesn’t want to be treated differently and to enjoy the friendships around him. But it’s good that Tear realized since it now puts her on the opposite side from earlier in the series. This time she is the one that can only watch as the person she cares about is moving slowly toward their end. Give Noelle some credit since she let them have a nice peaceful moment under the moon. Its obvious how they both feel, but they’ll just stick by their old ways for now. They have definitely come a long way considering how they first met.

Asch is just pulling away and this is probably why he’s not trying to get close to Natalia. She has gone through some terrible things, but he probably feels it’s better to not make their attachments any stronger if he isn’t going to survive. He was probably willing to sacrifice himself because he didn’t feel his body would make it much longer. I can’t help but feel really sorry for Natalia. She finds out about her biological father, has to kill him, and now is going to lose two childhood friends. At least she managed to have a comforting moment with her father. The guy finally realized it was the bond they shared that was the most important thing.

At least the world military is trying to work together for the common good. Sadly their weapons are garbage and couldn’t actually do any damage. Kind of tough to draw attention away from the main party if they aren’t perceived as a threat. That was a pretty reckless move by Noelle’s brother to charge in like that. Hopefully everyone made it out of there alright. Obviously Asch is fine since he still has a role to play in this series. But side characters like her brother are more expendable so will see about his fate. Hopefully he’s alright since Noelle has lost a lot during this series as well.

Now that they have made it there are only a few obstacles left. Have to make it past Legretta, Sync, and then finally Van. Doubt it will be too easy, but they can’t take that long either since there isn’t much of the show left. I hope they can give this series a proper conclusion.

Mohs and Largo attempt to prevent the group from lowering Hods defences.

Impressions:

I have to apologize to Largo at this point. Just don’t think his death was anywhere near as sad to watch as Arietta’s. At the same time it was definitely better than Dist who I’m not sure is even dead. At least with Largo you are certain the guy actually was killed. He was in a better position to just not do this considering he knew what was going on. Even though he lost a lot the guy was still willing to help Van kill everyone on the planet. Loss really is what binds some of the God Generals to Van’s cause. But guess that even if Largo had changed his mind it wouldn’t have mattered. Seemed like the type that would stick to the path he had chosen even if he realized it would lead him straight to Hell. Besides considering he is a warrior it was probably satisfying for him to be killed off by his own child.

An important even was getting that shield around Hod down. Now it will be possible for the group to bust in there and finish things once and for all. Of course to get to that point they had to deal with Largo and Mohs. It was quite satisfying seeing Mohs getting beaten like that. They couldn’t allow it when he was just a corrupt priest. Once he turned into a giant monster then it was perfectly alright to hit him with everything they had. Not surprising the guy was obsessed with the score to the very end. He even went so far as to pull another Ion replica out of the woodwork. Suppose that Anise feels she owes it to take care of that Ion after all she did. Not that it will bring the dead back, but it’s not a bad thing to be doing.

Van makes his return in time for the finale. It’s too bad for him that falling off of Hod to escape will only mean drowning in the ocean. With only a few episodes left he’ll have to try the novel approach of fighting to the death. The guy has a lot of power so it won’t be easy for them to take him down.

It was a good episode overall. They managed to finish a couple boss fights and remove barriers to the final arena. Now it appears next episode will handle the set up for those final fights. It has been a pretty long journey and now they just have to settle things. The sooner the better since it’s clear a few characters just don’t have the time to waste.

After meeting Asch on top of the tower a difficult decision has to be made by Luke.

Impressions:

Well this was pretty close to being a complete disaster. 10,000 lives were just lost so it was pretty tragic in its own way. Now it’s pretty clear that Asch isn’t in the best of shape due to something we haven’t been told yet. Also Luke is barely holding himself together after that stunt and now is limited in his lifespan. It is ironic that both original and replica seem to be nearing the end. Not surprised Jade knew what was wrong with Luke and probably knows what is up with Asch. Just wish people would stop keeping secrets like this and deciding what is best for others to know. Still I’d like them to find a way to survive this and keep on living. They aren’t bad guys so it’s just my personal feelings getting dragged into this one.

I can’t blame the rulers for making the decisions that they did. They have many lives on the line and can’t just say everyone should die. Funny that Luke and Asch avoided being sacrificed only to find themselves right back into that situation. Really thought they’d start beating each other up to see who would be allowed to die. Neither one of them really wants to die there and yet they can’t allow the other one to kill themselves. It’s a pretty strange situation when you think about it. Too bad for Asch that Luke had backup that could hold him back.

Just sad that Luke had the jewel of Lorelei all the time and had absolutely no clue. Feel bad for Asch who had been running around trying to get the thing into his possession. Would like it if Asch would just work with the others, but he really isn’t much for group action. At least they have the keys to deal with Van once they can get themselves to him. Now the issue is dealing with the God Generals who are still around and getting through the planet storm.

One nice thing was seeing how everyone reacted to the possibility of Luke really dying there. Could feel Anise’s point of view of not wanting Luke to sacrifice himself like Ion did. Respected Tear for trying to let Luke make his own decision even though she really wanted him to live. I’m sure Jade was hurting in knowing how things had to go and yet not wanting another friend to die.

On that note it was a pretty tame farewell for Dist. That was a pretty massive attack, but just seemed pretty quiet of a death for him. Got blasted off the tower and then you had the explosion. It didn’t seem like he had a way to survive that so will classify him as dead for now. Was a sad guy who wanted to bring the Professor back no matter what. But he still did terrible things and hurt a lot of people along the way. He needed to be stopped and sadly it fell to Jade to do it.

I feel for the replicas that got sacrificed in this episode. It wasn’t so clearly shown but they were in a terrible position. They were all replicated from the dead so to anyone that knew them, they are a reminder of loss. Even Guy who knows about replicas got caught up with the one that looked like his sister. For people that don’t understand about replicas they have to be a scary thing. After being told by Dist that they were abandoned they had nowhere to go and no real purpose. If giving up their lives meant other replicas could be given a place to live peacefully then it would be worth it. It’s just sad that they had to die just so the other replicas could be helped. Mohs really has to pay for creating replicas that had to suffer like that.

Now it seems Mohs and Largo are going to be the next to face the group. No doubt the situation around Natalia will come to light in that episode. It’ll be hard for her but better to deal with things than to live completely ignorant of it.

The miasma continues to spread and Asch gets an opportunity to see his parents again.

Impressions:

I believe the valuable lesson here is that falling doesn’t kill you. Sync now follows Van as yet another character who appeared to die but really didn’t. Just not right that Arietta is the first God General to actually die in the series. Still have to believe the others won’t be holding up for much longer since we’re just about at the end of the series.

Asch is not looking good at all with his condition appearing to deteriorate. Not a surprise he’s willing to use a suicidal method to get rid of the miasma if there really is something wrong. Wish Jade would come out and say what the likely issue is. Only thought that Luke had a dim future with the short lifespan of a replica. But now it seems the original isn’t doing all that well either. Certainly an unfortunate death flag for a character I like. Still long as he is still alive there is a chance they can do something to help him. Really it all just depends on what exactly is causing the problem. Still it was a nice moment with his parents. Wasn’t really sure what to expect since you could imagine some resentment from Asch. Since his father was going to be willing to send him to his death in Akzeriuth. But suppose even Asch is weak against his mother and couldn’t say much. It’s probably the most polite he’s been the entire series.

At any rate things are getting pretty bad with the miasma and being unable to reach Mohs. Not to mention they still haven’t found the jewel and Luke’s group has completely given up on trying to recover it. Since I expect they will try to stop Asch the question then becomes what they should do about the miasma. Tear won’t allow Luke to consider sacrificing himself in an attempt to clear his conscience about Akzeriuth. Somehow they have to stop the miasma or else everyone will be joining those animals seen at the start of the episode.

Can’t forget Largo most likely being Natalia’s father. Do wish people in this series would stop trying to decide whether people should be allowed to know the truth or not. First it was not telling Arietta about Ion because they decided she couldn’t handle it. Can’t forget not telling Luke he was a replica. Now it’s about telling Natalia that her biological father is one of the enemies. Sure it’s a tough thing to handle, but still don’t like deciding whether people can know what’s going on.

But right now the major situation is stopping Asch from killing himself. With some respect to the 10,000 replica’s he would end up taking with him. He does have a head start so they will need to make some haste up the tower of Rem.

Arietta challenges Anise to a duel while the group finds out some important information from Asch.

Impressions:

Not an episode I was looking forward to seeing. I mean you know its coming and yet its still sad when it actually does happen. Kind of reminds me of playing Crisis Core for the PSP. Think they did a good job making Arietta’s death all the more tragic with good use of flashbacks in the episode. Can’t exactly hit you with those during the fight in the game.

She fought with everything she had for someone that had been dead for such a long time. It’s not like Van didn’t tell her the truth out of some kind of compassion. I honestly think it was just done so he could continue using her as a valuable tool. Maybe she would have ended her life after finding out, but the point is she wasn’t left with strong bonds to anything. The ligers were annihilated and Ion was gone. Anise had the benefit of a living family and friends even after Ion passed away. The God Generals are far from a family. No one that she couldn’t see as an enemy tried to change her mind on this. Largo stood there as an observer and the rest of the group were seen as enemies.

Though not like they weren’t considering pyro Mieu was responsible for the liger situation and Jade actually did kill the mother Liger. Suppose it might not have done anything, but would have been nice to at least try and recommend what Ion would have wanted. Doubt the original or replica would have been jumping for joy at the two guardians fighting a duel to the death. She didn’t have to fight with the team since that would just be too much. I know its a selfish wish, but wished that they could have given her a reason to live on. Can try to make it nice with saying she is with the people she cares about. But death in the end is just sad. Just get depressed about these things when they do happen. For whatever reason got attached to Arietta and the death here is the hardest hitting of any in the series to this point.

I can talk about the episode now that I’ve killed any mood with my depressing rant. Feel for Asch in how he gets dumped with finding the jewel that Luke failed to get. I wonder if Van remembered to replicate a brain into that head of Luke’s sometimes. Just seems like there is nothing there and can understand why Asch is so bloody frustrated. Clear that there isn’t much time left and he’s struggling to get things done.

But there are other problems that can’t be ignored at this time. Mohs has finally gone off the deep end and turned himself into one ugly monster. The only positive there is that he is a combat target in that state. I mean it’s hard to kill a weak person no matter how annoying he is. But now that he has some power it should be allowed to destroy him. If they are willing to kill a loli in Arietta….Anyways Hod has come back into the picture and you can expect some depression from characters like Guy when they can finally get to that thing.

Have to make an interesting note regarding Luke’s discovery at the mountain. Obviously you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to connect that to Natalia. Though you do need to be a little smarter than Luke. Now could simply speculate that it was dropped when climbing a mountain. But really with this show that would be a bit too simple. Think many can figure out how that will turn out.

We can’t forget the problem of Van still being alive. You knew that guy gave up way too easily when the group went to face him. Not much time left in the series and still quite a bit to accomplish. Hopefully they can end this alright, though I’m preparing for a rough ride to the end.

Luke arrives in Daath and Anise’s difficult situation is fully revealed.

Impressions:

You can tell we’re getting close to the end with all the things that are now happening. I mean Ion ended up passing away and a major fight between Anise and Arietta has been set up in the preview. Do feel bad for Ion passing away in this. I know people got all over the guy for how passive he is and how he can’t do much, but really he was a nice guy at the end of the day. He didn’t stand up to Mohs here, because he knew it would put Anise’s parents in danger. Made it clear at the end how important to him she was. It didn’t matter if she had been spying the bond and feelings he had for her remained the same. No way could he do something that would hurt her and since the score has gone so far off course it really shouldn’t have mattered. Besides it seems pretty obvious he was considering taking a desperate course of action to save Tear. Knowing the short life of a replica he probably felt it was worth doing. If there was a major flaw in Ion it was that he lacked any self worth. He never saw his life as being worthwhile since there were replacement Ion’s ready to be used at the moment of his death. But never thought about how everyone that knew him would feel terrible sadness.

I have mixed feelings about Anise to be honest. Could understand the steps she took through the series with her parents at stake. Being cursed with such idiots for parents must be a terrible burden. How did those two survive long enough to have a child when they were so terribly naïve? I mean really it couldn’t have been that hard to trick them out of everything they owned when they practically gave stuff away as it was. Still Anise could have done something before it got to this point. She made herself seem greedy and never let people know just what was going on with her. By the time Mohs took her parents physically hostage it was too late to do much else. No matter how stupid they are, family is family.

Anise has perhaps as heavy a burden on her as Luke since she continually gave the enemy information that made any level of secrecy pointless. But would put some on the others since they never did dig deeply into Anise even after seeing what her family was like. Tear in particular took a preaching stance on taking money from nobles. I mean really they are nobles, who cares if they give you money and you keep it? One thing that bothers me about Tear is how she always preaches to everyone. Like when Luke questions his existence she tells him he shouldn’t. Isn’t it human to wonder about your existence a little bit? Don’t think it’s something you should blissfully ignore and hope it all works out. Tear did get lucky with Ion helping her out. Her condition wasn’t going to get better and really she was bound to die from falling on her face so often. She gets quite the miracle cure and it shouldn’t mean much guilt since Ion was probably going to die anyways.

Really feel bad for Arietta in all of this. This girl has never been told the truth by anyone regarding Ion. She honestly thinks it’s the same Ion she has always known and that’s one reason why she pursues him so much. Van used her by not telling the truth about Ion and Luke’s group didn’t think to tell her either. Sure she would still be angry about the Ligers, but she might be even angrier at Van for using her feelings for Ion. Following the idea that replicas are different it makes sense to let the girl know what is going on here. Really she has lost what she feels to be her family and even Ion without knowing it. Now she is going to be reacting to the pain of losing him and likely blame Anise for it. Since it’s not like she liked Anise at all in the first place. Taking her place at Ion’s side and insulting her on every occasion they met. Just can’t see this being a nice ending for anyone.

Even worse is this replica army coming up and trying to cause a war. Mohs really is a piece of garbage who will do anything to get the score moving forward. He doesn’t care about anyone. Really is an interesting contrast to Van who was out to destroy the score at any cost. Hopefully Mohs pays for everything he has done and everyone he has hurt along the way. Disrespecting replicas and even the innocent people who would have to die in a war he started up. The replicas are pretty pitiful since they are just being used as tools. Must really hurt for those in the group since being attacked by the faces of people you know died is an ugly thing.

Definitely moving to the end of this story and it’s probably going to be rushed. With so much to cover you really can’t be surprised by that fact.

Luke and the others fight against Van to try and save the people living on the Outer Lands.

Impressions:

Finally the battle against Van got started. I thought that they should have just tried to take him out as soon as they could. Since it is based on a game they probably just weren’t at the right level for it yet. Either way it goes to show that ganging up on someone really improves your chances compared to fighting in a duel like setting. Thus the reason why Luke and Asch went down while the group effort managed to defeat Van. It’s either that or Guy is just far more powerful than everyone else in the group.

Van continues the strange trend of enemies falling to their apparent deaths. First it was Sync, then the God Generals were caught in an avalanche, and now Van just falls into the abyss. Suppose it keeps the option for them to pop back since if you don’t see a body that means they might still be alive. At least its proven from the preview that not all the God Generals are dead. Arietta is apparently doing alright since she ran into the group in the preview. For a guy who wanted to wipe out the world Van did give up fairly easily. Think someone with convictions that strong would fight until the bitter end. Instead he just stuck his sword in the ground and fell.

The message that Luke received shows that this isn’t nearly over yet. Of course Luke being his normal self just ignores this for months. I mean you get what appears to be a pretty significant message from someone other than Asch and yet you tell no one? Guess there are some things about Luke that will never change no matter what happens. Probably take another episode before he passes that to the others who they will have to catch up with.

A nice thing was settling the situation between Luke and Natalia. Finally allowed her to move on and accept him as another childhood friend. He’s simply a different Luke that she knew growing up. She didn’t have to try and fit him into a role that he didn’t belong to. While things are far from settled with their romantic relationships it’s a good thing that they can count on each other as friends. Although considering his actions at the end with Noelle, the guy clearly has a lot to learn about respecting personal space.

With dead people showing up in the preview can be sure that things really aren’t over yet.

The group makes their moves to lower the Outer Lands and have a major conflict with the God Generals.

Impressions:

Well sadly for the group they got tricked this time around. Though suppose they had to do what they did since there didn’t appear to be any other way. Besides when the God Generals ambushed it did appear like what they were doing was going to cause Van some major problems. Just too bad for them it didn’t quite work out that way. Wonder if Legretta and the others even knew that stopping Luke’s group wasn’t even the plan. Still they get swept off by an avalanche, possibly to their deaths. Though considering that they didn’t get the same major moment Sync did those deaths have to be questionable at best. Besides the fact Luke survived without making it to the others leads more possibility to that theory being accurate.

Thinking about it I do feel sorry for Arietta right now. It’s clear Van is using her as a weapon without telling her that Ion is a replica. Holding back the information that the Ion she cared about is long gone. Sure she would still be upset about the ligers, but it would take away a reason for her to be fighting the group. Was a perfectly good chance to make some ground if Anise hadn’t jumped into it. Of course she is upset about her mother getting hurt, but she only makes the matters worse with provoking Arietta. She should know how Arietta feels better than anyone right now. Her mother was put in danger and she has her own Ion to protect. Still the girl isn’t willing to say anything. There are times that I like Anise and other times I just shake my head at her.

Just a little worried that Luke is being far too accepting and a little naïve. Really just let Spinoza off the hook without thinking much about it. Though suppose if he was too hard on Spinoza that would be him condoning people being hard on him. The guy just takes everything and that could come back to haunt him. Another thing that could be an issue is Luke wanting Van’s approval. The guy is out to annihilate everyone and replace him with replicas. Yet Luke continues to respectfully call him Master and is disappointed when Van wants Asch instead of him. Someone needs to get Luke to figure out that Van isn’t important. Ion himself was perfectly correct in that Luke has to become independent of Van. If he continues to seek Van’s approval then Luke will never truly grow.

Honestly was happy when Asch just charged onto the scene and attacked Van. Finally someone figured out what should have been done long ago. Guy and Tear have these long chats with the guy out to kill everyone on the Outer Lands. Finally someone just comes and tries to kill the guy. If you take care of Van that’s a major gain and removes a major source of trouble. Of course it didn’t work since everyone arrived on the scene and yet just stood there while Van left. Asch just couldn’t take someone like Van out on his own. It was still quite nice to hear him talking about having precious things to protect. Definitely doesn’t require much of an imagination to get who he might be talking about. Not surprised that he does hate the world and score that would have let him die in Akzeriuth according to the fon stone. Yet it was Van that took Asch away from his life and effectively ended his existence as ‘Luke’. Of course he’s going to hate Van and want to kill him.

A nice comedic moment here was with Dist and Jade. That is one weird relationship that I’d rather not get too deep into. Dist should have just run for his life when Jade showed up at the scene. Instead he gets beaten up in an alley and apparently will need time to recover. Still Jade gets some good information about an ambush so it was all worth it. Really hard to see Dist as a villain when you know he’s just a lonely person at heart. Be better if he could stop helping Van out though since it only means getting beaten up by Jade.

Well now the group has a major calamity to avert. Can’t exactly let the Outer Lands plummet to their doom after all the work put into saving them. From the preview it appears a match against Van is on the horizon so hopefully will be a good episode.